ã€ŠThe Comfort Of The Knifeã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Whoever I was before that night had drowned in the waterlogged silks that hung from my body like flesh on an old man¡¯s neck. Any feelings had sunk beneath the waves of some great internal darkness. I know because when Melissa answered the door¡ªapparently, at some point, I knocked¡ªno lust nor love sparked within my chest. It should¡¯ve; she was my fiancee and was wearing just a tee shirt. My shirt. Stolen after some clandestine tryst. At least I think.

    I probably looked as bad as I felt going by how she ushered me inside. From front door to living room, the Knitcroft house was cozy. Quilts preserved and extended since the Changeover were stacked in a little wicker basket. The couch was a plush thing whose fabric exterior was specially woven so the cats¡ªMelissa¡¯s and her mother¡¯s¡ªcould scratch away but never mar it. While every other wall was a competition between family photos, bookshelves, and tapestries. They didn¡¯t even have a television.

    ¡°Nadia, what happened?¡± Melissa asked.

    She reached for my face and wiped away tears I hadn¡¯t realized were still flowing. Before I could answer, I heard her mom, Erin, descend the stairs.

    ¡°Melly, can you call the Temples. Something¡¯s up with the NewNet again and¡ª¡± she lost her sentence when she saw me. Her eyes took me in like one would a ghost, wide and disbelieving.

    ¡°Mrs. Knitcroft,¡± I said.

    ¡°Did something happen at the temple?¡± she asked.

    I nodded. My jaw worked over the voiceless problem of how to answer. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s gone.¡±

    That simple admission struck me to my knees. My hands weren¡¯t sharp enough as I tore at my arms, confident that my spilled blood could explain what words couldn¡¯t. Melissa fumbled with my hands to make me stop. While Erin ganged up on me by resting my head against her chest. She cooed softly in the way all moms seemed to know how to do.

    ¡°Mom. Mom!¡± I said before I screamed.

    Erin pricked me with her nail before my throat would be too raw to say what happened. From there¡ªwhatever Sorcerous toxin she injected in me¡ªglued shut the floodgates of my heart. All feeling stopped, and I found a stillness come over me.

    ¡°Melly, I¡¯m going to make some calls. You go get her into a shower and clean her up,¡± she said.

    Melissa answered with a silent nod and guided me to the bathroom. The toxin left me so still I couldn¡¯t even undress myself, so Melissa did that for me. She pried away the silks and cotton of my robes until my skin met the cool air that flowed through the house¡ªcourtesy of the shrines my dad had repaired only yesterday. They weren¡¯t boxy like the Old World AC units I had found photos of on the NewNet. No, Dad¡¯s shrines were works of art. The ones in Melissa¡¯s house were composed of the thinnest strands of maple woven into ceiling-mounted laurels.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Melissa whispered¡ªI think she was scared to startle me, ¡°the shower¡¯s hot.¡±

    My feet slid snail-slow across the tile until I felt the water hit me.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m not feeling much.¡±

    Melissa choked down a sob. Tears crowded at the corners of her eyes¡ªand whether from toxin or whatever darkness had replaced my heart¡ªI couldn¡¯t grasp how I caused it. The me before all of this would¡¯ve known, I think. She was astute like that. . . I think.

    From there, she took soap to my body. In small circles, she removed so much dirt and sweat that the water ran brown¡ªuntil it ran red.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she squeaked.

    I looked down to see that she had gotten soap in some scrape I had acquired. It was still that candied red color. Fresh. Probably gained on my trip over. I met her eyes and did my best to smile. This also proved to be the wrong move when blood dripped from my split lips. Her face fell and she returned to cleaning me.

    ¡°Ironic huh?¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re always begging me to do this for you after your training sessions.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I hummed.

    ¡°Yeah, and I¡¯d say, ¡®No way, it¡¯s too pervy.¡¯ Then you¡¯d say. . .¡± she trailed off.

    I didn¡¯t pick up.

    She began again, ¡°You¡¯d say, ¡®Nothing pervy about it. Think of it as another chance to examine your mom¡¯s hard work.¡¯¡±

    The shower strummed against the tile as the moment stretched. I didn¡¯t quite know what to say¡ªmy heart wasn¡¯t in the moment and her recitation inspired nothing. Though the memory echoed inside and resonated with something that was beyond me at the time. We were only saved because Erin¡¯s entity, a Baron in the form of a plump six-armed woman with the many eyes of a spider, had pushed inside. She had a towel, pajamas, and a bathrobe ready.

    ¡°Spawn of my lady, you and your consort should exit. The guests are here,¡± she said.

    The heat from the shower had evicted the chill from my bones. Got the blood pumping, and that toxin had already begun to decay in my body. Which is to say that I was more capable of hurrying and dressing myself. A surprise to Melissa when I took the long-haired and soft belt from her hands, and tied it off.

    Now my turn to descend the stairs, I found the living room more cramped than when I had left. A trio had crowded in a corner near the door. One corner held some of the premier leaders of the town. There was the Head Aid Steward, she was in charge of helping those in crisis¡ªbut I knew her for how she¡¯d stumble to my house arm-in-arm with Mom. Faces flush from a night at the pub, and a candy in hand to buy my silence. She didn¡¯t have candy this time. Next to her was an old man whose skin had only just begun to leather, my principal and one of the few elders in town who was alive to see the end of the Old World and still present enough mentally to shepherd the New. Finally, there was the town¡¯s Chief Summoner, a frail skittish woman whose Earl ferried her everywhere as its head was an ornate throne atop a leonine body. She always visited Dad with some worry or otherwise, and he¡¯d just flash a smile to banish it away. I tried to shape the same one. She just cried and clutched at her compendium.

    ¡°I put out my famous hot chocolate for you. To help,¡± she said.

    Her and Melissa guided me to the couch in front of the steaming cup. I took a sip and watched as they all winced¡ªthe drink was still scalding hot and I felt only the barest touch of warmth. The principal gingerly lowered my arm.

    He said, ¡°Nadia, we¡¯re here because you said the temple¡¯s gone. Can you tell us what happened?¡±

    I nodded, and considered how to tell the story. My first draft was messy.

    ¡°Killed Dad,¡± I spat. ¡°They killed Dad.¡±

    Melissa gasped. The adults didn¡¯t¡ªand it was only much later that I learned why. There comes a point when death ceases to surprise and just becomes the scenery of life.

    ¡°Nadia, listen to me when I tell you that I understand what you¡¯re going through. Death is never easy to deal with, and there will be a time for you to grieve,¡± the principal said. ¡°Right now though, the town needs you to tell us everything that happened. Can you do that?¡±

    I knew even then that the story had scrimshawed itself into my bones.

    * * *

    The severance of myself began when a goddess fell into my house. Her body¡ªI knew she was her in the place where I knew I was¡ªlaid there supine, slain and beautiful. The only reason I could make her out in the darkness was by the flames that had already begun to drag the temple into ash and ruin. The perfect compliment to her cold divine flesh. It was a sight that blew away my heart like so many flower petals. In that moment, I never thought I could love. The feeling was just another petal on the wind of grief at something so beautiful and broken.

    I could¡¯ve stood there until the stars were candles starving for wax, but I didn¡¯t wait that long. Instead her body discorporated from Realspace to return to wherever Sovereigns go. While my body was jostled from stillness by Dad¡¯s bloody roar. My mind tumbled down the question of, ¡°Alls below, what the fuck¡¯s going on?¡± as I ran-climbed up those endless stone steps. One, two, three at a time at speeds that would¡¯ve impressed my P.E. teacher¡ªshe always wanted me for the track team. I probably stumbled a hundred times in the process. A hundred microseconds that could¡¯ve gone toward. . . something more productive than a scraped knee or skinned palm. In the end, I didn¡¯t matter; in that moment I couldn¡¯t¡¯ve changed anything. All I could¡¯ve done was arrive a bit sooner, and witness more of my father¡¯s execution.

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    It was a beautiful affair. The main promenade to the temple¡ªthe same promenade I¡¯d sweep at night¡ªwas an impressionistic display of what had to be a battle most epic. Flower petals littered the promenade in charnel reds and purples. Glass craters dotted the way like a heated ice cream scoop had gone at the path. While the wisteria trees had withered into the saddest versions of themselves. Their dourness offset by the lightning-bright sword echoes that had carved through the earth. The only thing not affecting the earth were the millions of raindrops that spun gently in the air¡ªdancers at the wings for the grand finale.

    At the center of this scene were five strangers and my father.  Posed in baroque anticipation. They loomed over him like crows, and he¡ªone leg severed and one grotesquely folded beneath himself¡ªlofted a sword like a holy symbol with the conviction that it¡¯d once more turn away evil. They stood like that for interminable seconds. Maybe I could¡¯ve said something, but my presence did enough.

    Dad caught sight of me from the corner of his eye¡ªthe other was clogged shut with blood¡ªand for the first time in my life, I saw fear blossom in him. The strangers took him in this moment of distraction. My distraction¡­ one of them strode into the tip of Dad¡¯s sword. The blade buckled in upon itself before exploding into steel-gray flower petals. The person touched his chest and a placid air fell over him. He fluttered to the ground. The fight exorcized from his body. A different person swept forward¡ªa double hand-spell already formed¡ªand clapped. The cue.

    The legion of raindrops converged on Dad and took the form of a coffin. Then I watched as they quivered and steamed. So much force exerted on his body until he just imploded. The entirety of a man gone and in his place was just a cloudy red diamond. They dropped the spell after that. Watched the diamond warily as it bounced against the stone. Stilled. Then, when their fears didn¡¯t come to pass, they looked relieved. As if my dad, a small-town architect for temples and shrines, was ever a match for them. The five of them!

    Then they shared a few words. Don¡¯t ask me about what. I was too far away and the rain was too loud. One of them pulled out a shrine about the size of a backpack. Tapped at it and waited as it rolled out this long bone-shaking om. Realspace shuddered as the shrine¡¯s sorcery pushed at its membrane. Pop. The sound of a birthing mother¡¯s scream played backwards split the peacefulness of the scene. The promenade¡¯s tilework fluttered before a segment fell down into itself to form a Staircase. They strolled down into the Underside, and after the last one was beyond view the entrance closed back up. Realspace cohesive once again.

    * * *

    My last words lingered in the air for a moment. I think it was the same moment they set aside for Dad before they worried about themselves.

    ¡°Anything else you can tell us?¡± the Chief Summoner asked.

    I rolled my eyes into the past. ¡°Yea they were the same height, gender indistinct, and they wore armor. Black, slightly shiny like a crayfish shell, and perfectly a-twin in make. They had him surrounded when I reached the top of those steps. I used to sit on those steps with him. We¡¯d stare at the town, the only thing that looked alive nestled in these hills¡ª,¡±

    The principal snapped his fingers. ¡°Tonight, Nadia. Only think about tonight.¡±

    The chief summoner squawked, ¡°A Sovereign. They killed a Sovereign? Oh.¡±

    ¡°No way it was a Sovereign, right? I mean, everyone knows Kareem wasn¡¯t bonded,¡± the Head Aid Steward said.

    ¡°Bullshit, Kareem was strong. Both of you have entities too far down the Chain to feel it, but his spiritual musculature was dense as a star. Reality rippled when he moved,¡± the Chief Summoner said. ¡°He never told me exactly how strong he was, but a Sovereign tracks.¡±

    The principal shook his head in disappointment. ¡°We had a Godtender in our midst and you didn¡¯t investigate? Sharon, I taught you¡ª¡±

    ¡°Not enough to deal with one. If I took the wrong approach he could¡¯ve snuffed my spirit out. So forgive me if I decided to not press the matter further,¡± she said.

    The Aid Steward argued, ¡°If we knew then we could¡¯ve helped.¡±

    ¡°Really, and what could we have done to help a Godtender? What power are you secretly hiding, Joyce!¡± screeched the Chief Summoner.

    ¡°Both of you!¡± The principal said, voice a whip-crack that reminded them of where they were.

    My eyes had drank it all in. I saw the story that was spinning up. My dad was a Godtender with a past that had finally caught up with him. Maybe the town could¡¯ve helped protect him, but by the irony of my father¡¯s choices that option was off the table. We had all been made agency-less. It was their way to wipe away the guilt. The way they had already decided to take so they could be reassured that it¡¯d all be peaceful again. In none of their eyes was the spark of something that began to flutter and heat in my chest. My memories rose unbidden and fed to it. Fanned it until every extremity knew only heat.

    Every eye rubber-banded back to me. I looked down at my hands and saw the mug had shattered in my grip. Hot chocolate dripped from my fingers. A shade darker than my own skin¡ªa rosy-undertoned umber.

    ¡°I think I need to rest,¡± I said. Voice cloud-soft but finely edged

    The Head Aid Steward asked, ¡°What happened to your mother?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°No idea. I didn¡¯t find a trace of her in the ruins.¡±

    Erin ushered the trio out after that..

    ¡°Feel free to take the couch,¡± she said. Before she fled¡ªand with that speed she did flee.

    The house eventually settled back into its proper creaky-quiet state of two in the morning. Such was the hour when everything made its affair with oblivion. Except for me. I lusted for no dreams that night as I was convinced that only nightmares awaited me. Though this too was a shallow thought; my waking world was horrific enough. Then I heard the tell-tale creak of the staircase. Melissa¡¯s head peeked about the corner. A shy but still concerned smile on her face.

    She asked, ¡°Are you asleep?¡±

    My eyes never left the ceiling. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Melissa chuckled and padded over.

    ¡°Can I join you,¡± she asked.

    I scooted the best I could and rolled over to face her. Lifted the quilt in reception..

    ¡°No,¡± I answered.

    She crawled beneath it and claimed the space I had made for her. I folded my arms around her until she was tucked into me. Her head slightly above my chest, and our legs intertwining reflexively. It was the position that worked for us; Melissa was too short for anything else, but the way she¡¯d tell it was that I was too tall. We only had ten inches of difference between us.

    ¡°Do you wanna talk?¡± she asked.

    I ran my fingers through her hair. ¡°You already heard the story. I¡¯ll need more time before I find a better way to tell it.¡±

    She shook her head tossing the waves. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be about that. To be honest, I¡¯d rather it wasn¡¯t about that.¡±

    My brow arched. I asked, ¡°What else is there to talk about?¡±

    It was the wrong question. Something shattered in her. I felt it break in my hands, and I didn¡¯t think about it any further.

    Melissa asked a different question. ¡°What do you think they¡¯ll do?¡±

    Something adumbral must have come over me then because I wound my fingers in her hair. Closed a fist at the base of her skull, and ever so gently I tilted until her face met mine. So close that had I not lost love from my heart I might¡¯ve stolen a teasing kiss. Instead I let rage flow.

    ¡°Do? Do what? The minute they realized my dad was a Godtender¡ªfuck, he was a Godtender¡ªthey had written themselves off the hook. There was nothing they could¡¯ve done, and so there¡¯s nothing they have to do.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for asking.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be,¡± I crooned, ¡°at least you¡¯re thinking of things to do. You always were my little problem solver.¡±

    She blushed. Tried to turn her head to hide it, but I tightened my grip and kept her steady. She moaned. I shushed her. I was nearing something, and I needed her to witness.

    ¡°In fact,¡± I said, ¡°I think it might just be the two of us that think there¡¯s anything we can do. See, everyone was so fixed on the fact that my dad was a Godtender. Logic would dictate that nothing could have harmed him.¡±

    ¡°But they did,¡± Melissa said.

    I felt the heat bristle. My grip tightened. Melissa squeaked and tears welled. She blinked them away and gazed into mine. Saw the fire that had already initiated its feast of me.

    ¡°They did. They did the impossible, and killed a Godtender. Which means, I can do the impossible. I can kill them,¡± I stated. The answer, a handful of salts that made a rainbow of feelings color the fire that burned within me. Something about me was on the cusp, and needed one more blow to set it into place.

    ¡°You can¡¯t,¡± Melissa said. Wrong statement. I pushed her away from the comfort of my embrace. Rolled myself atop her until I straddled her waist. My eyes¡ªamber lit by a noontime sun¡ªshone in the night. My hand made her head raise to meet me as I craned.

    ¡°I can,¡± I hissed. For a moment, everything seemed to still. There was no night time breeze teasing the windchimes on the porch. The house suffered not a single creak. Nary a drop of water passed the lips of the tap. This was a moment made a moment by my declaration.

    ¡°I will find those five. And I will, on the ashes of my father¡¯s temple, swear, that I will kill each one of them.¡± The blow this time struck true. My oath echoed in the chambers of my heart.

    I rose from the couch and didn¡¯t look back at Melissa. I didn¡¯t want to see the monster in me reflected in her eyes. Didn¡¯t want to notice the heavy off-tempo rush of breath. I didn¡¯t want to see anything in her that would¡¯ve tested my still malleable resolve. So I made for the door, and tossed over my shoulder, ¡°Thank you for the cocoa.¡±

 Chapter 2

    I let the wind tug at my uniform, and imagined it would lift me from the roof so I might take flight in pursuit of my father¡¯s killers. The rapid tap-tap-tap of Melissa¡¯s shoes pulled me back from my fantasy. I turned to face the door, back pressed against the chain-link fence that lined the roof¡¯s perimeter. Melissa swung the door wide and joined me. Her face was red from exertion. Her normally wide eyes shut tight as she gathered herself.

    ¡°How¡¯ve you been?¡± I asked.

    Her head whipped up in astonishment. ¡°You don¡¯t get to ask that?¡±

    ¡°Why not? It¡¯s been a week since we saw each other,¡± I said.

    ¡°And whose fault is that,¡± she grumbled.

    I couldn¡¯t help the fact that a smirk formed on my face. Melissa looked even more heated because of it. She looked so cute pissed off.

    ¡°What are you smirking for?¡± Melissa asked. The heat in her voice already cooling.

    ¡°Just surprised you could actually get mad at me there for a minute.¡±

    Her shoulders slumped. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be mad at you. You just ran off into the night a week ago, and I hadn¡¯t heard anything from you.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear, the temple went down. No Newnet until a SIRD researcher can come out to design a replacement.¡±

    ¡°You could¡¯ve left a note.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps the absence of a note is a message in itself.¡±

    The wind tugged at our uniforms. Silence was usually short-lived between the two of us. Since Dad¡¯s death, it seemed to have found the perfect conditions.

    Melissa tossed a package at me. It was wrapped in brown parchment and tied off with twine.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Your clothes. Mom repaired them. Had them laundered too.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Something broke in Melissa again. I noticed it more this time. She seemed sadder by my lack of understanding. Her eyes were wet, but she pushed aside any nascent tears.

    ¡°Cause we care about you you fucking idiot. My mom remembered making these clothes. Your mom designed them just for you. My mom couldn¡¯t let you just lose these.¡±

    I tugged the package close. Tilted my gaze up toward the sky with its fat springtime clouds. They were a shade away from rain.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± she said. ¡°I care about you too. When you took off I. . .¡±

    ¡°Worried I¡¯d do something stupid?¡± I offered.

    She shook her head. ¡°I worried about where you¡¯d sleep. Then when you didn¡¯t show up to class for days, that¡¯s when I worried you did something stupid.¡±

    ¡°Most of the house is fine, surprisingly. Still livable. Just empty,¡± I said. ¡°As to not coming back to school. . .I was busy sorting through the shadows of my dad¡¯s life. Most of it was paperwork. Left me little time to plot.¡±

    I made my way to the door, but Melissa hooked my sleeve with a finger.

    ¡°Why are you here then?¡±

    I glanced over my shoulder to her, ¡°I needed information.¡±

    My attempt at playing coy didn¡¯t last long. The answer found her as she trailed me down the stairwell and into the first year hallway. Where the crowd of students parted around me, Melissa had to dance between them to keep up. Hardly benefitted by so many being taller than herself. When we neared the next stairwell she finally broke free from the crowd and raced ahead to cut me off.

    ¡°It¡¯s the spiritual?¡± Melissa said.

    The ends of my lips quirked upward. She really was a little problem solver.

    ¡°Is that a question, or your answer?¡± I asked.

    She re-stated, ¡°It¡¯s the spiritual.¡± I nodded in affirmation. Melissa continued, ¡°You need to know what your mass and density are so you can see what you can safely summon and bind.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making assumptions,¡± I said. Then I lowered one of the arms she held up to block me, and slipped by. In my passing I whispered, ¡°Safe isn¡¯t in my criteria.¡±

    Her hand fled to her ear. Behind her the crowd of first years let out little ¡°ooo¡¯s,¡± and ¡°aaaaah¡¯s,¡± unaware of any of what we were saying. Freshmen were simple like that. Melissa, to her credit, kept herself as composed as she could. I flashed her a puckish smile.

    ¡°Promise me you won¡¯t do anything reckless?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°Meet me on the roof afterwards. We can share our results,¡± I replied. Then disappeared beneath another turn of the stairwell.

    ***

    I was in my seat by the time the bell rang. Similar to Melissa, the majority of the class held questions for me. They perched on the edge of propriety; oh how they yearned to know. I raised my head from my hand and locked eyes with each of them. Assumed the kind of wilted and pleading smile they no doubt expected of me. I nearly chuckled when I saw how shame settled upon their shoulders. Some of them didn¡¯t even notice that they were standing until they found themselves touching the cool wood of the chair.

    When the teacher walked in she nearly jumped at the sight of me. As if I was some entity here to remind her of her undoubtedly imminent demise. That was the weird thing I had learned over the past week. People do feel bad that you suffered a death, but they feel bad because they¡¯re a little bit happy. Death could¡¯ve found someone they loved or even themselves. By that same measure, I realized I had become marked by death¡¯s grace as a result. My presence was as good as the real thing. Meant that children, like my ¡°peers,¡± were intrigued and sought questions of that which was still alien to them. While adults responded like my teacher. With great unease.

    She settled behind the lectern. Gathered herself before she said anything.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to have you back, Ms. Temple,¡± Mrs. Fizeri stated.

    ¡°Can her last name still be temple if it burned down?¡± one of the boys muttered.

    ¡°What the fuck, Beau?¡± one of the girls asked.

    ¡°Settle down,¡± Mrs. Fizeri said. Her voice wobbled as if underwater. A sign that she had exerted an edict over the room. One of the sorceries she possessed due to her entity being from the Court of Tyrants. My eyes leaned toward it, a child-sized stele with a relief of a six-eyed bull¡¯s face carved into its lapis surface. One of its eyes opened and held all us all in its gaze. Ready to spot¡ªand punish¡ªany who refused to settle and thus denied the edict she set.

    ¡°Now, I know that what has happened to our town is shocking and appalling. No doubt you all have questions, but your desire to make sense of this will not come at the loss of the peace in this classroom. Nor will you deny Ms. Temple¡¯s own peace,¡± she then turned to me, ¡°I do apologize for my rudeness when I walked in. Are you well?¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Who can say? All I know is I just want to finish out the year. Not much time left.¡±

    ¡°That there is not. Speaking of time, while access to the NewNet is down all papers must be handwritten.¡±

    More eyes had flitted over to me after that point. They needed someone to blame now that they couldn¡¯t psionically transcribe their paper anymore. I rolled my eyes, granting them grace from my judgment. I hadn¡¯t much to spare at the time, as so much of myself had become committed to my cause.

    That includes my memory. I don¡¯t remember what that last class was on anyways. Don¡¯t even remember what it was on. All I do recall is how she saw us out when our class block was called. She had said, ¡°You¡¯re about to get a lot of information, and you¡¯ll be expected in some way to build a future for yourselves on it. Just remember that you build your futures, not whatever you learn in this one spiritual.¡±

    The lot of us sat there in a final brush with contemplation. We didn¡¯t quite get what she meant. I think I only get it now by way of irony. Mrs. Fizeri, you see, built a future as a teacher using Tyrant sorcery. Decidedly unconventional. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have remembered her saying that. Things might have been different.

    But I did remember, and I was already on the same page as her. If I was to avenge my dad I needed a power that no one would expect. Unfortunately, there are hundred-and-twenty-one Courts that an entity could hail from. Considering that I¡¯ll most likely prove only capable of summoning one of the Soldiery¡ªthe lowest in the Chain of Vassalage¡ªI would be faced with a near infinite number of options. If I was fair though, this wasn¡¯t just true for me wanting to murder five people. All of us seniors, no matter our goals, had to decide what singular entity we would summon and bond with. A bond we¡¯d likely be stuck with for the rest of our lives as we teeter upon the knife¡¯s edge of control needed to stay sane and free. It was why the spirituals were invented to help us narrow down this infinity of choice to something more manageable. No more farmer sons going insane because they lacked the spiritual density to control an entity from the Court of Cultivation.

    We traveled as a pack down to the practicum building. It was basically a massive veranda that stretched out behind the school. Whole thing was built atop long pools over the marshland back during the thirtieth year of the Changeover. The founder believed that peace would be in sight. Poor guy was off by ten years, and died during the tenth. His son became the principal. He had said he knew what I was going through, but standing there in the practicum I knew he didn¡¯t. His whole purpose still stood here, a sign his father existed, and something that became beloved by an ideal it stood for. My dad¡¯s sign was ashes now. No one would remember he built that thing after moving to town and hearing the story of the school. That he wanted to help safeguard the New World by helping educate those of us born into it.

    Tears rolled down my eyes as I settled on one of the measurement mats the nurses had laid out. I looked up to the researcher in front of me. He was a mousy one with round glasses. Like all of the researchers that came to administer our spiritual, he was fulfilling part of his exam to upgrade his license. Meant that he was still pretty young and affected by feminine tears.

    He stuttered through his statement, ¡°Ma¡¯am, I¡¯m here today to administer your spiritual musculature examination. Do note that I hold a Level two license with the Association of Sorcerous Advancement which you might know as AoSA. If you wish to be examined by a researcher of a higher level you may request it. If you understand this information, do you wish to proceed with the exam?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I said. Tears rolled down my face.

    He got his voice under himself. ¡°You know if this is too hard to do right now, you can postpone your exam. Some studies have shown that being in a non-ideal condition can impact examination results.¡±

    A muscle in my face twitched tugging up the side of my mouth. Humored that anyone¡ªthat I¡ªwould delay this moment simply because I was crying. That I was grieving. I replaced my face with a confident one. Tossed my curly little pixie cut.

    ¡°I¡¯ve read the studies. Let¡¯s proceed.¡±

    He answered with a nod. Tapped the shrine standing next to him with his foot.

    ¡°In a moment I¡¯ll activate this shrine and you will find yourself in conditions similar to being in the Underside. This means you¡¯ll be subjected to a temporary dosing of Conceptual Space. Are you ready?¡± he asked.

    I nodded. We began. He arched and tented his fingers with both hands shaping the hand-spell needed to activate the shrine. It looked like a jenga tower where some mad man removed bricks from every single level. No method or consistency. When the shrine was activated a cloudy light shone from within. It revealed that each brick was made from what looked like thousands of smaller micro bricks. The wood grain was the pattern of their arrangement. While at a shrine scale, it was indeed temple-sorcery at work.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    The examiner leaned forward in surprise. I hadn¡¯t closed my eyes when the Conceptual Space fell over me. Most people did to avoid any accidental sanity degradation from the experience. Me, I looked at my arms as if I¡¯d never seen them before. My body and clothing had fallen away under my sight. Gone was the tenderness of flesh, and in its place was a red metal with a complex rain-drop damask pattern that crossed my body in binding stripes.

    ¡°I¡¯m a Metallic,¡± I said.

    ¡°You sound disappointed,¡± he said.

    I shook my head and my hair followed as if underwater.

    He chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s okay if you are. Studies have shown children all want to find out they have a Radiant musculature.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve read the studies,¡± I muttered in tacit admission.

    ¡°Then you also know there¡¯s no proof that your musculature controls any aspect of who you are or what you¡¯ll go on to do.¡±

    I did know. We all do, but it doesn¡¯t stop the little traits we can¡¯t help but notice. Phantasmals are flighty. Fluids noncommittal. Plasmics¡ªshort for Ectoplasmic¡ªwere clingy. Metallics, like it seemed I was, are obsessive. Crystalline are self-righteous. While Radiants, no one ever had a bad thing to say about them. Why they¡¯re said to have a Hero¡¯s Musculature. Who wouldn¡¯t want to have that.

    ¡°If you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll be placing the weights here,¡± he pointed to the trio of circles in front of me. ¡°We¡¯ll be starting at fifty undergrams.¡±

    He grabbed a fist-sized sphere and placed it into the fifty undergram circle. The weight immediately shot up into the air. Was at least an extra foot above. He removed the sphere from the air.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try a hundred,¡± he said.

    Then replaced the fifty undergram one with a sphere about the size of a head. When he let go I slowly levitated into the air. A breath of excitement escaped me. The examiner nodded in approval because we¡ªthe weight and myself¡ªweren¡¯t yet level. He added the fifty undergram weight back in. He rolled past his fingers, and I rose a few inches more. He tilted his head and then shook it in disbelief. We still weren¡¯t level. From there he grabbed two ten undergram weights and rolled one in. Not level. Then the other. Level.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± I spat.

    ¡°Hey, a hundred-and-seventy undergrams is nothing to be unhappy with,¡± he said.

    I waved off the admonishment. ¡°I wanted to hit two hundred.¡±

    ¡°You kids always do. Even if you did hit two hundred you¡¯d be advised to not summon anything with a coefficient beyond one point three. There¡¯s too much risk trying to take a Baron when you haven¡¯t tussled with one of the Soldiery.¡±

    He was right and we both knew it. Back in the Changeover people focused too much on the first spiritual. Granted, it was likely their only spiritual, and so they fixated on skipping the first link in the Chain. It rarely went well. My fists clenched, but when it did. I let out a breath as he slowly removed the weights. My body lowered back to the mat.

    ¡°Density is next,¡± I said.

    He formed a new hand-spell and I levitated back into the air. His hands twitched and tweaked the spell. Sometimes I rose and other times I lowered. As he worked he said, ¡°To measure your spiritual density I¡¯ll be adjusting the conditions of the Conceptual Space. Once we have you settled against the ground we¡¯ll know. So please be patient.¡±

    Unlike the mass test I had no way of knowing the numbers he was working with. All I could do was sit and hope it was a good number. I had no intention of skipping a link in the Chain, but that didn¡¯t mean I wanted to stay there for that long. While my entity would determine what coefficients I needed to challenge the Baron it never hurt to have yours be above two. When I finally settled onto the ground he unwound his fingers. Scrawled a number down onto a slip of paper.

    ¡°You have a coefficient of one point twelve,¡± he said.

    I wanted to scream. The sheer gulf between my mass and density was horrible. Besides being out of proportion it meant that while I could attract a potent entity the odds I could retain control would be horrible. My teeth ground together. I looked up and saw the researcher stare at me. He pitied me.

    ¡°My measurements please?¡± I asked, hand thrust out.

    The man tore off the slip and handed it over. From there it was a quick hand-spell to deactivate the shrine. I left the practicum post-haste. Most of my peers milled around to discuss their numbers. Gossip over their futures with one another. I just wanted to hurry up and finish the damn thing.

    When I left the room I joined the newly sprouted line leading to the guidance counselor¡¯s office. It moved quickly. I soon found myself sitting across from a woman only a few years older than me. Her eyes were bright and her face squirrely. The office was a mess as four filing boxes corralled her behind the desk.

    ¡°Name please?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Nadia Temple,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°Just trying to finish out the year.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very good of you,¡± she said. I think she even brushed aside a tear. So touched. Then she bent over and began rooting through one of the boxes. Another convenience made a casualty by my dad¡¯s demise. I mourned him by appreciating the guidance counselor¡¯s choice in fashionable shirts. A hard thing to find with her size.

    ¡°Found it!¡± she declared before she settled back in her seat. She flipped it open and scanned a snapshot of who I no longer was. Then she slid between us her chart model of the Courts. Most folks referred to it as the ¡°Isles of the Underside,¡± seeing as so much of the chart was empty. A map to the limited information kept on the Public Record. I stared at the map trying to divine at what intersection of Principles I would find my murder weapon.

    ¡°Are you still interested in temple-sorcery? Your last career survey said you intended to take over for your dad. I know this must hurt, but¡ª¡±

    I cut her off. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. There¡¯s nothing left to take over from him.¡±

    She said, ¡°Nadia, this doesn¡¯t have to destroy your life. Your scores are very good, and between you and me there have been many collectives hounding us in awaitance of your graduation.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s on them for hoping,¡± I said. ¡°I want to become a summoner with full combat capabilities.¡±

    ¡°Nadia, you had a Court picked out. This meeting is for finding an entity.¡±

    My voice rose. ¡°I wish to become a summoner with full combat capabilities. Now please, what Court will let me do that?¡±

    She shuttered her eyes to keep the worry in. I handed over the slip with my measurements. A moment later she examined them. Then flicked her gaze back toward me.

    ¡°You¡¯re a metallic,¡± she said.

    ¡°Forgive me my stubbornness.¡±

    Her hand cut through my polite attempt at an apology. ¡°Just be careful about what you get stubborn over. I¡¯m a Metallic too, when we get stubborn on something we get hot. Our musculature turns molten as we reshape ourselves. The pattern of our spirit made anew in honor of our fixation. Be careful about what shape you hammer yourself into.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have anything to say to that. Any words would¡¯ve given away my fixation. Better they not know. Better they deny me like they did Dad. Our eyes lock, her and I, and I can¡¯t help but see how wet her eyes are. She breaks first, and picks up a marker to notate atop her chart.

    ¡°The most well known combat capable Court on Public Record belongs to the Court of Glory,¡± she said.

    The Court of Glory was one of the seasonal courts. Named as such for how dominant it¡¯d be in the Underside that time of year. Made it easy to find an entity for those whose family couldn¡¯t afford a hunter crew to catch one nor inherited any old summoning circles. Just had to wait until the right time and any generic circle could bring one your way.

    ¡°Too common,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t need a well known Court.¡±

    She let out a heavy sigh. ¡°It¡¯d be helpful if I knew what kind of combat this would be,¡± she said.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say,¡± and I couldn¡¯t as I didn¡¯t know. ¡°Let¡¯s just go for something adaptable and strong.¡±

    She circled the Court of Tyrants, the Court of Sacrifice, and the Court of Upheaval.

    ¡°Tyrants is known to be exceedingly strong,¡± she said.

    ¡°They aren¡¯t adaptable,¡± I countered.

    ¡°Tyrant sorcery makes the world adapt to you. Get good enough and you don¡¯t have to adapt.¡±

    I relented to her point. She continued, ¡°If you go Sacrifice you¡¯ll be able to hit high up the Chain.¡±

    ¡°I just can¡¯t miss,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah. Upheaval is one I shouldn¡¯t even bring up as an option,¡± she said.

    She was probably right. The Court of Upheaval¡¯s reputation depended on who you asked. Some would say they were gallant revolutionaries first to imagine a New World. Those that lived through hotzones said all their summoners were butchers gleeful at the slaughter of the Old. Either way, we live in the shadow of their swords.

    ¡°Why not?¡± I asked.

    ¡°A Tyrant can still teach. A Sacrifice can become a doctor. A summoner of Glory can do anything. Upheaval. . .¡± she let her implication float between us.

    ¡°What if I want something more exotic?¡± I asked. She rolled her eyes and withdrew a politely staid book from the shelf behind her. It was a compendium like the Chief Summoner had clutched in her hands when she visited. The book had the official ERO seal in the corner approving of its information. The guidance counselor handed it over to me.

    ¡°While the NewNet¡¯s down borrow this. You might find a Court in here to use, or at least cross reference the ruling and advising Principle to find a Court that might work,¡± she explained.

    I reached for the book and she pulled it back. ¡°Don¡¯t seek out an uncharted Court. Your father wouldn¡¯t want that.¡±

    I snagged the book this time. We both held an end. ¡°I never knew you were a friend of my father¡¯s,¡± I said. She gasped and let the book go. I smiled at her in thanks and left.

    ***

    The Fourth-years had the rest of the day to themselves. Some people studied. Some left for home in a hurry to catch up on sleep that precious currency of high-schoolers. I leaned against the school¡¯s gate mid-read of the compendium the counselor gifted me. I had gained some ideas about Courts in the process. The Court of Rot intrigued me for its offensive and defensive benefits. The Court of Virtue appealed to the part of me that saw my commitment as a righteous one. It wasn¡¯t a big part of me though. I was always pragmatic with these things. Even here the math was simple. Five people killed Dad, and now I¡¯ll kill five people. Perfectly balanced with little room for righteousness to intrude.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Melissa called out. I bookmarked my page.

    ¡°Yes?¡± I asked.

    Her eyes were puffy and nose red. They made me feel worse than any tears could.

    ¡°You said to meet up on the roof. I waited for you.¡±

    I looked away from her. Craned my neck to stare down the road.

    ¡°I must¡¯ve forgotten,¡± I lied.

    ¡°Sure. And you¡¯re just reading here because the light is good?¡±

    I shook my head and threw her a bone. ¡°I¡¯m waiting. The reading is just to pass the waiting,¡± I said.

    Melissa asked, ¡°Can we still share our results?¡±

    I offered her a smile. ¡°Of course. I¡¯m a Metallic with a Mass coefficient of one-point-seven. Density was one-point-twelve.¡±

    Melissa had the good nature to not wince. She didn¡¯t have the good nature to not smile. She probably saw this as a good sign that¡¯d make me give up.

    ¡°That¡¯s totally alright,¡± she said, ¡°do you still want to hear mine?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Crystalline musculature. Coefficient of one-point-nine for both.¡±

    I whistled and tousled her hair gently.

    ¡°Impressive,¡± I said. Her smile blossomed alongside the rose dusting her cheeks.

    She joined me against the gatewall. Her bag swinging in her hands.

    ¡°What happens now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. We could talk the future,¡± she said.

    ¡°You first,¡± I responded. Checked the road again¡ªthere was a van down the hill but steadily climbing.

    ¡°I got offer letters from a few collectives contingent on based on my success bonding an entity by the end of summer. Though I¡¯m also considering attending the university. Learn a little bit more before I take over my portion of the business.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a good plan,¡± I said.

    ¡°What about you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to join the Summoner¡¯s Lodge.¡±

    She looked hurt by the statement. ¡°Why? With those coefficients¡ª,¡±

    ¡°I can still find a good entity. Just means I won¡¯t have absolute control,¡± I said. ¡°More so, getting licensed by the Lodge has plenty of benefits and amenities. A comfort on my road to vengeance.¡±

    She shuddered at the word. ¡°You¡¯re really going to do this? Toss away all your options?¡±

    I could hear the van now, so could she. Melissa wracked her brain to imagine who I was waiting for. Her tongue blep¡¯d a bit when she thought too hard.

    ¡°Melissa,¡± she met my eyes, ¡°stop it. It might hurt you to hear me say it, but I¡¯m committed to this. I swore an oath, remember?¡±

    She blushed as the memory came over her. I wrapped her in my arms. The van pulled up in front of the school. Door slid open. One of the crew leaned out, an older woman with raspberry red locs that matched her eyes.

    ¡°Hey Temple, we¡¯re headed off,¡± she called out.

    I ignored her for the moment. Instead I squeezed Melissa to keep her from speaking.

    ¡°Now, you can either be a tailwind that supports me, or you can be a headwind and impede me. If you¡¯re the latter then I want¡ªI need you¡ªto understand that you¡¯ll be my enemy. I don¡¯t want you to be my enemy.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be either,¡± she muttered.

    I tousled her hair. ¡°Good girl,¡± I said, misunderstanding her. Then pushed her away from me and entered the van.

    ¡°You said you didn¡¯t have much time to plot,¡± she said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t. This step was simple,¡± I responded. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you a present when I¡¯m back.¡±

    I closed the van door and took my seat. The woman shared with me a look meant for an asshole. She took one glance out the door window to the sullen air that lay heavy around Melissa¡¯s shoulders..

    ¡°Does she know what you¡¯re doing?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s none of her business,¡± I answered.

    She chuckled, ¡°Okay, coward.¡±

    Then took her seat next to me. The driver put the van in gear and soon the school receded into memory behind us. If I knew it was the last time I¡¯d see the place maybe I¡¯d have looked back. Though, maybe not. I had to focus after all.

    The driver announced, ¡°Hunters, next stop is the Underside!¡±

 Chapter 3

    Technically our next stop was the Staircase on the outskirts of town. The area was far enough away to be called wilderness. A fact the trees, redwoods, reminded us of with their cyclopean nature. Wide as houses and tall as ten they still found a way to stand close together. It was why you couldn¡¯t see the hill, or the sun. The Staircase was at the base of one of these trees. Where the roots formed a sort of arch beneath the stump. Dirt steps covered in moss descended down into its adumbral depths. A path from Realspace into the Underside.

    ¡°Huddle up, guys,¡± the crew lead called out. I pulled away from the entrance and hustled over the best I could. The Undersuits we wore were bulky. Modeled after Old World hazmat gear. Though these were a decided upgrade and the only way to guarantee a curse won¡¯t attach itself to you. A fact enough of the crew took seriously to warrant everyone leaping into their suits. Just standing near the Staircase was enough to worry them.

    ¡°Since we have some new crew members with us I¡¯m gonna ask y¡¯all to pair up senior to junior.¡±

    The seniors in the crew grumbled. The crew lead shouted back, ¡°Hey, we all had our first descent. We¡¯re only here cause we had seniors keep our dumbasses alive. Now pair up.¡±

    Despite their grumbling, this wasn¡¯t a surprise to any of them. There were always folks who joined up with a hunter crew. Most were highschoolers like myself¡ªtoo broke to pay for capture and no inheritance to make summoning easy. This would likely be our first and last descent. The rest of them were legacies most likely. Eager to descend and be baptized into the life.

    Unlike everyone else here, I hadn¡¯t realized I¡¯d be joining up until a few days ago. Happened after I combed over the entire house and didn¡¯t find a single circle left for me. Between that and the lack of money, whatever Dad¡¯s plans were had died with him. As such I stood there like I was caught in the nude while strolling home. Astonished at the speed with which I became the odd woman out.

    ¡°Temple, you¡¯re with me,¡± the woman from earlier said. She didn¡¯t look happy about it, but not really sad either. Just kind of bored.

    ¡°Sure. What do I call you?¡±

    ¡°Any chance it can be Boss Lady?¡± she asked.

    ¡°None.¡±

    She circled me, a dog intrigued by something new.

    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Only that Undersuits don¡¯t have enough room for you to have a ladder up your ass,¡± she said.

    ¡°What happened to it being a stick?¡±

    ¡°I know, it¡¯s a classic. But you¡¯re not typical now are you. You need a whole ladder up in there to feel something.¡±

    I groaned and she smirked up at me. I glanced over to the other hunters who held back chuckles from the routine she had pulled me into.

    I said, ¡°What happened to showing sympathy?¡±

    ¡°Must have misplaced it in the same spot you left yours. Maybe the Knitcroft girl can help us.¡±

    I pushed her aside and went to grab our kit. She hounded me with the quiet refrain of a chicken¡¯s squawks. Kept it up until our kit was in hand. Then she was all business and took off to join the crowd reforming.

    One of the kit team stopped me. ¡°Hey, Amber can be so annoying you¡¯d think it was her Court. Just, don¡¯t mind it because out of everyone here she¡¯s the best hunter. Stay close to her and you¡¯ll stay safe.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said before I went after her. When I neared her I asked, ¡°Amber, how¡¯s the kit looking?¡±

    The Undersuit¡¯s helmet perfectly framed her scowl. ¡°Not cool Derrick,¡± she called out to the guy who spilled the secret of her name. She looked back to me, ¡°Kit¡¯s good. Our phones should work once we¡¯re down below¡ªyou do have a phone right?¡±

    I reached into my suit pouch and pulled out the sorc-deck that was often my ¡°phone¡± and ¡°computer.¡± It¡¯d been all but useless since the temple burned down.

    ¡°Damn, daddy didn¡¯t believe in keeping you up to date huh?¡±

    My fists clenched at my sides, but she didn¡¯t care and just continued on.

    ¡°When we¡¯re down there we¡¯ll sync to whatever will be our comms channel. You should already know the crew one. Rest of the kit is standard. Four water pouches to attach to our suits, twelve binding capsules, a security shrine, and a map from the territory survey done yesterday.¡±

    She closed the backpack that held our kit. Then threw out her hand for me to help her up. Amber groaned the entire time. Blamed it on her ¡°elderly bones,¡± and tossed me an expectant look in hopes I¡¯d dispute. She was as attractive as the moon. Possessed by a gravity that made you sneak glances her way and pulled you into her bullshit.

    A teasing smile crossed my face as I gave her nothing. We both knew it was the tax for her ¡°jokes¡± and joined the growing line.

    While we had arrived in one van, the entirety of the hunter crew spanned at least five of them. Smaller crews from smaller towns and some that were more itinerant in operation. The desire for safety and general etiquette kept conflict minimal despite the motley we had. Our crew lead¡ªand thus the lead for everyone in assembly¡ªtook his spot just to the side of the Staircase.

    ¡°Everyone, we¡¯ll be descending now. As you pass onto the Staircase you¡¯ll be given the target list. We¡¯ll be down there for the day and meet back up at basecamp the following morning. Wish you all luck hunting, and may we all ascend back to the Real.¡±

    ¡°May we all ascend,¡± the crowd called back.

    The line moved relatively apace. When we were handed our target list I snatched it before Amber could get her hands on it. Flipped through it until I spotted Melissa¡¯s name¡ªtechnically her family¡¯s name. I traced my finger from it to the target entity, a symbiosnake. All of her family bonded to them starting out. Rather fitting, a safe choice for safe people. I hadn¡¯t expected anything else of Melissa.

    ¡°Head in the game, Temple. We¡¯re going down,¡± Amber said, her elbow jabbed into my side.

    I folded the list until it could hide in my palm. Then, lockstep with Amber, I set foot on the Staircase. It was. . . softer than expected. Had a sort of marshmallow quality to it. I took my next step, then another, and another. With each one my hesitancy was brushed aside to reveal a dirty sort of disappointment.

    There was reverence and terror at the way people talked about Staircases. Unlike entities which had become mundane, these still lurked beyond the light of knowledge having claimed the deeds of Old World myths for themselves. They wore the raiment of fairy circles, hell mouths, and the bifrost. You could stand on one and learn the entirety of how Real and Conceptual space interacted. It was even said that sometimes you would see someone ascending or descending from another point in time.

    ¡°How¡¯d you get on this hunt, Temple?¡± Amber asked.

    I said, ¡°My mom and dad used to go on hunts with these guys. Offered me a spot once they heard about what happened. Didn¡¯t have any other options.¡±

    Amber hmm¡¯d softly in response. The endless darkness we walked in caught the sound and buried it. Made the Staircase hum with a deep vibration that snuck up your bones. Resonated with all the disappointment you buried inside. It took us thirty minutes to reach the Underside

    ***

    When we arrived, I realized that all the magic I wanted in the Staircase was found here. As darkness gave way to light my eyes grew in astonishment. The trees here dwarfed the ones in Realspace. Unbound by physics¡ªby anything Real¡ªthey had ascended beyond something as simple as the word, ¡°tree.¡± The bark had curtained the horizon and any canopy was unseen. Gave way to a darkness, a Gloom, that would brook not even the memory of light. My vision became crimson and my cheeks moistened. I knew it would be doom to dare myself to see for the underpinning of sight was light¡ªno, was Star? Could these marry¡ª

    My head snapped to the side and my eyes shuttered. The only dark I perceived was the pitiful black of closed eyes. I gripped my head to take hold of sense and righted myself.

    ¡°Fuck, Amber, that hurt,¡± I spat.

    She nodded with glee. ¡°Good. If it didn¡¯t we¡¯d have a problem. Now, look at me.¡±

    I opened my eyes. They stung. Amber¡¯s face became the totality of my vision. She operated my head this way and that in examination. Drew backwards to present me a thumbs up.

    ¡°Good news, your sclera are still white, your pupil is still a circle, and your blood is already drying.¡± I stared at her in confusion. She shook her head, ¡°And here I heard you were a good student, Temple. They¡¯re the Three Tests for Underside exposure.¡±

    I pushed past her. I wouldn¡¯t let her luxuriate in the win. Unfortunately she walked fast.

    ¡°Body, Mind, Condition. Fail any of them and it¡¯s suggested you be hustled back into Realspace or Realspace-like conditions. Which, if this was a full on hunter company, we could provide the latter. If you get exposed then you¡¯re done,¡± Amber intoned.

    I whirled to face her, my face hot and teeth bared. She smirked amusedly.

    ¡°Finally got that ladder loosened. How¡¯s it feel to connect with an actual person, again?¡± she asked.

    It made no sense to me. My heart rate fell and my anger cooled.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to be a risk to you,¡± I said. ¡°Just, let me do my job.¡±

    Amber¡¯s face fell. I didn¡¯t know why my request hurt her.

    ¡°It¡¯s not¡ªokay. Quick way to avoid Underside exposure by way of sanity degradation. Blink.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    I did. Her lids shuttered fast as a journo¡¯s camera. ¡°A lot,¡± she added. ¡°If you blink you can¡¯t stare. Can¡¯t stare then you can¡¯t try to understand. If you can¡¯t try to understand then you avoid comprehension. Don¡¯t stare at anything. Even if you think you saw something strange. Especially if you think you saw something strange.¡±

    We padded down toward basecamp. The ground was an uneven mass of interwoven roots the size of trains. A trait that had me look away before I attempted to understand anymore. Most of the crew was scattered off on the hunt already. Amber gestured at the backpack.

    ¡°Grab the map. You¡¯re navigating,¡± she said.

    I scrounged it out from beneath the water packs. Wiped away some of the condensation. Unfolded and pinned it with my fingers to Amber¡¯s back.

    ¡°Try to find a direction that¡¯ll let us capture the most targets,¡± she instructed.

    My eyes roamed the map and I took in the sheer variety within even this local slice of the Underside. While the dominant Court that set the territory was Cultivation, the Spring Court, in every direction were localized territories belonging to a myriad of Courts¡ªincluding Mutation, the Court the symbiosnake belonged to.

    My heart¡¯s sails tilted angle and thoughts of Melissa caught them. Feeling billowed out in me¡ªhurt billowed out of me. The Court of Mutation¡¯s territory was Northeast; far out of the way with very little overlap to other Courts. I warred with myself; one side intent to turn from her¡ªsparing her the corruption of my presence. The other, hungry for her every smile and flayed by every tear. I had promised her.

    ¡°We¡¯re headed Northeast,¡± I declared. Amber turned her head and ran her gaze over me. Examined my decision for the hair thin crack of self-doubt. Then shrugged.

    ¡°So we are,¡± she said.

    ***

    I set a hard pace for us. We were behind the other crews and I couldn¡¯t let Amber¡ªfor all she annoyed me¡ªsuffer too much in loss of captures just so I could honor a tossed away promise. We walked until the roots gave way to cerulean waters the color of the sky. Rode its unseen currents on a barque formed from clouds.

    Soon though our cloud ship began to curve brushing a flower field. Amber interlocked her arm with mine and we leaped from the ship into the field. We plummeted further than I expected¡ªthe flowers were taller than me. As we traveled the field the flower¡¯s petals fell down in a pleasant rain and wilted before they touched ground. While the flowers above bloomed anew.

    We were forty cycles before the field gave way to a gargantuan yonic tunnel of double-helixed vines, the entrance to Mutation. I stood on the cusp and marveled at the undulations of the vines.

    ¡°Temple,¡± Amber said. My eyes flicked to her. ¡°Check the map.¡±

    I blinked my eyes and unfurled the map.

    ¡°Path has us set through Wanderlust and Rebirth to reach here,¡± I said.

    She quirked her brow, ¡°Reach here?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a good boundary spot. We have some targets here and then catch what we need on the way back,¡± I said.

    She gave way to my hurried passing. Called to my back, ¡°That¡¯s some efficient thinking, Temple.¡±

    I throttled the map in my fist. She didn¡¯t have to twist the knife if she knew. Not that she knew, but Amber would look at me as if she did. Her eyes would twitch from my lips to my eyes. Then they¡¯d crinkle with the joy one had in finding a novel sentence in a book. She acted like I was so readable that it didn¡¯t matter if I actually was.

    When we left the humid tunnel we emerged out onto a cliff face that gave us sight of the writhing labyrinth below. Laid out like entrails the walls would bloat into the shape of buildings before deflating back into an amorphous barrier of meat. The map had named the territory, the Shifting City. An understatement.

    As we descended the cliffside path, Amber chose that moment to reveal her entity. She formed her hand-spell, inflated her cheeks, and blew. It didn¡¯t matter that technically her breath couldn¡¯t escape the airtight seal of the Undersuit. She had performed the motions and invoked the Concept behind them. A cloud of butterflies spiraled into open air just off the path. Conjured from nothing, they clumped en masse and from within their overlapping wings peeked two eyes the color of lime juice.

    Amber continued walking. ¡°This is Nahey,¡±

    ¡°A pleasure,¡± I said. To which the clump of butterflies tittered ever so softly.

    Amber glanced back at me mischievously. ¡°Oh Temple, to seduce someone¡¯s entity is scandalous.¡±

    I chuckled and passed her. She looked after me with bemusement.

    When we reached street level Amber settled to the ground. She removed the security shrine and propped it up.

    ¡°Nahey is going to scout for us,¡± Amber said. At that, Nahey took off.

    I asked, ¡°What about us?¡±

    Amber cast the hand-spell to activate the shrine. A translucent egg of force grew around us.

    ¡°We get to know each other,¡± she said.

    ¡°Do we have to?¡±

    ¡°No, but would you rather silence for potentially hours while we wait?¡±

    I removed the counselor¡¯s compendium from my own backpack and resumed reading. Amber huffed. She huffed every time I turned the page. Her gaze assailed my forehead. I made it two chapters.

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡± I asked.

    Amber¡¯s mouth split into a cat¡¯s grin. ¡°What are you here to hunt?¡±

    I tried to return to the book. She yanked it from my hands. My eyes returned to where she had been, and I blinked. Forced my eyes to face her where she was.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    She dropped into a squat. Head balanced on her knees. Our eyes equal.

    ¡°Interesting. Did you know before he died,¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What was it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember.¡±

    ¡°Try.¡±

    There was no mirth in face. Her lips were but a plush line held taut. I would find no slack in this endeavor. So I tried, and found the tips of my conscious mind graze a barrier I hadn¡¯t seen. You couldn¡¯t see this kind of block. Could only find it when forced against it like she had done to me. Pressed as I was, I realized it wasn¡¯t completely solid. There were holes and cracks. A keyhole through the pain.

    ¡°A thought-fish,¡± I answered. My mind pulled away from the wall and my cheeks felt moist. ¡°Are my eyes bleeding again?¡±

    Amber shakes her head. She had her hand on mine.

    ¡°Remembrance. You wanted to be a researcher?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°You still can,¡± she said. I believed her. When the smirks were gone and the trickster sparkle of her eyes dimmed you would too. The magic she held over me was softer than sorcery. It was comfort and permission. I could let go¡ª

    A screech ripped through the air. My hand leapt from beneath hers and the warmth cooled. All around us the flesh-structures of the labyrinth deflated. Gas and fluids evacuated in a wet screech from an alien throat. Our eyes were still locked. I could still see the way she had proposed. I blinked instead and found my feet.

    ¡°That option burned down with the temple. I¡¯m looking for other ones.¡±

    Amber nodded and flipped through the compendium. She noted my dog-eared pages, and followed the trail of my thoughts.

    ¡°Options like Rot? Or maybe Virtue, Tyrants, Sacrifice, Glory, or Upheaval? Good luck on finding your way to the last one,¡± she said before she tossed the book back to me.

    She pointed. ¡°Those are the kind of Courts someone looks at when they want to kill a motherfucker.¡±

    ¡°My teacher is bonded to a Tyrant entity. Keeps great classroom order,¡± I said. Amber scoffed at the fragility of my rebuttal.

    ¡°Fine. Is that what you¡¯re hunting for, a way to teach?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No. And I don¡¯t want to kill one motherfucker, I wanna kill five.¡± My body shuddered from letting go of the burden of secrecy. Still, I held her gaze.

    ¡°If you think it¡¯s right, why struggle to admit it?¡± she asked.

    I sneered. ¡°Cause people like you can¡¯t handle me saying it. The same way my teachers can¡¯t handle me sitting there. I¡¯m tainted by death.¡±

    ¡°And seek to deal it,¡± she added. ¡°Temple, most of us adults lived through the Changeover. We¡¯re all tainted by death as we saw to the murder of the Old World. We can handle it. What we can¡¯t handle is seeing a child born to a peace unimaginable seek it out. They don¡¯t want to be there when you find it.¡±

    I stormed over to Amber to leverage what few inches I had on her.

    ¡°If not me, then who?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Who what?¡±

    ¡°Who avenges my dad?¡±

    She didn¡¯t look away when she asked me this. ¡°Does he deserve to be avenged?¡±

    Nahey tittered quietly. I had my fist raised but it hadn¡¯t fallen yet. Just hung there¡ªquivering, frozen¡ªundecided. My body moved slowly as I refamiliarized myself with its control. I drew back from Amber.

    ¡°What did Nahey find?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She said she found a castle of some sort in the center of the labyrinth,¡± Amber answered. ¡°Apparently it¡¯s not shifting.¡±

    ¡°Meaning it¡¯s not Mutation,¡±

    ¡°And not on the map.¡± Amber grumbled, ¡°Don¡¯t seek out unknown Courts in summoning or in hunting, advice number one.¡±

    ¡°Everything known was once unknown. Can Nahey lead us there?¡±

    Amber twirled her finger and Nahey took off toward the castle. We followed close behind. We made lefts at pagodas, rights at pueblos, and cut through a gap a wall made by five fleshy yurts lined up entrance to entrance. The castle came into view not long after. It was a Gothic thing sporting a hundred golden fleches that dripped down the castle walls like dollops of melting wax. These light-catching lines framed windows of kaleidoscopic glass. Which split the light emanating from within to create a localized rainbow that stained the world in its colors.

    I was yanked back behind its boundary by Amber.

    ¡°You can see enough from here,¡± she said.

    I shook my arm free. ¡°What if our target¡¯s inside?¡±

    Amber narrowed her eyes. ¡°We passed a nest of symbiosnakes on the way here. If you care about our target then we turn back.¡±

    ¡°What if the thing I¡¯m hunting for is in there?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re hunting for.¡±

    I turned back to the castle. My heart beat a furious melody. There was no sensible reason to enter. We didn¡¯t know the Court and thus we didn¡¯t know the dangers. Yet I yearned all the same. An ominous portent in hindsight.

    Before I could answer, it emerged from another part of the labyrinth. Something fleshy like a salamander. Plates ran along its spine as if an armadillo. It scurried atop fifty pairs of legs. While its face was skink-like and dotted by six tar-black eyes that wept endlessly.

    ¡°A lindwurm,¡± Amber spoke softly. The entity, the lindwurm, was sensitive to its own name. She swung us out of sight as its head rose to give a half-hearted once over of the area. We heard it leave¡ªits walk the refrain of a platoon at march¡ªand only when the echo died did we move.

    I flipped through the compendium to find whatever that was. Amber lowered my arms.

    ¡°You won¡¯t find it. It¡¯s not on the Public Record.¡±

    I asked, ¡°Then how do you know what it is?¡±

    She glared at me. ¡°How do you know?¡± I asked again.

    ¡°Changeover. Watched a cult use five of those shits to poison a river down to its ontological foundation. Far as I know it never got cleaned.¡±

    I stared at her in awe. ¡°You saw them make the Black Vein?¡±

    ¡°Eh, it¡¯s not a big deal. Everyone saw something historic in those days. Though back then it was just traumatic.¡± Amber glanced toward me and scowled. A cruel smile had wiggled across my face. It was rude not to listen¡ªadults rarely spoke about their memories of the changeover¡ªbut my mind was busy imagining my dad¡¯s killers weeping tar-black tears from behind their masks.

    ¡°What Court is it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Desecration,¡± she answered.

    My tongue ran across my lips. The taste of the word was smooth and cold. Two perfect traits for what would be the method by which I exacted revenge.

    ¡°Amber, I¡¯m going to hunt the lindwurm,¡± I said. She watched¡ªprobably in horror¡ªas I raced into the castle intent on making its power my own.

 Chapter 4

    Amber caught up to me in the castle¡¯s foyer. Admittedly, the castle was more manor by way of castle than an actual fortress. No clearer was that than the immediate opulence which bombarded you upon entrance. The floor was polished to a mirror sheen and held within its stone the impression of cosmic depth. I moved from floor to ceiling only to see spheres of light swim through the air above. Each of them bound by a rope of light that marked their formations out as constellations. Having learned my lesson, I didn¡¯t try to see beyond them. I even gave my eyes a good blink to help my mind reset. It allowed me to see how much gold¡ªor what passed as gold¡ªgilded the walls. They too were spotless to the point of being mirrored sunshine.

    I smirked at Amber. ¡°Thanks for not abandoning me,¡± I said.

    She flipped me off. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry, I still am. I just wanted to be present for the look of despair when you try to capture a lindwurm without a single binding capsule.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± she said before she slammed one into my hand. The capsule was a hexagonal prism of polished corundum whose ends were capped in filigreed silver. I turned it over and noted the button on one of the caps. You pressed it before casting the capsule at the entity you wanted to bind. Simple to use. . . provided you don¡¯t forget them.

    ¡°Thanks. If I¡¯m going to hunt this, I¡¯ll um. . .¡± I trailed off.

    Amber rolled her eyes. ¡°Be a big girl. Use your words,¡± she teased.

    I grimaced, ¡°Can you tell¡ª,¡±

    ¡°Please. Say please if you¡¯re going to ask your more experienced senior a question.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, you¡¯re obnoxious,¡± I said.

    She shrugged, ¡°And you¡¯re self-serious. Fork found in kitchen.¡±

    ¡°Can you please tell me what I need to know so I can hunt the lindwurm?¡± I asked.

    She threw her hands behind her head and sashayed over to a pillar in a room to the left of the foyer.

    ¡°Formed by the ruling Principle of Pyres and the advising Principle of Gloom, Desecration is the foul inversion of the reverence that can be found in its cousin courts.¡±

    Amber squatted on her haunches and waved me over. Her other hand ready to guide my eye to the base of the pillar.

    I asked, ¡°What am I¡ª?¡±

    She cut me off, ¡°It¡¯s sorceries and entities agents of corruption and degradation. A toxin antithetical to existence itself.¡± Her voice was ironed to crisp perfection; an affectation held by whoever it was Amber¡¯s rendition was in ode to. ¡°The pillar, Temple,¡± she added.

    My eyes had failed to follow her hand¡ªsomething had caught my eye, I suppose¡ªso she rapped her knuckles against the pillar. Careful to avoid the blotch of inverted color that crawled up its surface the way ink spreads against a wet page. I blinked my eyes before the uncanniness of the scene could take me. Redirected to something safe¡ªAmber¡¯s face.

    The gravity of her attention folded down upon me. In some part of myself I recognized the feeling. It reminded me of back near the shrine¡ªbut my comprehension fled when she spoke.

    ¡°Temple, Desecration is a path for those ready to be a walking sin against life. Would you damn yourself that much for vengeance?¡± she asked.

    I stared back unsure. ¡°What¡¯s sin?¡± I asked.

    Amber quirked her lips in appreciation of a joke I never told. I had known sin was some Old World concept. Saw it mentioned in a book once. Felt like a heavy word. Same way that Desecration was. The way vengeance was. What humor she derived from my question clattered to the floor as she read something in me again.

    I stood first. ¡°Can¡¯t say. . . to your question that is. Right now I just need the power to get started,¡± I said and pointed to the corroded remains of what had once been a cellar door. A small trail of inverted blotches led to it in the next room over.

    We passed through the room and did our best to avoid looking at its overflowing bookshelves. I blinked so much that what remained in my head was more slide-show than memory. Books shot out. Fell open. Tomes rained down. Sensorial slices of the Underside¡¯s most famous memetic hazards¡ªknowledge.

    To a summoner, any bit of information was as good as salt. A little stretched a long way whether it opened new doors or preserved something for when you¡¯d need it most. The problem though was that few cared to make it widely available. Those sorceries that went unshared were the cornerstone to every family story of how they got through the Changeover. As such, everyone hoarded a little and in the case of collectives they hoarded a lot. Sure, the Public Record existed up on the NewNet as, ¡°the world¡¯s Grimoire,¡± but it was always a secret behind.

    This might have been okay if the entities we bonded with were forthright. Unfortunately they played a game all their own. If you were lucky, the entity might teach you a hand-spell here or there. For most summoners you had to rely on pure observation. Divine a sorcery by watching an entity work miracles with about as much effort as it takes to breathe. It was why these books were so tempting. The Underside doesn¡¯t lie, but it also doesn¡¯t hold back. To figure out a sorcery on your own meant creating something a human mind can handle. Trying to learn from one of these auto-generating grimoires on the other hand would be akin to a deity inscribing the secrets of the universe into your gray matter. You¡¯d be overwritten by the first page.

    My body unclenched when we arrived at the trapdoor. While the literal door was in shambles the ladder that plunged down into that impenetrable dark was untouched. Some part of me clenched.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Can we send Nahey down? Scout things out for us,¡± I said.

    ¡°First rule of a hunt, don¡¯t do anything that could tip off the target.¡±

    I nudged her¡ªwell, I was tense so I really jabbed her. ¡°I thought the first rule was to not explore the territory of unknown Courts?¡±

    She replied, ¡°Yet here we are. My job is to keep you from straying to your death. We do this the right way.¡±

    My nervous attempt at a grin was trampled. I let out a breath and ignored the way my suit hummed as it cycled it away so I didn¡¯t poison myself¡ªthough what¡¯s life but an endless dosing of poison until one day it takes you.

    I threaded my way past the inverted blotches and onto the ladder.

    ***

    The ladder terminated before it reached the ground. We were high enough that we couldn¡¯t peer into the room below. From within the dark of the tunnel we could only spy a sea of dusty blue stone. With nothing to compare to the fall could have been six feet or sixty. Amber didn¡¯t press me to make a decision. When I looked up at her she read my face. I read her as she read me¡ªwhatever she saw made her smile softly and with great pity¡ªso I let go of the ladder.

    When you fall from a high enough height it doesn¡¯t feel like falling. Instead it¡¯s some sort of terrestrial parallax where all of creation moves around you. Until you hit the ground you¡¯re weightless.

    My legs buckled beneath me when I hit the ground. The face shield of the Undersuit slid atop a piece of stonework broken free from its neighbor tiles. My world became it as I hung at the edge of my senses. Was that a crack or a scratch? Could I smell the room I¡¯d fallen in or was it simply my own breath? I heard a whistle. Thin and light, the teasing call of air slipping past. My heart chased after that whistle and banged a wretched beat within my chest.

    ¡°Are you getting up, Temple?¡± Amber asked.

    The whistle stopped when she spoke. I pulled myself to my knees and watched her whistle¡ªthin and light. A chuckle escaped my lips. When I found my feet I took in the room we had fallen into. The walls were roughly hewn stone. It was the striation in the walls that had stained the dust¡ªand now us¡ªwith a faded indigo hue. A bright streak of stone ran through the walls. The streak was low to the ground and the cost of its light was that the ceiling was given over to a miasma of shadow.

    It didn¡¯t take me a single blink to turn away from it. I had become comfortable with the dark that teased me like some gothic ingenue. Instead I found more interest in the ground. Pitchfork shaped tracks¡ªwhich matched the shape of the lindwurm¡¯s feet¡ªled a tight march down the length of the room. Then, they stopped.

    Amber shook me by the shoulder. ¡°Temple, the walls¡ª,¡± she said.

    My finger pointed at the absent tracks. ¡°Can Desecration teleport?¡± I asked.

    Amber snorted. ¡°If any Court can, I don¡¯t know which. Doubt it¡¯d be that one.¡±

    She turned around and measured the tracks with both hands.

    ¡°There¡¯s a simpler answer than teleportation,¡± she said. ¡°Lindwurm¡¯s long enough that it probably just reared up and started walking on the ceiling. Put those gecko toes to work.¡±

    I nodded in understanding, and saved my life.

    The sound hit me before recognition did. A breath drawn in so fast that it clicked on a flameless lighter. The heat warmed the suit enough for me to feel the gentle caress of doom. I turned¡ªstunned stupid¡ªand drew my lips back into a polite ¡®O¡¯ the way one would to humor a child telling you a fact like, ¡°the sky is blue.¡± That was my face when I saw the rigid spear behind me. It wasn¡¯t there before the heat or the sound.

    Amber¡ªmy trusty senior¡ªhad already summoned Nahey in the time it took for me to consider that I should turn around. The clump of unearthly butterflies took toward the ceiling. Each flap released a pulse of something that strummed the fibers of my spiritual musculature. Then, from nowhere at all, a spotlight fell upon me. The next pulse called a spotlight down onto Amber. The third banished the dark of the ceiling¡ªthat I had ignored, confident in assessment¡ªto reveal the lindwurm. It¡¯s maw unhinged and yawning. Past three sets of rotted teeth kept in place by black gums was the wiggling stump of its tongue. Sinuouslike it thrashed within the entity¡¯s mouth as the tip bubbled with new flesh.

    ¡°Nadia we have to move,¡± Amber yelled.

    Her hand clutched mine as she took off. We raced forward without knowledge of anywhere to run. I turned my head back to the lindwurm just in time to witness its tongue fully reform. Its head drew back like an atlatl and I marveled at how its tongue stiffened to a sadistic point. The corruption coating its tip as black and lustrous as an inkbrush.

    ¡°Down,¡± I called out. Amber didn¡¯t question me and slammed us into the stone floor. Then there went that sound again as it fired its tongue-lance at the now vacant space. We shot from the floor after it as where it had gone was the opposite direction of the lindwurm. In the midst of all this¡ªbetween huffed breaths and the way Amber¡¯s hand was smaller than mine yet vicelike¡ªI remembered the binding capsule.

    My thumb pressed against the button. The red light of the corundum warred with the wall¡¯s blue until they settled into an affair of violet. While the capsule was primed the new light had revealed where the dodged tongue-lance had landed. It had lodged itself into a great stone door that plunged seamlessly into the floor. Twin sphinxes with lids shut in pleasant contemplation framed the megalithic slab. A well-eroded inscription in some forgotten¡ªthough hopefully human¡ªscript. The door no doubt was commanded by some mechanism that the inscription explained. I watched Amber run her eyes¡ªunblinking¡ªover the door again and again. As if all it needed was one more read and would make way for her.

    I left her to her battle, and set my eyes upon mine. The lindwurm has scurried at double pace along the ceiling. Its tongue not yet reloaded. My head raised in acknowledgment of its power. The entity¡¯s forward body peeled away from the ceiling, and twisted itself mid-air. Closed its mouth so I might meet its eyes, and gifted me a tilt of its head. Acknowledgement.

    Gone went my fear. Doubt banished to the hinterlands of my thoughts. They had no place in our duel. Instead I hefted the capsule and reared back my arm. From some primal part of my brain I discovered that a defiant scream had flown free from my throat. Just as the capsule cleared the tips of my fingers. There was no reason to scream, but I felt better all the same.

    The capsule flew true in a tight spiral. Years of playing catch with my dad evident in the beauty of its arc. Unfortunately the lindwurm¡¯s very existence was the corruption of beauty. It¡¯s tongue-lance didn¡¯t fire. Just thrust. Pierced the capsule and skewered my hope. The entity¡¯s dark eyes drank deep of the red light¡ªan accentuation to its merry sadism. Yet in the next moment, the capsule twitched. In the next it came undone. The facets disconnected and disgorged red threadlike tendrils that arced around the lindwurm¡¯s body.

    It fell from the ceiling as it tried to thrash, writhe, and slither its way free from the binding. In response, it flared and sizzled against the entity¡¯s glistening flesh. The lindwurm loosed a bellow that made the rocks dance.

    ¡°I did it,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s mine. How do I bond to it?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t.¡± She added, ¡°At least not with the suit on. If you want power you need to be vulnerable. Though I don¡¯t think you have to worry about that.¡±

    As if cued, the bindings flared once more leaving the memory of stellar chains behind my eyelids. When they shattered and the light died I knew the lindwurm was freed.

 Chapter 5

    We stood there still as statues. Expressions chiseled into the eternity that the moment stretched into. I imagined this was how prey felt when finally cornered by a predator. Frozen and clinging to the fallow hope that in stillness could come safety. At least, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t move.

    I whispered, ¡°The prism was supposed to bind anything from the soldiery.¡±

    Glurk glurk glurk. It was a revolting noise reminiscent of someone pulling a shoe free from mud. My wide doe-eyes narrowed to compliment the sneer that formed. I hated when someone laughed at me. The lindwurm¡¯s eyes swiveled chameleon-like to stare at me. Its sucking deep throated chortle ceased.

    ¡°Oh, spare me your eyes lest I snatch them,¡± the lindwurm said. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault you poorly graded my own magnificence.¡±

    Amber swore beneath her breath. ¡°Are the theatrics necessary?¡±

    The lindwurm huffed. ¡°You¡¯re the one who placed me into the spotlight. Though, you¡¯ve been on the stage for quite awhile already yourself, little player.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re not a soldier then what are you?¡± I asked. ¡°Don¡¯t I at least get to know the name of the entity that¡¯ll kill me?¡±

    The lindwurm reared itself up¡ªthe damn thing was vain as hell¡ªand pressed a gecko-esque paw to its chest. ¡°My name, no you don¡¯t get to have that. I enjoy not being caged by you summoners. The rest though I suppose I can answer,¡± it said. ¡°Upon the great Chain of Vassalage, my rank is baron. My title, The Song That Resounds Amidst the Ruins.¡±

    ¡°Pleasure to meet you,¡± I said. My own fear melting into acceptance.

    ¡°You bespoil the etiquette behind those words,¡± it said. ¡°Lovely. Now, you did get one more thing wrong.¡±

    ¡°That is?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°That I¡¯ll kill you. It¡¯d be a shame to slay someone so willing to betray all that they are.¡± It leveled these words at me. ¡°So I offer you this deal: bond to me and I spare your friend. I¡¯ll even make sure we get the vengeance you crave.¡±

    I glanced at Amber. ¡°You¡¯re my senior,¡± I said. They were the only words needed.

    She shook her head. ¡°Desecration respects nothing. Any deal you make with it expect to come out the loser.¡±

    I turned to the lindwurm, ¡°You heard her. Plus, I prefer to keep my autonomy and my mind to myself. I¡¯d lose both bonding with you.¡±

    The lindwurm released a rancid sigh. ¡°Well then. . .¡± it trailed off. Silence settled around us to compliment the standoff we were in.

    Amber chuckled, ¡°I always thought I¡¯d die by firing squad¡ª¡± tink. The frail noise severed her words. We both spotted the small chip of stone that had fallen away from the door behind us. She tilted her head, spotted something, and turned back. An ember of mirth had returned to her.

    ¡°If we¡¯re to die, let''s make a game of it. Give us one chance to start this chase all over again,¡± she said to the lindwurm.

    It chuckled before asking, ¡°What happened to ¡®Desecration respects nothing?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s still there, but would you really miss out on a chance to have some fun?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if the moment calls for fun,¡± it answered.

    She shook her head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t. This is a somber tragic moment in which our poor heroine meets an untimely end. It calls for a solemnity.¡±

    ¡°Solemnity?¡± it asked.

    ¡°Yes. Endings are a sacred thing, really.¡±

    I watched as her words elicited a hiss from the baron before us. A dry spot hand appeared upon its chest. The lindwurm¡¯s head rocked side-to-side like a swaying ship. Its jaw worked over the problem before it. ¡®Honor¡¯ the moment and kill us easily, or risk it all on an impromptu game.

    ¡°I. . .¡± the dry patch spread. Flakes of skin snowed oh so gently. ¡°The game,¡± it responded.

    Amber grinned, ¡°Five shots. Take five shots of your weird tongue thing at us at point-blank range just as we are now. If we avoid them all then you let us pass, and we start this chase over.¡±

    ¡°If I win?¡±

    ¡°Well, you get the outcome you would¡¯ve had anyways. Hell, you still might even if we ¡®win¡¯. We have a deal?¡±

    The lindwurm lowered itself. ¡°Yes,¡± and opened its maw to reveal a pre-loaded tongue-spear. I snatched Amber¡¯s arm and pulled her back towards me. The spear went wide and thudded into the door behind us. Stone chips showered behind us like the embers of a sparkler. The lindwurm tsk¡¯d and began the process of reloading its tongue.

    I asked, ¡°Have any spells to help us win?¡±

    ¡°None at all. Hope you were good at dodgeball,¡± she answered.

    My breath slowed as I did my best to watch the lindwurm. Any twitch of motion that could give away its next target.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to blink, Temple,¡± Amber said.

    I turned my head toward her. ¡°How am I supposed to¡ª¡±

    Her leg lashed. Hooked my ankle and pulled. Thwoomb. The lindwurm¡¯s tongue zoomed above my body. I clattered to the ground. Looked up at the door to see the three tongue-spears embedded deep into the stone. Fissures connected them like a grim constellation.

    Amber swung her arm out my way¡ªkept her eyes fixed on the lindwurm the entire time¡ªand helped me up. When my hand slid into hers I tapped a finger against her palm.

    ¡°You sure?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m the navigator, aren¡¯t I?¡± I asked back.

    She laughed. I hate when people laugh at me, but hers was a laugh like helium. Made you lighter than your problems versus highlighting that you had them at all. My mouth twisted into a smile as I found my feet. Together we could face¡ª

    ¡°Argh,¡± she screamed. I turned and felt joy curdle. We had believed the lindwurm¡¯s attacks were just simple projectiles. Fired and left inert upon arrival. Yet here they were removed from the door and twined together into a fleshy-rebar that punctured Amber¡¯s thigh.

    She dropped to a knee. The lindwurm chuckled as well.

    ¡°You cheated,¡± I said.

    It smiled at me. ¡°Oh summoner, you always need to think about your words. The game was five shots for your chance to run again. Not that I¡¯d only shoot you.¡±

    Bitterness settled in my heart alongside the guilt already present. The lindwurm didn¡¯t need to add that even if we did win any chance we could win the later chase had plummeted. My eyes blurred as fat tears rolled down my face. The lindwurm began to reload.

    I wouldn¡¯t give the lindwurm the pleasure of seeing the despair on my face. Instead I eyed the slowly crumbling wall that we had placed our hopes on. The force of the removal hand taken that constellation and turned it into a spiderweb of fractures. Even at this degree of degradation the door stood solid. It¡¯d need another blow before it crumbled. I slammed my fist into the door and shattered three bones in my hand. Hissed through clenched teeth at my own weakness.

    ¡°Give it up Temple, you¡¯d need a steel hammer to get through that door,¡± Amber said.

    Steel. I raised my fist again, but this time I turned it over to spot the linking cuff between the gloves of my suit and the main body. Pinched the cuff between my fingers to release it. With a hiss, I tore the glove off and watched as a windless force stole the skin from my fist to reveal the damask-patterned spirit that lay beneath. A metallic sheen danced across my knuckles as I reared back one last time¡ªexactly how Dad showed me.

    All of myself was engaged when I threw that punch. Not just my hips and shoulders, but my hatred too. I threw it not just wanting to strike stone, but strikethrough an enemy. All my enemies. The five masked killers, the adults of the town, and my own pitiful weakness. There was resistance when my knuckles kissed the stone. When I torqued my body I ground it to dust. Only to feel the sweet nothing of air right behind it. I smiled as the stonework flew off into the void.

    My smile turned to a gasp of surprise as I followed the stone and my fist down the flight of stairs. Behind me I saw, inverted, Amber crawl through the chunk of now revealed stone. In her hurry she fell with me. Behind her came the rushing bulk of the lindwurm. It slammed into the door and roared in disbelief that even missing a chunk the door rebuffed its assault. Our death delayed once more, Amber laughed as we tumbled into the dark.

    *  *  *

    When we arrived into a well-bruised heap at the bottom of the stairs, I found myself enraptured by a large stained glass window. I crawled out from beneath Amber¡ªwho slapped away my hand to camp herself against a wall¡ªand stumbled to the center of the room. The walls were packed earth and minimal stone. Shelves for mummified corpses.

    ¡°What leaves a corpse in the Underside?¡± I asked.

    Amber rolled her eyes. ¡°Now you notice them? Temple, this whole place is a crypt. Swear, hunter thinks they¡¯re near a¡­¡±

    I tuned her grumbling out. There were no more than twelve bodies here. I examined a shelf near Amber¡¯s head. Ran my hand through the dust to reveal a name.

    ¡°Shariq Ayyad,¡± I read.

    Amber rolled her head toward me. ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to read anything in the Underside, Temple,¡± she said.

    ¡°I know, but what does exposure matter if we¡¯ll still die?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Might still die,¡± she amended.

    Our eyes met and I read her for even a hair-thin crack of doubt. ¡°You really think we can still get out of this?¡± I asked.

    She shrugged and looked off into nothing. ¡°Don¡¯t you? No one punches through a door if they think it¡¯s hopeless.¡±

    She had me there. I rose to my full height and wiped off the dust on another shelf. This one read: Zayn Moore. A chuckle escaped my lips. Amber looked up.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°You go mad?¡± she asked.

    I began to strip off my Undersuit. Left it in a crisp puddle near Amber. The rest of my body took on the metallic hue of my fist. While my clothes fluttered away alongside my flesh. Amber shook her head mournfully and muttered, ¡°Yup, she went mad.¡±

    I took my place in the center of the room and took in the stained glass window. There was no light here, not even a candle, but still the window glowed with an inner radiance. It illuminated the glass depiction of a host of creatures that frolicked below in fields. There was even a sphinx. Above that host was a smaller number of beings. Going up and up in a pyramid¡ªno, a chain¡ªthat terminated at an apex depiction of something that whether an eye or a galaxy.

    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy you asshole. I¡¯m learning. This window it¡¯s a grimoire,¡± I said. ¡°Those names were human, not some gibberish the Underside came up with.¡±

    ¡°You really think the Underside can¡¯t make a name?¡±

    ¡°Amber, please!¡± I asked softly, ¡°Just humor me.¡±

    Her eyes fluttered away from me and back again. She rocked herself to her feet and shuffled next to me. Then, from my own vantage point, she saw what I saw. She even saw a little more.

    ¡°Aw fuck, this is some cult¡¯s initiatory space,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah, they even have a focusing circle.¡±

    I looked down and noticed that below us was a chipped mosaic of occult complexity. When it was new it must have been beautiful. Clean and glossy tiled arcs tracing shapes inside and outside the circle. A landing strip and radio station for a summoner to call down any entity from the court. At the moment though, it was a shabby broken thing. Only the circle remained¡ªtoo thick for a few chips to ruin it.

    ¡°We could¡ª,¡± I said.

    ¡°Temple, we¡¯re not using some busted cultist focusing circle.¡±

    ¡°We will if I want to summon something.¡±

    ¡°Something, she says,¡± Amber muttered. ¡°You don¡¯t even know what you¡¯re going to get. You don¡¯t know what this Court is. You don¡¯t have a single name to identify the entity. Even with the summoning circle you¡¯re flying blind. There¡¯s a reason people summon only from what they have records if they summon at all. We need tools if we were going to do this right.¡±

    ¡°Good thing we have this cultist focusing circle. Should still be keyed to the Court.¡±

    Amber¡¯s mouth fell in astonishment. ¡°You¡¯ll have no protection if you do this.¡±

    I smirked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you have to be vulnerable if you want power?¡±

    Amber flipped me off. Then shuffled behind me.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s do this. Know how to sit seiza?¡± she asked.

    I answered by taking the position. She carefully settled onto her knees. I tried to ignore the squelch of blood getting pushed out from her motions.

    ¡°Temple, align your mind on as clear a desire as possible. That desire¡¯s the message you¡¯ll be broadcasting across the Underside,¡± she said. ¡°Remember, no matter what answers it¡¯s your decision to bond with them.¡±

    My mind raced alongside my heart. Worried breaths shuffled in and out of myself. I¡¯d love to say I had a clear desire in mind, but I didn¡¯t. When I tried to focus on the idea of just getting out of here my nerves crept over my shoulder to remind me that bonds were lifelong. A marriage of spirits. So then I looked to my future, and felt even the firmness of my vengeance fracture. Amber had asked if my dad deserved to be avenged, and while one part of me roared yes another part stayed silent. He was a Godtender and never told me. He was my dad, but that quiet part dared to ask, ¡°Is he?¡±

    I scurried from that thought and bumped into the reality of how much I didn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t know the lindwurm was a baron. I didn¡¯t know the faces of my father¡¯s killers. I didn¡¯t even know their Courts. If I was to find them it¡¯d be a miracle because I didn¡¯t know how. In fact, all of my problems were some cousin to the reality that, ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡± The conviction that led me to this moment was based on a ¡°didn¡¯t know.¡± I scowled and shook my head. I may not have known, but I knew what I didn¡¯t need and that was self-pity. My head rose and fixed on the window. A stubbornness suffused in myself as my spirit flesh rose in hue. The heat I felt on the night I swore vengeance crept up my limbs again. Raced toward my heart as I blazed orange-white once again. I forged myself once again.

    I was the navigator. I opened the doorway. I find the way. As I stared at the window I felt my eyes unfocus. A message had fixed itself in me. Wove around my spine to alert the entirety of my being. I wanted to find the way forward. Always forward.

    At some point, Amber probably asked if I was ready. I don¡¯t remember saying anything, but she knew. She wove a hand-spell made of a series of seals. Finished the sorcery by stamping her thumb against the base of my skull. Then unlocked my spirit.

    My chest bloomed and came undone. Orange-white camellia petals made from my own spirit flesh parted to form a flower that was my entirety. Thin cordlike tendrils emerged from within and shivered in the windless breeze of the Underside. The pistil and stamen of the flower I sported. The physicalization of my desire. I sat there and waited.

    In the distant shadows of my mind, I could hear the avalanche rumble of rubble tumble down the stairs. I even noted how the tips of my metallic petals seemed to tarnish ever so slightly. Desecration was on the wind. The lindwurm was coming. It was in those far wings where sensation lived and thought died that I knew Amber was alone. She needed me.

    ¡°She needs us,¡± a voiceless voice said.

    Voiceless because there was no sound at all. The Underside had no need of it. Instead, I felt the meaning with the entirety of my being. That¡¯s when I felt reality purr in approval of my understanding. Space¡ªme¡ªthe Underside rippled to the frequency of that lascivious purr.

    ¡°Ah!¡± The moan rushed free from me as I felt my petals be pinched between cosmic fingers that ran back and forth in examination.

    ¡°You¡¯ll do well for me,¡± the presence said.

    My vision refocused as I took in the window. The stained glass figures had turned their heads to face me. Their glass mouths moved in unison as the voice spoke.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you warned about staring,¡± it reminded me.

    I couldn¡¯t blink though. I couldn¡¯t do anything but behold. In fact, I didn¡¯t want to. I felt my pistil and stamen wind around this power¡¯s fist. It yanked me from my sitting position to one that was decidedly kneeling.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I like about you, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°How do you know my name?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The same way you know mine,¡± it responded.

    Those fingers loosened their grip and twined within myself. Yet it meant I was also twined with her. I moved to speak her name. Yet before I could I felt fingers grasp my tongue. Make a haven of my mouth. I suppose you could say I was in her clutches.

    ¡°That you are, my little summoner. Still, better to be in mine than to tumble free until you splatter against the firmament,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s what happens when one as weak as you tries to lift the burden of my name. So be silent and just hold it close to your heart.¡±

    I felt something slide within me. Like a tapioca ball shooting through a straw. Until it plopped and sunk within my mind past the probing fingers of my own consciousness.

    ¡°Good girl,¡± she said. I knew she was because she made sure I knew. ¡°Now, before we bargain¡ª,¡±

    ¡°Bargain?¡±

    ¡°Bargain. Before we do so, I want you to tilt your head backwards. There, there,¡± she said as I followed the instruction.

    My vision fully inverted I saw the twisted form of the lindwurm propel from the shadows. Maw yawning and tongue sharp, so it could consume Amber. I saw Amber¡¯s eyes had slid to the corners. She probably caught sight of the smallest blur of the lindwurm. Not enough time to even be fully aware she would die.

    ¡°You stopped time?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have had much time to bargain if I hadn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m being Observed,¡± I said.

    Existence purred once again, and I formed a weak smile around her fingers. As kids we all learn about Observation. First in rhymes and songs, and then in the myths told about the heroes and villains of the Changeover. Many of the facets are the same no matter the story: time slowing or stopping, hearing voices without any sound, being touched by the universe. They were also all in agreement that it was the worst fate that could befall a person.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that bad,¡± she said. ¡°All around you are those I once Observed.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re dead,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not my fault,¡± she replied.

    We both knew that wasn¡¯t true. Reality doesn¡¯t take well when an entity decides to make their presence known through Observation. Whether in Realspace or the Underside, an unincarnated entity was just too heavy for existence to carry. So reality tended to buckle, and the influence of the Court would seep in. Whether warping matter or manipulating outcomes the entity didn¡¯t have to do anything. Just watching was enough.

    ¡°What did I do to catch your eye?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No need to be so glum darling,¡± she stroked my face. ¡°You did a very good thing. You¡¯ve provided me a way into the world again.¡±

    ¡°Again?¡±

    She nodded. ¡°My enemies razed my court to nothing. Slew every link in the Chain until not a single piece of me was left incarnated. Slew my summoners so my many names would be lost. I¡¯d still Be for I already Am, but I couldn¡¯t let them get away with it. Who would avenge me?¡±

    Water¡ªor something like water¡ªseeped out around the frame of the window. Ran like rivers past me. Tears of my own poured down my face.

    ¡°You see Nadia, I want a way as well. Be the navigator that might chart a Sovereign¡¯s vengeance and my return to reality. In turn I¡¯ll be yours, and guide you to your own foes.¡±

    The deal was good, but it needed one more thing. ¡°Kill the lindwurm, please,¡± I said.

    The universe bounced with laughter. She leaned in close¡ªor rather existence did¡ªand whispered to the ribosomes at the center of my cells.

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky you¡¯re my favorite summoner,¡± she said.

    I smiled, ¡°I¡¯m your only one.¡±

    ¡°So you are.¡±

    There was a snap as if reality rubber-banded into one point. The stained glass shattered. Yet the shards tumbled inwards to reveal a sea of blazing stars. An endless expanse of tomorrow down which one could tumble through a hundred-thousand futures that diverged¡ª

    ¡°Blink.¡±

    I blinked. Blinked again. Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. Everything was still red! Then it was null.

    ¡°Breath,¡± she said.

    I obeyed. With the gentle sweep of a divine hand the universe was shuttered to me.

    ¡°I always forgot to warn people not to look. But you can now,¡± she said.

    Her hand was removed and reality returned to me. The window was whole. My vision was clear. Though I saw droplets of my blood frozen in mid-ascension. Like raindrops in reverse. What was also before was a sphinx. Whose feathers were opalescent and shimmered with secrets. Its body rippled with muscle and its fur was spotted like a snow leopard. Though the sphinx¡¯s spots were like eyes on a peacock¡¯s feather. Its face was heart-shaped and androgynous with a strong nose, smooth forehead, and half-lidded eyes that held barely a smidge of bemusement.

    ¡°Behold, the guardian of ways and your initiator into the mysteries of my Court,¡± she said through the sphinx¡¯s mouth.

    I tilted my head in acknowledgement. Then I felt my pistil and stamen guided by her fingers to intertwine with the feather¡¯s of the sphinx¡¯s single outstretched wing. She wove us together into the singular being our bond now made us.

    ¡°The lindwurm,¡± I said. ¡°You promised.¡±

    ¡°So I did,¡± she said.

    Piloting the body of the sphinx you passed me. The bloom of my spirit closed up and smoothed back into my chest. I rose to tired unsteady legs. Watched as my new partner approached the lindwurm and placed a single paw against its head. She looked back to me¡ªcause apparently the sphinx could rotate its head like an owl¡ªand revealed the armory of knives that hid in her mouth under the guise of teeth.

    ¡°Pay close attention my dear summoner, for this is the power of Revelation.¡±

    All the outcomes that ever could be swirled into this moment. Under control of a divine will it condensed them until they were but a single bead of power. Then, with a deft control, she bisected infinity and unleashed a glorious stream of chalcedony flames. They spiraled down the lindwurm¡¯s gullet illuminating its entire length as they ate it from the inside out.

    In this timeless moment, I watched the lindwurm become a silhouette of ash imprinted onto reality. The sphinx returned to me and sat upon its haunches with a wan smile. She was still piloting it. Through eyes half-lidded I locked gazes with a goddess.

    ¡°Don¡¯t expect me to save you again, my summoner. The way is only worth the effort we put into walking it,¡± she said.

    Then I watched as she stepped away from the moment and time resumed. The patter of my raining blood marking her exit. Amber¡¯s hand stilled as she turned to spy the ashen silhouette that hung in space. The last remnant of the lindwurm. Finally, she looked at me and nodded.

    ¡°Introduce me to your entity later,¡± she said. ¡°I want to get back topside soon as possible.¡±

    She took a few steps before collapsing to the ground. The leg of her suit was so suffused with blood that it welled up from within the fabric. I slid to my knees and cradled her. Struggled with her wrist so I could check the vitals watch built into the suit. Her heartbeat was dropping fast. The sphinx sidled next to me and crouched.

    ¡°Your legs are slow,¡± it said.

    Nahey tittered at me. Fluttering violently around my head no doubt worried I¡¯d drop Amber. So extra carefully I laid her across the sphinx¡¯s back. Then I climbed atop it myself.

    ¡°Do you know a way out?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Summoner, we¡¯re of Revelation. We always know a way,¡± it answered. Then sped off in a race against Amber¡¯s plummeting heartbeat.

 Chapter 6

    From my vantage point atop the sphinx I saw the Underside unfurl before me. A quilt of Courts and their psychedelic domains flowed into an impressionistic blur. I wanted to try and appreciate it¡ªI was flying after all¡ªbut at the center of my vision was Amber¡¯s slumped body. Her life dripped around a wound that would¡¯ve been better served on me.

    ¡°Guilt is ill served when walking the way,¡± the sphinx said.

    ¡°How do you know I¡¯m feeling guilty?¡± I asked.

    The sphinx chuffed. ¡°Our natures are fibers interwoven, summoner. While your soul proves expansive enough that our thoughts don¡¯t blend it hardly means I hear nothing at all.¡±

    I searched my own thoughts trying to find any sign of the bleed that the sphinx spoke of. Yet my mind was a house in a tornado. I¡¯d never find any trace of it, but I could exhaust myself in the search. That was the most efficient method an entity used to undermine their summoner. Make them doubt their thoughts, doubt their family, and reduce them to a sorcery casting shell that sought succor in power. At the end of those tales the summoner would attempt the trial to graduate their entity into one of its upChain forms only to fall short. Dad had said we lost most of the Old World leadership that way.

    ¡°Doubt is. . . better for the way.¡± The sphinx added, ¡°but let it not curdle to paranoia. My Sovereign has need of you, and shells of men are ill-fit to bear the weight of Revelation.¡±

    I did my best to block out the slowing pace of Amber¡¯s heart beat. ¡°What happens when she doesn¡¯t need me anymore?¡±

    The sphinx was silent for a moment. I couldn¡¯t see its face, but as I fixed myself on trying to interpret the small tilts of its head I felt. . . discourse? I wanted something firmer than that but before I could press the curtain of trees that surrounded camp came into view. In preparation for landing, I gathered Amber into my arms best I could.

    We glided downward through the trees¡ªtheir density forced us from proper flight. From branch to branch the sphinx made light work of the arboreal obstruction. Until we finally broke free from the treeline into the ¡°clearing¡± that the hunter encampment had nestled into.

    To their credit, the hunters had already formed hand-spells of their own on the off chance it was an attack from some unbonded entity. There was even someone who brandished a gun in one hand. A dull piece of metal scuffed from use. Not common anymore¡ªmost didn¡¯t want to waste the resources on shaping bullets¡ªand functionally useless against entities. A reminder that despite Amber¡¯s talk of peace we still needed ways to put down our own.

    With my hands full I propped Amber up and gave her a good wave.

    ¡°It¡¯s me, Nadia Temple. Amber, she needs¡ª,¡± and before I could finish the medics on standby claimed her.

    I watched as she disappeared into their white tent. Looked down to see my own hands¡ªmetallic, empty, and stained¡ªand slid from the sphinx¡¯s back. The rest of the hunters had already lowered their hands. Though the one with the gun walked over with it still raised.

    ¡°You in charge?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Pretty sure,¡± I said.

    He drew back the hammer and leveled the gun at me. The barrel settled into my blindspot¡ªI had to cross my eyes and look up to even see it¡ªwhile the now doubled crowd pressed in.

    Someone shouted, ¡°Put it down, Reggie, she¡¯s good!¡±

    The gunman, Reggie, turned away to shout back. ¡°She ain¡¯t in her ¡®suit. For all we know she¡¯s riddled with curses. Alls below, look at what she rode in on. You think that thing is soldiery?¡±

    The bystander was silent. ¡°Thought not,¡± Reggie said.

    Standing there gun to temple, I was furious. Here I survived an encounter with a baron¡ªwithout an entity mind you¡ªand could nearly be domed by this camo clad asshole. On reflection, he was right to be wary. I was forgetful and left my suit¡ªignore the fact I was rushing to save Amber¡¯s life¡ªand yeah, the sphinx was beautiful. Too beautiful for most soldier class entities. Heck, I¡¯d even give it to him that there was a fair threat that I bonded to something beyond me and had become a puppet under its power. It¡¯s what the lindwurm wanted me for afterall.

    All the same, I was tired of being treated like I was powerless. The image of the Sovereign¡ªunincarnated but still powerful¡ªreturned to my mind. In the pocketful of seconds Reggie had turned away from me I had deduced my first sorcery.

    My index and middle fingers crossed. Their tips settled against the elbow of Reggie¡¯s outstretched arm. The blustery fuck didn¡¯t even realize people had stepped backward. I felt the energy of hundred steps walking a million roads bind into those fingers. Then I split infinity. Reggie screamed.

    I don¡¯t recall what he looked like after I released the spell. My eyes were fixed upon the bouquet of chalcedony fire that sprung from my fingers. I had cast my first true sorcery. Not the civic minded domestic garbage that we called, mortal tier¡ªthe garbage my father had dedicated his life to¡ªbut rather the kind of glorious working that became the stone that had shattered the foundations of the Old World. A weapon that could sever an arm. Could kill a father.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± the crew lead said. His hand wrapped over my own. Turned my outstretched fingers¡ªbecause I had aimed them at Reggie¡¯s fallen form at some point¡ªinto a fist inside his. ¡°No more.¡±

    I moved my gaze from Reggie¡ªclutching his now severed arm as bystanders hustled him to the medical tent¡ªback to the crew lead. There wasn¡¯t any judgment there. Just pity? My lip quivered as I couldn¡¯t face that. Still can¡¯t. So, I lowered my arm.

    ¡°Good girl,¡± he said. ¡°Congrats on becoming an adult.¡±

    I gave him a half-hearted smile in thanks¡ªhe deserved more than I had¡ªand retired to a spare tent. It wasn¡¯t a camping tent necessarily, but more of an event kind. Where the ceiling was high, had smooth canvas walls for rain to roll off of, and was big enough to hold some cots and trunks. Most hunters ran this sort of set-up because graduation hunting was usually easy. The sort of affair where hunters could roam out, get a few catches and come back in time for a beer and a barbecue.

    My head fell against my arms to a bassy clang.

    ¡°I messed up,¡± I said to no one.

    Lips pressed against my forehead. I tilted my head to meet the eyes of the sphinx.

    ¡°That too is the way. Revelation is unseen where perfection walks,¡± it said.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, humor edging into my voice.

    Its mouth took a downtilt¡ªno doubt sensing my poorly restrained chuckle. ¡°Comfort is spoiled upon those without eyes to reflect.¡±

    It turned its face away from me. I lifted my head fully and set a hand against its shoulder. Felt the muscle that rippled beneath the fur that was soft as any Knitcroft-made fabric.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I admitted, ¡°I just didn¡¯t expect it. Comfort that is.¡±

    The sphinx¡¯s eyes met mine at its corners. ¡°Really? I see so many velvet ties wrapped around your heart. Even the mummer you had me ferry is still wrapped about you.¡±

    The humor in my voice chilled. ¡°Amber wants to comfort me?¡± I hardly deserved it.

    ¡°Open hands find it easier to give than a fist finds it to receive. If you could see more deeply you would know this.¡± It continued, ¡°Even now you fixate on a perceived failure. Yet look beneath, you found yourself a weapon by which you might wound others. Have saved the life of a friend. Accomplishing all you sought to do by your arrival.¡±

    ¡°Now who has to see more deeply?¡± I said, ¡°Because I didn¡¯t accomplish everything. I¡ª¡± and found the admission caught in my throat like a bone. I had forgotten Melissa in it all. Sprinted past the very thing I promised to bring back. The very reason I charted a course that brought us to our cross with the lindwurm.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t get a symbiosnake for Melissa.¡±

    The sphinx stared at me before it settled against the tree root that formed the ¡°floor¡± of the clearing. I heard¡ªno, felt¡ªit engage in discourse again.

    ¡°Who are you talking to?¡± I asked.

    The sphinx¡¯s eyes cracked open. ¡°So now you see things, hmm. If you must know I was deliberating,¡± it said. The sphinx had set the lie between us, but I didn¡¯t have the heart to point out as much. It continued, ¡°This task that weighs on you can still be completed.¡±

    ¡°Really? How?¡± I asked eagerly.

    ¡°Rein thyself first,¡± it said. ¡°It can be completed, but your time with the maiden ends upon delivery. Any path with her is a beleaguered one.¡±

    I scowled, ¡°So I cut her from my life?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the bargain.¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± I said. ¡°This isn¡¯t anything I wasn¡¯t already going to do.¡±

    The sphinx chuffed before it rose to its paws and padded out the back of the tent. I rose with it, but it pawed the air dismissively. Stay here. So I stayed and I waited until sleep claimed me.

    * * *

    ¡°Awaken, summoner,¡± the sphinx whispered. Its voice was different from the goddess¡¯¡ªthe Sovereign¡ªraspy and low like the singers on Dad¡¯s records. A texture unlike the Sovereign¡¯s which was a honeyed intoxicant that dragged you below the threshold of sense. Still, my eyes fluttered as I pushed away from the cot and to my feet.

    ¡°Can we stop with the ¡®summoner¡¯ and ¡®my summoner¡¯ stuff?¡± I asked. ¡°My name¡¯s Nadia.¡±

    The sphinx¡¯s head tilted ninety-degrees. ¡°Is it critical to our partnership that I do?¡±

    I nodded. I needed at least the illusion of companionship. The feeling of need must have touched the sphinx at the place where our minds intermingled. Its head righted itself as its tail flicked through the air.

    ¡°Fine, Nadia,¡± it said.

    ¡°Can I call you anything?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Soldiery have no names.¡±

    ¡°Technically, but even Amber gave Nahey a nickname.¡±

    The sphinx rolled its eyes and spun its head. ¡°The soldiery have no names. It is only by the right of graduation to a higher station that we might gain them.¡±

    My own frustration edged in to meet its own, ¡°Why are you so firm on this?¡±

    ¡°Because my purpose is to be a gatekeeper. Not a friend. If you find fault in this then blame yourself for you summoned me, Nadia,¡± it hissed. ¡°Now, gather your gift and let us make haste. The camp is departing.¡±

    It was then I looked down to see the symbiosnake that had been placed just ahead of where my feet had fallen. The shifting twining thing squirmed against the red bindings which kept it in place. I stared at the bindings for the slightest change in hue. Nothing. Released a breath and plucked it up by the handle that the prism caps formed once deployed. Then set off for the surface with the rest of the hunter crew that had already begun the breakdown process.

    Up the lightless Staircase we ascended, and free from my Undersuit I felt the change from Conceptual Space to the Real. It reminded me of my young years at the lake with Melissa¡ªand the rest of our school to be technical¡ªwhere we¡¯d kick our feet hand-in-hand to break for the surface. Feel the way the water slid its fingers against our skin. The memory of moisture rapidly disappearing when met by the sun¡¯s light. Yet the passing was marked by the way our fingers wrinkled and skin glistened. It was like that¡ªfeelings and all. My skin even seemed to wrinkle, but as I pinched my skin to look more closely I just finally saw the damascus pattern of my spirit which gave the impression.

    The sphinx was the one whose transition from Conceptual to Real was perhaps most jarring. I hadn¡¯t realized that the time with which I had looked at it its body had been so illustrative. As if a painting you could view in the round. Yet now the painting had become not an idea but a compromised manifestation. Its fur was now distinguishable as a not-yet infinity of hairs. While its wings were such that each feather could be made out. Its lips made glossy in a¡ª

    ¡°Nadia, you¡¯re staring,¡± the sphinx said.

    I blushed and turned away. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just so. . . so ya know?¡± I asked.

    The sphinx smirked, ¡°Would that I could say you have hit upon the unspeakable nature of our Court.¡± It shook its head. ¡°However the nature of this transition can be described effortlessly. Awful.¡±

    The sphinx increased its pace until we broke from the pack of hunters dispersing to their left behind transport. Took a stretch and then shook wide its wings¡ªthey had grown.

    ¡°A negotiation with what you humans call physics. Don¡¯t stare too long at it lest the bitch know we¡¯ve cheated.¡±

    I mounted the sphinx hurriedly at that insistence. There was a honey¡¯d lilt at the end of its voice. As if the emotions from some higher force dribbled down onto its words. Amidst the crowd I noticed an older man and a boy¡ªa kid a grade below mine¡ªfinish stacking crates of entities up at the checkout booths. Checkout booths that I had passed unknowingly.

    I said, ¡°I think we have to stop¡ª¡±

    ¡°Dad, I swear we¡¯re missing one!¡± the boy screamed.

    ¡°Nah, sure we got everything,¡± the dad said.

    ¡°It was a symbiosnake. Red as the bindings but super glossy with an amber central eye. Come on, I was going to use it to ask out Mrs. Knitcroft¡¯s daughter.¡±

    I scowled at that. The boy was going to try and buy off her heart. A pointless gesture¡ªshe was mine and had been for years per our parents agreement three years prior. A thought that had me look away from remembering what I¡¯d be doing later.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Hmm, which one was that again?¡± the dad inquired. Which in turn made his son dye red as frustration overtook him. The sight of which rippled laughter through the audience. Distracting them all from spotting the dad as he shot a thumbs-up my way. Questions opened in my mouth, but shot back into my throat as the sphinx leapt into the air. Galloped twice as gave a hearty flap of its wings. Hot winds caught the tips of its fingers as we rode the wind.

    ¡°Negotiations, Nadia. No need to ask for that which you surely won¡¯t want to know,¡± said the sphinx.

    We soared home and once more the world unfurled before me. Though its colors were hardly psychedelic. Rather they were morbid in their beauty. The late evening sun bleeding sanguine reds and new-bruise purple into the leaves and the rock. Rolling hills looked less like slumbering women but ladies freshly-slain. I blinked my eyes. Though not in the Underside, there were things, feelings better left uncomprehended. So instead I focused on the winds as they scythed at my cheeks like young weasels¡ªmischievous but sharp. My eyes moved to the desaturated horizon where heavy clouds crawled fat with rain.

    I urged the sphinx to fly faster, and was forced to clutch its fur as payment. The wind now pressing me tight into its muscles. Fortunate as I didn¡¯t want to look down and see the ant-sized lights that¡¯d pixelate the valley. Evidence of families getting ready to celebrate the festival the night would bring. The sphinx stared for me though and didn¡¯t care for my lack of desire to talk on the subject.

    ¡°What¡¯s the festival?¡± it asked.

    I kept my lips shut on the matter. Which earned me a hearty bucking. An aerial trial I don¡¯t wish on anyone.

    ¡°The festival,¡± the sphinx said.

    ¡°Can we talk about anything else? Behold, the sun, don''t you want to know what that is?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hardly, its nature is simple and an altogether boring existence compared to the alliance of Sainthood and Glory that is evidence in the Painting of the Firmament That Girds All,¡± it said.

    ¡°The-the Underside?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes. So no. I wish to learn of the festival.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Omenday festival,¡± I said.

    ¡°Go on,¡± it growled.

    So I mumbled into its fur. ¡°Celebrates the omen of fortune that¡¯d fall on a family. The entity that graces your door¡ªcourtesy us hunters¡ªis meant to prophecy how things would go. Strong entity from a less than positive Court, very bad. Strong entity from a more positive Court, very good.¡± I smirked, ¡°Whole families would rise and fall. While marriages would be. . . announced or canceled.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, I like this day,¡± the sphinx said.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter much for us,¡± I said.

    ¡°Why not? Sure tragedy has already befallen,¡± it said. ¡°But that was far before today.¡±

    I perked up, ¡°So then what makes the omen for today?¡±

    ¡°Nadia, see more deeply for its simple.¡± It preened, ¡°Today you bring home the potent¡ªyet neutral¡ªRevelation and shall make apparent the Concepts which make up your family past and still very possible present.¡±

    ¡°What concepts make up my family?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That, I can not answer. Only your actions will as we see to the completion of your quest and mine.¡±

    On that, I could wholeheartedly agree. From there we flew on in silence. Past the rippling rows of golden pearls that shone atop the town. Out into the heavy mantle of sun-set shadows that stretched on. I pointed out which shaded hill was my own. The sphinx spiraled down to the dirt. Amidst the spiral I noted the minitruck the Knitcroft¡¯s used to make deliveries. In the bed was Melissa reading a book by flashlight.

    The pages fluttered angrily as our landing wind toyed with them. Melissa stuck her head up, and I caught full sight of her as the wind pulled taut her sundress for a few glorious fabric snapping moments. Her hair was a slightly gray birch-bark with tiny lake-sized waves that took to the wind nicely. Made it all shimmer. Framed her eyes perfectly¡ªgreen as spring. While her body was what my mother once described as Rubenesque. I had asked her what it meant and she would always get so sad. Then mutter, ¡°If I could show you I would. We lost those a long time ago though.¡±

    When the wind had settled, Melissa hopped out the truck bed and rushed over to me. A smile crossed my face right before she two-handedly shoved me from the sphinx¡¯s back. Which in turn watered a smile onto the traitor¡¯s face.

    ¡°Alls below,¡± I groaned. My arms crossed over my chest in pain¡ªdepending on perspective, Melissa had the best or worst aim when she didn¡¯t mean to hurt someone. Even when they deserved it.

    She leaned over the sphinx. ¡°You don¡¯t get to say that, Nadia,¡± she cried, literally. The tears beading her lashes. I found my feet and took advantage of my height so my eyes could fall just beyond the teary face I had made.

    ¡°The office told me you checked out cause you went Graduation Hunting,¡± she said.

    ¡°I did. If you noticed what you pushed me from,¡± I said as I gestured to the sphinx.

    Melissa knocked out a quick curtsy. ¡°A pleasure to meet you,¡± she said.

    The sphinx chuffed. ¡°As is mine. Now, I find myself more interested in exploring the grounds,¡± it looked around the still devastated hill. ¡°Or what remains of them. Than I do in being between your righteous anger.¡± Then it padded off to do just that. Leaving no other obstacles.

    Melissa¡¯s fists clenched. I quickly raised my arm.

    ¡°Your present, before you act on any anger?¡± I asked.

    She set her eyes on the symbiosnake in the binding. I gave it a polite shack and she took the entity by the binding¡¯s handle. Held it away from herself the way one might have their hopes.

    Her silence forced more words out. ¡°Red as the blush of your cheeks. Amber eyed to off-set the Spring of your own.¡±

    She blushed. ¡°Is the bonding room?¡± she asked, unable to state the full question.

    ¡°It is. I can walk you to it. Turns out navigating some temple ruins can be harder than when its properly assembled.¡±

    Her anger still half-remembered, she shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve explored plenty. Waited here night and day in the hopes you¡¯d come home.¡±

    Then she walked. I watched her disappear into the ruin that was my family¡¯s namesake. The sphinx returned to my side.

    ¡°You lied,¡± it said.

    ¡°Only a white one,¡± I parried.

    ¡°Any occlusion of the truth is a further step from Revelation.¡±

    ¡°Well some revelations are too painful to give someone.¡±

    The sphinx scowled, ¡°It still doesn¡¯t change what you have to do.¡± Skewering me where I stood.

    I watched as the sphinx disappeared as well. Then watched the shadows inflate with each inch of sun disappearing beyond the horizon. I followed after. Slipping amidst the ruins of a spell given architectural form. The way Dad had brought the NewNet to the valley. Linking us all in the ¡°Akashic Network,¡± that SIRD had been building for a decade and a half. This temple changed everything for the town. It had helped the Knitcroft create a mini power out of what was once a simple fabric co-op made by three of the founding families that had first settled. Began the slow unification of our families. I was going to spoil decades of good will in one night.

    Though I was last to come to the house, it was still another half-hour before Melissa joined me in the tea-and-tv room¡ªas my mother so uncreatively coined it. The floors were deceptively cushioned and warmed via runic inscription carved into the wood beneath. In the center of the room about three large square mats from the television set into the wall, was a mini hearth that heated the tea pot I had prepped. She sat down in time with the pot¡¯s impatient hiss.

    ¡°Tea?¡± I offered. ¡°It¡¯s raspberry and hibiscus.¡±

    ¡°My favorite,¡± she said with a dark glint of skepticism. She held out her cup. Hers because she had one in my family¡¯s set. Mom had made sure of it when she got it commissioned. Would tease Melissa everytime she drank out of it too. Melissa must have remembered those times as well as she quickly blinked away tears before they ripened.

    ¡°Did the bonding go well?¡± I asked. ¡°When I did mine it was a trip.¡±

    Melissa huffed. ¡°Of course it was. You skipped the classes we had that taught us a good technique for it.¡±

    ¡°A good one, as opposed to a bad one?¡±

    ¡°As many ways to put together a fabric are there ways to bond to an entity. Some safer and saner than others.¡±

    I chuckled at the irony. ¡°The sphinx keeps saying I need to see more deeply. Guess it¡¯s right.¡±

    Melissa joined me in good humor. ¡°Can¡¯t forget broadly. You always tunnel vision once you get something fixed in your mind. Takes all my energy to make you see the other paths you can take.¡±

    We sipped our tea.

    ¡°Even now, there¡¯s a lot more in this room than something as simple as two friends. Right?¡± she asked.

    She sipped her tea. Mine sloshed in my shaking hand.

    ¡°Of course. We¡¯re also betrothed. Or are we?¡± I asked.

    She smiled and took a sip of her tea.

    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m glad you¡¯d think to ask,¡± she said. ¡°Though I¡¯m not talking about that. But about what we said the night. . . it happened.¡±

    The night. I watched her awkwardly slurp at her tea. Wounded by having to ask.

    ¡°What did we say?¡± I asked.

    She choked on her tea. Looked up red in the face.

    ¡°We parted with love that night. So much that we could pour it into the other¡¯s heart and find ourselves threatening to overflow,¡± she wailed. ¡°Did one night change it all to vinegar?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Never, no. I just,¡± and I struggled to find more words. My throat was dry. I gulped down the tea¡ªdidn¡¯t mind that I probably burnt my mouth.

    ¡°It¡¯s just that when it happened I woke up,¡± I said.

    ¡°You woke up?¡±

    ¡°In a world I didn¡¯t know anymore. While what was left behind before it it¡¯s. . .¡± I trailed off. Heart aching and slowing to excruciating detail.

    ¡°It¡¯s what?¡± she asked.

    I shook my head. ¡°Barred from me. What I can see is minimal. Let alone feel it most of the time. If there¡¯s love beyond there it¡¯s too much to squeeze through some keyhole in one burst.¡±

    She had stopped drinking her tea. So I went on. ¡°But I can feel it¡ªsqueezing¡ªfilling every gap so it can fill my heart. So I can remember. Because there¡¯s so much love to remember.¡±

    Our eyes met with the wariness that only comes when you¡¯re forced to see a new layer to your love. A complexity that either adds or mars the beauty of what you had. What you¡¯re unable to unsee.

    Melissa moved aside her teacup. She crawled to me. Hands and knees with a predator¡¯s sway. Her eyes looked upwards with a wet and wanting coquettishness. My teeth sunk into my lower lip as I felt an urge of restraint well in me. Still, I slid my cup aside as well. I didn¡¯t want her to accidentally spill it. Yet, with obstruction put aside, she found her way into my lap. Slid beneath my arms and allowed my hands to roam. Something gave in my resistance as I fell backwards.

    The sun slunk past the horizon and light fled from the room. Save for the dull glow of the hearth. Beyond Melissa¡¯s head, the starry mural my mother painted glowed into view. Bestowing the girl¡ªno, the young woman as she was an adult now same as myself¡ªa heavenly aura.

    ¡°Then let me tear down the wall,¡± she said. Stood above me. Unbelted her dress and let it tumble down before she kicked it away to some dark corner. Settled back into my lap¡ªthough now my hands touched her with even more care. There was a wind today yet she was so hot.

    Melissa cupped my face and guided our lips together. Where they met, I could only taste salt. Tears joining where our tongues twined. Her own hands slid from my face and roamed the territory of me. In search of some purchase by which she could take hold and pin me lest I escape. At the touch of such want it would¡¯ve been rude if it didn¡¯t inspire my own. Though mine shattered free from want into outright hunger. If this was to be my last meal with her then I prayed she would forbid my gluttony. Even as a growl rumbled into her mouth¡ªoh how my hunger exceeded her want¡ªand I tilted her from my lap. Poured the beauty to the cushioned floor and took my position¡ªfavored and well-tested¡ªabove her.

    It wouldn¡¯t be for another hour until we had slaked our thirst upon each other. Though, despite my promise to the sphinx, I found ourselves more entwined than I had intended. My thigh was well-set between Melissa¡¯s. Her head made a pillow of my hand¡ªthe hand I cut a man¡¯s arm off with. I jerked it back toward my chest ready to apologize for the red on her face. Though there was no red save the gentle blush that joined with her glow made her so divine.

    ¡°Do you see it now?¡± she asked. ¡°The love that¡¯s beyond that wall.¡±

    She pressed her hand over the one I clutched. I looked down at it, and saw the love. Saw the way that might open to me if I only took it. Showers of rice, towers of gifts, and the construction of a new house. Attached of course to the sprawling Knitcroft estate. My lab nestled with hers. I could even see how we¡¯d bother each other every couple minutes. Our hands full with simple problems as an excuse to squeeze even a few more lines into every moment of our life. This moment¡ªthe one that had broken me¡ªcould be the mortar that builds me anew. Into some woman that values every moment with love and appreciation. We would even have kids together¡ªher family having long developed a technique for couples like us to conceive.

    A sickness rose in me. A vengeful bile that paired with the sound of a strained spirit. Pulled ever so tautly that a voice could run through it.

    ¡°The deal, Nadia,¡± the sphinx reminded, ¡°lest you fray that which keeps us truly bonded.¡±

    And lose the power I had nearly lost someone¡¯s life to acquire.

    I shoved Melissa¡¯s hand back against her chest. Disentangled our limbs with disgust on my face. My hand found her dress as I crawled backward, so I handed it to her. It wrapped around her body from my toss.

    ¡°Right now, the thing I see is you trying to steer me away from what I¡¯m meant to do,¡± I said.

    ¡°Nadia, I¡ª¡± she tried to speak, but I cut her off. I was too weak otherwise.

    ¡°I swore I¡¯d avenge them because otherwise you¡¯d have me live in a world that just moves on from them. Let them drip away to nothing but memories of a wrong unanswered.¡±

    Melissa told me I was screaming by that point.

    ¡°Let the world think I¡¯d just stand aside as those I love are cleaved from my arms. No,¡± I said. I stomped over to her¡ªmy shadow now a vengeful mural in the flickering light of the hearth.

    ¡°I could never do that to my parents. I couldn¡¯t do it to you,¡± I bellowed.

    My voice echoed in this dead house I haunted.

    ¡°So what are you saying?¡± she asked.

    ¡°That whoever you marry shouldn¡¯t allow it to happen to you,¡± I said. ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±

    She was quiet as she rose to her feet. Dress clutched tight against herself.

    Her voice was soft, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because¡ª,¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she interrupted, ¡°not if you¡¯re going to lie to me.¡±

    Her eyes blazed in the hearth-light and turned her tears into crystals that trapped her hurt. My reasons weren¡¯t lies, but they were hardly the truth.

    ¡°It was the cost for your symbiosnake,¡± I said.

    Truth was the fan that caused her fury to bloom. She shoved me. Shoved me again. Her tears streamed as her fists fell against me.

    ¡°You paid it,¡± she said. ¡°You paid it and now just throw it in my face. What did I do that was so bad? We¡¯re supposed to be partners, and you just keep deciding things for me!¡±

    I caught her fists. Together we trembled on the precipice of too much truth¡ªand I tossed us over the edge.

    ¡°Why not, you decided I was a monster. That night on your couch when I needed my partner, where was she?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I was scared, Nadia. You didn¡¯t feel anything. You hurt me!¡± she screamed.

    Melissa flung her arms free from my grip and stumbled backwards¡ªshe used more force than needed. Then kept walking backwards. When she stopped she looked at me. Alls below, she saw me for everything I was¡ªand everything I told myself I would be.

    ¡°You. . . ,¡± she gathered herself. ¡°You looked then like you do now. Like your heart is crumbling. But this time, I¡¯m not going to help you put it back together.¡±

    Then she left.

    A few minutes after I heard Melissa¡¯s car start, the rain arrived. From the opposite end of the hallway came the sphinx with lidded eyes and a bemused smile. It found me curled up, flesh nude and heart raw. I could feel the pleasure that it emitted as it strolled around me. The way a predator would its prey. At some point I had forgotten it was dangerous.

    ¡°What is dangerous are poorly conceived oaths, Nadia. Especially between such partnerships as an entity and their summoner,¡± it said. Before it settled behind me in the shape of an oversized bread loaf. Its wing tucked me in against it. A bulwark against the wet-cold of outside that overwhelmed the hearth fit only to warm tea.

    Nadia asked, ¡°I¡¯m not in charge, am I?¡±

    The sphinx¡¯s laugh vibrated through its body in a slow dull wave. ¡°Oh, Nadia, you are no more in charge than I. It¡¯s to your luck that we are equals rather than either of us proving deficient.¡±

    ¡°So my orders?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Are to be considered as requests. The same as mine to you. The only guarantee being self-benefit and that to break oaths set between us would harm the bond we depend on.¡±

    Confident, it added, ¡°But, seeing as you¡¯re so broken. I¡¯ll give you a name to call me by. Sphinx.¡±

    It was my turn to laugh. That was to be our relationship¡ªnegotiations and malicious compliance. Simple and dangerous. One I¡¯d be navigating alone. My thoughts turned to Melissa as I ached to share my newly sown fears with a heart that beat to a human rhythm. Unlike the alien one beside me that drummed in jazzy syncopations too cruel for a man to ever play.

 Chapter 7

    Sleep¡ªthat state of rest, not the Court¡ªnever took me. The erratic beat of Sphinx¡¯s heart had waged war on the very idea. Instead I stared at the void behind my eyelids. Better that than the umbral devils that danced in time to flickering hearth-light.

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I nudged it with my elbow, ¡°are you awake?¡±

    It swiveled its head to meet mine. An embarrassed grin chiseled out of the usual emotions its face allowed a half-step to express.

    ¡°Entities never sleep,¡± it said.

    ¡°Humoring the behavior then?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Mm, more that in my experience summoners find it too terrifying to think that something as strange as myself might be watching them sleep. Eyes unblinking.¡±

    A shudder passed through me¡ªmy forebears had the right idea. At the same time, it was a comfort. Meant I didn¡¯t have to worry about waking someone up even as my feelings ran circles in my heart. Pain and guilt and rage flowing into an unbroken circle. A brand which wouldn¡¯t remove itself from the flesh it took merry pleasure in searing.

    I clawed at my chest. Tried to focus on the sound of my nail tugging unevenly upon my skin. It didn¡¯t quiet what was in me. So I extricated myself from beneath Sphinx¡¯s wing and stumble-walked to the end of the ruined hallway. When the god had fallen it all but deleted Dad¡¯s listening room. All the records he preserved over the Changeover just gone. The only memory of its existence being the vinyl shards that decorated the earth. When I planted my feet down into the muddy soil I prayed in hope that those little pressed daggers might shred my feet. Sphinx didn¡¯t follow me beyond the hallway though¡ªeven though it was only part cat it didn¡¯t seem to enjoy the rain.

    The rain was what I came for. My feet slid through the dirt until my toes kissed the stone of our courtyard. I moved from mud to rock and threw wide my arms to increase the area by which the storm could buffet me. See, I didn¡¯t come for enjoyment or comfort. As rain broke on my skin and the wind pummeled me my only thought was to conjure my father to mind. That moment where I saw his skin press against his face. Could count every microfracture that flatted his facial topography. Yet, the way his eyes wouldn¡¯t open to respond at all¡ªnot even when they had liquified and ran down his face as milky tears. I let the sky pour into me every hurt that I needed engraved into my bones. Anything that would put out the brand which even now began to render the fat from the memory. Remove all the other moments, all the other faces, everything but that moment when Melissa had looked at me with the distance of a stranger.

    I don¡¯t know when Sphinx decided to join me in the rain. At some moment the wind and wet had stopped renewing themselves upon me.

    ¡°If you get sick it won¡¯t further either of our goals,¡± it said.

    I rose from the flooded stone. Stood willow-loose as it seemed the storm in me and the storm outside had equalized. The coolness never came, but I would take emptiness.

    I said, ¡°You¡¯re right. Let¡¯s be productive. Teach me another spell.¡±

    Sphinx regarded me, but shook its head. ¡°That¡¯s not our arrangement. Anyways, better understanding could be found in this moment.¡±

    A shred of a smirk stretched my face. ¡°Are you violating our oath to each other?¡±

    Sphinx looked aghast. ¡°How¡¯ve you come to that assumption?¡±

    ¡°You said, ¡®in turn I¡¯ll guide you to your foes.¡¯ Yet here I stand with not a single lead. Even worse, in asking for a spell you deny me even a metaphorical guidance.¡± I rose to my full height forcing Sphinx to look up. ¡°Or is this not true?¡± I asked.

    It clenched its eyes tight. I could feel the discussion it was having in powerful waves that lapped at my own consciousness. Not enough to make out words, but I still had impressions. There were a number of speakers. A congress of them. Then in moments it stopped. Face returned to its cool understanding and watchfulness.

    ¡°Fine. Kneel for us, Nadia, so I might anoint you,¡± it intoned. I could hear the rumble of pleasure at the command.

    Still, I complied. My knees splashed the water that had made a pool of the courtyard. Sphinx¡¯s face loomed above mine. Its lips dripping rainwater into my mouth. Its smile curved moon-like.

    ¡°Keep wide those eyes as I give you the power to see.¡±

    Then with the suddenness of any well-planned betrayal, its mouth opened¡ªhinged wider¡ªand I witnessed the dagger-teeth that it sheathed behind such an enigmatic pout. Then I felt it¡¯s tongue swing past my eyes. Wind carrying drops of its saliva crashed into my pupils. The burning came not long after.

    The world had become lilac as it burned. Uneven at first until the mouths crawled into one another. Slowly until one giant mouth remained behind which emerged my new vision. My peripherals were cleared soon after. What remained was. . . beautiful.

    It had to have been midnight by now. The dark had been that oppressive when I stepped into the storm. Now, it was just faintly lilac and a gossip of shadow. Everything else I could see clearly. Even the rain. Even the wind. They all rippled like threads of silk catching the light. Yet they were hardly threads in a simple fabric. The threads were all woven in perhaps a kalpas worth of loops. Though across those loops I saw what seemed as nautical lines stretching off across the space and through time. They connected to other things and in others they connected to some other strand¡ªan idea, maybe a Court.

    ¡°Hmm, there¡¯s not really a name for this, but seeing as it¡¯s the night of Omensday we can just call this the Omensight,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Once again, behold Revelation and ideally learn something.¡±

    ¡°I heard that,¡± I said. ¡°Believe it or not, but I¡¯m a good learner actually. Now, teach.¡±

    Sphinx taught. ¡°If you really are then this¡¯ll be your new best friend. Within it is the essence of Revelation. Otherwise, you might best understand it as a method to perceive the relationships between things.¡±

    ¡°A marriage of fate and history,¡± I offered.

    Sphinx scoffs, ¡°If you need such aphorisms. See broadly and deeply, Nadia, for this will remove the panes of causality that blind your kind like you do hawks.¡±

    I turned my head with a wide smile¡ªthere was so much elegance to this. Then I saw the house. Where the god had fallen I could still perceive its corpse. Even discorporated¡ªeven dead¡ªit held a vibrancy that rivaled my own living corporeal body.

    ¡°Some things,¡± Sphinx began, ¡°have such weight to them that they make an impression upon things. Think of it as the hand of the powerful tracing deep into the sand of the world¡¯s memory. One day new grains will trickle in. Recontextualize the chasm into a valley. Until the fact it was a chasm isn¡¯t known any longer. Go, examine it and find the leads you seek.¡±

    So I stumbled toward my goal. Through the house where I did my best to not examine the ghosts in time that lingered inside the space. I climbed the stairs and then climbed again. Pushed out the window and onto the roof. My feet slid against the clay shingles. A few of them loose from the fight tumbled off the edge like rain. So I became a beast, and on foot and knee and hands I crawled. I crawled my way to the face of god. My own teary eyed face reflected in the glossy oblivion of its pupil.

    ¡°Let me see what happened,¡± I prayed. My gaze diving as deep as I could. Deep enough to when dark broke to light like a television sparking on.

    * * *

    Mom was waving away the last couple customers for the night. Some people didn¡¯t own the tools to access the NewNet, and others were too afraid of compromising their mental defenses. That was the case for plenty of the teens and elders in town. Though seeing them now, so bereft of those nautical lines¡ªthose ties¡ªto anyone I realized how many were lonely. Mom never stopped waving until the last one crossed the edge of the hill. Then her eyes rose as she rushed forward to the same spot Dad¡¯s killers had departed.

    I¡¯d never seen Mom move that fast. Her shrine operational robes snapped a four beat from how the wind pulled. In that same clap-flash of motion I saw a crescent glaive pour into her hands. Color and material conjured ex nihilo filled in like a mold. Wherever my face was, I smiled, as in that one swing I saw the millions of times she showed me how to do that very motion. Guided me through the elegant biomechanics. Hips and shoulders torquing contrapposto¡ªpotential moment channeled and concentrated. When the five had exited their Staircase, Mom released.

    Her body rotated back the other way. Space rippled around the force of those blows. The ontological truth that gave them density burned as fuel to rocket them toward those strangers. One of them hurriedly interspersed themselves. Their hands raised in a double hand-spell to impart as much power as possible. It proved barely enough.

    The rain of flower petals burst on their arms. Scattered sedate as snowflakes around them. Bloom. Bloom. Two more broke. Then they went to work. They surrounded Mom and moved in time with her. Across the entranceway. Through the air. There was no escape. One of clapped their hands and forced Mom¡¯s movements to a stutter. The other¡ªthe one who the attacks broke off of¡ªclapped their hands together as if to kill a bug and pray at once. Mom had become all but still. The third attacked while the fourth hung back. Number four had the right idea.

    The moment number three had closed in Mom had already propped the glaive up. He skewered himself mid-run. Hadn¡¯t even had time to fully raise a fist. Mom noticed something in the body¡ªits vibrancy was only intensifying. She flicked the glaive and sent number three wheeling through the air. Just in time as a radiant glow pincushioned out of the body. Then exploded into a meteor of refulgent fire.

    Still, Mom was frozen. I saw her call out to Dad. Where was he? Then muttered something to herself and unzipped. A perfect imitation of the divine corpse that was in front of my body¡ªwherever that was. It stepped free of my mom¡¯s body¡ªits costume I realized. Then it rapidly grew to its true behemoth size. Where I could perceive a hundred hundred arms¡ªno¡ªjust two arms. Two arms that were a hundred by a hundred in possible outcomes. They were just all at once. A fluttering through of options with each pair of arms wielding some revolutionary weapon. A machete, the first rifle, and even a molotov¡ªhow¡¯d I know what that was? She had them all as did she sport the army of phantom dreamers that¡¯d turn the world topsy-turvy at her back like one would a cloak. She was gorgeous. Just not my Mom.

    My mom was a surprisingly short woman. With an oversized personality. A firework frozen in memory. With hair sproinging off in loose silly curls. Secrets hid behind her mouth, but she always seemed to smile at the sweetness of them. Her eyes would sparkle when she wiggled her eyebrows. That was my mom. Yet here this deity stood sober faced. Mouth at a downtilt at the bitterness of what she was forced to do. Yet her eyes blazed with the purpose of it¡ªor at least the belief of that purpose. Then she bellowed boldly, ¡°Come die you fuckers!¡±

    I blinked and skipped to the end. I promise¡ªwho¡¯d want to watch the entire thing just to reach a spoiled ending. Not me. At the end, the deity had crashed into the house. The density she had caused reality to sputter and succumb to the entirety of the moment. Lest she just shrug off all causality like a mere suggestion. It didn¡¯t help that she was dying. Her great eye observing me while I observed her. Then I realized she wasn¡¯t looking at me. She was Observing me.

    Her mouth muttered words across weeks. ¡°I¡¯m sorry babygirl. Mommy couldn¡¯t win this one. Be good, please?¡± she asked of me. In the same way Mom would ask me not to tell Dad that she set up a prank for him. She was my Mom.

    * * *

    I stumbled back from the vision. Consciousness returned to body, and sliding down in the water. Sphinx caught me with its side. I muttered a ¡®thank you¡¯ and crawled back up. I stared at the memory of my divine mother, and watched it flake away from the fabric of everything. In her place was just the pale-light shape of a crescent glaive. My Mother¡¯s Last Smile.

    Any strength left in my body was spent as I sprinted through time and back¡ªeven if only by sight. As such the wind did its best to fling me from the roof. Punishment for my causal hubris I supposed. Reality had a way of snapping back when toyed with by Sorcery. Though at the time I had no thoughts, just an overflow of feeling that flowed in rivulets with the rain. Hot emotion drawn from the red crescents my nails made across my palms joined as well.

    I forced my eyes open and followed Sphinx¡¯s laugh. It stood there wings wide and the starburst peacock eyes shimmering across its feathers.

    ¡°Tell me, Nadia, does their lie blunt the pain?¡± it asked.

    ¡°Fuck you, Sphinx,¡± I screamed. ¡°What¡¯s anything any more. Who¡¯s my mom?¡±

    ¡°If you mean the woman who raised you, the Sovereign of Upheaval¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s my mom!¡±

    ¡°You have eyes. If the answer isn¡¯t obvious then go find it yourself.¡±

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°What am I?¡±

    Sphinx laughed. ¡°An orphan.¡±

    * * *

    I loomed atop the crumbling roof of the house¡ªits status as ¡°home¡± revoked when my goddess-mother¡¯s corpse elbow-dropped through it. Eyes were bloodshot from crying. I had blinked it back on when my tears had run out. Only to cry more tears because everytime I activated it that burning sensation would come back. As if my eyeballs were being dipped in hot sauce. Sphinx told me it was a side-effect of the spell. I hoped it would get better overtime.

    My Omensight was still on and so I spotted Amber before I saw her. The thread between us made slow traversal over my body in tracking where she was. Soon her motorcycle swung into view. I watched the line not move as she parked. Only to move again when she took the stairs by foot. I even watched the line dawdle a smidge when she took a glance back to town. I¡¯d become so impatient that I couldn¡¯t muster a smile for her.

    ¡°Temple, you couldn¡¯t even visit a girl at the hospital?¡± she asked.

    I rose to my feet and the world swayed. My limbs had gone cold in the storm. While my stomach grumbled with each unstable step toward the edge of the roof. Concern flashed on Amber¡¯s face. She rushed over to the ledge. I disappointed her by not immediately going over.

    Instead, I said, ¡°I was going to see you today. You didn¡¯t give me enough time.¡±

    Amber said, ¡°Forget it, Temple. I got myself a good constitution. I always bounce back.¡±

    ¡°That makes one of us.¡±

    Amber choked her worry down. ¡°Can be both of us if you come down safely.¡±

    ¡°I can come down, but I can¡¯t promise safe.¡± Then I tumbled. Headfirst like a dropped doll. The glaive landed a bit to Amber¡¯s left. I landed in her arms. She realized I was naked after she caught me. Then hurried me inside. Things became a bit black after that.

    When everything cleared, I was in the tea room. A beer bottle and a bowl of what smelled like chicken fried rice placed next to my head. I slid my knees under myself. Eyes half-lidded I stared at the two items. Looked up to see Amber eating and drinking herself.

    ¡°This is Mom¡¯s good beer. I¡¯m not supposed to drink it,¡± I said.

    Amber shrugged. ¡°Someone has to now. Welcome to being a survivor.¡±

    She pushed the bottle. Popped the cap off with her bottle. Handed me the foaming little rocket. I stared at it and took a swig. Then wagged my tongue. It was so bitter and spicy?

    ¡°Your mom had good taste,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°There was a lot I didn¡¯t know. Like how I didn¡¯t know you could cook.¡±

    Amber lowered her bowl. ¡°I used to do it for my siblings,¡± she said. ¡°Besides, you never asked. Alls below, I didn¡¯t get to drown your ears in any of my good campfire stories.¡±

    ¡°Did you tell these stories to your siblings during the Changeover?¡±

    ¡°How old do you think I am?¡± she asked with faux annoyance. She had gotten at least an attempted joke from me. Her eyes slid over her memories. ¡°Not really. They weren¡¯t really story people. Most of them struggled to be people people.¡±

    I rolled the bottle between my hands. ¡°Apparently so did my mom. She was a Sovereign.¡±

    ¡°That make you a princess?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said. ¡°She lied to me. She was just a deity in a mother shape.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± she said, ¡°most people are in some kind of shape or another. What I find matters is whether you live in it or not. From what I can tell, your mother lived in it.¡±

    ¡°What difference does that make?¡±

    ¡°Means at some point it stopped being a shape and just became her. People usually forget the difference between the shape and themselves when they live in it. Given enough time there¡¯s no real difference. Sometimes they even like it more that way. So they take the truth of things and bury it below the concrete.¡±

    My spoon traced the bowl for more rice and at least one more piece of chicken. ¡°I also like the Yonick stories.¡±

    Amber smiled, ¡°They were pretty good. Some of the last movies made before the Changeover.¡±

    ¡°What was it like?¡± I asked.

    Amber¡¯s smile shook. She looked for any hint that I asked a different question. There was none.

    ¡°You ever been to a Declaration of Thunder festival?¡± she asked. ¡°Ya know, big party to celebrate the. . .¡±

    ¡°Godtenders. When they declared the Changeover to be done. I¡¯ve been.¡±

    Amber frowned and took another swig of her beer. ¡°Yeah, those things. Think about the fireworks.How they¡¯d be everywhere exploding, splashing color, ripping into your memory through sheer violence. That¡¯s what it was. Every day.¡±

    My words struggled to come out. ¡°But you were mainly around for the end, right? Things were nearly over.¡±

    ¡°But nearly over isn¡¯t over.¡± She looked down toward one tragic memory of many. ¡°Men will do a lot of bad things to get rid of that near, Temple. The Godtenders were the worst of them.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re the good guys?¡± I asked, not too confident in the face of a lived understanding.

    ¡°Yeah, and that was how low the bar was in those days. See, the Godtenders, if by your understanding, are kind and good just remember they had to be big enough monsters for those luxuries. Cause it takes a special kind of monster to be strong enough to tell the world, ¡®we¡¯re done,¡¯ and the world listens.¡±

    Together we drained our beers. Eyes locked as I asked the question that I¡¯d have to solve if I wanted a lead. ¡°So what¡¯s strong enough to slay it then.¡±

    Amber shuddered. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Just, why not consult whatever spell gave you those freaky eyes,¡± she said.

    I took in my reflection around the errant grains of rice still in my bowl. I flicked the Omensight back on¡ªI had forgotten I turned it off at some point¡ªand gasped. My iris was gone and my entire eye was black. Save for the luminiscent lines that criss-crossed my eyes like there was a giant cat¡¯s cradle hiding behind them.

    ¡°Oh. Well, I tried, but they were wearing masks. I stayed up trying to see through them. My eyes just kept sliding off. Best I got was a shape for each.¡± Amber handed me a pad and a little pen.

    ¡°One was a dorsal-finned ogre looking thing, heavy brow ridge. The second was smoothfaced with a curled spiraling horn and closed eyes as if it¡¯d never been woken up before. The third was drawn back like paint was splashed into their face¡ªriotously colorful. The fourth was a skeleton with mushrooms blooming through its eyeholes. While the fifth was the most mask-like, as if wanted you to know it was a mask, and sat over a veil that hung heavy like a curtain.¡±

    When I finished there were five drawings in the pad. ¡°No faces though,¡± I said.

    Amber nodded sagely. ¡°Give up on going through the mask. Try going around it. Maybe one of the masks saw someone with their mask off.¡±

    So I tried. Traced the thread down to the mask. Then from the mask peered as deep as I could go. Hot tears waterfalled down my face. Until I arrived to a sight: An older woman with ruddy cinnamon skin. Eyes shut with a ballcap laid across her face. While her shaggy black tresses swung behind her. Leftover traces of red dye flecked throughout. She kicked her feet up on the desk. It had a nameplate. It read. . .

    ¡°Nemesis Khapoor,¡± I said. Tasting the name of my lead and my enemy.

    Amber sputtered, ¡°The regional Lodgemaster?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s one of the killers,¡± I said. ¡°And she¡¯ll die.¡±

    I blinked away the Omensight. Amber had her eyes locked on me. She was reading something in me again. Then shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go secure passage,¡± Amber said. She rose to her feet and made to leave.

    ¡°Passage for what?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Summoner¡¯s Lodge exam. Don¡¯t tell me you already had travel lined up,¡± she said.

    I hadn¡¯t. Becoming a proper summoner¡ªas in getting an entity in the first place¡ªwas a big enough trial that I¡¯d put off considering the next steps beyond, ¡®go join the Lodge.¡¯

    ¡°Good. Anyways, I always heard if you score high enough when you join the Lodgemaster gives you an advisory one-on-one,¡± Amber explained. ¡°Care to see if that rumor¡¯s true?¡±

    I slowly rose¡ªtested hope. ¡°It¡¯d be my chance to strike?¡±

    ¡°Your chance to kill her.¡±

    I asked, ¡°Why help me?¡±

    ¡°You saved my life. Only fair I help you take one,¡± she said.

    I pounced on her to pull her into a hug. Though Amber wasn¡¯t strong and fell over. I didn¡¯t give a single thought to the math she laid out. I wasn¡¯t alone in this. I¡¯d get my vengeance!

    We parted for the day. I hurriedly packed and then I slowed down. Then I stopped. It was going to be my first time going to the city. Melissa and I had sworn for years we¡¯d visit together. Probably live there for awhile as we studied at a university. We hadn¡¯t had the heart to ask if we¡¯d move back home, or join some collective together. Yet here I was about to leave the town¡ªleave her¡ªall behind.

    I turned back on my Omensight. Held my breath as I searched all the ties between me and those who mattered. It didn¡¯t take long for me to find ours. It was the color of an autumn leaf and just as wilted. I let the spell carry my vision down the thread to her room.

    She was in her bathtub. From her pores flowed a green mucus-like substance. It was her mutagenic fluid¡ªshe was making a chrysalis. I scrambled to my feet.

    ¡°No,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Remember our oath.¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± I said as I tore across the courtyard to the shed. Pulled free mom¡¯s moped. Gave it a rev¡ªit still had battery¡ªand mounted it.

    ¡°The oath was for me to cut her from my life. Which I have, and I am sure it is not repairable. It said nothing about not letting me say a single goodbye. Does it?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx was silent. Then swung its head away from me in disgust. ¡°You¡¯d risk an easy road for a single goodbye. Fine. My wings won¡¯t carry you.¡±

    ¡°I used wheels before wings, Sphinx. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I twisted my wrist and shot off for Melissa¡¯s.

    * * *

    If Mom was alive she¡¯d be crying. In my haste I didn¡¯t properly park the scooter. Just leapt from it and let it slow to a stop before it tilted and fell. My eyes were only for the door. Then I heard the whistle of a needle on the wind. Dived to the side and watched as a cluster of knife-sized wasp stingers injected the ground. They quivered and released the acidic venom they held turning earth to a purple sludge. I looked up to see Melissa¡¯s sisters, the five of them, lounging on the roof. The oldest one, Emma, stepped forward.

    ¡°Turn right around, Nadia,¡± she said.

    ¡°I just, I have to say goodbye,¡± I yelled.

    She shook her head. ¡°You idiot. You did that last night. Now go, before we actually try this time.¡±

    I looked from them to the point where the walls are just a suggestion and I see Melissa. The mutagenic fluid is at her neck. Her head¡¯s turned just enough as she listens.

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving tomorrow for Brightgate. I¡¯ll be taking the entrance exam for the Summoner¡¯s Lodge,¡± I said. I searched for anything else. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for breaking a second promise to go together, but I¡¯ll never forget you.¡±

    Her head stayed askew for a few moments longer. Then she cried and dove into the mutagenic bath she¡¯d made. I stood there and watched as it solidified. Then I pushed the moped off the gravel and swung it around for the road. Mounted up and waved goodbye to her sister¡¯s that would¡¯ve otherwise been my sisters in a few months.

    Amber returned later that night with our tickets. We drank another and she helped hold me until sleep took hold.

    * * *

    The next morning was a slow crawl. We only had a few hours before the parade¡ªthe weird assemblage of vans, bikes, and rideable entities¡ªwould be taking off. Yet, those hours never seemed to end. I checked and re-checked my bag. Made sure I had the glaive in my hand. Amber didn¡¯t need to check anything. So she just took the last two beer cases and dropped them into spell-storage.

    ¡°Sphinx, when can I do that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Who says you ever could,¡± it answered.

    Besides that there was just little banter. Little to do, and eventually I just had Amber take me down to the parade¡¯s launchsite. I clung to her and enjoyed the wind teasing my hair. I took my last whiff of the local leaves and moss. It was a unique perfume, honestly, but I guess everyone says that about their hometown.

    While Amber finished selling her bike, I got food. Just a few grilled skewers of this and that. They were dusted with a bright red chili powder. As I ate I stared at the hill in the distance. At my home. Though from where I stood I could make out other buildings. Their own memories fluttered up into the air like a bunch of fireflies.

    ¡°The goodbyes never get easier,¡± Amber said.

    She opened her mouth for a skewer. I fed her.

    I said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to ask that.¡±

    ¡°My mistake,¡± she said. ¡°I do find though, if you did need it to be easier, a little salute helps.¡±

    ¡°A salute, really?¡±

    She polished off her skewer and stole another from me.

    ¡°The formality helps you feel like you¡¯re not just saying goodbye, but honoring it. A thank you for all the memories, beautiful and painful.¡± She shrugged and walked off. ¡°What do I know?¡±

    The parade conductor pulled the rope on the side of the outpost. A shrill whistle cut the air. We¡¯d be heading off in five minutes. I chuckled to myself when I knew I¡¯d do it. Then I shrugged the glaive from my shoulders and lifted it up just like Mom taught. My heels parallel¡ªonly to slide into a perfect L. The glaive glided through the air in the path my feet had dictated. It was a glavirista¡¯s salute. At least, that was what Mom called it. Never cared that it wasn¡¯t a real word. Would always say, ¡°Not with that attitude.¡±

    I turned away from the town and the wet spots on the ground I left behind. Made my way to the rounded bus that Amber bought us passage for. As I slid through the vehicles I heard her.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Melissa yelled.

    I turned back to town and there she was. . . flying. Large dragonfly wings a gossamer blur as she sped down the road. I noticed she was listing and her face was red from effort. My arms were outstretched ready to catch her. She saw that and turned directly into one of the cars. Kicked off it into a vault over my head. Stuck the landing without a stumble.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± I asked.

    She scowled, ¡°I can¡¯t fly all the way to Brightgate.¡±

    ¡°But what about your life, the collectives scouting you?¡± I asked.

    I chased after her, but she whirled on me. The twin irises of both her eyes¡ªthat was new¡ªlanced me by four.

    ¡°Good questions, and ones I don¡¯t have to answer,¡± she said. ¡°To my wife, it¡¯d have been a discussion. Not so much to you though.¡±

    She turned from me and headed toward the bus I was riding on.

    Amber called out, ¡°You¡¯re Melissa right?¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± she said. From the tone I knew they¡¯d probably get on well. I jogged after her with the errant hope that I could keep them from sharing too many words.

    Sphinx looked down on me from its place atop the bus. ¡°Truly we walk the beleaguered path.¡±

 Chapter 8

    Amber¡¯s laughter leaked between my fingers to drip in my ears.

    ¡°No,¡± she exclaimed.

    Melissa circled her heart. ¡°Promise it¡¯s the truth. From ages eight to ten, Nadia had my mom working harder than she¡¯d worked before. She ended up discovering a whole new spell just to remove the odor that¡¯d linger in the fibers.¡±

    I turned away from them and slid further down the seats. The main seat was a large L-shaped piece with a fabric upholstery. While the other was a simple two-seater that was pushed back-to-back with the driver¡¯s bench. It even had a table¡ªwhich Amber had kicked her feet up on when the drive had started. Leave it to her to be at home no matter the space. Me on the other hand, I had slid all the way down the neck of the L-seat in a vain attempt at escape.

    ¡°Temple, please, you have to tell me¡ª,¡± she said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±

    She wrapped her arm around Melissa and pulled her in close. The two of them assumed the most pitiful looks they could¡ªeyes wide and lips pouted. Amber even had tears well up.

    ¡°Please, Ms. Temple, tell us the story behind your piss-yellow past,¡± she implored.

    I groaned and flung myself to the seat. Buried my face into it to hide the shame made apparent on my cheeks. Amber whimpered ever so gently you¡¯d think I broke her heart. It thawed mine.

    ¡°Fine.¡± The duo cheered¡ªeven the bus driver chuckled. ¡°I had nightmares, okay. Dreams where I was stuck in the Underside.¡±

    As I spoke the intimations of feelings rose gently like sand being kicked up underwater. Beyond the shame there was a fear that haunted me back then. Every time my eyes blinked it would take me fast as dogs on a hare. In the shadow behind my lids I would recall the entities that filled my nightmares the previous night. Their forms a mockery of sense and propriety with implications that took many years to suppress. Eventually I tried to stop sleeping, but it just made me tired in the dreams. That was even worse because it meant I couldn¡¯t run away as fast. Wasn¡¯t as nimble as I needed to be to avoid what I knew lurked in the Underside.

    Melissa said, ¡°Nadia, I¡¯m sorry. I never knew.¡±

    A smile touched my lips¡ªshe was sorry and meant it. Even when she wanted to mock someone she¡¯d pivot so fast to care. I was just touched that I was still worth some of it. Though when I propped myself back up she caught the tail of my mirth. Rolled her eyes and looked away from me as if to say, ¡®No, we¡¯re still not good.¡¯ That smothered it back down.

    ¡°Well, glad they stopped eventually,¡± Melissa said. ¡°You stopped sleeping over those years. Thought you hated me.¡±

    ¡°Never,¡± I said.

    Melissa opened her mouth, but was cut off by Amber who leaned in front of her.

    ¡°Nope, not doing that,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Not doing what?¡± I asked.

    She searched my face and her brows rose. ¡°You¡¯re not slick, Temple. I¡¯m not letting you get out of telling me your worryingly yellow lore. Especially if it¡¯s gonna lead to you two acting all divorced the entire trip.¡±

    This time I opened my mouth to speak only for Amber to pin me with those rose eyes.

    ¡°If you¡¯re speaking it¡¯s to tell the end. What made the nightmares go away?¡± she asked.

    I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯ll sound ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Let me decide,¡± she said and slid back in her seat. Melissa looked from her to me and nodded. Her chin the gavel that would cement their stance. I had to finish the story.

    ¡°Fine, I dreamed my way out.¡± Though not by myself.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± There was a woman. Older than me though not by much. She had found me cowering in some library that Mom would¡¯ve described as, ¡®Escher-esque,¡¯¡ªanother one of those names belonging to an artist she couldn¡¯t show me. It was a good word though because space was wrong in that place. A maze in three dimensions where horrors lurked behind every shelf. Let alone the way the books would sing when night¡ªor what passed for night¡ªwould take command. Their songs like the most soothing lullaby mixed with the tantalizing tones of a shaved ice seller pushing their cart. You couldn¡¯t help but drift toward them like a leaf in the autumn wind. That was how she found me¡ªhands about to open a book and obliterate my nascent ego. She had slammed my hands back shut, but her palms were so soft.

    ¡°But you were probably running the whole time those years. It doesn¡¯t make sense that you¡¯d just suddenly get away,¡± Amber argued.

    ¡°I had a guide, okay.¡± For that entire night she led me by the hand down hallways I had gotten turned around in a hundred times. It took two nights to escape. I had thrown my arms around her begging her to save me¡ªand she did. Led me by the hand over silver sand dunes and through nocturnal jungles where star-filled clouds slinked through the trees.

    ¡°Was she hot?¡± Melissa asked.

    My shock gave way to my guilt. ¡°I guess, but I wasn¡¯t thinking like that back then.¡± At least before her I wasn¡¯t. She was the one who ignited the furnace of my heart. My first, and my hero. I would try to dream of her but it was impossible. I had witnessed true beauty and like all beautiful things it wouldn¡¯t allow memory to mistreat it. Left me only with feeling.

    ¡°And so begins Nadia Temple¡¯s deep affection for older women,¡± Amber intoned.

    Melissa¡¯s eyes flashed to her in disbelief. Then to me in examination. . . did I? The heart¡ªI unfortunately admit¡ªis the biggest traitor. I swallowed loud as a pin dropping on a headstone.

    ¡°I thought you just liked teachers,¡± she declared. Amber¡¯s mouth opened wide as a tunnel. I clambered over the far bench to slide next to the driver.

    ¡°How long until Brightgate?¡± I asked¡ªyelled.

    The driver, a portly man in an indigo turban with an axe-dark beard, looked at me in shock.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going all the way to Brightgate. We¡ª,¡± he said.

    ¡°What¡¯s he talking about, Amber?¡± I asked.

    He patted the air and I lowered back in my seat. ¡°I run the relay routes. You¡¯ll be getting dropped off at a station outpost. No need to worry,¡± he said.

    ¡°A station outpost? Amber, we¡¯re riding a train?¡± I asked, excitement building.

    Amber crabwalked across the bus and laid her hand on my shoulder. Something in her eyes shifted¡ªplayful to intense. Her voice lost its jocular bounce.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be on time. Trust me, Temple,¡± she said. Each word a post to mark her stance.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. Then exhaled an anxiety that claimed far too much room in my chest.

    The driver asked, ¡°Are you all taking the Summoners¡¯ Lodge exam?¡±

    ¡°We are,¡± I said. ¡°That obvious?¡±

    He chuckled, ¡°Eh, you run enough of the routes¡ªrelay or longhaul¡ªyou start to get a sense of who¡¯s traveling when. If they¡¯re off to university, they''ll travel just before summer¡¯s end. A collective, then right before the solstice. When it¡¯s only days after Omensday, then it can only be to go take the Lodge¡¯s exam.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very attentive,¡± I said.

    ¡°Thank you, you have to be if you¡¯re fixing to ride in the parade. We¡¯re all we got out here in these between spaces.¡± He then asked a question. ¡°Why the Lodge, though? Driven so many of you over the years but I still don¡¯t get it.¡±

    I leaned my chin into my palm. Eyes narrowed to better see the blue shard of ocean that draped across the horizon to the west. There¡ªwhere the sun kissed its reflection¡ªI had hidden my vengeance. So far that only I knew what I was looking at. Then I slid my eyes across the water and back to him with an answer.

    ¡°It¡¯s the knowledge. Besides the Public Record, there¡¯s almost no one that just hands out information to people. At least not without tying them down to one place,¡± I said.

    Amber shouted, ¡°Wrong! The Lodge might let you roam but they tie you down with work. All Lodgemembers have a quota of missions they need to undertake in the Lodge¡¯s name. Which is a whole other burden.¡±

    ¡°Please, that¡¯s hardly the worst thing about the Lodge. The institution¡ªif you could call it that¡ªis just a den of violent layabouts that didn¡¯t have the decency to die out back during the Changeover. It¡¯s their work that makes them even vaguely redeemable,¡± Melissa retorted.

    ¡°Why take the exam if you feel that way?¡± the driver asked.

    Melissa¡¯s eyes locked with mine in the rearview mirror. I broke the gaze first.

    ¡°I have my reasons,¡± she said. ¡°Though if you ask me more people should try and join one of the collectives.¡±

    Amber and I both scoffed. Melissa regarded Amber with a pantomime of betrayal.

    ¡°And here I thought we were bonding,¡± she said.

    Amber tussled Melissa¡¯s hair. ¡°We were. We were. Just, I wouldn¡¯t be a good senior if I didn¡¯t teach my well-intentioned but oh so misled junior the truth.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡±

    ¡°That the collectives are controlling assholes. Like an art commune meets one of those Old World think-tanks. They¡¯ll only take you if you¡¯re bonded to the ¡®appropriate¡¯ Court in their eyes, and alls below, you better follow their mission manifesto or whatever.¡±

    I called back, ¡°Is there any group you don¡¯t have a dim view of?¡±

    ¡°Nope! That¡¯s the beauty of the New World that you both are too spoiled to see. It¡¯s a place where a rootless drifter, like yours truly, can go wherever she wants with no one to bother her. And a world where a bunch of folks with the same bug for travel can just go. Together only by nature of the way they¡¯re going with no one to command them otherwise,¡± she said.

    The driver roared happily. ¡°Now that I can get behind. Ain¡¯t nothing purer than Wanderlust,¡± he said as he mashed the horn. Up and down the parade it was echoed by artisanal honks, howls, and screams the drivers had designed for themselves back when they first hit the road.

    ¡°All the same, I wish you all luck with the prelims,¡± he said.

    My brow scrunched in confusion. ¡°The Lodge holds prelims?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well¡ª,¡± Melissa began.

    ¡°You did not learn about the Lodge¡¯s exam structure during the last weeks of school,¡± I said.

    Melissa smirked, ¡°We didn¡¯t, but I overheard what one of my aunts said after my cousin came back from her ¡®vacation¡¯ last year. Apparently the Lodge always does a preliminary exam before the actual exam as a way to weed out the folks too unqualified to realize they¡¯re unqualified.¡±

    ¡°Like your cousin?¡± I asked jokingly. She wasn¡¯t a cousin Melissa particularly liked from how she would complain about her for days after anytime they spoke to each other.

    ¡°Tiff loved to wear silk but lacked the patience to weave it,¡± she said.

    Amber added, ¡°The prelims aren¡¯t even the real exam. Apparently the Lodgemaster designs each exam. Only rule is it has to have three tests. Other than that it¡¯s free rein.¡±

    I let their words settle as the road ahead sketched itself out to me. The driver nudged me gently¡ªI must¡¯ve looked worried.

    ¡°Hey, stick with those two and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get through the exam,¡± the driver said.

    Which caused Amber to develop the scummiest smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Temple, I¡¯ll carry you across the finish line.¡±

    * * *

    The teasing lasted for about another hour before I drifted to sleep. Maybe it was the fact that I wasn¡¯t in the carcass of my home, but for the first time in a long time, sleep was peaceful. When Amber shook me awake I nearly screamed. My hand jutted toward the horizon and wrapped a fist over the sun. Loosened my fingers and found that my vengeance was still in hand.

    ¡°Temple, we¡¯re here,¡± she said.

    I nodded mutely and slipped from the bus. Sphinx sat next to the bags and examined the outpost. The place was small and quiet. Ahead of us was the station and the inn that sat right above it. While behind us, past the bus, was the road that would wind away from this grain of civilization and back into the free wilds.

    The driver didn¡¯t belabor the goodbye¡ªparade-folk never did, he explained¡ªand pulled away to rejoin the procession. We had only been on the bus for four hours, so I had no reason to feel anything about our parting. Yet still I felt. So I watched just long enough for the bus to melt into the burgeoning night.

    ¡°The way can¡¯t be walked unless we make peace with where it splits in twain,¡± Sphinx said.

    I took its cue and gathered my bags¡ªAmber and Melissa waited for me. Melissa¡¯s face was somber as her eyes trailed the mote of light that was our bus into the far distance. Amber only had eyes for me. Her smile was a thin spread just enough to carry her intention. I see you.

    ¡°Cmon, the rooms won¡¯t book themselves,¡± she said.

    We hauled our bags¡ªMelissa and I seeing as Amber had some storage spell she still refused to share¡ªand entered the station. It was a beautiful construction of stone walls and massive wooden pillars polished to a mirror finish. We padded across the central rug to the front desk where a woman¡ªolder and scarred¡ªwatched us with a small amount of contempt. I noted the book she hid away and realized we interrupted her reading.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°How many?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Three,¡± Amber answered.

    The woman shook her head. ¡°Only have two available. One bed each, and no pullouts.¡±

    Melissa muttered, ¡°Why not lead with that?¡±

    ¡°How are we handling rooms?¡± I asked.

    Amber said, ¡°I figured I¡¯d go with you.¡±

    ¡°No way you and Nadia should share a bed,¡± she said. Her voice spiked in urgency only for crimson to bleed into her face. The fierceness of her disagreement surprised even herself.

    Amber smirked, ¡°You¡¯re really bad at this divorced thing.¡±

    ¡°Stop saying it like that,¡± Melissa said. ¡°Nadia can be in my room and just take the bathtub or something. There is a bathtub right?¡±

    The woman nodded. Melissa turned back to us, ¡°See, works out perfectly.¡±

    ¡°Hardly,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not sleeping in a bathtub.¡±

    ¡°Well I want a bed,¡± she said.

    Amber interjected, ¡°I can share with anyone.¡±

    ¡°Then you go with Amber, and I¡¯ll take a room to myself,¡± I said.

    ¡°Works for me,¡± Amber shrugged. ¡°Two is fine. Can we get it on three keys? Two for one and one for the other.¡±

    She huffed out an agreement. Revealed a large tablet-sized sorc-deck from beneath the desk. Her fingers rapidly input the rooms we¡¯d be under. Then she slid it around to face us.

    ¡°Sign under sign in. Then you might as well wait in the station tavern while I set up those keys.¡±

    The woman ambled off into a back room. An entity¡ªsee through and glasslike with a bright orange core¡ªbobbed in the air after her. It had also been resting below the desk. We signed our names and swung a right toward the tavern. The place had the same rugged design as the lobby. The only difference was the addition of long bench tables that were little more than slabs of driftwood cut lengthwise and varnished with linseed oil.

    We threw our bags atop a table, and Amber put in an order for two beers¡ªMelissa begged off hers after she proclaimed herself a lightweight. So the two of us nursed our drinks while Melissa flipped through her book of proofs. The silence that stretched through the tavern was appreciated. . . and short-lived.

    A heavy boot kicked a door in, herald to the herd of bullheaded men that stomped in from outside. Behind them trailed a nervous cadre of younger men and women¡ªfresh graduates like Melissa and myself. The lead bullhead had his arm thrown around the smallest of the graduates, a guy who embodied ¡°boy¡± more than ¡°man¡± with a thick sheeplike haircut that emphasized his meekness.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you kid, with moves like those you¡¯re not making it through the exam. Let alone the prelims. I mean look at ya, all skin and bones. Even your spirit felt thin out there,¡± he bellowed.

    To his credit the boy protested, ¡°That was just some spars. They¡¯re not the full story.¡±

    ¡°Bah, that¡¯s what all you losers say,¡± he declared while the others of his herd grabbed a round of drinks. ¡°Spars are the only way you can see yourself clearly. If you freeze in the spar you freeze out there. Spell comes out too slow and you can be sure it won¡¯t be ready in time.¡±

    I lowered my beer¡ªthe taste had gone sour. Melissa stopped reading as well to instead examine the lot of them. Our distaste apparent that our gentle silence was spoiled by someone so vacuous. Still, we didn¡¯t go say anything or tell him off cause Amber did that first.

    ¡°With prescriptive thinking like that I would¡¯ve pegged you as a doctor,¡± she said. Downed her beer and strode over to the tables across the room that the people had claimed. ¡°Though your face says otherwise. What kind of doctor looks like they ran into a wall on purpose.¡±

    The man sneered and tried to wave her off. Amber caught his hand by the pinkie and ring finger. Gave a gentle twist and walked his hand¡ªand thus the rest of his arm¡ªaway from the boy. Pried free, he bolted from the bench and took a spot behind Amber. She ignored him to instead look at the man¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Look at that, just like I expected. Your hands are too pampered,¡± she said.

    The man rose from his seat like a corpse to the surface of a shallow grave. He was taller than Amber, but that was only objectively. In my eyes¡ªand from the faces on everyone else in the room¡ªthe real titan was Amber. Her presence dwarfed the man.

    ¡°Check again. These hands are calloused from decades of the best martial training of any collective,¡± he stated.

    She mused, ¡°A collective you say.¡± Amber hid her mouth behind her hand as she caught Melissa¡¯s gaze. Mouthed out the word, asshole. Then turned back to him and shook her head. ¡°If you stopped running into the wall the twentieth time you¡¯d understand. See, your hands are calloused from training and sparring. It¡¯s impressive, but those worlds are fake.¡±

    Then I watched as her hand blurred through the air. A smear of color and motion. Only to stop right before she clawed out his eyes. His pupils dilated as they processed their aborted doom.

    ¡°These are the hands that matter. The kind where the blood seeps into the nail bed. Proof that you were in the shit and got out,¡± she said and only then lowered her hand.

    The man took a step backward. ¡°Like you¡¯ve seen blood. You¡¯re barely older than me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a compliment,¡± she said. ¡°But even if we were the same age, I¡¯ve lived more than you. My years so full of learning and pain that it¡¯d take you a decade to catch up.¡±

    She hopped up onto the table and stole the man¡¯s beer that he¡¯d yet to open. Twisted off the cap and took a deep gulp. ¡°Why are you talking about the exam anyways. Not like you¡¯ve passed, or have you?¡±

    The boy piped up, ¡°He hasn¡¯t.¡± Then squeaked as the man glared him back into submission.

    ¡°Even if I haven¡¯t it doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t know anything. This¡¯ll be my third time taking the exam,¡± he grumbled.

    Amber took another sip. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that just mean you failed the other two times. Who¡¯d want to listen to you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing wrong with failure, or sharing the understanding that comes from it. Though since I¡¯m obviously missing something, what do you think the trick is to passing?¡± he asked.

    His arms crossed¡ªthe idiot was confident that he had Amber trapped. Instead he had just given her a stage. She climbed atop the table¡ªconspicuously ignored the bartender telling her to get down¡ªand held up her hand.

    ¡°You only need five things to pass the test. One, an attack spell. Two, a defense or healing spell. Three, a spell for reconnaissance or general information gathering. Four, a trick.¡±

    ¡°Four spells, really?¡± he asked.

    Amber dropped from the table back to the floor. ¡°Only four. Cause that¡¯s where the fifth thing is the most important,¡± she said.

    Then took her remaining finger and jabbed the man right between the eyes.

    ¡°Smarts. If you¡¯re smart enough you only need four spells to solve any problem,¡± she said.

    With her display over no one dared to challenge her on her points. Instead silence crept back into the tavern and took a seat as everyone¡ªeven the blowhard¡ªthought her words over.

    The boy spoke first. ¡°How many spells do you know?¡±

    ¡°Kid, never ask a lady her age or how many spells she knows.¡± She took a swig of her drink and thought over her answer. ¡°Funny to say that though as it¡¯s the same answer: thirty-two.¡±

    Everyone gasped as her statement lit the air on fire¡ªthirty spells would be someone with an entity at the rank of Marquis. General convention said by the end of each link you should have six spells of the corresponding rank. Unless you were a genius, the only people with that many spells were in their fifties and that¡¯s if you made good time. I watched as Amber tilted the bottle back and stuck her tongue inside to snatch any errant drops¡ªshe was hardly a genius.

    ¡°You really had me going. Pick a better lie next time.¡± He called out to Melissa and I, ¡°You two, how many spells do you have?¡±

    Melissa went first, ¡°I have six.¡±

    I leaned across the table. ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯ve had your entity for less than a week.¡±

    ¡°Why are you surprised? My family¡¯s been bonded to Mutation for three generations. I have three books full of proofs.¡±

    My mouth worked but nothing came out. I wasn¡¯t surprised¡ªI¡¯d seen the mini-library of proofs and theses her family had added to over the years. My eyes fell and I searched the grain of the wood for what felt so wrong. I found it in a knot. She was ahead of me. For years I led and she followed with no complaint. And now she led and I trailed behind.

    ¡°How about you?¡± he called out.

    I looked up to see Melissa¡¯s befuddled expression and considered lying. Then I noticed Sphinx¡¯s smirk¡ªno doubt sensing the outline of the thought. In the back of my mind I heard the storm.

    ¡°Two,¡± I said.

    If there was anything good about my answer it was that it lanced the tension from the room. Only for it to spill all over me.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s bold,¡± he yelled. ¡°Even Mr.Meek over there had more than two spells. Left it all on the sparring yard outside.¡±

    The newly dubbed, ¡°Mr. Meek,¡± laughed at me as well. ¡°I don¡¯t know if two spells will even get you to the sparring yard.¡±

    ¡°Well hold on, maybe she¡¯s bonded to something really impressive. Like the Court of Dumb Luck!¡± he yelled. Galvanizing the room into an avalanche of belly laughs and creative jeers.

    My fingers slid across the table in preparation to summon the chalcedony fire that was my most well-practiced spell. Before they did though Melissa reached out with a hand. Laid it over mine and gently pressed my hand to the table.

    ¡°They¡¯re not worth it,¡± she said.

    I scoffed, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    She scowled at my baldfaced lie, but didn¡¯t challenge me. Only listened.

    ¡°I¡¯m just stumbling in the dark and running into walls,¡± I said.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you put in some sort of teaching clause in your bond negotiation?¡±

    I glanced at Sphinx who smiled softly as it held its own confidence. Then huffed in frustration.

    ¡°We bonded under some intense circumstances. I didn¡¯t have much time to negotiate,¡± I said.

    ¡°Okay, so what about the Court? You know the ruling and advising Principles,¡± she said. ¡°You can just deduce some proofs from that and work bottom up to some spells. You do know your Principles, right?¡±

    My other hand clenched into a fist. She squeezed me in reassurance, but it felt more akin to pity¡¯s clammy touch. I couldn¡¯t even appreciate the fact that her eyes had a softness for me that was absent when we left home. The tavern¡¯s laughter had bullied my eyes shut.

    ¡°Your keys are done,¡± the woman yelled from the front desk. Her entity dropped them at our table. Each one a thin wooden tablet with a room number one side and a trio of linked sorcerous phonemes on the back depicted in calligraphic strokes of Under-ink. The best medium for working mortal tier magic at complexity levels below shrines.

    ¡°Sphinx, get up. We¡¯re going to the sparring yard,¡± I said.

    I pocketed my key and snatched my hand back from Melissa. Added another fist at my side as I rose from the bench. She rose with me, but stopped halfway as she recognized the steps to the dance that had ended. That I ended. Her concern retracted and she lowered to her seat. Took a breath and regarded me with cool eyes as she opened her book again.

    ¡°Hope you learn something,¡± she said.

    It might have hurt if I didn¡¯t notice that the book was upside down. Who knew you had to practice how to be normal and divorced? I shoved the thought aside and dropped my bag onto Amber¡¯s lap. She slung the bag over her back and flashed me a thumbs up. While Sphinx and I pushed through the door the crowd had come in from.

    The sparring yard was a circle of soft dirt that was as dark as my Dad. I ran my hand through my hair pushing back the loose curls as I regarded Sphinx.

    ¡°I need to know more spells,¡± I said.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± it said.

    ¡°So you have to teach me.¡±

    It demurred, ¡°Mmm, now that¡¯s a conclusion I don¡¯t agree with.¡±

    ¡°Why not? You need me strong enough to get your vengeance and I need to be strong enough for mine. At this rate I won¡¯t even pass the prelims. Let alone net the top score, so I can get into a room alone with Nemesis,¡± I said.

    Sphinx curled in on itself atop the dirt. Its wings stretched and folded back in on itself.

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I snapped. ¡°You can¡¯t just brush me off. We have our oaths.¡±

    ¡°Which you so helpfully remind me of, Nadia.¡± It hummed, ¡°Unfortunately I have fulfilled that oath. You have your tool to seek your foes, and thus my onus is fulfilled. Even so, a trick is only cute the first time around. Otherwise you risk the ire of your audience.¡±

    ¡°Is that a threat?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx smiled, ¡°It¡¯s advice so you don¡¯t reach beyond your grasp.¡±

    ¡°Why are you getting in my way?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx reached out with a paw and pressed it against my shoulder¡ªI had curled up in anger. Its voice was soft like powdery snow. Yet its words carried that same chill down into my core.

    ¡°I am what you summoned me for,¡± it said. ¡°You wanted a gatekeeper, and so here I am keeping the gate. If you want so badly, scale it. Otherwise I''ll fulfill my existence and turn you away.¡±

    I didn¡¯t let the words rest long on my shoulders¡ªthe idea that I wanted to be turned away. It¡ªit wasn¡¯t something I could process. Sphinx removed its paw and sidled next to me. Its bulk bumped into the side of my knee and nearly caused it to buckle.

    ¡°Ignore that then.¡± Anger crept into Sphinx¡¯s voice, ¡°See broadly and perhaps conceive of a struggle beyond yourself. I¡¯m alone in this world of yours. The lone spark of Revelation to be found in the dullness of the Real. Any works or thrones of the Court¡ªsave the one you stumbled upon¡ªare most likely lost. In such isolation you really think I would fight this hard to not make you into the best sword possible? If so then we might as well slit our throats together and give up on this venture.¡±

    I let my butt hit the dirt. Dug my fingers into the soil and listened. The edge that had found its way into Sphinx¡¯s voice was uncharacteristic. It had a heat that broiled at the edge of fury. Hissed sharp as a kettle trying to catch your attention. I dusted my hand on my pants, and then laid it atop Sphinx¡¯s head. Ran my fingers through its hair to scratch its scalp. A purr rumbled from within its chest. As my hand moved, so did its head to chase my fingers to the next spot. We sat like that as I processed its words. My memories lilted in the direction of the lindwurm and the game that nearly took Amber¡¯s life.

    ¡°You can¡¯t teach me, can you?¡± I asked. Hand stalled to let Sphinx think properly.

    It murmured, ¡°Teaching isn¡¯t Revelation. Even if I laid before you the wonders of the Court it would be pointless. Our nature is as much the process of understanding as it is the content.¡±

    ¡°You lost me,¡± I said.

    Sphinx rocked its head in thought. ¡°What did you feel the first time you slept with the maiden of Mutation?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not telling you about the first time we had sex,¡± I balked.

    ¡°Think beyond the superficiality of the mechanics. What did you feel?¡±

    My eyes tilted to the blushing sky as the sun lost itself in the depths of the horizon.

    ¡°Nervousness. I wanted to be confident for her. We were still so early in everything. Each touch and kiss a discovery of how we fit together,¡± I said. ¡°So when we went there, I wanted to be so good that we¡¯d do it again. But I was drowning in anxiety and didn¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    The middle fingers of my left hand curled against Sphinx¡¯s scalp. Then made tight circles that elicited a groan of pleasure.

    ¡°It was her voice that broke the haze. I was so in my head that every move was wrong, but I had fallen so deep that I just kept moving my body hoping I¡¯d be right eventually. When I was, Melissa all but sang to me. So I focused on her. Each tilt and toss of her body I followed and I listened. By the time we finished, Melissa¡¯s voice was hoarse and I was in love.¡±

    ¡°Now, imagine if I found you before that night. Told you how it would end. What would happen?¡±

    I wandered down the hypothetical. ¡°I¡¯d probably be fixated on every noise wondering if it was the noise. Probably go right by it without realizing.¡±

    ¡°And thus, any Revelation to be gained would be lost. Your romance dead without ever getting to live,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯d have been for the best. Avoid all this pain and awkwardness.¡±

    Sphinx rolled onto its side¡ªits head laid across my lap to catch my hiding eyes.

    ¡°That¡¯s the wrong conclusion,¡± it said.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because then we wouldn¡¯t have met.¡±

    Its eyes held mine for an interminable number of moments. Then it rolled free from my lap.

    It said, ¡°All Revelations aid in walking the way no matter how small.¡±

    ¡°But discussions, like we¡¯re having, are okay?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx quirked a brow. ¡°Yes,¡± it said hesitatingly, ¡°they are. Revelation lives in the fertile jungles between voice and meaning.¡±

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s talk. Is there anything you can say about Revelation? Like the Principles,¡± I said.

    Sphinx frowned, ¡°The concept is familiar amongst my betters, but I¡¯ve never been taught.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d have to be taught?¡± I asked. ¡°Thought you were all just born knowing.¡±

    Sphinx rolled its eyes. ¡°We are born knowing what we need to know as dictated by our betters. Though I might add that few things are born knowing their inherent nature.¡±

    ¡°Fair,¡± I said. Then marked out a table with twelve entries across and twelve down. Filled them in: Renewal, Passion, Stars, Caverns, Pyres, Seas, Storms, Gloom, War, Death, and Dream.

    ¡°The x-axis is the ruling Principle, and the y the advising. If x determines the territory then y determines the culture,¡± I said.

    ¡°And the Court becomes a country.¡± Sphinx stared at the chart. Shook its head, ¡°I¡¯d need time to ponder¡ª.¡±

    Its eyes snapped upward in the direction of our room. I fluttered my eyes and ignored the tears that poured as I activated the Omensight. Sphinx raised a paw and I traced it to the black and red threads of Hope and Sacrifice that twined thick as rope up to our room. Before I can speak, Sphinx shoots forward running through the dirt-drawn table. I nearly cried out in frustration¡ªtables take so long to draft up¡ªbut then I saw its paw print. There was only one, strange as that was, and it landed perfectly at the intersection of Stars and Dream. Under the Omensight I could see the way the strands wove together into the color of Revelation. The smallest Revelations indeed.

    I took off after Sphinx, and hopped upon its back. It flew around the inn toward our balcony on the third floor. We landed and my fingers were already crossed. On three we burst through the wooden doors to discover a person¡ªtheir appearance androgynous and teasing¡ªsprawled across the floor. Their blood a stream that wound its way underfoot.

 Chapter 9

    I shook the spell from my hands and all but slid on my knees down toward them. Carefully, I lifted them from the sanguine puddle that had formed. Slid them onto my bed as I took them in. Their clothes were tattered to the point that they¡¯d no longer deserve the designation and their face was tight and pained.

    ¡°H-help,¡± they said. Their voice but a puff of strength that barely held.

    I swept my head toward Sphinx. ¡°Get Melissa and Amber, it¡¯s an emergency.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°Do I need to add, please? Cause please, this is an emergency.¡±

    Sphinx gave a slow feline blink before it leaped from the balcony. I turned back to the person that seemed to be dying and saw that their eyes had cracked open. They were blue as the horizon and swooped with the most beautiful hint of joyful sorrow.

    ¡°No people, please?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry they¡¯re. . . well. . .good,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re really good.¡±

    ¡°But can we trust them?¡± they asked.

    I gestured at my eyes. ¡°We can and I have ways to see beyond liars.¡±

    Then examined them more closely. They were an embroidery whose threads had come loose. I was fresh to the Omensight, but I could tell that wasn¡¯t a good thing. As I focused though I noted a brightness about their spine. It was coiled tightly before it spun to the extremities of their body¡ªwhen my eyes noted pubic hair as flung them back to the person¡¯s face. They mistook my expression.

    ¡°It¡¯s an old spell. Some sorcerous surgery to align things better about myself. . .my body.¡±

    ¡°I totally understand,¡± I said and I really did. Melissa¡¯s aunt¡ªone of the few Knitcrofts to not go into the fabric tradition¡ªhad done similar for myself. Before I was Nadia. We shared a smile of shared struggle.

    Bam! The knock at the door shocked us from the connection.

    ¡°Temple, you didn¡¯t give Sphinx the key,¡± Amber yelled.

    I patted my pocket and felt the edge of the wood then hurried to the door As I opened it I had only then realized the image I presented. Besides the pool of blood on the floor, I had a nearly naked¡ªand surprisingly stunning¡ªperson in my bed. The perfect image to your recently divorced wife.

    ¡°Nadia, what the fuck?¡± she asked.

    Amber winked. ¡°Seems you¡¯re into more than teachers¡±

    ¡°Just get inside,¡± I urged. Slammed the door once they did. Melissa finally noted the blood¡ªagain, it was everywhere¡ªand hurried to their side.

    ¡°What¡¯d you do to them?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Nothing!¡± I hissed.

    Melissa fluttered her fingers against her collarbone. It must¡¯ve been some cue because that was when the symbiosnake emerged. Slid out from above her collarbone to slip round her neck like a crimson choker. It¡¯s head in the position where a pendant would be. The thing stained Melissa¡¯s neck as her blood dripped down into her chest.

    ¡°Belay current mutation order. Expedite and maintain sewing nails for,¡± she voicelessly muttered some calculations, ¡°five minutes. Set fiber to suture-silk.¡±

    The command finished, the symbiosnake dove back into her skin¡ªit parted like sand against its nose. Half a minute later the mutations Melissa demanded took effect. Her nails¡ªa reflective steel that extended to her wrists when her fingers closed. She tapped each nail to her wrist attaching silk to needle in eight individual threads.  Her fingers blurred and her twin pupils rolled from each other to follow two threads at a time. Where her hands lingered, wounds closed.

    A smile inched across my face to see her work. Before. . . everything, I would be laid up in her bed doing homework each night. Watched as she¡¯d practice her sewing. Whether fabric or flesh she had the same look of intensity. Her eyes fluttered while her tongue blep¡¯d between her lips like the cutest little puppy.

    ¡°So, who did do this to you,¡± Amber asked the wounded stranger in my bed. She had claimed the chair across from it and had made it the throne from which she¡¯d carry out her interrogation.

    ¡°A cult,¡± she answered. Amber wound her hand.

    ¡°Yes, but which one? The Dancers Of Death¡¯s Orchestra, the Bats Sullied Sky? I need something to work with.¡±

    ¡°I think they called themselves, the Lurkers in the. . . Deep?¡± they answer-asked.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Amber said. ¡°Most of the cults in this region were squashed by this place¡¯s Lodgemaster last I checked.¡±

    ¡°Well they did,¡± snapped. Then hissed as a needle pierced one of the wounds on their inner thigh.

    ¡°Okay, they did,¡± Amber allowed. ¡°What¡¯d they want? Cults only move when they think there¡¯s something out of it. Otherwise they get their kicks from jerking off over liturgy.¡±

    ¡°I-I can¡¯t say,¡± they said.

    Amber gave an understanding nod. Then tapped Melissa¡¯s shoulder removing her from her flow.

    ¡°Stop, junior,¡± she said.

    Melissa grumbled, ¡°I¡¯m not your junior.¡±

    ¡°Amber, alls below why are you stopping her?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re trouble we don¡¯t want,¡± she said. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t something they¡¯d get in trouble with some boss about revealing the secrets of they¡¯d just tell us. No one struggles to say their family was abducted to be used as a sacrifice for Sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°Melissa?¡± I asked.

    She was conflicted¡ªher lips pinched whenever she was. ¡°Before I left Mom said the roads are confusing out here. Maybe Amber¡¯s right?¡±

    ¡°Oh, careful with all the praise there princess.¡±

    ¡°I thought I¡¯m junior?¡± she asked.

    Amber smiled, ¡°Remember, flattery will you get anywhere.¡±

    Melissa rolled her eyes. While the person¡ªonly half stitched up¡ªwas astonished. Tears rolled down the edge of their cheekbones. Slowly rained onto the sheets.

    ¡°They wanted the axis mundi,¡± they said.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a¡ª,¡±

    ¡°A Staircase, technically,¡± I said. ¡°But we call a Staircase a Staircase, and use axis mundi to mean a temple-sorcery to pierce down into the Underside.¡±

    ¡°Fancy,¡± Amber purred. ¡°They kick you out of your house then.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± the person said, ¡°they stole it. We hadn¡¯t just built an axis mundi; we made one as a shrine.¡±

    Her eyes landed on me while mine landed on that night. My dad¡¯s killers had made an impossible escape, but right in front of me was someone who just said it really was possible. I all but lunged at them eyes wide with homicidal yearning.

    ¡°How many did you make?¡± I asked.

    She stammered. ¡°One.¡±

    ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°A month ago. They¡¯ve held us hostage since.¡± Before his murder.

    ¡°What research group were you?¡±

    ¡°AoSI. We work for the¡ª,¡±

    ¡°Lodge.¡± It lined up. It all lined up.

    ¡°You two, out,¡± Amber barked.

    I turned to her, my face broad in exaltation. Hers was stone, smooth. She led us out of my room into the hallway. It had a green carpet and ensconced lamps up and down the hallway¡ªno other doors but my own. A trick of Remembrance used in most inns and hotels. You could only perceive the door you had a key to. Dad called it, ¡®the Mother¡¯s Prayer,¡± an old formation said to have been made back at the beginning of the Changeover. Said it was made by a child as a bundle of them hid and begged their dead mothers to keep them safe.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I whispered, ¡°it lines up.¡±

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Melissa whined.

    ¡°It does,¡± I snapped.

    Melissa stepped back. Amber held out her hand pacifying me.

    ¡°It¡¯s one way it lines up,¡± she said.

    ¡°But,¡± I stammered, ¡°i-it does.¡±

    ¡°Maybe too well.¡±

    Her insinuation fell like sand upon the forest fire of my thoughts.

    ¡°You and princess are children of the NewNet. Your psychic defenses aren¡¯t that robust. I bet no one¡¯s rooted through your head that hasn¡¯t warned you they would,¡± she added.

    My hands explored my hair. Pulled at locks in examination of my own thoughts. Searching for the sign I was tampered with. That maybe I just heard what I wanted to hear. I paced slow enough that Melissa caught up to me. She stopped me. Guided me back to Amber.

    ¡°They were lying,¡± Melissa said. ¡°When Sphinx came to get us Amber said she¡¯d tap my shoulder if they weren¡¯t telling the truth.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not the only one with special eyes, Temple. Too much of her story was either delivered poorly or ¡±

    ¡°It lined up,¡± I whimpered.

    ¡°Too well,¡± she said. ¡°Most of their story wasn¡¯t true. What was was an off delivery of it..¡±

    ¡°Their wounds were weird too.¡± Melissa said, ¡°They were shallower on one side, and they were cut to have the most blood spill not impair function. At least if they were healed quickly enough.¡±

    ¡°All of their lines, rehearsed. Their costume, chosen. They set bow to your heartstrings and played you. I bet they even threw in an early, ¡®can we trust them,¡¯ to help bring you close together,¡± Amber said.

    She called every bit of it down to the we. My mouth warped into a sneer. Fingers crossed and already hot as I drew on a thousand possible paths for me to torment them. Met Amber¡¯s gaze and found it to be cool.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to play games,¡± I stated.

    ¡°Then we don¡¯t. Do what you gotta do, Temple,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Wait, do what?¡± Melissa asked.

    I had already pushed free of her. Threw the door open and stomped through their blood. They looked up at me with hope only to realize it was wasted upon a woman¡¯s dreadful fury. I split infinity and let fire touch the bed. In an instant it was consumed by chalcedony.

    The person fell from their suddenly aerial position. I pounced atop them. My hand-spell ready with my nails set between their eyes.

    ¡°Truth. Now.¡± I said.

    ¡°What¡¯d they say to you,¡± they said.

    ¡°I want the truth,¡± I reiterated.

    ¡°Alright,¡± they said. Gone was the meek worry and exhaustion that lightened their voice. Instead it was thin and tinny. Like everything was a cute little joke.

    ¡°What gave me away?¡± they asked Amber.

    ¡°The big one, you stalled when you said you couldn¡¯t say. Most people when they¡¯re that messed up are quick to say everything. Especially if they were an AoSI member who had their super special research stolen. Let me guess, you¡¯re an infiltrator focused on sabotage.¡±

    ¡°Infiltration focused on rapid information acquisition. Sabotage takes too long,¡± they said.

    ¡°Of course it does,¡± Amber rolled.

    I squeezed shut the burgeoning confusion. Dug my fingers deeper into their skin.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked.

    They looked away coquettishly. ¡°I really hooked you didn¡¯t I,¡± they said. ¡°But sure, I¡¯m Secretary.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a job not a name,¡± I said.

    ¡°For them it is,¡± Amber said. ¡°They¡¯re the Lodge¡¯s spies. All of them take the name Secretary and have their actual name stripped from their mind.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh you¡¯re well informed,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Fan of the craft?¡±

    ¡°When it¡¯s done well,¡± she answered. Secretary gave a look of fake shock.

    ¡°So what¡¯s real?¡± I asked.

    Secretary settled their eyes back on me. They cut a smile that didn¡¯t match right¡ªthe eyes like you were looking at the saddest thing but a mouth like you were so pleased it was sad.

    ¡°Which do you want to be?¡± they asked.

    I tasted copper in my mouth. Sphinx sidled next to me and leaned all their way into me.

    Sphinx hummed, ¡°Is this the way you want to travel?¡±

    It made me¡ªunfortunately¡ªhave to think about it. Slowed my heart that banged on the door of sense. I knew I¡¯d have to kill people eventually, but I only wanted it to be those five. I wanted it so badly that Secretary could see it in me. Plucked it from me most likely. The horizon wasn¡¯t far enough especially when it was in their own eyes.

    My hand lowered and I shook free the spell. Melissa reached out for me, but found only Sphinx¡¯s fur. The two of them shared a look that I didn¡¯t see. I only felt the fierce desire for distance directed at her.

    ¡°You¡¯re infiltration not torture. Leave Temple alone, and answer the question,¡± Amber ordered.

    ¡°Ugh, why when you already have the answer key?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°Want to see if you¡¯ll cheat.¡±

    ¡°Smart,¡± Secretary tossed. ¡°AoSI facility attacked, yes. Me as AoSI, obviously no. The attack wasn¡¯t months ago. It was a week. Only picked up something was off because of the news of examinees disappearing from this location.¡±

    ¡°And the shrine?¡± I asked.

    Secretary smirked, ¡°True.¡±

    My hand fell on Sphinx''s head and gave it scritches. Focused on that than the fact that it didn¡¯t line up anymore. Maybe there was still some way it all made sense, but it wasn¡¯t in the room with me. I looked back to Secretary.

    ¡°What do you want from us?¡± I asked.

    ¡°First, help me deal with the cult¡¯s agents downstairs. Then, help me go snag the information from the research facility.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s in it for us?¡± Melissa asked. Then flicked to me and then Amber for approval. Amber gave her a small thumbs-up.

    ¡°What all you examinees want: a prelim exemption pass. All Lodgemembers in good standing¡ªeven us spies¡ªare allowed to grant a maximum of four a year. If you want them then fetch doggies,¡± they said.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need them,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°We¡¯ll do just fine without them,¡± Melissa added.

    I killed the discussion. ¡°I only have two spells.¡±

    Secretary looked scandalized by my admission. While the other two¡¯s faces fell low. It was just Amber¡¯s theory, but after how badly I was played the scales had fallen from my eyes. Even if everything didn¡¯t line up with the past that didn¡¯t mean this way couldn¡¯t still lead to my future.

    ¡°We¡¯ll do it,¡± I said.

    Secretary clapped gently and suddenly I remembered they had no wounds and their clothes were perfectly pristine¡ªthey wore a suit over their flat but supple chest, and a high waisted skirt over stockings in black leather boots. I blinked my eyes rapidly, but the memory was already set.

    ¡°What Court are you?¡± I asked.

    They smirked, ¡°Remembrance, darling.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s for researchers.¡±

    ¡°And spies,¡± they corrected.

    ¡°That¡¯s the other thing, you looked too pretty. Real amateur shit,¡± Amber said.

    Secretary pouted, ¡°Forgive me for wanting to leave a pretty corpse at any time. Now, if you hadn¡¯t already noticed your fellow examinees have already been incapacitated. Oh, listen, you can hear your chance to do your job walking right toward us.¡±

    We all turned to the door. I flicked on the Omensight and peered beyond the wall. A vague form creeped ever so slowly¡ªthey even slid their feet to test for squeaks in the wood with their toes.

    ¡°Temple, tell me when they¡¯re in front of me,¡± Amber said.

    Step step step step¡ªnow! ¡°Go go go,¡± I insisted.

    Amber held one arm out and shaped a hand-spell with the other and then fell into space. Their body seemed to shrink the way a ball did when sinking into deep mud. With the Omensight it looked like Amber had disappeared beneath the threads of the world. Wait¡ªshe came out. Her arm took our problem in the neck. Curled tight into a one-armed chokehold. Then Amber fell back into the room the way she left.

    ¡°Mr. Meek?¡± I asked confused.

    Amber pointed at the sheepish boy in her arms. ¡°Now this is a great infiltrator. You¡¯d bet the loudmouth downstairs would be the one. Cultists think so much of themselves.¡±

    Secretary rolled their eyes. ¡°Alive please.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get him,¡± Melissa said. Her mouth yawned open to reveal elongated fangs. She sunk them into Mr. Meek¡¯s arm and held him there as she pumped a familiar toxin into him. I recognized the stillness which had come over him. His pupils dilated and reflected the nothingness behind his eyes. Wherever he went it was deep in the quiet. Amber lightened the hold enough to not suffocate him.

    ¡°How long before re-application?¡± she asked.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°His size and that dose, I¡¯d call it two hours,¡± Melissa said.

    Secretary stood and looked Mr. Meek in the eye.

    ¡°Works for me,¡± she accepted. ¡°What¡¯s the plan for the rest downstairs?¡±

    Amber stretched as she spoke. ¡°My favorite. I call it, ¡®Sir, you¡¯ll have to leave the theater.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Cute title, but they outnumber us if you forgot,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°True but we outnumber them in what really matters,¡± Amber gestured to Mr. Meek¡¯s slumped body, ¡°information. They struck down the others using stealth. You only do that when you¡¯re not strong enough to win a stand-up fight. The moment they attacked and didn¡¯t get us was the beginning to their end. Plus, they only have soldiers¡±

    I nodded along but Melissa was still unconvinced. ¡°Okay, but it only takes five summoners working together to wield the same power as the link above them.¡±

    ¡°Oh junior, it takes five to approximate the power of the link above. It¡¯s not really the same thing¡ªthough they are all using the same Court which can definitely help,¡± Amber said.

    I pointed out, ¡°Whether real or approximate, there¡¯s only four of us. And all of us have soldiers.¡±

    Sphinx shook its head. ¡°No. Only two, you and the maiden of Mutation.¡±

    My face scrunched in confusion¡ªAmber¡¯s entity wasn¡¯t of the soldiery, but what about the lindwurm and¡ªshe clapped her hands once, a command of our attention. Then formed her hand-spell and lightly blew across her fingertips and I watched as breath became butterflies.

    ¡°Nadia, I promise we¡¯ll talk later, but yes Nahey¡¯s a Baron. Doesn¡¯t look like it and that¡¯s exactly how we like it,¡± Amber said. A proud smile on her face as she stared at the clump of butterflies.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your entity in the Chain?¡± Melissa asked Secretary.

    Secretary examined their nails. ¡°Baron, but I don¡¯t see how it¡¯s relevant¡ª,¡± they said.

    ¡°You¡¯re needed in the plan,¡± Amber said. ¡°It is still your mission after all.¡±

    Secretary shared an annoyed smile with the room. Then formed a short series of seals before the hand-spell took shape, and we all remembered the Baron was already there. Specifically, it sat atop the dresser of the room, legs crossed, and in an outfit that looked like a butler. I hadn¡¯t known what a butler was until then, but the information just slid into my mind as if it always belonged. When I took in its face I scoffed and rubbed my eyes as if it could scrub away what was in front of me. The Baron¡¯s face was my dad¡¯s¡ªsame generous smile as if he had so much happiness to share, same eyes that crinkled with pleasure that he got to see you again.

    ¡°Why does it look like my dad?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Nadia, restrain yourself,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°No, it looks like my dad. Why?¡±

    Secretary hummed. ¡°It¡¯s not Blotomisc¡¯s fault. He always adjusts to the psychic waves of others.¡±

    The Baron¡ªBlotomisc¡ªlowered its head in apology. ¡°I only wish to provide what would make people comfortable. Familiar faces tend to do the trick. Though I apologize if I misjudged.¡±

    Sphinx bowed its own head, ¡°No apologies¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Yes, apologies. I¡¯d rather stare at your real face than this,¡± I said, altogether unwilling to be met by a face I¡¯d never see again. Let alone see it speak without his voice.

    Sphinx glanced at me before it raised its own head¡ªits lips tight with restrained thoughts.

    ¡°Okay, so how do we win with two Barons and two Soldiers?¡± I asked.

    When I turned to face Secretary my back was to Amber. It was with my back that I felt her press into me. She was soft¡ªher chest spread across my back as she pulled me close¡ªand her grip was firm as I couldn¡¯t get away. Amber laid her chin atop my head and cooed softly.

    ¡°Deep breaths, Temple,¡± she said first. ¡°We win with you. Same way you helped me nab our first cultist is how we bag the others. So, relax and use those special eyes of yours so we can get more info on ¡®em.¡±

    My own exasperation with her antics had leaned ever so gently against instability in my heart. Somehow she just balanced me and as a result I barely cried when I activated the Omensight. She slowly turned me¡ªthe lilac world shimmered like the setting sun on a lake in the summer¡ªthen guided me to my knees. Tilted my head just so, and said, ¡°There.¡±

    I focused my gaze to the ground and once again felt my vision paw at the world sliding aside the threads of its tapestry to see deeper and deeper. First the light threads of carpet then the sturdier flooring. I reached the first room and breathed deep like you¡¯d do before lifting a heavy weight then began again. It was harder this time because of the distance I needed to cross to even attempt to see through the floor¡ªdon¡¯t forget I was maintaining a gap already¡ªand I felt my moisten. Tears. You¡¯d think they¡¯d make the task harder, but instead they marked an expansion of myself. Flames ate away at my image of the world as everything sharpened again and I could see everything within the tavern two floors below us.

    In that unknown area where my self was woven with Sphinx came a throbbing of pride.

    ¡°Causality is but a pane of glass that dulls the truth. Congratulations on tossing away another one,¡± Sphinx whispered.

    ¡°Can you see them?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I answered. ¡°What am I looking for?¡±

    ¡°Any clue as to how they beat all the examinees,¡± she said.

    I could see the lines that tied the cultists to each other and to the bodies around them. When I tried to touch them I felt my cheeks moisten again¡ªwould I break through again¡ªbut instead Amber squeezed me and I lessened the pressure on the thread that¡¯d lead me through time.

    ¡°Temple, you okay?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Nadia, don¡¯t reach for defeat past the victory you¡¯ve already gained.¡±

    ¡°I need the answer,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, but now is the time to see broader and note the answer within the present.¡±

    The scene below me distorted so that the entirety of the tavern was in view. I even caught some of the lobby and noticed something strange. Under the Omensight everything was a touch of lilac¡ªthough now a smidge darker since my advancement¡ªbut where the tavern met the lobby I realized something.

    ¡°The color¡¯s wrong,¡± I said.

    ¡°Color?¡± Amber asked.

    I nodded and gestured to the threads only I could see¡ªa habit I¡¯ve yet to break. Where tavern met lobby was a gradation of color, but under the Omensight color meant the world. It meant Courts. This color was an ocean at its darkest. Where time and light would go to die. Whatever it was, had woven itself to the backing layer of Realspace.

    ¡°Sounds like a field-ritual,¡± Amber said. A response to the thoughts I¡¯d spoken aloud¡ªit was like the understanding broke itself in the prism of my mouth in anxious escape. Then I realized she had said it was a field-ritual. A combination of more than two Summoners casting a spell in unison¡ªstrengthen their power¡ªwith the spell in question being the establishment of a field. An area of Realspace tainted with a Court¡¯s nature overriding local Real. The singularly focused variant of conceptual zones.

    ¡°Courts?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°Seas and Gloom probably. With the cult called the ¡®Lurkers in the Deep,¡¯ I¡¯d hazard that their little group worships the Court of the Abyss.¡±

    ¡°The lady at the front desk did have a sea angel looking entity. It tracks for me,¡± Melissa added.

    ¡°You can stop now, Temple. Come on back,¡± Amber said and rose to her full height.

    My eyelids fell and when I opened them again the ¡°panes of causality¡± had returned to me. They let me see that Melissa¡¯s hands were shaking. I examined my face and my hands came away bright red¡ªblood. Sphinx leaned over and ran its tongue against my cheeks¡ªit was textured with each ridge grazing my skin with just enough friction to be enticing. Melissa¡¯s worry gave way to confusion and then she blushed. Sphinx had licked away my tears. . . and I liked it.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± I blurt out. ¡°My eyes heal after the spell every time. They¡¯re normal. . .¡±

    I trail off because though causality had returned its glass it wasn¡¯t the same as before. There was a crispness to everything¡ªdetails you¡¯d miss otherwise became glaring, like how the wood grain in the floor told the story of a forest fire but the wood of the wall spoke of heavy rain.

    Sphinx rumbled with pleasure. ¡°They¡¯re better. Revelation leaves its mark even when its brilliance dims to the basement of memory.¡±

    ¡°So, they¡¯re better,¡± I said, not quite focused on parsing Sphinx¡¯s poetic dialect at the time.

    ¡°Any guesses on the field-spell?¡± Secretary asked.

    Amber dismissed the question. ¡°No need to guess. Nadia, did the weird color backing thing look like a solid color or like it had faded?¡±

    ¡°Faded. The Court felt deep but also like it had bottomed out and just begun to rise,¡± I said.

    Amber chuckled, ¡°Yup, the cultists gave our exam competition a ¡®bender.¡¯¡±

    ¡°As in the bends?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°And a clever pun since they used it on drunks.¡± Amber continued, ¡°their field-ritual dropped the pressure incrementally on them. The normal dizziness you¡¯d feel was masked by the booze.¡±

    ¡°Then you drop the pressure so fast it¡¯d make them feel like their skull slammed against concrete, shocking the brain,¡± Secretary said.

    Amber shot them two thumbs up. ¡°Exactly, which means the ones who have to go down there to face the lot of them will be me and Melissa,¡± Amber said.

    I shot to my feet and whirled on Amber. ¡°No way. I have an actual weapon,¡± I said.

    Melissa yanked me back to face her. She said, ¡°Stop deciding for me. That¡¯s not us anymore remember? Besides, Mutation is never without weapons.¡±

    Secretary chuckled and jeered at me. ¡°It¡¯s not even the point. I don¡¯t have any spells that let me adjust to levels of barometric pressure. Do you?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Just how it goes sometimes, Temple. My bag of tricks runs deep and I have a Baron. I¡¯m already dense enough that their spell would struggle to keep me down. Mutation is just wiggly enough to ride along the pressure waves. This is just a case of a place you can¡¯t go,¡± Amber said.

    I looked around for anyone to take my side¡ªno one did. Especially not Sphinx. I could feel worry radiate in waves from them all fixated on me. So I released my puffed chest.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said.

    Amber smiled softly before she called out to Secretary. ¡°Can you break the Mother¡¯s Prayer?¡±

    ¡°What!¡± I exclaimed. The Mother¡¯s Prayer was used almost everywhere. It was the cornerstone of most privacy formations. For many it was often the only formation of privacy they knew. I looked to Secretary and saw them grin in annoyance at the question.

    ¡°It¡¯d undermine the faith people have in the Lodge if I answer that,¡± they said.

    ¡°I have no faith in it. Melissa has perhaps negative faith,¡± Amber said.

    Secretary pointed at me, ¡°They have a smidge.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s needed for the plan,¡± Amber said.

    Secretary huffed and pushed back from the wall they leaned against. Slipped through the door and waved us into the hallway to follow. We piled in there and Amber eyed the stairway. I watched Secretary reveal how much privacy was an illusion people like them maintained to spy on people like us. Their hands curled into a double hand-spell while Blotomisc took position behind them, hands at the ready to clap.

    ¡°Remember what came before,¡± Secretary incanted. Then cast the spell in time with Blotomisc¡¯s clap. A tone rippled down the hallway in a range you couldn¡¯t hear. It was for the floor and the walls¡ªa reminder of a time before they were marked and forgot the sight of their architectural kin. My eyes flicked from Secretary to the walls, and I remembered that there were six rooms on both sides of the hallway. I could actually acknowledge them.

    Amber whispered, ¡°Mark this down, Temple. This is the way smart summoners fight: gather enough information and cheat to victory. Safest way to win, and kill someone up the Chain.¡±

    She walked past Secretary as Blotomisc helped them up.

    ¡°Really, took you casting this as a two-hander and you needed to dual cast with him? Wasteful,¡± Amber tossed at Secretary. ¡°Now it¡¯s time to kill the lights.¡±

    She formed a hand-spell and said to me, ¡°Temple, turn those eyes of yours on. This is a teachable moment. Princess, if you and the shit spy have a form of conceptual sight you might as well watch. Might pick up a trick.¡±

    I flickered on my Omensight and winced. Nahey was. . . brighter than expected. Amber as well. With an even sharper corona of brightness at their edges. I quickly adjusted and witnessed Nahey split apart from the spell, but I noticed the thread¡ªalbeit extremely thin¡ªthat connected each individual clump of Nahey to each other. Nahey was still one.

    ¡°First,¡± Amber said, ¡°your entity is an imposition on Realspace. Sure, at the soldiery it¡¯s more of a negotiation, but as it graduates and ascends the Chain it¡¯ll be more of itself than the world can handle. Let¡¯s it start breaking rules like being in only one place at a time.¡±

    Nahey slipped through the floors in the same way Amber moved through the wall. I set my sight to the floor and opened it so I could peer into the tavern below. Nahey hung close to the ceiling, set itself into corners and random spaces.

    ¡°Second,¡± Amber began, ¡°ritualizing a spell is generally a good idea if you want to give yourself a bit of a force multiplier and the spell is a one-and-done. It¡¯s less of a good idea when you need something constant and stable like a field. No matter how good you¡¯re trained, it¡¯s never easy to maintain a unified focus. Someone¡¯s going to lapse, and the longer you hold it the more out of pace they become. Makes your field¡ªwhich should feel like a singular voice holding the perfect note¡ªinto something more patchwork. A quilt of wills that doesn¡¯t line up quite right.¡±

    It was then I realized that the Nahey¡¯s had all settled on the borders of each cultist¡¯s control.

    ¡°Means when I contest, I¡¯m not facing the will of ten summoners in one fight. I¡¯m fighting one summoners five times. Which at our distance is a light warm-up,¡± Amber said.

    Nahey¡¯s incandescence peaked and then puffed out beyond their bodies.It imposed itself onto Realspace¡ªripped wide the patchwork field the cultists erected¡ªand revealed the yawning dark that sat below the abyss. Water, pressure, and the vestiges of light swirled down the drain Nahey had formed. It went to the same place Amber had when they stepped through the wall.

    The cultists did as people normally do when the lights go out¡ªthey wandered. Hands out and probing in search of anything familiar. As if the sudden darkness had taken their memory with them. It wouldn¡¯t have helped because they all started moving far enough away that they couldn¡¯t guess where anyone was.

    ¡°They¡¯re scattering,¡± I said.

    ¡°Good.¡± Amber crowed, ¡°When it¡¯s Quiet in the House, you can¡¯t see anything but what I want you to see. Can¡¯t hear anything but what I want you to hear. Missed this spell.¡±

    Amber then snapped to grasp Melissa¡¯s attention. ¡°Ready up junior, it¡¯s your turn.¡±

    Melissa rolled her eyes at her ever-shifting status with Amber. She clasped her hands together and formed a hand-spell with a seal that looked as if her two hands had become one. Her skin flipped up and over like sequins under a child¡¯s gliding hand¡ªscales appeared in the wake leaving her arms gauntleted. While muscle rewove itself beneath flesh before they doubled and doubled once again in threadcount. Her arms bulged and capped with sickle-claws. From the sharp snap of bones I knew there was more changing under her the scales that coated her body. When her bones snapped back together Melissa had doubled in height¡ªthe ceiling was low and forced her eight foot body to slump. Her gorget of toxin-tipped spines bunched with her shoulders. Her face bent ever so slightly to afford a wider mouth of thresher-like fangs.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, though it came out husky and moanish.

    Under the Omensight the process was just that beautiful. Her¡ªherness¡ªdoubled with her size and there was so much more to. . . appreciate. I swallowed as softly as I could, but Melissa noticed. She blushed¡ªwhich in this form brought a sunset-y peach to her cheeks¡ªand then purred. Did she think I liked purring? It rumbled in a place only my bones could feel. A massage from the inside. The vibrations died at my extremities and then I saw how smug she looked. She¡¯d just proven that I maybe did like purring.

    Amber pulled a syringe gun from her storage spell. Handed off a few vials for Melissa to fill up with the toxin from her fangs. When that was done she pressed in close.

    ¡°Hold onto me,¡± Amber said. ¡°You¡¯ll need to grasp the ceiling right when we slip into the tavern. Try not to drop me.¡±

    ¡°No promises,¡± Melissa rumbled.

    She swallowed Amber inside her arms. Amber formed the hand-spell needed and the two of them fell sideways through the world. Through the floor below us. Into the tavern¡ªMelissa caught the ceiling with her claws¡ªand Amber initiated the final step. In that sightless soundless dark she had subjected the cultists, they never had a chance to realize that they were prey.

    Amber formed the hand-spell that summoned the spotlights. In unison the beams of light banished dark and created a small field around each cultist. Ironically, it isolated them from each other even more¡ªthey had stopped groping for the wall, their only way out. Instead their attention fixed on the sudden light.

    Melissa let go of the ceiling and the duo flipped in air to land down below. The cultists heard nothing¡ªAmber didn¡¯t want them to¡ªand I watched as the two of them divided the room in half. Five targets for each of them. I have no idea which targets were luckier.

    Sure, Melissa was nervous¡ªit was clear in the way she circled each one just beyond the edge of the light. She needed that extra bit of confirmation they heard and saw nothing. Affirmed, she¡¯d lunge forward and take them in jaws. Fangs piercing up from below the ribs while the upper set plunged down through the neck and shoulder. While her fists held them by their arms the way a parent would swing their child¡ªI doubt the cultists were reminded of such happy memories. They weren¡¯t reminded of much because Melissa¡¯s size meant she delivered an equally oversized load of toxin that flooded so hard in their veins and arteries that a few of their more frail capillaries burst. Between the toxin and the shock they were out fast, and Melissa scuttled away on four limbs to the next one.

    ¡°So, is the Mutant one single?¡± Secretary asked.

    I hissed, ¡°She¡¯s my ex-wife.¡±

    ¡°Great. Then she is.¡±

    I clenched and released. Then looked to Amber who waltzed¡ªliterally she was dancing¡ªthrough the tavern to a song only she could hear. The syringe gun bobbed in the air as the partner to her steps. None of the cultists had a chance when her hand lunged into their tiny circle of perception and clasped fast about their wrist. They weren¡¯t prepared for her to spin them into her chest. It looked like they screamed when her needle found them in the neck¡ªall her previous smiles seemed dim to the way she grinned when they did. Their lids shuttered as they slumped in her arms. Partners unable to keep up. She dropped them and spun on.

    Back in the room, I felt Secretary¡¯s nails trace my arm.

    ¡°Do you only watch, or do you actually bring something to this little team?¡± they asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. We hadn¡¯t talked about that yet,¡± I said.

    Secretary hummed amusedly. ¡°Sure, and I just haven¡¯t ¡®talked about it¡¯ yet with lovers who sucked at the making love part of the job.¡±

    I did my best to ignore them.

    ¡°Some of them I kept around though,¡±

    I failed. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°They were cute. Like you,¡± they said.

    My face flushed from anger at the intimation of my own uselessness and the forward way they presented it. They made their dip when they said it too¡ªsounded airy like when I thought I was ¡°saving¡± them¡ªand I was disgusted that it still worked on me.

    It took two minutes to tranquilize all the cultists. Amber gave a flourish and a bow to signal me through the floors. When Secretary and I joined them, Amber was already patting down bodies. She had amassed a small stack of token pouches on a table.

    ¡°Are we really robbing them?¡± Melissa asked.

    I shrugged. ¡°I mean, they would¡¯ve attacked us too.¡±

    Melissa waved her hand. ¡°Oh I¡¯m not worried about the cultists. Amber¡¯s robbing the examinees.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m gathering my fee,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Really?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°Yeah junior, it¡¯s expensive being on the road. It¡¯s why I charge a ¡®Saved your life¡¯ fee to anyone I save. Helps me pay for the top shelf stuff. Which if you excuse me,¡± Amber said as she wandered behind the bar to loot it too.

    Secretary shrugged¡ªthey really didn¡¯t care. Just went and conducted their own examination while I sat on a table next to Sphinx and near Melissa. When we regrouped they held up a key and a ledger. They opened it flat so everyone could see.

    ¡°Keys are obviously to their ride. There¡¯s a van hidden nearby,¡± they explained.

    ¡°The ledger¡¯s about a van?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No.¡± They stared flatly, ¡°The ledger¡¯s a list of examinees. Everyone they had on record as buying a train pass ahead of time for this station. And by the number of checks they nabbed everyone on the list so far.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Melissa asked.

    Secretary smiled. ¡°That¡¯s what the other half of my mission is about. If I¡¯m lucky it¡¯ll be something fun like unethical sorcerous experimentation.¡±

    From how they said it you¡¯d almost be convinced that would be fun.

    Secretary flicked to look at me, ¡°That¡¯s where I think you¡¯ll come in. We¡¯ll be going undercover.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Amber said. Her face was dark as a stormcloud and her voice was bled dry of humor. ¡°She¡¯s not trained for infiltration.¡±

    Secretary shut the book and held it aloft. Snapped their fingers and I watched as the ledger discorporated into light like Mom did. They pointed at me dismissively.

    ¡°You two have earned your exemptions. I want to know she¡¯s worth it as well. Unless this is where you¡¯ll leave her behind to help your own odds,¡± Secretary said. Tone as if they were offering up the option to Amber and Melissa without any judgment.

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll also come,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°You three can do that in the privacy of your room,¡± Secretary said and sent Melissa blushing mad. ¡°For this, I need a brute. Nobody else or no exemption.¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± I said. Amber shook her head ready to explain why this was a bad idea. Then gave up when our eyes met and I said, ¡°please, no spoilers.¡±

    Amber softened and shrugged. ¡°Glad you can joke. Don¡¯t die, Temple, there¡¯s so many drinks I¡¯ve yet to share with you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your life. I already know my thoughts don¡¯t matter,¡± Melissa said. Her breath caught and I knew she had so many thoughts that she wished I thought mattered. None of them would change that I needed that exemption.

    ¡°Glad that it¡¯s settled.¡± Secretary twirled their finger, ¡°Now, gather up these examinees and load them into the van. We still have night to burn.¡±

    I hated being ordered around as did Sphinx, but this was the way I had chosen for us. Together we dragged each examinee to the van that Secretary said was outside. They sped toward it as if they remembered exactly where it was. They stared at the ledger like the words would rearrange themselves to blow the whole plot wide open¡ªI gave up calling for help by the third body. It took me maybe fifteen minutes all together.

    ¡°Can you drive?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°Only scooters,¡± I said.

    ¡°Fine.¡± They tapped their temple and leaned to the right into the breeze. Only to snap back like a reed when they received what they had sent for. ¡°I¡¯ll drive.¡±

    I circled the van with Sphinx, but when I opened the door Secretary frowned at me.

    ¡°Nope, you¡¯re riding the examinees. Also put your entity away. Can¡¯t believe you just have it walk beside you all the time.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± I asked. It hadn¡¯t fallen beyond my notice that Nahey didn¡¯t flit around Amber all the time. The same way that it was only today that I had saw the symbiosnake despite the long drive here. It must¡¯ve been such a commonly learned technique that it warranted their look of complete astonishment.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t know?¡± they asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re cute. Maybe even hot, but gosh so dumb. Didn¡¯t pay attention to mommy and daddy¡¯s instructions?¡±

    ¡°They died before I could get any.¡±

    The admission swept Secretary¡¯s thoughts out from under them¡ªa point for me. Then their face fell back into a wry enjoyment of the world.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to tell me the story on the way. Now, back of the van.¡±

    I shut the passenger door and made my way for the back. Opened it up and climbed atop the bodies and laid down¡ªtried not to imagine if this would be how my corpse would lay if I had gotten to die with Mom and Dad.

    Sphinx climbed in after me and pulled the doors shot with their paws. Clambered over bodies and loomed over me. Its face blocked the moon through the van¡¯s back window.

    ¡°Breathe, Nadia,¡± the sphinx said. ¡°I¡¯ll be gentle when I enter. Just, try to relax and let me in.¡±

    I bit my lip and nodded. Though I couldn¡¯t relax. I blame the way Sphinx said their instructions¡ªit was what I told Melissa our first time. When my thoughts Sphinx tipped itself forward into my chest. Folded itself down until it could slip within the fibers of my spirit¡¯s muscles. I felt full in a way I hadn¡¯t felt before. My fingers gingerly touched just below my navel in awe that all of Sphinx had hidden itself within me. Then I smiled as I thought about the feeling and could already see the shape my fingers had to make to form the spell. I wondered if it counted to the four I¡¯d need.

    Secretary pulled out from the hiding spot and set the van onto the road. We were off. I felt every bump and stone we rolled over. Even through the bodies that cushioned me I couldn¡¯t not feel how rough the road was. I tried to put it from my mind.

    ¡°Did you really pick me because I¡¯m a brute?¡± I asked.

    Secretary smiled by their words¡ªI just knew they did. ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s cause I love brutes. People like Amber aren¡¯t those I¡¯d trust to have my back. Even if I had what they wanted.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a spy,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, so I¡¯m an expert on knowing who not to trust.¡±

    ¡°And Melissa?¡±

    ¡°Malleable until you hit something she¡¯d believe in. I can¡¯t take the risk of someone with a conscience getting in the way.¡±

    ¡°I have a conscience,¡± I said.

    Secretary laughed at me. ¡°No, no you don¡¯t. Maybe a while ago you did, but not now.¡±

    ¡°If I lacked one I¡¯d have killed you.¡±

    The car took a bend. ¡°That¡¯s not how it works. If you had a conscience you wouldn¡¯t have been ready to kill me at all. There was no hesitation in your eyes. I was already a corpse.¡±

    I was silent.

    ¡°That¡¯s what makes you a great brute though. You were ready to put me down the minute you felt I had to be. That¡¯s the kind of quality I look for. Then you got extra credit when I saw how well you took correction from your entity. Just a few words and you ran the numbers. Realized that there wasn¡¯t that much reason to kill me¡ªat least not then.¡±

    ¡°That makes me a brute?¡±

    Secretary laughed as we rolled fast down a hill. ¡°The kind I dream of finding every mission.¡±

    I didn¡¯t ask anything after that, and instead tried to enjoy the bruises the road created as we neared our destination.

 Chapter 10

    ¡°What¡¯s your fighting style?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°Why does that matter?¡± I asked. ¡°This is an infiltration mission.¡±

    Secretary waved off my question. ¡°Humor me. If we have to fight, I should know how to play around you. So come on, what is it, fighter? Mage? I know it can¡¯t be fusion.¡±

    My hand wound over the shaft of my glaive. I hadn¡¯t given it much thought¡ªbut back then I tried to tell myself I was just staying flexible. Everyone has an answer though even if they don¡¯t know it. An inclination to batter away at a foe with weapons or limbs while you leave the casting to your entity, probably fighter. If you¡¯re casting and letting the entity take the blows, that¡¯s a mage. Fusion was nothing but the label. A merger of summoner and entity into some compound form. Each had their benefits and if I had an answer I hadn¡¯t found it yet.

    ¡°Maybe fighter,¡± I said.

    ¡°Maybe, ugh, I can work with that I guess. Anyways, shut up we¡¯re here.¡±

    The van rolled to a stop and I shut my eyes¡ªfilled in the darkness purely off their words.

    ¡°That you Lenny?¡± a guard said. ¡°Normally don¡¯t come this late with the shipments.¡±

    Secretary said, ¡°It¡¯ll make sense when you see how big these ones are. They drank most of the beer in the place and still took a few benders before they went down. Then there¡¯s getting them into the truck. . .¡±

    The guard grunted, ¡°Yeah I know. Come on in. Dock four as usual.¡±

    Then we were back on the move. The seconds dripped with what felt like hours between. From the change of sound¡ªrubber¡¯s sputtering babble against dirt to the flat echo of clanging grates¡ªwe had entered something. I heard what could be gates shutter behind us. Gravity lessened its hold on me and I knew we were falling. An elevator.

    As we fell I felt the watery break of Realspace giving way to the clinging touch of the Conceptual. In the dark of the van I could make out the appearance of my spiritual musculature¡ªMetallic with its damascus patterning¡ªin lieu of my actual skin. My nerves ratcheted up there in the dark surrounded by sacrifices. Not to die, I¡¯d hoped, but lives made into tools for the plan only Secretary knew.

    ¡°I need an Undersuit,¡± I whispered.

    Secretary hissed, ¡°You need to shut up. We¡¯re only in the shallows. Curses don¡¯t lurk here.¡±

    My spirit clenched in doubt. Curses didn¡¯t usually lurk in the Underside¡¯s shallows, but it didn¡¯t mean you couldn¡¯t run into them. The only defense was an Undersuit, or suitably dense spirit. Two tools I lacked. The former because I never owned one, and the latter was unlikely at my link in the Chain. Even those hunters at Baron didn¡¯t forego Undersuits if they could help it.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Secretary whispered, ¡°when I give the signal you¡¯re going to leap out weapon first.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, my attention broken from my worries.

    ¡°Nuh uh. Brutes don¡¯t ask questions. That¡¯s how you die. Be ready to do it or don¡¯t,¡± they said.

    They dropped me back into silence. I felt myself ruminate in the possibility of what would be waiting for me. What would be the best way to face it. I clutched my glaive close to my chest and breathed out any extraneous thoughts¡ªthe elevator was slowing.

    ¡°Fine.¡± I softly prayed, ¡°May I ascend.¡±

    The van pulled forward. Curved past someone that yelled, ¡°To Dock U-three.¡± Then stopped, reversed, moved forward but curved, stop, reversed again, and we backed up into the dock.

    ¡°Go,¡± Secretary ordered.

    The van¡¯s back doors had barely opened¡ªI hastened it with a kick. Leaped free from the van with my glaive held high and swung in wide threatening arcs. Mother¡¯s Last Smile touched none of them. I wanted to save the bloodshed for her killers. The cultists gave me a wide berth with a shocked expression on their face. They weren¡¯t used to someone who fights back. I shot a glance backwards in search of nothing? That was wrong. I knew it was wrong but in that moment I had searched for nothing and was left with an indescribable rage at an absence I could¡¯ve sworn was a presence.

    ¡°Someone help me put her down,¡± a cultist yelled.

    My attention returned to them¡ªabove their shoulders were sea angels like the front desk attendant had. Above them was a sphere of water about the size of a watermelon. One rippled then scrunched itself down releasing a stream of pressurized water. I yanked my body to the side only to throw up my arms as fists of water pelted me in the side. Forced me backwards¡ªI fell off the dock¡ªand I scrambled. Slipped past the van and out into the courtyard to find myself in the center of a quaint park cast in an unshifting twilight.

    ¡°No,¡± Sphinx said from their hiding place inside my spirit.

    They tugged our connection, look up. I did. In the sky above the facility was a citadel of coral and sunken steel whose spires were a legion of spear points thrust toward us mortal things below. My eyes fluttered fast as a camera to try and avoid Underside exposure as I attempted to process what it was that the fortress was connected to¡ªI saw barnacles the size of my school¡ªand I just failed to understand. Sphinx enlightened me and I wished they hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Marquis,¡± it uttered.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said.

    The sky was a Marquis. An entity. So vast as to make you believe its stomach was heaven. If it had fins then they stretched beyond the horizon. I couldn¡¯t even find its head. That belonged to someone. My mind was slowly falling apart at the enormity of the implication.

    ¡°I have her,¡± a voice said.

    My body went stiff and my chin whipped fast enough to sling my brain into the wall of my skull.

    * * *

    I woke up, hands cuffed behind my chair, in a room that was a lab in another life. It should¡¯ve been flat and sterile but instead I could see the streaks of blood that some low-ranking cultists hadn¡¯t mopped up properly. There were darker fluids but I just lumped them in with blood¡ªI had enough problems at the time. The first one sat in front of me.

    It was a bulky shape clad in armor that looked reminiscent of old diving suits. The helm was bulbous and its slits for eyes hidden within the three by three row of lights. I could see the beams¡ªguided by the helmeted person¡ªlingered over my thighs, chest, and face. Their hands were gauntleted in the same dark brassy metal and lay atop the pommel of a two-handed sword wide as a headstone and tall as me. While the rest of their limbs and torso were plated in the spots necessary to cover those organs that you needed to keep going. Underneath that was something akin to a skinsuit. My problem was corded in muscle.

    ¡°Weird looking Undersuit,¡± I said.

    He laughed¡ªhis voice was smoky like whiskey and low as the dog I knew he was. ¡°It¡¯s armor,¡± he said. ¡°Undersuits are for those who fear the Underside¡¯s mysteries.¡±

    ¡°You say fear, I say a healthy respect to retain my sanity and be curse-free.¡±

    He said, ¡°Then you¡¯ll be happy to know, in the shadow of Atlantis¡¯ Ferryman no curse will form that ails a friend of those who lurk in the depths of the world.¡±

    ¡°Quite the pitch,¡± I said.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t have to be just a pitch,¡± he said. ¡°Tell me who you are, and we¡¯ll be on track to becoming friends.¡±

    I mulled over the offer and then spit on his helmet. Saliva¡ªand a trace of mucus¡ªsplattered against one of the lights. He sighed at that. Then leaned back in his chair to explain.

    ¡°Seeing as you infiltrated this place you probably have a low estimation on the magic of the Abyss,¡± he said.

    I agreed, ¡°A few benders aren¡¯t that impressive.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± he admitted, ¡°they¡¯re not and I never could get that group to practice. Lucky for you, I do practice. Reached Baron and gained some of our more iconic spells. Like Crushing Depths.¡±

    His fingers curled into his palm like water diving down the edge of a trench. A blazing star of pain flared into my left hand¡ªmy bones were dust and my fingers limp. I hissed through my teeth unwilling to give him the satisfaction of a scream. Reminded myself I still had one hand then tried to form the spell to conjure my flames.

    ¡°No,¡± he stated.

    The world pressed again and my right hand was now just another dull star of pain. No more hand-spells. A groan slipped from me. Spit dripped down my lip as I tried to suck in air as if that¡¯d push aside the pain that hid where bones should be.

    ¡°Since we closed those doors, let¡¯s introduce ourselves. I¡¯m the Angler Knight,¡± he said. ¡°Your name?¡±

    ¡°Nadia Temple,¡± I said.

    ¡°We¡¯re still playing games?¡± he asked.

    The pressure fell on my kneecap¡ªhe replaced it with burning agony. This time I screamed.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t lie, fuck,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault my dad was uncreative.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± He asked, ¡°Affiliations?¡±

    ¡°None.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± he said.

    ¡°You believe that one?¡±

    I could feel the asshole smile behind that helmet. ¡°Sure, from what Lenny told us you only know what, two spells? If you were a collective kid or from some big deal family you¡¯d be prepared way better.¡±

    ¡°Hey, from how your mom screamed my name last night, I prepared enough.¡±

    His fist snapped forward. Pressed my face in on itself before it withdrew and my head snapped backward. Strangely, I didn¡¯t feel the metal against my face. Just a force.

    ¡°Do you have to make this hard?¡± he asked. It was like he just had to set me up.

    ¡°Whatever makes your mom happy,¡± I said.

    The Angler Knight reached for a stoppered gourd at his hip the size of a small jug. His finger traced the stopper¡ªtwists it round and round¡ªbut then flutters off to return to resting on the pommel of his sword.

    ¡°You¡¯re so petty,¡± he said.

    I snorted, ¡°You¡¯re torturing me.¡±

    ¡°Fine. What exactly is your intention for taking the exam?¡±

    ¡°You really want to know?¡± I asked. He waved in front of us, floor is yours. So I told the truth. ¡°I want to kill the Lodgemaster, Nemesis Khapoor.¡±

    He leaned forward and investigated the conviction that brought an edge to my gaze.

    ¡°You¡¯re really serious. Wonderful,¡± he said.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course. That¡¯s our goal as well. End her tyrant reign and act as the deluge to sweep her corruption from the world.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re so noble. I just want vengeance for my dad and my mom.¡±

    ¡°If you looked around you¡¯d see that more of us lost our dads and moms to the Red Witch of the Lodge than just you. Killing her won¡¯t bring back the dead, but it¡¯ll save plenty of parents going forward.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯d prefer to keep my reasons focused. Others can worry about the world. Now, since we¡¯re so ¡®aligned¡¯ can I go?¡±

    The Angler Knight rose from the chair¡ªit was one of those small fold out things, no idea how that was comfortable¡ªand held up a stalling finger.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to clear your story first. Then go from there. Stay tight,¡± he said.

    He formed a different seal this time, and the hand-spell ushered in an abyssal darkness. There was and then there was absence. My eyes hurt trying to search for light that didn¡¯t exist and an escape that seemed to be equally mythical in the moment.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Sphinx¡¯s voice came through as it vibrated through my spiritual musculature¡ªwhy¡¯d Sphinx¡¯s voice have to feel so good.

    I thought at Sphinx, the telepathy is new.

    ¡°Folded in on ourselves like this it¡¯s easier for my words to reach you. I¡¯ve tried before, but your focus is always somewhere else.¡±

    I¡¯m distractible, sure, but I¡¯m listening now. Any ideas on how to get out?

    ¡°None,¡± Sphinx said.

    Great.

    ¡°But I can remind you that you have the tools to escape. You just have to think.¡±

    Let¡¯s run through them. Tool one, my glaive which is not here. Tool two, the flames which I can¡¯t cast with broken fingers.

    ¡°Tool three, the Omensight which mocks causality,¡± it said.

    I can¡¯t see, Sphinx, kind of hard to use a sight-based spell.

    ¡°In this moment, you can¡¯t see, but you can see beyond the moment.¡±

    I had seen Mom¡¯s death through time as if I was there. My vision placed beyond the limitations of sight. I¡¯d experienced it once, and I fluttered on the Omensight hoping to do it again. At first there was still darkness. Tears dripped from my chin as I felt the flames smolder. The panes fell away and my sight was free again. I reached for how I saw from before he stole my vision. Color and shape emerged to coalesce to form a tapestry of the present¡ªit was still a new application, so the image was flawed. The ghost of the last thing I saw before darkness was burnt atop the present for me. The variant was messy, but I had still done it. Melded past vision to the present.

    Suck it causality!

    With Sphinx¡¯s assistance, we scanned the room for a way out. I noted a clock in the corner¡ªit was three a.m.¡ªand tilted my head as I watched the second hand crawl at a tortoise¡¯s pace.

    ¡°It¡¯s unimportant,¡± Sphinx said.

    It could still be useful, I argued.

    Sphinx sighed and I felt its head spin in annoyance. ¡°Revelation takes as much time as it needs for someone to learn. It doesn¡¯t bow to something as plebeian as linear time.¡±

    We can stop time? My mind was ready to bolt toward a plan at the idea. Sphinx trimmed the branches of that thought.

    ¡°We can take our time. In the same way that my Sovereign negotiated with you in between the quarter seconds of life and death. The gap between moments can prove interminable when you have a recipient.¡±

    Couldn¡¯t I use you?

    ¡°I am beyond causal time already. Within me is the host of Revelation. We¡¯re not a fair target.¡±

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Then why not just target me all the time?

    ¡°Revelation is potent in its singularity. Without the true clarity of a moment or message its strength would dull¡±

    So diminishing returns.

    ¡°Very.¡±

    Which leaves only the Angler Knight, perfect. They¡¯d be stuck in this slowed down time with me, but as a non-slowed down person. It is useless.

    I wandered from the clock to the rest of the room¡ªlet my eyes unfocus so I¡¯d see everything¡ªand my gaze landed on the Angler Knight. Strands of some fleshy mucus thread connected from the top of his head and wound up toward the ceiling. My vision¡ªcourtesy the Omensight¡ªtilted upward while my head stayed level. The threads led to the coiled shape of an emaciated eel the length of an anaconda. Its teeth were a gnarly mess of needle-thin vectors in every direction. Along the bottom of the eel were thin tendrils topped with bioluminescent bulbs. I looked back to the Angler Knight and peered into him. In the tapestry of the world, the threads that composed him looked right. They were supposed to look right. Yet with a simple lean¡ªmy vision threatened to roll onto its side¡ªthe real colors showed themselves. The frigid oceanic darkness of Abyss woven to masquerade itself.

    The Angler Knight, if he existed, wasn¡¯t here. I had talked to a lure only maybe connected to a real man somewhere. My mouth twisted into a cunning smile¡ªif he was fake what else was? I grit my teeth and flexed my hands. Pushed past the part of my brain screaming, fool fool we¡¯re already ruined. Wrestled it down, wrapped my own fury at my mistreatment around its throat, and pulled. I silenced the doubting pain and I flexed. My. Hands.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be releasing you. Is there a plan?¡± Sphinx asked.

    Of course. I¡¯m running it back.

    Time resumed, and the Angler Knight had turned back to me. Acted as if he¡¯d entered the room again rather than briefly go still¡ªa puppet without commands¡ªbefore whoever picked the controls back up.

    I spoke first, ¡°Hey, Knight, I think this friendship might not work out.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    I bared my teeth at him¡ªmanic eyes that were amber pools of scorn and bloodlust. ¡°I like to meet new friends in person. And I really hate it when they lie,¡± I explained.

    ¡°And this code of yours I care about because?¡± he asked¡ªthe bastard was humoring me.

    ¡°Cause I¡¯m going to kick your ass with two spells. The Omensight, and. . .¡± I trailed off.

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have a name actually. Uh, it¡¯s like a big burst of fire. Something like a star igniting,¡± I said. ¡°Star blast just sounds dumb. It¡¯s too glorious for that.¡±

    I linked my thumbs together. The Angler Knight looked around for the audience I was playing too. Gripped my chin and dragged my head into his lights.

    ¡°Pretty hard to cast spells when your hands are shattered,¡± he said.

    Twined my index and middle fingers on both hands¡ªdidn¡¯t set them against each other. Not yet.

    ¡°I think stars are nuclear or something. Oh, atomic, I like that word,¡± I said. His grip tightened, but I wasn¡¯t falling for the lure anymore. I only had eyes for the puppeteer. ¡°And, yes, it would be pretty hard to cast spells if my hands were shattered.¡±

    Twined my ring finger and pinky on both hands. Again, I didn¡¯t touch them. Not yet.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the name then?¡± he asked. His voice a growl of impatience at my farce¡ªnot my fault I didn¡¯t take the oral storytelling course in high school. Never even did theater despite the girls that wanted to see me take the stage.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty good. I¡¯ll call it Atomic Glory,¡± I said. ¡°But in this case I think it needs a more special name. Fivefold Atomic Glory.¡±

    I brought my twined fingers together into something Amber would later tell me was a quintuple hand-spell. Five instances of Atomic Glory drank deep of fate and as many possible outcomes as my spirit could withstand. They vibrated within my spiritual musculature. Five layers of infinity folded five times over. My eyes squeezed shut¡ªthis would be bright¡ªand I split five roads on the way to forever. I only wished I could see the Angler Knight¡¯s face when it happened. When I birthed a star in the depths of the Abyss.

    * * *

    When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was my mess. I had fallen through the floor on the ashes of my handcuffs and chair. My side hurt and I remembered how I hit a shelf before I rebounded to the floor. I looked around¡ªI was in a supply closet¡ªand Sphinx guarded the door. Its wings wide and the eyes on its feathers crackled with chalcedony flame.

    ¡°Did I kill his entity?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Slaying one of our betters unfortunately takes more than just a lucky shot,¡±  it said. ¡°However, it did flee. A tactic we should employ sooner rather than later.¡±

    I grunted in affirmation. Took stock of the room¡ªit really was just a supply closet¡ªand grabbed a wooden broom. Gave it a few swings before I decided that it¡¯d do. Then I turned the Omensight back on and parted the threads of the wall to see beyond. There was a hallway that was rapidly filling with cultists. They charged toward my little comfy closet.

    ¡°You cast, I bash,¡± I said.

    Sphinx laughed. I was shocked. It said, ¡°I had a feeling that would be your choice. You¡¯re very tactile.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the compliment. You can go first.¡±

    Sphinx pouted but didn¡¯t argue. We waited for the first wave to get closer. Closer. Our signal was silent¡ªour spirits in alignment. Sphinx barreled down the door, wings wide as flame lanced this way and that. I leaped not too far behind¡ªthe head of the broom smashed into one girl¡¯s throat. I shuffle-stepped and let the broom slide through my hands to strike the man next to her in the gut. Twist. Applied pressure at my end of the pole rocketing the head into his chin. His feet swung out from under him and I watched as the head of my weapon arced off behind them.

    Another woman tried to slip under the man as he fell¡ªI skewered her just above the knee. She collapsed and made a perfect cushion for the bundle of dead weight that smashed into her. I messed up when I tried to recover the broom pole. The girl I had struck in the throat hadn¡¯t fully gone down. Her hand was raised¡ªspell formed¡ªand suddenly I was drowning.

    My hands clawed at the orb of water around my head. Fingers parted fluid but nothing came away. I stared at her rippling face through the distortion of the water¡ªat some point I¡¯d dropped the Omensight in panic. Water just assaulted my throat and I realized that I was going to die. I locked eyes with the woman, pleading, and she just smiled. In fairness, I guess I did crack a broom right into her throat.

    Chalcedony beamed across my vision¡ªwhere did her head go¡ªand I dropped to my knees. Banged my chest and coughed to expunge any her water from within me. The stump of her neck was charred black. Even now chalcedony embers nibbled at all she was.

    ¡°What the fuck, Sphinx!¡± I yelled.

    ¡°Gratitude is the normal expectation for saving a life. I forgive you due to the circumstances,¡± it said.

    I used the wall to stand¡ªher head was gone. Deleted the way my flames had ate that hunter¡¯s arm. Consigned a bed to not even ash. I tried to look for ash, but there was none. Sphinx rammed into me. I stumbled from my trauma meditation.

    ¡°I thought most of their stuff was illusions,¡± I said.

    ¡°For the knight, perhaps,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Distance tends to blunt Sorcery and that¡¯s without moving through a crude medium. As a lure, his power was phantasmal. They, however, are very much here and will ask no questions before they kill you. So, do we die here or do we make our way out?¡±

    I put the headless woman from my thoughts¡ªI could fight, it didn¡¯t mean I had to kill¡ªand I flicked the Omensight back on. A dripping charnel tie led from my chest¡ªI looked up¡ªto a crowd of cultists in the hallway around the corner behind us. They had orbs of water aimed at me. This time I was already on the move. Arms swinging and legs pumping as I outran the rain of glass and condensed water that¡¯d shred my body to strings of meat.

    We turned a corner of our own. Spotted a staircase and took it. Sphinx leaped down the stairs¡ªI slid on the railing. The path deposited us into a cafeteria. Thirty cultists looked up from meals on trays with a shock on their face.

    ¡°It¡¯s the¡ª,¡± one nearly said.

    I didn¡¯t let him finish. My fingers were all twined for a Fivefold Atomic Glory. A star was born for the second time within the Abyss, and it burst like an egg. The yolk¡ªa wave of chalcedony fire¡ªthat coated the tables, the food, and the people. Unlike last time, my Omensight was still on. I watched the flames consume their place in the tapestry. Threads of countless Courts¡ªAbyss most prominent obviously¡ªunspooling their energy that fed the flames even further. A conflagratory feedback loop.

    What would haunt me¡ªoh I knew it would haunt me¡ªwere the ties that burned as well. Love, friends, parents, children, the ties were all different. One of them even was to a beloved pet. I saw memories in the flames. A child¡¯s first step. The day their father had finally said, I¡¯m proud of you. So many weddings. I didn¡¯t know these people and they didn¡¯t know me. Yet I had stolen them from the world. Seared them from the tapestry and worst of all¡ªthe tapestry was fine. Their deaths didn¡¯t matter¡ªwouldn¡¯t be known¡ªbecause how could they matter when the ties of fate that bound them to those who¡¯d care were incinerated. Not even a line of ash that could tickle their memory that there was someone who they loved and who¡¯s gone.

    ¡°Nadia!¡± Sphinx screamed.

    I came to myself crawling amidst the screaming emptiness of the room. Sphinx took my shirt by the teeth and yanked me back up.

    ¡°Do we die or do we go forward?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°Forward, forward,¡± I said. Forward away from the horror. Away from the nothing I made.

    We ran from the cafeteria and pushed out the double doors into the courtyard. Sprinted as the sound of watery bullets punctuated the air behind us. I didn¡¯t know where to go, so I followed the first tie I saw¡ªto my Mother¡¯s Last Smile. I hopped onto Sphinx¡ªit could run faster¡ªand quickly peered down the tie.

    The glaive was in an armory¡ªcultists had taken it as well and were arming up. They had black rifles trained on the door that¡¯d lead directly to the room. I pulled back from the tie.

    ¡°Second floor,¡± I said.

    Sphinx listened. Pushed off from the ground and flapped its wings once, twice, and then tuck them in as we shattered the glass into a hallway. I used the Omensight to peer through the floor as I passed door after door. This one! I shouldered it open. Held my finger to my lips and stepped carefully.

    Nothing. I stepped again. . . nothing. I muttered my dad¡¯s pet phrase, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I was in a hurry, but I couldn¡¯t mess this up. Sphinx and I found a good spot. We were above the armory and their guns were aimed in the wrong direction. My hands rose, fingers twined, tap. Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh. Bar after bar of chalcedony flame shot through the floor to take a cultist in the head. Arm. Leg. Heart. Arm. Head. I fired and Sphinx fired. We barely put a dent in them.

    Their guns swiveled up.

    ¡°Move!¡± I yelled. We circled the room. Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh. Returned fire as their bullets chewed through the floor like termites¡ªwhere¡¯d they even get so many bullets. Sphinx and I took shelter in a corner. The only dead angle in the room.

    Quiet. I watched them as they watched me. Ready to perforate me the minute I left my safe angle. Sphinx shuffled in front of me. I scritched its head¡ªI knew entities were immune to bullets, they were conceptually too weak in most cases¡ªbut Sphinx still didn¡¯t have to do it.

    ¡°I might¡¯ve overplayed our hand,¡± I said.

    Sphinx nodded. ¡°They have many cards.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I almost wished this was a one-on-one. Then I could slow. . .¡± I trailed off.

    In a one-on-one both of us would be moving full-speed, but in a crowd everyone but the target would come to a crawl. Sphinx¡¯s face was a blend of disbelief and mad awe.

    ¡°The Godtime is sacred,¡± it said.

    I cracked my fingers. ¡°So that¡¯s what it¡¯s called. How practical.¡±

    My way out needed one more piece. The cultists had reloaded their guns¡ªeven in slowed down time a wall of bullets was a wall of bullets. I needed cover and turned over all the spells I knew in my mind. Omensight wouldn¡¯t work. Atomic Glory was hardly a defense. This new Godtime would be impressive, but it wasn¡¯t right. I lacked a defense, an actual one, but I did have one last spell. The one that let Sphinx hide in my body.

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I said.

    It was definitely the adrenaline, but our spirits were in a special kind of alignment. Sphinx looked to me and flashed its row of fangs.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make a mess in there,¡± it warned.

    ¡°Never,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡±

    I inverted the hand-spell and felt myself fold into one of the more advanced yoga positions Mom would often do to show off. My spirit was origami¡¯d so tight I wish I could¡¯ve shown her¡ªshe was the most competitive mom ever¡ªand I held that thought as I slid into Sphinx¡¯s body.

    The place was cramped¡ªit had said the whole host of Revelation was here¡ªbut the moment I thought it the pressure vanished.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about what doesn¡¯t matter,¡± a voice said. Tight as a bridge of light and just as cold.

    Another whined, ¡°You¡¯re ahead of schedule, I¡¯m not ready.¡± It¡¯s voice a tender despair as best laid plans were unmade and how beautiful their collapse was.

    ¡°Just the way of things sometimes,¡± a different voice winked. A rush of something within the branches of everything. A glimpse here, there, and so close you can touch it. Just far enough away you¡¯re forced to chase it.

    The last voice¡ªwas it the last?¡ªthrew itself around me like a selfish child. ¡°Don¡¯t bully, puppy, she¡¯s so smart. Now let¡¯s see how this plays out.¡±

    I felt their hands guide me into position in front of a massive screen that wasn¡¯t a screen at all. Through it I watched Sphinx stretch and prep itself. The floor was riddled with holes¡ªespecially at the center¡ªand threatened to collapse.

    Within Sphinx¡¯s spirit I yelled, ¡°The center. Aim for the center!¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s own thoughts echoed around me and caressed my being. You don¡¯t have to yell.

    It shuffled back¡ªwagged its butt in micro-adjustments¡ªthen pounced. Arced high into the air and hurtled to the floor front paws first. Bam¡ªit landed. The floor groaned, buckled, and collapsed. As one we rode the platform of flooring down into the armor while the rest rained as shards of debris. Despite the smoke the cultists opened fire upon the cloudy mass. Their guns sang a song of the Old World¡¯s violence¡ªmachined and steady¡ªbut so brief. Click.

    The cultists turned to grab more ammo from the boxes behind them. Others had already clipped magazines to a belt and reached for them. They¡¯d stay reaching until I was done. I formed the hand-spell inside Sphinx¡¯s body and peeled myself up and out of their spine. A few cultists looked on in shock¡ªthey got to witness my spell.

    ¡°Godtime,¡± I said¡ªit was entirely unnecessary to say it, but damn it felt good. My eyes had locked on a young man far to the back of the crowd. He looked around wildly as everyone slowed to a series of micro-movements. The man tried to fight his way through to stop me, but he wasn¡¯t faster than Sphinx.

    It ran forward and leapt claws first into two cultists. Brought them down hard as its wings fanned out¡ªeyes blazing chalcedony¡ªand fired into the crowd. I leaped from Sphinx¡¯s back and springboarded off the face of a cultist. I could see my glaive in an open locker.

    Bang-woosh. A bullet sung past my head. The young man had his aim trained on me¡ªtime to swap¡ªand found himself pulling the trigger on an eternal second. My new subject was an older woman closer to the front of the crowd. Her arm swung too fast¡ªit seemed some would try to move harder despite the altered time¡ªand her magazine flung from her fingers. She whirled around to spot me and swore at her empty gun. She reached for an already loaded pistol from her hip. In the meantime I had made my way to the locker.

    Just in case I shifted targets to the girl next to the locker¡ªher head moved only fast enough to whip into my shoe as I kicked her into the wood locker next to my glaive. Her head bounced¡ªI caught it¡ªslammed her back into the wood.

    ¡°Guh,¡± she moaned.

    I dropped her and freed my glaive. The hard work was done¡ªI shifted my target one last to an old man. He was near the girl whose head I introduced rather forcibly to the lockers. The guy already had freed his pistol¡ªanother person who knew when to give up on reloading¡ªbut I didn¡¯t care. Mother¡¯s Last Smile slid cleanly against my palms and the bright metal crescent took his head from his shoulders. As the Godtime fell I choose a new person to enter this creeping torture with me.

    Whether my target dropped first or five near them it didn¡¯t matter. The glaive leaped from my hands, shwip-swhip, like the shuttle of a loom. That bright smile tossing arcs of blood and life into the air as their associated bodies fell. It took longer than I wanted, but it was more humane this way. They¡¯d not just cease to exist¡ªbut that didn¡¯t mean I tried to remember them.

    When the last person fell I realized the girl I had slammed into the lockers still lived. Sphinx raised a brow, it¡¯s your call. I raised my glaive but shook my head¡ªshe wasn¡¯t a danger to me, maybe tomorrow, but that¡¯s tomorrow. Sphinx and I left the armory and I realized a tie had returned to me. It stretched across the hall and down some stairs. I followed it and kept my eyes clear for any cultists on the lookout for me. The only ones I spotted were slumped on the ground with glassy eyes that marveled at nothing.

    The stairs led down into a basement where the walls were stone and a large cell covered one wall. At a table opposite the cell¡ªcloser to the stairs¡ªwas Secretary. Their spiritual musculature, a tight and shiny ectoplasm in the shape of themselves.

    ¡°Right on time, I¡¯m ready to leave,¡± Secretary said. ¡°It¡¯s nearly four.¡±

    I tried to take their head. They ducked the blow and tapped my wrist to send it even wider. I rushed down the stairs but they were gone. I looked up to see the clock had skipped forward two minutes. Sphinx sent through our bond, behind you. I whirled around to see Secretary sitting on the steps and flipping through a file folder.

    ¡°You really are a brute,¡± they cooed. ¡°You went so loud there was nearly no one to stop me.¡±

    I screamed, ¡°You sold me out!¡±

    Secretary shut the folder. ¡°Technically I used you; I¡¯m willing to use you again, and probably again after that because you¡¯re just so good at making a mess.¡±

    My jaw fell at the audaciousness of it all. Secretaries.

    ¡°You find the experiments you wanted?¡± I asked.

    Secretary pouted. ¡°Hardly, it¡¯s just your usual nonsense where they want to kill the Lodgemaster and take over. Use the place as a springboard for further domination. It¡¯s very trite.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    ¡°See it all the time. I mean, you¡¯re hardly a worthwhile Lodgemaster if no one has a grudge against you. Means you don¡¯t do anything. Still, they are replacing people to seed into the exam. So we¡¯ll probably have to stop that. Oh, and recover that experimental axis mundi¡ªapparently they did get it shrine sized.¡±

    ¡°We will?¡±

    Secretary winked, ¡°I was using the royal we for that one, in reference to the Lodge, but if you¡¯re offering¡ª.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s free the captives and go.¡±

    Secretary¡¯s head tilted. ¡°Why would we do that?¡±

    ¡°Cause we have to rescue them,¡± I said.

    ¡°Do you need me to check your memory?¡± Secretary asked amusedly. ¡°First, I needed help with the goons at the station. You, your ex-wife, and the bossy one did that already. Second, was get information from the facility. Which. . .¡±

    Secretary set the folder atop the stack they had assembled. Formed a hand-spell and discorporated the folders into a shower of evanescent lights.

    ¡°Is now done. Oh, look at that, no playing hero and rescuing folks on the itinerary.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re members of the Lodge?¡±

    Secretary nodded, ¡°Some of them. Those researchers will be fine, the cultists haven¡¯t killed them yet. Plus, we have the research so we don¡¯t really need any of them if it¡¯d be too fierce a fight to recover them. Yeah, better to let the Lurkers think we don¡¯t care so they get let go faster.¡±

    ¡°And the examinees? They wanted to join you,¡± I said.

    ¡°So,¡± they said. ¡°If they got captured they probably wouldn¡¯t¡¯ve passed the exam anyways. Doing it like this leaves okay odds that they¡¯ll also be let go after this. Why do you care anyways, they¡¯re your competition in this thing.¡±

    It was a fair reminder. They were my competition, and every person I had to compete against for that top spot¡ªmy chance¡ªendangered my way forward. I glanced at the head of my glaive. Would Mom smile if she saw me abandon them like this?

    I huffed and walked in front of the cell¡ªhefted the glaive¡ªand cleaved the lock in two. I didn¡¯t open the door. Didn¡¯t go in and wake everyone up or give some rousing speech about working together. They were my competition¡ªI just didn¡¯t want to become a beast.

    ¡°Oooh, how conscience sating of you,¡± Secretary said.

    They stood and shoved a thumb toward the stairs. The three of us exited the holding cells and traced our way through the path of destruction we had wrought. Secretary stole a glance inside the armory and whistled, impressed. The idea that I had impressed them was sobering.

    We exited the building and found a problem waiting for us. It was clad in metal and a weird skinsuit, sword slung over its shoulder, and nine lights trained on us. This time, fully in the flesh, was the Angler Knight and his weird eel-shaped entity.

    ¡°At least let me see you off,¡± he said.

    I hefted my glaive. ¡°Sure, if you want to face a two-on-o. . .¡± and I trailed off. Something was missing. Again. I shook my head and focused.

    ¡°Do we die or go forward?¡± I asked Sphinx.

    ¡°Forward. Always forward,¡± Sphinx said.

    So forward we charged to face the knight and his Baron.

 Chapter 11

    He didn¡¯t move. In the face of our boldness, the bastard¡¯s body language told a story of bemusement. We were no challenge to him¡ªa new summoner and her entity nowhere close to graduation. A rage suffused my limbs as I sought to teach him otherwise. Hefted my glaive so that the blade could carry the lesson through his heart.

    An irony, as all the lessons of the day in summoner versus summoner combat fled my mind like so many birds taking flight from a rabid dog¡ªmy hatred for the man. One bird remained within my mind, a playful little pigeon of a thought. It was Amber. Smug and mischievous Amber from when she parked her lips near my ear and whispered the highest secret of combat: smart summoners gather enough information and cheat to victory.

    That hateful little dog in my brain barked and barked. Its fangs threatened to shred this thought¡ªthis perfectly distilled memory¡ªinto a web of viscera. The pigeon didn¡¯t care, and if it didn¡¯t care why did I?

    I blinked and felt my eyes moisten. The water disrupted whatever spell had drilled through my eyes. In the broken clarity of my tears I saw the Angler Knight properly. One hand clenched around his sword¡¯s hilt, and the other pinched and upside down like his eel¡¯s lures. Yet where was his entity?

    ¡°Nadia, stop,¡± Sphinx yelled.

    Its teeth pierced the back of my shirt and whipped me backwards. I clattered to the ground along with my glaive. Rolled across the stone instinctively¡ªlike Mom taught me. Then stopped in a three-point crouch with Mother¡¯s Last Smile propped up against the ground.

    ¡°He used some kind of lure,¡± I snapped.

    Sphinx said, ¡°Agreed. The foul fury ran from your spirit to mine. Now cast eyes to heaven, and see to what aim.¡±

    My eyes flicked up and took note of the ghastly eel that the Angler Knight was bonded to. It swam through the air in sinuous teasing motions. Under the Omensight there was nothing playful in its movements. Its tendril-lures had extended out to the ground; ribs to the canopy of abyssal blue threads that ran from lure to lure. It was an umbrella under which the Abyss held absolute control.

    ¡°A field-spell,¡± I named it. ¡°Amber did say those showed up amongst Barons.¡±

    ¡°He sought to snuff Revelation¡¯s light from this world,¡± Sphinx said.

    I looked down from the lures that formed the field to the ground itself. It was depressed, stonework reduced to dust, and sloped down to the Angler Knight who marked the deep end. He released the hand-spell that had injected mad fury into my veins and applauded.

    ¡°I appreciate the boldness,¡± he said. ¡°Shame I couldn¡¯t finish you the easy way.¡±

    I said, ¡°Are you sure it¡¯d be easy? Way I see it, your control isn¡¯t all that refined.¡±

    He flipped me off¡ªI knew I was right. The pressure was uneven, but no smile reached my heart. Sure, it was uneven, but with two spells in a matter of a second he nearly killed me. I had charged boldly toward the shadow of my death. The thought rested against my mind, a leaf on a tranquil lake, and I breathed. Blew the thought away and focused.

    ¡°Sphinx, how do we dualcast?¡± I asked.

    It rumbled, ¡°We act as we have. One of thought and action. Why?¡±

    ¡°Cause he tried to hit us from range,¡± I said. ¡°If he wants to measure dicks then I¡¯ll show him mine¡¯s bigger.¡±

    Then Sphinx saw what I did. The Angler Knight was half a cafeteria¡¯s length away from me. Well within the distance of a Fivefold Atomic Glory¡ªI wouldn¡¯t even have to sacrifice any power. My glaive rested on my thigh as I raised my hands in time with Sphinx¡¯s spreading wings. I felt the woven fabric that was us twist tight as a wet towel. Futures on futures dragged into the folds of this condensed moment. When Revelation would bring light.

    ¡°My serve!¡± I yelled.

    For the third time in one day a star was born in the Abyss. It cleaved dark in ¡®twain with the potency of Revelation that burned its bright tail in the world.

    The Angler Knight bellowed with glee, ¡°Beautiful! A shame it¡¯s cold down here!¡±

    The Abyss was endless and it was complete. Nothing would be born here, for it was the dark where all things died. Even Revelation.

    With a turn of his hand, the Angler Knight ushered a glacier into existence. A curtain of condensed cold that could even trap a shooting star. My Atomic Glory was fixed shut within the ice. The flames erratic and stabbing endlessly outward, but unable to find purchase. Some infinities were larger than others I realized. As before me stood the cliff of difference between the links in the chain.

    Through the blue of the glacier I could just barely make out his hand. It gestured to the. . . glacier? The icy shelf roiled before it shot towards me thick as a battering ram and pointed as a spear. I leapt to my feet and thrust forward Mother¡¯s Last Smile to intercept. Glacial tip met glaive¡¯s edge in violent argument.

    For a perfect moment there was no winner. Just tip to edge light as a childhood kiss. Where you¡¯d linger in that brief time hung between possibilities¡ªunaware of which path the story would take. I¡¯d love to say I was convinced of mine, but if you could walk around in that endless gap of time you¡¯d see how wide my eyes were. Fear sparkled in the tears that had been forced back by the sheer pressure of what rocketed before me. My arms had just begun to slacken, and I knew that I wouldn¡¯t evade death this time. Time. This moment was too long.

    ¡°It¡¯s just long enough,¡± Sphinx said as the Godtime ended and it snapped its jaws tight around the glaive¡¯s shaft. Its neck strained with all its muscles to thrust. The glaive. Forward.

    ¡°Always forward,¡± I screamed.

    Together we thrust with the weight of our lives, my vengeance, its yearning to fill the world with Revelation. In that single thrust you could find the love I had for Melissa, the feelings that burned unnamed for Amber. You could find the faith I had in Sphinx, and trust it had in me.

    Tip met edge¡ªthe glaive¡¯s head glinted with an unnatural brilliance¡ªand the edge won. Sheared through millennia old ice with the reminder that anything could happen. With one quarter-circle motion, Sphinx and I parried the glacial stake. It ran aground and exploded to the side of us¡ªlooking like half a hedgehog¡ªwhile a heavy mist of snow filled the air.

    I stood quiet within what felt like a localized blizzard. In the distance I heard the glacier grind out of the world. Despite the action I had maintained the Omensight, and through this snow screen the Angler Knight was clear to me. His posture was one of exaggerated examination; hand to head to block out a sun that wasn¡¯t present so he could better appreciate his work.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s over?¡± he yelled. ¡°Has your mettle run dry?¡±

    As one, I raised my arm and Sphinx thrust aside a wing flinging clear the snow screen. We had a dualcast Twofold Atomic Glory prepared to shove up his ass.

    ¡°How could it?¡± I yelled back, ¡°I am metal!¡±

    They weren¡¯t the glorious stars of a Fivefold, but they were four comets that rebelled against the dark. Faster in absence of a greater payload. Able to sneak past the frigid hands of the Abyss. The Angler Knight was caught off guard¡ªthere was no spell that¡¯d let him escape fast enough¡ªbut the bastard was a knight besides being a summoner. He dragged his body with all the muscles of his right hand side. Moved the four inches that were necessary for the comets to go wide. They landed behind him and exploded in plinths of fire¡ªwe missed.

    ¡°As are these,¡± Secretary said.

    The Angler Knight and I remembered they were there. They were always there. Just now they were there with an automatic pistol aimed for the head he so politely leaned in deference to the gun. Blam blam blam. He stumbled backward under the assault.

    ¡°Nadia!¡± Secretary screamed.

    Tnk tnk tnk. The bullets rained against the ground¡ªflattened by the thin layer of water that I only now saw. Ripples from where the bullets struck raced across the surface.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have to remember you to know that something swam in my waters,¡± he said.

    Raised his hand¡ªspell already cast¡ªand dragged Secretary toward the sword raised in line with their heart. I was barely faster as I plunged the three of us into Godtime.

    I leaped astride Sphinx and it flew-ran toward Secretary. Unlike the lesser members of the cult, their actions weren¡¯t reduced to nearly imperceptible micromotions. They were slowed, but it was a pantomime of slowness. Like most aspects of Sorcery, those above you in the Chain suffered less from your power¡ªso I made do with what I could.

    Sphinx tilted into a wide turn. I thrust my hand out and caught Secretary by the back of their suit. Yanked and felt the three of us push against the pressure that tried to drag us in. Sphinx battered the air with its wings. We spiraled around and up past The Angler Knight. Secretary swung their leg to give him one last kick in the head. No water rippled on that one.

    ¡°Where to now?¡± I asked.

    Secretary kept an arm around my waist and pointed to the bright yellow skeleton of metal that framed the elevator the AoSI team had re-designed the Staircase into. Sphinx beat its wings as we flew toward it. I released Godtime and the Omensight. Shuddered as I felt the muscle-clenching poison of stress melt from my body. Exhaustion took its place¡ª Secretary¡¯s hectic screaming woke me before sleep had shuttered my eyes and loosened my grip.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t he chasing us?¡± I asked Secretary.

    ¡°How could he?¡± Secretary asked. ¡°I kicked the memory of us out of his head. Along with his ability to perceive anything until sunset tomorrow. Though with how annoying he is to fight, he¡¯ll probably be fine a little after the train arrives.¡±

    I nodded as if that made any sense to me. We flew between a gap in the metal paneling, and then shot upwards toward Realspace. Until we arrived I kept my eyes on the facility. Lingered on the ruin my battle had made of the courtyard¡ªif I was nice I¡¯d call it a draw. The Angler Knight was only one link above me and I couldn¡¯t beat him¡ªcouldn¡¯t even force out his defense. My thoughts were interrupted by Secretary¡¯s chin against my shoulder.

    ¡°The mission was a success,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Don¡¯t try to find a loss in a win.¡±

    * * *

    Blotomisc stood ready for us when we emerged¡ªhe still had my Dad¡¯s face. I was too exhausted for anger to kindle, and slumped against Sphinx. Barely looked around at the place. We were in a large cave¡ªprobably a mine before they discovered the Staircase¡ªand all around us were cultists still as stones. They stared off into nothing with the same glassy eyes as the cultists I found in a trail to Secretary.

    ¡°Oh, this is your field-spell,¡± I mutter.

    Secretary plays with my hair. Hums in semi-agreement. ¡°It¡¯s a way of using it. That¡¯s all field-spells are Nadia; a canvas to express the truth of your Court.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Blotomisc said. ¡°Secretary and myself are hardly brutes, so we delay acknowledgement¡ªa minor memetic formation¡ªfrom occurring. They can¡¯t hurt what they can¡¯t be aware of.¡±

    ¡°So we have no need to hurt them,¡± Secretary added.

    Sphinx and I didn¡¯t say anything in disagreement. It may have pissed me off then, the idea that they¡¯d just play in minds, but the people they came across at least got to live. Most of mine wouldn¡¯t even be remembered by those who loved them most. I knew which was crueler.

    The four of us¡ªSecretary and myself riding Sphinx and Blotomisc jogging alongside¡ªmade our way through the mine¡¯s tunnels. Up into the loading bay where our truck had rolled into to make its way down to the elevator below. Any cultists we passed were glassy eyed in moments. Unable to remember the seconds it took for us to escape from sight. It was in this way we fled from the nondescript building for some old mining operation that the Lodge¡ªand now the Lurkers in the Deep¡ªhad claimed as a base to advance their ends.

    Sphinx didn¡¯t slow down until we fled the grounds and were over the gate. The horizon kindled as the sun made embers of the treetops. I could feel Secretary relax behind me¡ªthere was nothing like Realspace after all¡ªand listened when they directed us down to a hill.

    ¡°This is where we part ways,¡± Secretary said.

    I said, ¡°I can¡¯t just leave you in the middle of nowhere.¡±

    ¡°Sweetie, I hate to break your heart, but I have ways to travel far faster than your cute sphinx.¡±

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Better statement, I¡¯m not leaving you without whatever token or document I need to guarantee my exemption.¡±

    The tired that was in me was apparent, but I had enough energy to clench my glaive. I¡¯d paid my wage of blood. They owed me. Secretary cocked their hip and tossed back their hair.

    ¡°You know you shake a lot?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Well you do,¡± they said. ¡°Look at you, waving around your hurt and rage like a knife. Screaming, ¡®better do what I say, I have a knife!¡¯¡±

    Their hips rolled in gentle waves like wine in a glass. Eyes bright and teeth a smidge too sharp.

    ¡°But that¡¯s the thing, the only people who shake as they hold the knife are those who don¡¯t want to hold it at all. Quivering in fear of a thing they have control over.¡±

    They laid their hand over mine¡ªI was shaking?

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t change what you owe me,¡± I said.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it?¡± they asked. ¡°Learn to enjoy the comfort of the knife, my little brute, or you won¡¯t survive the exam.¡±

    They pressed their lips to mine. Their fingers glided mine down the shaft of my glaive. Broke my grip gently and pinned my wrist to Sphinx¡¯s fur. They were both so soft. Then I felt the cool tease of wind against my face. At some point my eyes had closed, and Secretary had left.

    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx rumbled, ¡°They played a deep trick on your mind, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°Was it real?¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s head spun backwards to face me¡ªit looked strangely upset.

    ¡°That¡¯s for you to decide if you want, my summoner.¡±

    The regression to calling me ¡°my summoner¡± tipped me off as to the trap my ignorance had triggered. I muttered telepathic apologies to Sphinx as we flew back to the station outpost.

    * * *

    I saw Melissa first. Still clad in her chimeric form she sat atop the inn and kept the wilds in view. At the sight of me she stretched up and waved with both arms¡ªthere was something so cute about a ten foot chimera clad in nature¡¯s arsenal of weapons leaping up and down in joy. She clambered down the building¡¯s surface and leaped to the ground. As we landed she mutated down into the Melissa I was familiar with, and tackled me from Sphinx¡¯s back in a crushing hug.

    ¡°You¡¯re alive,¡± she said. ¡°Oh my gosh you¡¯re alive.¡±

    ¡°Did you expect me to die?¡± I asked.

    Melissa pushed up to only be straddling my waist. Tears ran in fat waves down her cheeks. She pawed at her eyes to try and stem the tide. I hated watching her cry because soon I couldn¡¯t see¡ªtears of my own occluding my vision.

    ¡°I know Secretary would¡¯ve left you to die,¡± she said.

    I couldn¡¯t tell Melissa how many times I nearly died¡ªshe¡¯d probably cry even harder¡ªbut in the picture show of near deaths that played on the carousel of my mind I couldn¡¯t find a single one that I could truly blame on Secretary. They had led me by the nose into being tortured, sure, but there was no guarantee I¡¯d be killed. The Angler Knight hadn¡¯t killed any of the researchers or the examinees the cult had kidnapped. Even when we fought the Angler Knight, they hadn¡¯t abandoned me to an impossible battle¡ªarguably they trusted me to fight him. Force him off balance so they could get what they saw as a kill shot.

    No, Secretary was a manipulative jerk, but they weren¡¯t the type to break their toys. The only person who broke anything¡ªkilled anyone¡ªwas me. Melissa reached for my hands in concern at whatever she read in my face. I snatched them back.

    ¡°Please, just get off now,¡± I said.

    Her expression hardened as she rose and stepped away. ¡°Train¡¯s here. Amber¡¯s holding him up for now.¡±

    I found my feet and laid my hand on Sphinx. Let it help me carry this newfound weight. We passed through the lobby and down into a hallway that led to the platform behind the building. There we found Amber handing over one of the token pouches she had claimed as her, ¡°saved your life fee.¡± There were already three pouches in the conductor¡¯s hands.

    The conductor was shaped like a train¡¯s whistle with a white comb-like mustache. He spotted us as we stepped onto the platform, and tried to snatch that last pouch from Amber¡¯s hand. She was faster and plucked it back.

    ¡°Thanks for doing business,¡± she said.

    Turned to face me, and her smile dissipated¡ªwas I that easy to read?

    ¡°Temple, glad to see you¡¯re back. You wouldn¡¯t believe how much it costs to stall a train. He charges in thirty minute increments.¡±

    ¡°Your donation is accepted. Now, we really can¡¯t delay the schedule any further. All aboard!¡± he hollered. His voice was thin like a train whistle too.

    We grabbed our bags and made-to-board. Melissa asked¡ªof course Melissa would ask, ¡°Nadia, what happened to the examinees?¡±

    I bought her off with a pained smile. ¡°Things were difficult down there.¡±

    She had enough care in me¡ªtrust in whatever goodness I used to have, that I fear hasn¡¯t crossed over into this version of me¡ªthat she didn¡¯t pry. Instead she nodded with as much care as she could and dropped it. Confident, I think, that one day she¡¯d hear the full story from me. I wasn¡¯t confident I¡¯d ever tell her, but at least this way I didn¡¯t have to lie to her.

    We stepped onto the train and found ourselves inside a photo of some fancy Old World hotel. The floors were a glittery marble, and the check-in desk the same rock but in a light-consuming black. We crossed the lobby to find a muscular woman with a buzzed head and rail tracks that wound and spidered across every tract of bare flesh. Her finger traced across a transit map that covered the desk. She didn¡¯t look up at us for about three minutes. Amber reached for the service-bell, but the woman raised her finger, one moment.

    It was two more minutes before she looked up. Her face a scowl directed largely at Amber.

    ¡°You¡¯ve delayed me, so I delay you,¡± she said.

    ¡°We delayed the train,¡± Melissa said confused.

    The woman crossed her arms.

    ¡°You¡¯re the train?¡± I asked.

    She snorted. ¡°I¡¯m Every Train And Its Rails. Is this the first time you''ve ridden me?¡±

    Melissa and I nodded. Every Train beamed at her admission of being a locomotive virgin, but when she looked at me she shook her head.

    ¡°You may have grown, but I never forget a passenger,¡± she said. ¡°Hands.¡±

    Melissa, Amber, and myself held our hands out like supplicants. Every Train swiped her finger across our palms¡ªa key manifesting in our hands. Three keys for three rooms. As my fingers wrapped around it, I felt the information of the train¡¯s layout sketch inside my head. There was simply too much to smoosh into my mind¡ªwhen I blinked my eyes I could see the margin notes of the layout, it said something about, ¡°sixth-dimensional spatial compression,¡± techniques. From Melissa¡¯s expression I could tell it was also a bit much for her. Amber, of course, was fine.

    ¡°Please note, your ticket confers you to a local instance of myself. As you are the only three riding today, do have fun and take full advantage of my amenities. Whilst you may not visit any other instance¡ªprovided you have not paid to upgrade your ticket¡ªit¡¯ll be unlikely that anyone shall visit this. . . minor branch of myself. Enjoy the ride,¡± she said.

    Amber and Melissa took off to enjoy the opulence of this ¡°minor¡± branch of Every Train. I watched their reflections in the marble floor as they raced toward the elevators¡ªit was really Amber racing first, but she had this way to pull undiscovered pockets of childishness from you. I watched them leave and turned back to Every Train. Who hadn¡¯t looked away from me.

    On the desk was a small photo album. The cover, a monochrome picture of Mom and Dad at a small table with Every Train while a waitress brought out a baby-sized cup of pudding. It was for a baby-sized me that was held by Every Train. I leaned forward and drank in every detail of the photo. My dad was younger and looked so tired that just smiling seemed to drain him. His eyes shone with the kindness I was used to from him. That didn¡¯t keep me from noticing the massive sword that was laid across the table¡ªthe pudding sat on it.  Mom looked different as well; imperious but like she was trying to let it go and be someone else. The sight of my weird scrunched baby face was already softening her. You¡¯d nearly miss the dark gray that stained her hands and was splattered across her khaki shirt¡ªblood. It even flecked across Dad¡¯s sword¡ªI never knew he had a sword¡ªin striations of age. They were killers.

    A crooked smile cracked my face and out seeped the cool ooze of relief. It¡¯s morbid, but I hadn¡¯t expected to get another moment where I¡¯d bond with my parents. Maybe they would¡¯ve still loved me despite everyone I¡¯ve killed. They could¡¯ve taught me some secret method to stop feeling so bad about it.

    ¡°It¡¯s your album,¡± Every Train said. ¡°Kareem left it from his last trip. The end of your first year of life. If I may ask, where did Kareem end up?¡±

    I dragged the album to my chest. Hugged it like I could shove the whole tome into myself.

    ¡°A good place. Peaceful. Didn¡¯t have to fight anyone. Then it wasn¡¯t, and now he¡¯s dead. Mom too,¡± I said.

    ¡°So they were successful,¡± Every Train mused.

    ¡°My parents?¡± I asked.

    Every Train shrugged, ¡°I suppose. Success is hardly infinite when you seek to live in a single state endlessly. Fate has a tendency to wander if not exercised. Anyways, feel free to ride whenever you need to¡ªKareem left a hefty balance in his name with you as the inheriting benefactor. Even the personal suite is yours.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. My voice was too weak to carry anything but the words.

    ¡°Keep them. All according to the covenant,¡± she said. ¡°And the agreements of old friends.¡±

    I waved goodbye using the photo album, and stepped into the elevator with Sphinx. My eyes locked on the two people in that picture as I tried to decipher how they became my parents.

 Chapter 12

    Applause surrounded me. Everyone I knew had arrived for my birthday party. There was Amber two-fisting beers. Melissa in a gown of silk that rolled with the curves of her body. Sphinx stood at my side with a pleasant smile on its face. Even Secretary was there making out with some other guests. Beyond them it seemed like everything bled into shadow¡ªI blame the sparklers that filled the table. They cast chalcedony embers everywhere.

    Then the curtain of shadow parted as my parents carried in a grand silver platter. Their faces wide with joy that they could be here. They set down the platter with a gentle thud. I could see my face reflected in the stainless steel of its lid. My face was only softly painted. The barest hint of color to my lips with a touch of gloss and dark smokiness that framed my eyes¡ªthe most I normally went for when playing with makeup.

    Those same glossy lips opened in a subtle gasp. This Nadia¡¯s head was framed by a halo of aged blood. It pulsated with spikes like the volume meter on one of dad¡¯s radios. Beyond the bloody trim was what seemed to be a world of knives and edges¡ªthe violence of division.

    ¡°Sweetie, are you okay?¡± Mom asked.

    I leaned into her palm. She smelled peppery and sweet. I focused on that.

    ¡°Yeah, Mom, totally,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s eat!¡±

    The crowd cheered and my dad smiled. He tossed the lid from the platter and shook his hands for the big reveal. It was a head¡ªher head¡ªatop a mound of assorted limbs and viscera. So this was where the things that Atomic Glory consumed went.

    Dad¡¯s voice broke up with mini coughs he used to cover his tears. ¡°Oh Dreamdrop,¡± Dad said, ¡°when they told me you killed them I couldn¡¯t¡¯ve been happier. Trust me, I was a bit skeptical initially. I said, ¡®my little, Dreamdrop, killed all of you? Nooo, she could barely crush a bug.¡¯ In the end though, it was hard to deny them. You were very prolific.¡±

    ¡°Dad, who told you I killed anyone?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯d be us,¡± her head said.

    The crowd parted and a small army marched into the light¡ªthe cultists. They waved to everyone, just so happy to be there. When they were fully in the of the sparklers they took a bow, and as one said, ¡°Thank you, princess.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡± I asked. ¡°I-I killed you.¡±

    ¡°And proud of it we are,¡± her head said. ¡°To be known forever in your story as your first.¡±

    ¡°First?¡±

    ¡°First kill. First massacre even. Call it pride, but I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be beating our record anytime soon. You want to know the exact number?¡± her head asked.

    I crossed my fingers and loosed the Atomic Glory onto her head. Burned it again. Stumbled back from the table. Mom looked so concerned for me. Dad looked down at the platter.

    ¡°Tsk, Dreamdrop, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve begun one of those silly diets. Old World magazines are not to be taken as trusted advice, we¡¯ve been over this.¡± He shook his head. ¡°We do not have enough space for you to leave behind leftovers¡ªthere¡¯s four more platters.¡±

    I wheeled backwards from the table. Slammed against cold metal¡ªthe Angler Knight.

    ¡°Come on, Nadia, don¡¯t you want to be big and strong?¡± the Angler Knight asked gently.

    I whirled about in surprise; my feet slid from the ground and I fell up into the air. He caught me with a dip, and then tossed me corkscrewing into his arms. He carried me back to the table.

    ¡°Forget about even beating me,¡± The Angler Knight said. ¡°How many people do you think you¡¯ll have to kill¡ªconsume, if you want to beat them.¡±

    A spotlight swiveled over to the crowd. The people melted around the beam of light to reveal my parents¡¯ killers at the bar. They raised their drinks high and screamed, happy birthday. One of them waved their glass to the room.

    ¡°I¡¯d first like to say, I can¡¯t wait to get like you my boys,¡± the masked killer said in deference to the army of my first-slain foes. ¡°Next, for the birthday girl, you better appreciate all that good killing. It¡¯ll be a long road to get to us, so best bulk up.¡±

    My mom took a spoon to the absent ashes of the head¡ªan eyeball remained. She scooped it and flew the eyeball to my mouth like she did when as a little girl.

    ¡°They¡¯re right. You need to eat up,¡± my Mom said.

    The Angler Knight squeezed open my jaw. Mom tilted the eyeball onto my tongue. They forced my mouth shut. The jellied eyeball squished. It tasted of hopes and dreams, treasured memories. I knew her name. It was¡ª

    ¡°Suzuka,¡± I whispered to the ceiling of the personal suite my dad apparently had with Every Train And Its Rails.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Sphinx hummed.

    It turns its eyes away from the window¡ªfloor to ceiling¡ªand the painting of the countryside that flew by in impressionistic streaks. I pushed myself from the bed. Stumbled to the window-view table Sphinx sat beside. I took the pitcher of water and let it fall into my mouth. Gulping and gulping to clear a taste that sat in my spirit¡ªstill, sits in my spirit.

    Water dribbled down my chin and neck. Merged with the drops of sweat that marched across my skin. I returned the pitcher¡ªa third lighter in weight¡ªand met Sphinx¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Poor dream?¡± it asked.

    I frowned, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you can see into my dreams.¡±

    ¡°Was that a request, or just the dialect you learned in whatever nightmare you woke from?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your problem?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yours.¡± It said, ¡°I can advise you on more than vengeance if you want. If you¡¯d let me.¡±

    ¡°Sure, what advice do you want to give me now to follow the torture of your last great hit: end the engagement with my childhood love?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Is this how you wish to have this conversation?¡± it asked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said.

    ¡°Maybe, is not a firm enough answer,¡± my gatekeeper said. ¡°Open the gate or don¡¯t. Just don¡¯t take it out on me when you¡¯re the indecisive one.¡±

    I whipped the pitcher off the table¡ªit crashed into a wall somewhere in the kitchen. Shattered.

    ¡°Like you can ever give firm answers. Revelation isn¡¯t teaching and all that. You can just be annoyingly cryptic.¡±

    ¡°I speak clearly, but you¡¯re the one who seems to entomb my words.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s put that to a test. What am I?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx didn¡¯t miss a beat, ¡°Divided. As is your nature.¡±

    ¡°Gah,¡± I roared.

    Snatched a robe from a nearby chair¡ªit was pink and fuzzy¡ªand tied it off as I stormed off to the elevator in the suite. Slammed a button and l screamed one more time. Sphinx just stared at me, so disappointed¡ªI thought at me¡ªthen turned aside its face.

    It said, ¡°I forgive you.¡±

    * * *

    When the doors parted I stomped out into whatever floor it had deposited me. My feet hit soft velvet¡ªthe floors were red as spider-lilies. The design of the rug was a field of them after all. Yet, by whatever magic Every Train employed, when I looked up the design moved with me. All those flowers projected up like some hazy illusion that you couldn¡¯t help but believe in.

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    The rest of the room was a bar. There were a few high-tops about the floor, but it had seats at the bar proper¡ªa slab of black marble with silver in the cracks. In a trail down the bar stools I found Amber atop a plush silver one. I took the gold one next to her. She had her hand around a crystal glass with an amber colored drink¡ªwhisky maybe. I chuckled at that.

    ¡°Temple, what¡¯s the joke?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s bad,¡± I said.

    ¡°Let me be the judge of that.¡±

    ¡°Your name¡¯s Amber,¡± I said. ¡°The drink is amber colored. You¡¯re like, self-cannibalizing.¡±

    Amber¡¯s lips pursed as they tasted my joke. Glanced to the glass then back to me.

    ¡°That is bad.¡±

    We both laughed at that.

    I pressed my chin to my hands. I didn¡¯t look her in the eye when I asked.

    ¡°What happened with the lindwurm?¡±

    Amber sipped her whiskey. ¡°That¡¯s not what you want to talk about.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not, but I have to work myself up to the actual thing.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Amber said. ¡°I was caught off guard. No matter how good you are, that''s normally how you die.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you had to have at least one attack spell?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to let that go. Temple, I also said smarts mattered much more. Maybe I don¡¯t have one because I never needed one,¡± she sipped, ¡°because I was a traditionalist in that way and that way only.¡±

    ¡°Sphinx says maybe isn¡¯t a firm answer.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± she said. ¡°So, maybe, I was just too fixated on you. Making sure you didn¡¯t die from the half-a-dozen entities that would¡¯ve nabbed you during our little quest. A little too focused on why you were lying to me. Choose a story Temple, because I¡¯m not firm on why it shook out the way it did.¡±

    She gestured with the drink at the options.

    ¡°I could give you more reasons, but at the end of the day we were caught unaware without the gear needed to fight a Baron. Let alone in a stand up brawl when fighting isn¡¯t my specialty.¡±

    ¡°Pick a story, huh?¡± I asked. ¡°I think I¡¯ll take the one where you just froze and became an idiot. Had to rely on my quick wit and hardy spirit to smash through that door.¡±

    Amber shoved my shoulder playfully.

    ¡°You¡¯re only getting away with that one cause you look way too good in that robe.¡±

    I realized that the only thing I was wearing was the robe and the underwear I slept in. My cheeks burned as I blew out my embarrassment. I glanced at Amber, she was in this shimmering tuxedo that drained the red of the carpet like some vampiric thing. Her bowtie hung loose around her neck¡ªjust a snatch to whip it off.

    ¡°Yeah, well, what about you?¡± I asked. ¡°Who packs a tuxedo for the Lodge exam?¡±

    Amber smirked. ¡°Someone who expects good parties, or the chance to be with a beautiful woman.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re the only people here,¡± I said.

    ¡°My point exactly.¡± She ignored the reignited heat in my face, asked, ¡°Are you able to talk about it now? Taking your first life.¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°Oh really, what says that I did?¡±

    Amber glanced at my lap. ¡°Maybe the fact you started rubbing your hands on your robe once I asked? It¡¯s not going to get the blood out.¡±

    My body was always my biggest traitor. I laid my hands against the bar.

    ¡°Then tell me how to ignore it,¡± I said.

    Amber smiled, ¡°Temple, from how you act around Melissa, I don¡¯t think ignoring things works for you. Ignoring this wouldn¡¯t work if you tried.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Cause I¡¯ve seen how ignoring this destroys a person. Do you want to destroy yourself, Temple?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then what comes after you get your grand revenge?¡±

    I saw black. A void where a dream should go. Amber took two fingers and guided my chin until I faced her. She found the void down through my eyes.

    ¡°You can¡¯t ignore this,¡± she said.

    I didn¡¯t know if she meant the void where my future should¡¯ve gone, the ghost flavor that I could still taste¡ªthe deaths, or some other questions in my spirit.

    ¡°Any of it,¡± she answered. ¡°Ignore none of it.¡±

    ¡°So then how do I deal with it?¡± I asked. ¡°The deaths, first.¡±

    Amber winked. ¡°That¡¯s the easiest answer. You take those faces and names, and scratch them out. Replace it all with a blur and the name, Other.¡±

    ¡°Other?¡± I asked.

    Amber nodded and took another sip of her drink. Then she offered me some. I reached for the glass, but she pulled back¡ªa cheeky smile already on her face. Adjusted her grip so the glass balanced against the pads of her fingers by the base. She laid the glass against my lip¡ªthe whiskey was smoky, it was cinnamon¡ªand tilted. It was the perfect amount, not to slow or fast, just a gradual trickle down my tongue. Now that cut through the ghost-flavor.

    ¡°Save some for me,¡± she said as she pulled it back. ¡°And yes, Other. Humans don¡¯t like killing, but we are very good at it. It¡¯s our great dichotomy I like to think. Why those of us who love it too much are both more and less human.¡±

    I stared in confusion¡ªthe drink burned in my chest.

    ¡°I digress,¡± Amber said, ¡°we don¡¯t like killing but we¡¯re good at it. Cause we¡¯re the best liars, Nadia, especially to ourselves. You just get up in there and tell yourself, ¡®they¡¯re not a person. Just some other thing.¡¯ Lie until you believe their name is Other, until you block out their faces when you recall them, and believe that they were empty inside. That you spilled nothing.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be carrying the thread?¡± I asked. ¡°That kind of stuff is what they said made the Old World so bad. They taught us to never forget that we¡¯re all people.¡±

    Amber narrowed her eyes¡ªher smile didn¡¯t reach them. ¡°That¡¯s good advice for those who have the luxury to live with clean hands. It¡¯s a world that¡¯s not for you anymore.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but it¡¯s still a philosophy that should¡¯ve died in the Old World, right?¡±

    Amber scoffed. ¡°Temple, I thought you got it. The New World¡¯s a joke. If it was half of what it said it was you wouldn¡¯t be here on this train. Your parents would be alive.¡±

    My hand whipped toward Amber¡¯s face¡ªshe was faster. Caught my wrist. Then slowly guided my palm to her cheek.

    ¡°I went too far,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She let go and I took back my hand. She sipped her drink.

    ¡°I just, things about the New World are too hard for me to believe sometimes. That, ¡®No Carrying the Thread,¡¯ rule the Godtenders put down was just one of them. How could we not carry the Old World with us? It¡¯s in our languages, the art we preserved, and even the way we act with one another. A lot was bad about the Old World, but much of it was just us. To deny that is, well, you¡¯re the one who can¡¯t sleep.¡±

    I said, ¡°And you¡¯re here drinking. Doesn¡¯t instill much faith in your advice.¡±

    Amber joked bitterly, ¡°Oh, Temple, this right here is the glue that holds it all together. You scratch everything out with Other, and wash it clean with liquor. Keeps memories from re-emerging and crusting over.¡±

    She swiveled in her chair, and swiveled mine. Drank in my bare legs and the way my hair glistened with sweat. She slid the glass over to me.

    ¡°When you get real good at it, the faces will be blank long before they¡¯re corpses. No different than rabbits you kill for a good stew. Make it easy for yourself, Temple.¡±

    I raised the glass¡ªit caught the light so well, was so beautiful in its simplicity¡ªand drained what remained. Let it clink against the bartop. Slid it back to Amber. Marveled as it refilled over the trip to her hand.

    ¡°Thanks, Every Train,¡± Amber said as she raised it in a toast.

    I laid my head in my hand. Admired the freedom for any traps in her heart.

    ¡°Is this how you get all the girls?¡± I asked.

    She shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t get many, Temple.¡±

    Took a deep sip of her drink. Slid her gaze along the rim until our eyes met.

    ¡°I have a bad tendency of wanting what I shouldn¡¯t have. What I don¡¯t deserve,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m doomed in that way.¡±

    ¡°Let me be the judge of that,¡± I said.

    Her eyes burned when I said that¡ªthe flame of hope and want that seared me. I recoiled, threw myself nearly off the seat. Amber caught my hand. That burn was gone. Snuffed out by my inability to withstand the heat within her.

    ¡°Good night, Temple.¡±

    I slowly rose from the seat, and made for the elevator. Stopped in front of the metal doors¡ªfinger hovering above the button¡ªonly to spin back toward Amber.

    ¡°Did you kill people?¡± I asked. ¡°During the Changeover.¡±

    Amber rolled her head. Glided to her feet and on sharp heels led her glass down the bartop, around the corner, until we were only a few hands apart.

    ¡°Temple, the only people who didn¡¯t were the lucky and the dead,¡± Amber said. ¡°And I¡¯ve never been lucky before in my life.¡±

    ¡°There must¡¯ve been a lot,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re always drinking.¡±

    ¡°I go until I¡¯m sated. Until they¡¯re sated.¡±

    ¡°Can I help?¡± I asked. ¡°Please, it¡¯d make me feel better.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Drink,¡± she said.

    Held her glass to my lips¡ªthis again. I didn¡¯t break her gaze as I sipped.

    ¡°Don¡¯t swallow,¡± she ordered¡ªI didn¡¯t.

    Just sipped until my mouth was full. She removed the glass, breaking the boozy flow. I heard it tap against the glass. Only heard because soon all I could see was the endless gradations of rose within Amber¡¯s eyes when her lips met mine. My lids closed instinctively. My back arched up toward her as my hands clung to the lapel of her suit. Her tongue stirred the liquor around in my mouth¡ªstole some for herself. Then we both drank having forgotten in whose mouth the whiskey had started within. She pulled back first¡ªshe always pulled back¡ªand ran her thumb to catch a stray trickle from the side of my mouth. I heard the ding of the elevator. Felt my shoulders touch air as the metal doors parted.

    ¡°Was that it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m sated, Temple,¡± she whispered. ¡°Are you?¡±

    My body was so hot¡ªthe drink molten in my gut and fire on my lips. My breathing was heavy.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said.

    ¡°Come back when you have a firm answer,¡± she said before pushing me¡ªgently¡ªinto the elevator.

    The doors closed. I hit the button for my suite. Then let my legs give out. My knees hit the floor and my head was never foggier. I couldn¡¯t even marshall my thoughts together if I wanted to. Let alone construct the guilt I didn¡¯t want just to torment myself.

 Chapter 13

    I awoke in an opalescent sea. Its waters were the softest strands that whispered across my skin. Yet I wasn¡¯t cold, but rather warm¡ªlight must be hitting my back¡ªso I pressed deeper into the waters. Found that now it was my face that was hot. I pressed my hands into the water and pushed myself up. With each yawning breath I found more clarity¡ªI saw Sphinx.

    ¡°It¡¯s our hour of departure, Nadia,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°I won¡¯t be blamed for your misaffairs with time.¡±

    My opalescent sea was the broad, warm chest of Sphinx. It stretched its paws and the implication of its claws traced my back. I hissed low and sharp as its claws re-sheathed; toyed with puncturing my skin. Sphinx raised a brow, message received?

    I slid down from its chest onto the bed. Looked around to spot my clothes tossed over a chair. Sphinx ignored me to pad over to the elevator where my bags and glaive stood ready.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said.

    Sphinx¡¯s head spun backwards to see me. Its face, waiting for its favorite scene to happen.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said.

    Sphinx sighed, ¡°You were forgiven already. Doubts of conduct, and debts of guilt are ill-fit between us who have only us. Now, you toss aside time as you do words, and I wish to depart.¡±

    It briefly stood on his hindlegs and struck the elevator button with its paw. I hung back in the bed to turn around Sphinx¡¯s words. They were dismissive, forgiving, and made the guilt chime up my spine for last night. I decided against paying them back for the lack of grief they could¡¯ve given me by entering more ruminations¡ªthus more delays¡ªand hurriedly dressed.

    When I arrived at the lobby I found Sphinx sprawled across a leather couch. In the chair opposite was Amber¡ªlooking none the worse for wear unlike myself. Every Train sat in the chair next to her, sipping tea while she oversaw Amber¡¯s work.

    On the coffee table were a series of blank token slates arrayed beside Amber; waiting patiently as she fought and slaved to finish the one that currently commanded her attention. Sweat dripped from her chin as she dragged her finger quarter-inch by quarter-inch. Underink painted her finger tip black as any brush. Three sat in front of Every Train, already finished.

    ¡°I thought we already paid?¡± I asked.

    I crossed the lobby floor and dropped on the couch¡ªSphinx flicked its tail in annoyance. Every Train slid over a cup of tea, raspberry and hibiscus. I took a slow sip. Refamiliarized myself with a flavor that I¡¯d forgotten since I broke the engagement. It was her flavor. Our flavor, really.

    ¡°You did, for the tickets.¡± Every Train said, ¡°However, there is the debt to be paid for delaying me. I reminded Ms. Scorizni that those are best paid expeditiously.¡±

    ¡°Reminded, right,¡± Amber said. ¡°Damn train threatened me.¡±

    Her face was pouty like any child forced to clean up after themselves. When she noticed I wouldn¡¯t dispense any sympathy she sucked her teeth in frustration.

    ¡°You¡¯re slipping,¡± Every Train informed Amber.

    Amber turned hastily to the slate. Rolled her shoulders forward as she clenched her wrist. Inched further. I walked to flank her other side, and gasped at the complexity of the sorcerous phoneme she labored at¡ªthe final mark, close to tying it off. The already completed ones had dyed their tokens a deep royal purple. A white phoneme floated inside the little slate, its power diffused out from itself. The source of the dye.

    ¡°These are royal tokens,¡± I exclaimed. ¡°Wait, we owe eight royal tokens?¡±

    ¡°I owe eight royal tokens,¡± Amber said. ¡°Paying off half now.¡±

    ¡°And the other half at a rate of once per day. Her skill is, mediocre, and I can¡¯t risk further delays even for a debt¡¯s fulfillment. Even for you, much as I¡¯d wish to hear more of Kareem and Ishisaga-no-Maturama¡¯s life together,¡± she said.

    ¡°Ishisaga-no-Maturama?¡± I asked.

    The world was struck by a gong as I finished the name¡ªno, not the world, just the world as I felt it. In the gap between waves of feeling I felt my mother¡¯s smile. Her touch as she guided my arms and legs into the first glaive technique she ever taught me. Soon as it came the feeling left. My eyes opened¡ªthey had closed in reverie¡ªand noted the surprised face of Amber, Every Train, and Sphinx.

    ¡°Woah,¡± Amber said.

    Her ears bled. Trickled down the sides of her head¡ªthe red string of a chinstrap. Every Train produced a box of tissues, handed some to Amber, and then bowed to Sphinx.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for endangering your summoner,¡± she said.

    A honeyed voice oozed out of Sphinx¡¯s lips. ¡°Forgiven, but only because your foolishness is to be expected.¡±

    Sphinx coughed and added, in its own voice this time, ¡°My Sovereign¡¯s words. . .¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re her own. I was at fault,¡± Amber said as she waved off Sphinx¡¯s concern. ¡°Nadia, don¡¯t fall into a habit of speaking Coronation Names.¡±

    ¡°If I knew that was hers I wouldn¡¯t have repeated it. My Court¡¯s Sovereign warned me about saying her name, but I didn¡¯t know why,¡± I said. ¡°What are they?¡±

    Sphinx answered, ¡°They¡¯re the summation of a Sovereign. Dense with every spell and perspective that could be found within the Court beneath its ruler. The beginning and end to one of existence¡¯s great phrases.¡±

    ¡°Why could I say Mom¡¯s then?¡±

    Amber chimed in. ¡°What kind of mother wouldn¡¯t want to hear her child say her name?¡±

    Her words rippled between us all. Cleared away our remaining thoughts or questions. I looked down to the token she had just finished¡ªroyal purple again.

    ¡°How do you know these phonemes?¡± I asked.

    Amber dropped the four she had left to complete into her jacket pocket. Every Train collected the finished four¡ªpressed each of them into her arm. She closed her eyes and I watched the slates dip down into her flesh like a sinking stone.

    ¡°A wandering summoner taught me,¡± Amber teased. ¡°I use his so I can keep my Court off the Public Record. Token crafting is how they get you, you know.¡±

    ¡°And what is your secret special Court that¡¯s worth all the paranoia?¡± I asked.

    Amber smirked, and said nothing.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fair you know all of my big secrets,¡± I said.

    Amber shrugged. ¡°Not my fault you keep learning them with me around to see.¡±

    The elevators dinged. Melissa ran out of hers while the conductor made a slow march from his. Melissa¡¯s backpack caused her to tilt side to side as if it couldn¡¯t decide how to throw her to the ground. Then it did, and I was already there to catch her. My arm about her waist¡ªI could feel the dense muscle that was woven beneath her skin. I propped her back up. She smoothed out her dress and then punched my shoulder¡ªfelt like getting struck by a rock. Did she harden her bones too?

    ¡°Alls below, where were you?¡± she asked. ¡°Couldn¡¯t find you anywhere on our floor.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t on the floor. My dad was a guest with my mom, like way back, and I guess we have a personal suite. I slept in the personal suite.¡±

    Melissa was stunned. ¡°How much does that even cost?¡±

    Every Train answered, ¡°Fifty royals for the creation of it, and five royals for its yearly maintenance.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t pay that.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not expected to. Kareem paid fifty years in advance, and funded the construction of the outpost we departed from. Net him another fifty years of operation as compensation.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯d he pay so far in advance?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Maybe so you could use it,¡± Melissa said.

    Amber countered, ¡°Maybe he wanted to always have a way out.¡±

    I thought of the earliest photos in the album¡ªDad was always drenched in blood, hesitant at first to stand near me¡ªand placed them alongside my memory of him, peaceful and kind. Both stories sounded likely, but I didn¡¯t have the heart to choose which was true. So I deflected.

    ¡°Why were you looking for me anyways?¡± I asked.

    Melissa blushed. ¡°Wanted to make sure you didn¡¯t have us late. From how you looked yesterday I didn¡¯t think you were getting up anytime soon.¡±

    She wanted to wake me up¡ªfor years she would wake me up to get to school. It would¡¯ve been the first time she¡¯d try since I had bothered her that rainy day only a few weeks ago. Before I could say anything, Sphinx arched its back and called from the couch.

    ¡°I¡¯ll handle that duty, thank you. It¡¯s hardly an effort,¡± Sphinx said.

    Every Train saved us from the verbal sparring that was seconds from breaking out. The world slid to a stop¡ªwe all tilted acutely¡ªand the conductor began to cry. He sat in a chair at a different part of the lobby. Every Train gestured for us to stand once we were perpendicular, and led us to the large double doors we had passed through the day earlier.

    We stepped out onto the platform in Brightgate and into the dry touch of summer¡ªthe only refreshment, a crisp breeze. I turned back toward Every Train. Craned my neck to peer around her at the conductor who had just bent over and vomited. He tore off his tie and screamed in the wailing tone of a dying beast.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening to him?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s breaking. Some are ill-fit to handle consequences,¡± she said. ¡°Though, I wouldn¡¯t want my niece to worry. It¡¯s not proper for royalty to show so much emotion at the natural flow of things.¡±

    Amber pulled me back to clear the platform. I could hear the wretched scream of space parting as something hurtled from a seam that had split in the air¡ªa train? It mirrored the one we had stepped off perfectly, as its appearance was eternally shifting. A train that looked like every train. The two cars slammed together with a bellow of metal parting and the pain of every opportunity one could miss by a delay of an hour and a half.

    Metal strips peeled back from the twin trains like overlaid flower blossoms. Wood and granite spires stabbed out from within, and gorey strips of carpeting splattered into the air. Then it was frozen. Imploded upon itself until a bright point in space where time warped at its edges. Only to pop like a soap bubble. One whole train remained¡ªblemish-less. The doors re-opened, and after a glance inside the three of us hurried from the platform. Eager to escape the memory of the conductor¡¯s limbs sprouting from every surface like some fungal growth of flesh.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    We emerged from the platform area to be greeted by the smell of charcoal and the grilled meats that came with it. Under those scents was frying oil, fresh bread, and yeasty ale. Before I could wander, Melissa had already clasped her hand about my wrist.  She had Amber¡¯s too.

    ¡°My first meal in Brightgate is not going to be train station food. Got it?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I only want a drink,¡± Amber joked.

    ¡°Lodge first,¡± Melissa said. ¡°Do it for your princess?¡±

    Amber grinned before shrugging exaggeratedly. ¡°What senior would I be if I couldn¡¯t honor even that request?¡±

    ¡°A poor one,¡± Melissa said.

    Amber wagged her finger as she led us between hawker stalls.

    ¡°Ah, but poor and Amber don¡¯t go together,¡± she said.

    My brow furrowed as I processed their little play. The mood volleyed between them without entry for me¡ªthey were flirting! I looked aghast at Amber¡ªabove Melissa¡¯s head¡ªbut only when Melissa turned to me did Amber¡¯s face twist into one of contrition. Melissa caught none of this. She huffed, dropped our wrists and stormed ahead of us.

    We hurried after¡ªfound her on the steps leading into the hawker center. Around her flowed a current of arrivals, departures, and those rare locals who decided that they¡¯d grab breakfast here. They wore leather jackets, silk kimono, worsted coats, and some wore clouds of blue fire that banded their body like a dress one strong wind from being blown away. Often trailed by their entities from a number of Courts¡ªthey carried bags, ferried summoners, rode on shoulders, and swam through the air.

    ¡°Stop looking like tourists,¡± Amber said. ¡°I wanna hit the lodge, so I can enjoy the scene here. Brightgate has some amazing breweries that I want to visit.¡±

    Melissa asked, ¡°I thought Moontower was where you were supposed to go for breweries?¡±

    Amber waved her hand, ¡°Moontower, The Port, and Brightgate all have good breweries, and I¡¯d like to visit them. Now let¡¯s move.¡±

    She led us down the steps toward a streetcar stop that stood resolute at its place on the hill. From the bench you could see Brightgate flow up and down over its many hills and deep valleys. Apparently, back during the Changeover the people segmented themselves hill-by-hill for years. Fought over the valleys cyclically until they lost the heat of violence that led them at the start. Buried old grievances beneath track and cable car wire¡ªa beautiful testament to letting go. I looked beyond the city, and found that point where sea met sky. My vengeance hadn¡¯t docked into place yet, but it¡¯d be here. As we waited for the cable car I imagined my vengeance painting that Old World bridge¡ªthe eponymous, Bright Gate¡ª in blood fresh from the necks of my foes. I had only painted a third of it in my mind when the car arrived.

    We piled in alongside others. A bundle of men sporting jackets sewn with linings of blue bandana, members of the Blue Tear collective way to the south. There was a woman wrapped in black shadow whose face broke the light into rainbows¡ªher skin was flowing silver¡ªa witch, probably from farther north near Moontower. Most others weren¡¯t that interesting; locals whose route necessitated the pathing. Unlike me they didn¡¯t gawk at the passengers. The unusual and uncommon was altogether too common when you had to pass a station everyday.

    As we pulled away I turned my eyes onto Amber. She looked uncomfortable¡ªshe never looked uncomfortable. Her hands picked at her fingers flinging flakes of skin to the floor of the car.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked.

    Amber pulled a taut smile. ¡°Just worried about the state of my favorite brewery. I loved the booze, trust me, but they had this fried chicken that¡¯d come in a creamy sauce. I¡¯d die if I didn¡¯t get to have it again.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a better liar than that,¡± I said to her.

    She said, ¡°I am worried about the brewery. And other things. I contain multitudes.¡±

    ¡°Like more secrets I won¡¯t get to know?¡± I asked.

    Amber stole a glance toward Melissa¡ªshe was distracted gawking at passing architecture¡ªbefore returning to me. Gave a quick squeeze of my hand. Trust me?

    ¡°I let you work up to your things,¡± she said. ¡°Let me work up to mine.¡±

    Her voice wobbled the tiniest amount. An indecision that crept in¡ªmaybe she wanted me to press, to not just accept things to be equal. The one time, where she expected selfishness from me. Needed it. Only for me to fail to provide¡ªit wasn¡¯t all my fault though.

    ¡°Was Brightgate always known for its street art?¡± Melissa asked, distracting us.

    She pointed up at a building we were passing. Its wall a dramatic slash of stone to keep the building atop its crown level. Painted across was a mural of a whale in its dying descent as it drifted down into the dark of the sea. Its flesh decayed to form jellyfish that glowed bright as they spiraled out toward the viewer.

    ¡°Whalefall,¡± Melissa said. ¡°Kind of a haunting subject, right?¡±

    ¡°Where shadow is invited it is to be expected one would find schemes lurking,¡± Sphinx said.

    Melissa¡¯s face fell¡ªshe had hoped that we¡¯d left the Lurkers in the Deep behind. I¡¯d failed to mention what I¡¯d learned with Secretary about the Lurkers¡ªthe extent of their plans. Amber tsk¡¯d and tapped her closed fist, quiet. She swirled her finger at the room, we aren¡¯t alone. I looked around to see if anyone reacted to what Sphinx said. Which earned me a kick to my shin from Amber. Her eyes frustrated and confused, what¡¯s wrong with you?

    We didn¡¯t talk about the ¡°street art¡± for the rest of the ride. Though after Melissa had pointed it out it was hard not to see it everywhere. The whale¡¯s wide dead eye watching from between buildings, layered lenticular across the vertical beams of a house, and those jellyfish glowed across the top of roofs. It was everywhere once you knew to look. I only examined it once using the Omensight, but I didn¡¯t glean much¡ªthe art missed a key thread that otherwise left the entire image inert. It was hardly worth the tears the spell exacted from me.

    After a half hour of dangling in mid-air and soaring down hills, we¡¯d arrived at the Lodge district. If comics and books are anything to go off¡ªthey aren¡¯t, but it was all I knew until then¡ªevery city had a district like it. An area cordoned off socially by the residences, dorms, and shops that all traced their way to the Lodge. Whether in service to its members or its aims. We stepped off at our stop alongside the Moontower witch and the boys from the Blue Tears. As you¡¯d expect they were also examinees.

    We passed through the eastern gate¡ªit was stone, five men thick¡ªand marched direct as our cable car to the spiraling building of glass and living wood that corkscrewed into the sky. Cherry blossoms surrounded the tower¡ªa murmur of petal starlings endlessly reshaping. Amber sucked her teeth in distaste. Muttered something about it being a waste of dues to maintain.

    Down the brick streets and gentle slopes, we made our way to the Lodge headquarters. A small line of examinees unspooled out the front door and down the steps. We passed a man calling for people to place their bets on the prelim results. The line moved fast though, and we found ourselves inside the lobby no more than ten minutes after joining the end of the line.

    The lobby was a wonder of wood¡ªthe floors covered in rings that told its story¡ªand above the central open air were multiple stacked balconies that looked down on us. Far above them though was a ceiling of stained glass from which a waterfall of colored light descended in great beams. Sphinx bumped me; it was our time to register. At five terminals a number of androgynous workers in suits identical to Secretary¡¯s¡ªsave the jacket¡ªregistered entrants.

    ¡°Greetings, I¡¯m Secretary,¡± they said.

    Their face was soft, body sharp, and voice bright like a sparkler. They weren¡¯t my Secretary.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to register for the exam,¡± I said.

    They nodded and pointed to a medium-sized sorc-deck attached on a swivel arm. The slate showed a screen with instructions to write down our name and Court. Melissa and I followed, but Amber¡¯s finger hovered just above.

    ¡°How honest do we have to be?¡± Amber asked.

    The Secretary¡ªI¡¯ll call them the Lobby Secretary¡ªgiggled behind their hand. ¡°Always those of you trying to be enigmatic. You¡¯ll have to tell us if you pass the exam anyways.¡±

    Amber smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll handle that when I pass. Until now,¡± her finger flew as she scrawled her name, ¡°this is all you get.¡±

    Lobby Secretary nodded with a polite service smile. Swiveled the slate back toward themselves. Tapped away at a keyboard below the desk. Their eyes rose in disbelief.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re all exempted,¡± they said.

    ¡°We are?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± they hummed. ¡°Quite a rare one as well.¡±

    ¡°There are rarities to the exemption?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°No, just the one who gave it,¡± they said. ¡°I haven¡¯t known them to hand out one in the four years I¡¯ve worked this desk.¡±

    ¡°Secretary came through,¡± Amber said, a little surprised they did.

    They fished out three cards. When I tilted mine I noticed a slight holographic effect below the surface¡ªa mark of some sort.

    Lobby Secretary said, ¡°These are your Probationary Lodgemember passes. They¡¯ll grant you access to our highest level of restaurants, deals at all Lodge approved shops and facilities, and will serve as your room keys for the residences prepared for all examinees. Note, they will expire two days after the exam, pass or fail.¡±

    ¡°Why do we get all this just for taking the exam?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Think of it as motivation for you to do your best,¡± they said. ¡°Or a consolation if you die somewhere along the way. Next!¡±

    Any worries I had were dismissed along with me. The three of us left the line and dropped into a small huddle of seats. We glanced between ourselves and then broke into smiles. Mine was the biggest as I leaned back and stared up toward the rainbow waterfall of light.

    ¡°We made it,¡± I said.

    Amber squeezed my thigh. ¡°I told you we would.¡±

    Melissa squeezed the opposite thigh. ¡°I, um, hope we pass,¡± she said.

    I grasped their hands and gave them an equal dose of my confidence.

    ¡°Whatever we have to do, we¡¯re passing,¡± I said.

    Melissa shook her head. ¡°Not whatever. I think we need a line.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    Amber nodded, ¡°It¡¯ll help. When things stop making sense, and we have to make choices.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I acquiesced, ¡°what¡¯s the line?¡±

    ¡°Each other,¡± Melissa said. ¡°No matter what, we don¡¯t hurt each other. None of us dies either.¡±

    ¡°I thought it¡¯d be something hard,¡± I said.

    We all shook hands on three. It wasn¡¯t like the oaths I struck with Sphinx¡ªno magic hid behind the words. I¡¯d never feel a razor to my spirit if I went against it. Instead, when I looked into their eyes I knew that if I broke this oath it¡¯d be a knife to the heart. Mine and to the nascent thing that I felt when our hands were together and we became a chain of belief held only for each other.

    ¡°What now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Brewery,¡± Amber said. ¡°I¡¯ll drop our stuff at our residence on the way.¡±

    Melissa answered, ¡°I¡¯m going to make a reservation at the fanciest place here.¡±

    ¡°With what money?¡± Amber asked.

    Melissa glanced.

    ¡°No,¡± Amber said.

    She gently pouted¡ªexactly like Amber would.

    ¡°Please,¡± Amber begged.

    ¡°For princess?¡± Melissa asked.

    Amber broke. She reached into her storage-spell and removed four token pouches. Dropped them into Melissa¡¯s hands. Melissa raised a brow. Amber added another two.

    ¡°You better get us a table that overlooks the bay,¡± she said. Then ran off before Melissa could beg for more money.

    ¡°What about you?¡± Melissa asked.

    I thought for a moment. My thoughts tilted toward Suzu¡ªOther! Toward Other¡ªand I answered.

    ¡°I want to see the prelims,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe scope out the competition.¡±

    Melissa patted my shoulder. ¡°Have fun.¡±

    * * *

    It wasn¡¯t fun. I got lost a few times trying to find the stadium where the prelims were being held. Sphinx was the one who pointed out I should follow the crowd of rambunctious locals spilling beer and popcorn onto the street. They led us down toward the bay where we caught a ferry that led us out to the stadium¡ªit ¡°floated¡± atop the water.

    The line of locals was massive, but I got to take the fast lane¡ªLodgemembers only. I fiddled with my probationary pass as I slid it back into my pocket. Followed the directions to where seats were reserved for any Lodgemembers that wanted to watch. The area was a block¡ªmiddle row, perfect height¡ªand largely empty. There were a few people present to watch, but whether they were there to cheer for someone or gather information, I didn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t really care to know anyways. I needed to be alone.

    I took a seat to the far end of the block, and slid down into it. Sphinx tried to find a good space to sprawl out but there was none. It huffed and walked into me¡ªfolded itself so it could curl up inside my spirit. I kicked my feet up onto the railing, and took the whole affair in.

    Down on the grounds, a small mob of examinees milled about in anticipation. They stood on a field of clover at the center of the stadium. Watching as technicians sent commands to some hidden temple that slowly raised slopes, platforms, and whirling blades of ginkgo gold light. There were hoops to jump through, plush bats to dodge as they swung to and fro across a trail, and I even saw what looked like a maze of golden webs that caught what little moisture was in the air. It was impressive and complex¡ªso beautiful that a tear came to my eye.

    ¡°It¡¯s an obstacle course,¡± I said. Guilt crawled up into my words.

    ¡°You killed to get out of an obstacle course,¡± a voice teased, more audible than my conscience.

    I remembered and found Secretary¡ªmy Secretary¡ªlounging in a seat next to me. Their skirt was traded for thin shorts, stockings for bare olive skin, and like the ones at headquarters, had lost the jacket. Instead they only wore a thin shirt with a ribbon tie under the collar. They pulled their feet up onto the seat, head rested against their knees, and smiled at me.

    ¡°Did I get it right?¡± they asked, teeth bright and smiling at the chance to play with me again¡ªwhether I wanted to or not.

 Chapter 14

    ¡°Come on, you gotta tell me if I did,¡± Secretary said.

    ¡°Why do you care?¡± I asked.

    Secretary thought for a moment. ¡°I want to see if you¡¯re still as readable as ever.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that readable,¡± I complained.

    ¡°Nadia, a book can¡¯t be closed if it refuses to admit it¡¯s open,¡± Sphinx said from within me.

    I pouted at its betrayal, and Secretary took that as a win. They leaned against me, stroked their hand through my hair, and pointed me toward the mob of examinees.

    ¡°If they had your deal they wouldn¡¯t feel bad,¡± Secretary said. ¡°They¡¯d drown this place in blood if it meant avoiding the prelims.¡±

    ¡°Well they aren¡¯t me,¡± I snapped.

    Secretary jerked their hand back as if I bit it. A sort of sympathy¡ªknowing them just the appearance of it¡ªcame over them.

    ¡°Is my little brute worried that she made the wrong choice?¡± Secretary asked.

    I mumbled, ¡°No. I made a choice. It just wasn¡¯t a necessary one.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, you weren¡¯t that confident you¡¯d pass back at the outpost,¡± Secretary said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was an obstacle course,¡± I said. ¡°If I did. . .¡±

    Secretary shook their head in disappointment.

    ¡°Little brute, you should learn now that the exam is more than the test. Even the prelims,¡± Secretary said. ¡°First off, it¡¯s not just about finishing the course. We only accept the top fifty times.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Sphinx flies. Would be pretty easy to get a good time.¡±

    ¡°Little brute, do you know what the average time is for completing the prelims when we use the obstacle course?¡± Secretary asked.

    I didn¡¯t say anything. They knew that was my answer, and so they leaned forward¡ªhands on the railing to keep from falling off our balcony¡ªand laughed into the wind.

    ¡°Forty minutes,¡± Secretary said.

    They pointed out toward the clump of examinees. I joined them and followed the edge of their nail as it landed on person after person. Many of them wore the costume of their collective, and others wore clothing that was homespun and patchy. There were those with weapons that were flecked with blood that could never be cleaned, and others sporting shrines of unknown designs¡ªlikely cutting edge¡ªthat I¡¯d never seen. Most of them didn¡¯t have their entities out. The few that did rode theirs as mobility aids of some sort.

    ¡°It takes nearly forty bone breaking minutes before we see anyone start crossing the finish line. Why, my little brute, because the prelim isn¡¯t the course. Your competition is,¡± they said. ¡°All of you hungry to fulfill a dream that each other person would deny you of to sate their own fantasies of their future. Kids from isolated villages or raised by hermits racing alongside the prodigies and divas of the collectives. Monsters that haven¡¯t been seen since the Changeover slipping out from wherever they hid just to gain that little card in your pocket that¡¯ll let them take fate by the throat and fuck it raw.¡±

    Secretary hopped up on the railing. Leaned over to me so their lips were just shy of my ear.

    ¡°That mob hungers just as much as you, my little brute. Are you confident your hunger is greater than theirs?¡±

    I gripped the railing like I could shatter it. Did I think I was hungry enough¡ªof course I did, now. Even from the stands the wave of determination that flowed from the examinees was palpable, edged, and none of them shook as they knew what¡¯d have to be done. They were ready to spill blood for their dream, but my hand had to be forced to spill it so I could come closer to ending my nightmare. I released the railing and let myself fall into my seat.

    ¡°Would I have passed?¡± I asked.

    Secretary shrugged, ¡°Little brute, only you can answer that.¡±

    ¡°What if I want to know what you think?¡±

    Secretary demurred before they shrugged and answered. ¡°Amber¡¯s skilled and smart. She wouldn¡¯t let you fail. Melissa is full of potential, but has a bad habit of second guessing herself¡ªa horrible weakness if you want to pass. Still, she¡¯d recover and prove adaptable enough to make it through.¡±

    ¡°And me?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± they said. ¡°When I look at you I¡¯m split. I see my little brute who would¡¯ve been so quick to end my life. Even now my reflection is still a corpse in your eyes.¡±

    They hopped down from the railing. Crawled atop my seat until they straddled my waist. Their eyes examined my own¡ªmy spirit¡ªfor nuances that kept them from definite answers.

    ¡°In fact, it looks like it¡¯s more than just me. The trick hasn¡¯t taken yet in your head, but it¡¯s been seeded. Oh the corpses you¡¯ll make if I let you be,¡± Secretary purred as their fingers drummed against my throat. ¡°At the same time though, you¡¯re still so small. Doubtful of any greatness you could accomplish. Questioning if you want to in the first place. Yet you¡¯ve lashed yourself to this ship and I, despite what you think of me, would prefer you to make harbor.¡±

    Secretary rolled from my lap and into the seat they¡¯d sat earlier. I held my own hands to keep from shaking. My head turned to ask Secretary another question, but they tapped their finger against my nose to bid me to silence.

    ¡°Yup, still so readable,¡± they said. ¡°Split open and writ large. Nadia, you won¡¯t make it through this until you decide what you¡¯re willing to be. To do.¡±

    ¡°Anything,¡± I said, forcing myself to believe. ¡°Anything except harm Amber or Melissa. We swore an oath I don¡¯t intend to break.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the funny thing about oaths, no one ever does,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Anyways, as much as I love teasing you I have an offer for you.¡±

    Motes of light coalesced to form an envelope between their raised fingers. They handed it to me, and as I turned it over I saw the instructions: Open Only In Private. Secretary answered before my brow could form the tiniest wrinkle of thought.

    ¡°A chance to prove how wide ¡®anything¡¯ really is,¡± Secretary said.

    I said, ¡°You have to give me more than that.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t, but because you¡¯re still such a cute little question, I will.¡± They explained, ¡°It¡¯s a chance for extra points to go on your exam. It helps the Lodge as well if you were feeling loyal enough to ask.¡±

    ¡°Do I have to do it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Are you that confident you¡¯ll pass?¡± they countered. ¡°It¡¯s your choice, my little brute, always your choice. Just remember, opportunity is like a girl at the bar. If you dither about whether to ask her out, someone else will.¡±

    Secretary stretched in their seat before standing. I turned the envelope between my fingers¡ª the corners pressed into my fingertips¡ªand examined it like the weapon it was. My only question being if it was the weapon I¡¯d plunge into my heart or use to carve out someone else¡¯s.

    I didn¡¯t watch Secretary leave¡ªthey had ways to slip away that didn¡¯t make it worth the effort¡ªthough I did stay long after they were gone. I watched as the whistle was blown and every evil in my competition¡¯s hearts flew like vultures. Nameless nobodies from towns like mine were elbowed, stomped, and eviscerated by those around them¡ªpoor bastards never had a chance. Though the scions of the collectives didn¡¯t fare much better. Sure, they fended off a straggler here and there, but they were alone and it didn¡¯t matter how brilliant the light when the surrounding dark was so oppressive. In the end, the mob took them as well.

    When we hit the forty minute mark and someone finally emerged from the bloody orgy of violence and sorcery that was the starting line, I left. The roar of the crowds and despair of gamblers saw me out.

    On the ferry back to the mainland, Sphinx emerged from inside of me. It looked to the setting sun. My vengeance rippled on the water¡¯s surface as the boat disemboweled the bay.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need it,¡± Sphinx said.

    My nail teased the underside of the top flap. ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx¡¯s tail flicked as it circled to meet my face.

    ¡°Really. The way is only worth the effort we put into it. Cheats are a poison that taint every choice after.¡±.

    I agreed¡ªespecially now I agree¡ªbut I had seen what lurked in my competitor¡¯s hearts. Things more inhuman than what filled my nightmares as a girl. Each one of them would¡¯ve taken Secretary¡¯s deal at the outpost. With how readily they shattered bodies, I knew they wouldn¡¯t question afterwards, like I did. They took comfort in their knives¡ªsome of them, from what I saw, took pleasure in them as well.

    ¡°Sphinx, could we have passed the prelims?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx tried to meet my eyes, but couldn¡¯t. It searched for some undoubtedly cryptic answer for how we could¡¯ve gotten through. There was none to be found.

    ¡°Then maybe this is my way,¡± I said. ¡°A poisonous one tainted from the minute I took Secretary¡¯s bargain at the outpost.¡±

    ¡°That was a safe choice,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°A necessary one.¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°We nearly died countless times over.¡±

    ¡°You grew as a summoner,¡± Sphinx added. ¡°A new spell, dual casting, and I would think we¡­¡±

    ¡°We what?¡± I asked.

    It said, ¡°We began to trust one another.¡±

    I was quiet. We had only the whir of the ferry¡¯s engine, and the muffled clap of water folding over on itself. The wind¡¯s rushing cacophony. I pocketed the envelope. Laid my hand against Sphinx¡¯s face. Guided its head toward mine so our foreheads touched.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can ever trust you,¡± I said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°Cause I barely trust myself. I shake, I cry, I kill, I¡¯m divided. That¡¯s what you told me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re also complex,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°A beautiful tapestry that¡¯s better suited for such feelings. Only monsters are simple, my dear summoner. Nadia.¡±

    ¡°I feel like you see more in my spirit than I do yours,¡± I said.

    Sphinx chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s not hard. I only have to look at you, but have you even once seen me?¡±

    I hadn¡¯t. It knew I hadn¡¯t, but now I knew I hadn¡¯t. We parted heads and I examined Sphinx under the Omensight. Beneath the colors of Real, it was a silhouette painted in the endless nuances of Revelation. Underneath the many eyes that patterned its coat were burning stars¡ªvariations on Revelation¡¯s theme¡ªthe standard for entities higher up the Chain. Then I looked down, and saw a thread that ran between Sphinx and myself. Ran my sight against it until it opened upon a memory¡ªone of Sphinx¡¯s.

    It resided in a place where only poetry and prophets could go. Revelation was blinding and discursive even as brilliance and ingenuity floated upon searing winds. There was a beauty to it in the same way that there was beauty in how the sun could sear your retinas and make the last thing you¡¯d ever see become something sacred. That was its home, some place impossible and grand, and in that blazing place they didn¡¯t budge as their fellow soldiers marched to meet the call of a scared girl. As sky and ground were conflagrations of sensibility, Sphinx was the only one who listened to my plea in its entirety.

    My self doubt and my desire for resolve, my sorrow and my rage, my guilt and my yearning for the way to redemption. It heard my desire to know, and beneath it my plea to not be let forward until I did. Its siblings would enable me to my end¡ªguide me up the Chain as fast as possible with no care for if I burnt away before completing my task. Revelation was not caring, but Sphinx was in the way they knew how. So over teeming masses it flew and flew until the end of bonfire skies, and the beginning of the Underside¡¯s edge.

    When my vision pulled back I was being shaken by the ferryman. Blood ran from my eyes like water from a stream. I looked up to find Sphinx worried¡ªit was always rare for their face to take to new feelings. It gently pushed aside the ferryman, and guided me up onto its back. I crawled into place. My blood dropped into its fur and spread like ink in water.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°What have I said about doubts and debts,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°Was I not supposed to see that?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx shook its head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe not, but you saw it even if your eyes won¡¯t remember,¡± it said.

    ¡°Do you miss it?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx padded down from the deck to the dock. Its gait so smooth I felt nothing.

    ¡°Sometimes,¡± it said. ¡°There¡¯s a clarity there in that place where shadows die and mysteries find no purchase. The Real is complex. Everything occluded behind everything else. So many schemes and shadows. Too many to guard from.¡±

    ¡°Is that what you¡¯re trying to do?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx laughed. ¡°It¡¯s¡ªif I¡¯m to be fair to Mutation¡¯s maiden and Rememberance¡¯s puppeteer, even that drunken mummer of yours¡ªare all trying to do for you. Protect you. Perhaps the puppeteer is right, and you¡¯re simply too cute.¡±

    ¡°Is that a joke?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx groaned, ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t think I like it very much.¡±

    That brought me to laughing. It joined me. Together we chortled down the street past shops and street vendors. So much comedy opened up before us because I could finally see it. We returned to the lobby at headquarters to wait for Melissa and Amber. Sphinx curled on a couch while I rested my head against its bulk.

    ¡°So Melissa?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx said, ¡°I¡¯d rather not.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± I said.

    Sphinx sighed and said, ¡°Yes. She shifts and changes. Yet her musculature is crystal. I did not see her demand for clarity and conviction toward absoluteness to benefit you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°I can see that. She¡¯s still my friend¡ªmaybe¡ªand I don¡¯t think I could ever stop loving her.¡±

    ¡°You already cut her from your life once,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°If together they rejoin, then such is the way and who am I to interfere.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said.

    ¡°Doubts and debts, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I began, ¡°I¡¯m not enough as I am to pass.¡±

    ¡°Nadia¡ª¡±

    I cut it off, ¡°I¡¯m not. We both know that.¡±

    ¡°I disagree, but will humor this,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°You said it yourself, by taking Secretary¡¯s offer the first time I learned a new spell. I learned how to dual cast. Alls below, I learned how to kill.¡± I rolled over, and said, ¡°Now I have to practice. I don¡¯t think I want to, but I think I need to if I want to move forward.¡±

    ¡°Always forward,¡± it muttered. ¡°And if the way is strewn with glass?¡±

    ¡°Then I hop on your back,¡± I said. ¡°Trust that you¡¯ll fly me out.¡±

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Sphinx shook its head, but it smiled. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t learn that way. However, I will always walk with you.¡±

    I rolled onto my back and allowed myself a brief affair with sleep. Melissa shook me awake when the moon was rising¡ªcould see a hint of it before it took center stage at the eye of the ceiling. I stretched, and let Sphinx and Melissa guide me to the elevators where Amber stood.

    ¡°How were the prelims?¡± Amber asked.

    I yawned, ¡°Clarifying. So, did we get a table that overlooks the bay?¡±

    Melissa beamed, ¡°Of course.¡±

    The elevators carried us smoothly up to one of the highest floors of Lodge headquarters. Melissa skipped and hummed in anticipation. The restaurant was behind a black door, marked with three moons in three phases, with nothing else to discern that it was even there. I took a step backward, forward again, and marveled at how the door could only be seen within that narrow gap of a step-and-a-half. Melissa waved us inside while bouncing up and down.

    As we passed through the door we entered a hallway composed of branches that gave way to a beautiful deck of smooth wood floors. There was only one table in the entire place. Melissa hurried to her seat while I meandered over to the large bay windows that were taller than Melissa¡¯s chimera form. The glass was cool to the touch, and outside I could see the sun¡ªred as a busted lip¡ªlinger for one last tantalizing glimpse. The darkness of night crowding and pushing the sun to pass on.

    ¡°What is this place?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s called, Nowhere Fast,¡± Amber answered.

    Melissa¡¯s voice took a downturn, ¡°You¡¯ve been here before?¡±

    ¡°Not in a long time.¡±

    I leaned against the glass to try and grab a peek at the city below, but it was too dark. Night reflected from heaven down to the earth. The problem was it was wrong. There should¡¯ve been lights from all the houses and nighttime businesses. A smattering of earthbound stars.

    ¡°It¡¯s called a porthole,¡± Amber said. ¡°Made from sand found in the Underside. When you peer through it lets you get an approximation of what the Underside is like below you.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know this was what night looked like,¡± I said.

    ¡°Awesome, now can we please eat?¡± Melissa whined.

    Figuring we¡¯d tortured her enough, Amber and I took our seats. Each of them flanked me while I had no opposite to keep me from looking out the porthole. Menus already sat at our table¡ªthough to call them that implied as if there were options. No, they were more like dining itineraries. Line by line detailing what we¡¯d eat and the drink it paired with. The only option was the final line with the question: What¡¯s the last thing you want to taste?

    ¡°What¡¯s Sunshine Pearls Marinated in The Jolt of a First Breath supposed to mean?¡± I asked.

    Melissa said, ¡°Conceptual-fare. You know, like how we Glorycakes before the first day of school.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but I thought that was just a metaphor. Invoke the Court but not really summon it.¡±

    Amber flapped wide her napkin before laying it across her lap with nary a wrinkle. I tried to do the same, but my hand jittered and the cloth wouldn¡¯t lay right¡ªSphinx helped fix it.

    ¡°Well, this is actual Conceptual-fare. Everything¡¯s made from ingredients taken from the Underside. I hear those collective-kiddies grow up on the stuff,¡± Amber said.

    I asked, ¡°Is that good for you?¡±

    Amber shrugged, ¡°When was the last time they ever did anything good for themselves.¡±

    Melissa snapped, ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear about how the collectives are doing weird eugenics experiments or whatever conspiracy you believe about them.¡±

    Amber said nothing. My eyes had widened in shock¡ªit took a lot to make Melissa snap, but despite their disagreements on the collectives it didn¡¯t deserve this. She looked around to apologize to other non-existent patrons. Then back to us.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Melissa said, ¡°I just want a nice night, please.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have plenty of nice nights,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Will we? Cause I heard that secretary in the lobby. We only get access to stuff like this as a consolation for if we die,¡± Melissa said. ¡°We could die, and never get a night like this again. So I want to make this last.¡±

    ¡°And go nowhere fast,¡± I said.

    Melissa nodded. I debated reaching for her hand¡ªeven divorced we felt a similar pain, but would it hurt more if I held her¡ªand watched as Amber did what I couldn¡¯t. Be there for her. I held silent my own worries and gave her time to gather herself. Our food arrived while she did. The plate was stacked with a string of sunrise yellow pearls in a sort of hexagonal pyramid. While a jagged mist wafted from the dish.

    The waiter¡ªa four-armed entity with an empty oval where a face should be¡ªfiddled with its flouncy skirt as it instructed us to slurp the pearls like a noodle. As one we raised the first pearl to our mouths, and popped it inside. It tasted bright as sunshine, and brought a static-y tingle to every nerve in my mouth as if it was being woken up from a long sleep. Then I slurped, and let the shock slip into my gut and diffuse through my body. Every part of me waking up and leaving me so aware. I could feel the thread count of the cloth beneath my fingers. Hear the tiny moan-hiccup of pleasure Melissa would make when she was tasting what she considered a good meal¡ªor when I did my job and treated her like one.

    I turned to Amber because what I didn¡¯t smell was the yeast of a good bear or the burn of a spirit. Definitely not the cinnamon of whiskey. Every sense was awakened for this brief moment, and Amber smelled nothing of a brewery or any drink at all. Instead, she smelled like copper. A smile crossed her face as she misread my surprise.

    ¡°How¡¯s it taste, Temple?¡± Amber asked.

    When I slurped the last pear I spoke. ¡°Very good. Al dente. But I feel so much more,¡± I said.

    Melissa lifted the menu and pointed it out to me. Underneath the title of the dish it explained the Courts that went into it, in this case it was Morning and Rebirth. I¡¯d never heard of either of them before. They weren¡¯t on the Public Record, and I¡¯d never met anyone with them before. As I rolled the taste over in my mouth I wondered if there was anyone taking the exam that was bonded to them.

    Afterwards, the waiter came with a platter of cocktails for us. Three glasses expertly carved, and filled with what looked like snow piled inside. Spirit of A Snowdrift was what it was called, so I figured it was made from Sleep¡ªcommonly known as the Winter Court. Its ruling Principle was Death, so it was a clear pairing. The snow poured like water into my mouth and deadened my nerves ever so slightly. Melissa¡¯s reddened like it always did in winter. We chuckled over our drinks, and Amber just smiled and sipped away. In the light of the morning having tasted rebirth, even as sleep drifted in, how could we worry?

    ¡°What was so clarifying about the prelims?¡± Amber asked.

    I said, ¡°It¡¯s how intricate the tests are. Like, the ¡®test¡¯ was an obstacle course, but the test was something more. . .¡±

    ¡°Sinister?¡± Amber offered.

    ¡°A bit negative, but yeah.¡±

    Melissa asked, ¡°Okay, but how¡¯s an obstacle course sinister?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s how you run it. Every examinee at once. Everyone for themselves,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s not good. If you did it that way you¡¯d just confuse them. They¡¯d fight each other more than they¡¯d run the course.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s the point,¡± Amber said. ¡°First it tests your ability to follow basic instructions. It doesn¡¯t say anywhere to fight after all. But after that, it tests how prepared you are for if a fight breaks out, and if you¡¯re efficient enough to not give away too many details to secure yourself.¡±

    Melissa finished her drink. I matched her, and Amber followed close behind. It was time for the second dish. It was a pink tongue¡ªthree of them¡ªcurled atop a smoldering piece of charcoal that finished cooking the meat exactly as the square plates clacked in front of us.

    The waiter said, ¡°It¡¯s called the Dictator¡¯s Abdication. Composed of Tyrants and Melancholy. If you desire more heat you¡¯ll find a dish filled with votive tears freshly cracked. We recommend the dish eaten in one bite.¡±

    I missed the spice of home¡ªwhat Mom raised me on¡ªso I sprinkled votive tears over the tongue. Lifted it by its skewer and downed it in one go as instructed. There was a smokiness¡ªan ash¡ªthat coated my tongue as the tongue burst into a fatty powder. I closed my eyes and felt the weight of a crown on my brow. It was sharp and the blood I spilled to claim it would always sting my eyes. There was a time when I loved how my eyes felt¡ªprickly and aware¡ªwhen blood would paint them in one arterial spew. Those were times long past, and the residual heat of a rule brought to ash intensified by knowing that I once touched greatness brought tears to my eyes. I tried to live in the last full flavor of burst fast that popped from a clump of ashen-tongue.

    Sphinx pushed my drink into my hand as I groped for it. It was called, The Sweet Song of An Open Door, and was poured from a tea kettle that whooshed softly in offering of other ways. Roads that could be taken only because you¡¯d tasted the bitterness of how one ended. There was a honeyed coolness to how it coated my tongue¡ªsmothered the heat.

    ¡°What¡¯s the benefit supposed to be for eating this stuff?¡± I asked.

    The waiter answered, ¡°It¡¯s said to aid in opening one¡¯s mind. By familiarizing yourself with the nuance of a Court and their interactions you¡¯re better prepared to engage with complex sorceries.¡±

    ¡°Or feel your way around what it¡¯s like when Courts go to war,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°That¡¯s just what they say at least,¡± the waiter said. ¡°Now, I have to go retrieve your final dish.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t we have to tell you?¡± I asked.

    The waiter curtsied, ¡°You already have.¡±

    I asked Amber, ¡°Do you think eating this stuff really prepares you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing can prepare you,¡± Amber said. ¡°Maybe, at a high intake and high quality you can get some minor benefits: be more aware, be more thoughtful, etcetera.¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you the one who said that summoners are supposed to cheat?¡±

    Amber smirked, ¡°Don¡¯t use my brilliant quips against me. I¡¯m right though, I always am, but there¡¯s a difference between cheating the enemy and cheating yourself.¡±

    ¡°Like the bigmouth at the outpost?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Perfect example,¡± she said. ¡°Cheating yourself is mistaking preparation as experience. We prepare because we don¡¯t know what will happen. We train so we make up for our deficiencies in what has already happened. Eating fancy food, doing endless drills and forms, and whatever else has a use. I just don¡¯t ascribe that much use to it.¡±

    Melissa asked, ¡°So then what do we do? We know the tests are going to be more involved than the objective, and not much else.¡±

    ¡°We learn what we can. Don¡¯t take things at face value. Find whatever edge we can get, and otherwise lean on our promise,¡± Amber said. ¡°We know what we can''t do, and that lets us do anything else.¡±

    I said, ¡°You make it sound so simple.¡±

    Amber chuckled as she sipped her drink. ¡°Hardly,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s just, I refuse to imagine a world where I let you down.¡±

    We shared a moment, and I felt a heat on my lips¡ªmy body remembering. I saw that same heat in her eyes as I did that night. From this distance, I took more warmth in it than fear. Secretary had said she¡¯d refuse to let me fail. Over drinks like this I believed it. Then swept my eyes over to Melissa whose eyes were swimming as the cocktails leaned against her thoughts.

    ¡°What do we do when we make it?¡± she asked.

    Amber shrugged and I was silent.

    Melissa slapped the table. ¡°Come on, Nadia, you have to know, right? The big step in your plan.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know. I¡¯m focused on passing first,¡± I said. And killing the Lodgemaster.

    ¡°Would you tell me if you did?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°Sure¡ª,¡± I said.

    ¡°Cause I don¡¯t think you would,¡± she said.

    ¡°Melissa,¡± Amber said.

    She banged the table with her fist. ¡°No, if there¡¯s any chance we might die I need her to hear this,¡± she stated. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re telling me everything. Maybe it¡¯s not mine to know, but I¡¯m still here. Alls below, I don¡¯t know why, but I¡¯m still here. With you. Cause if I wasn¡¯t I¡¯d just worry. When I stormed off that night in the car, I worried. Every raindrop that slammed against my window I saw as a tidal wave threatening to drown you. My sisters had to hold me down from driving in that mess.¡±

    She drained her cup. ¡°When Secretary took you, I worried. I know two spells of yours, and none of them could heal you. Take a blow for you. It only takes one stray blow to kill someone. Then when you came back from it you looked like a hole had been blown in you, and you just had to appreciate the sound of your emptiness. Now there¡¯s this exam and I worry what we¡¯ll have to go through. What you¡¯ll have to go through. If I die, I worry about who¡¯s going to worry for you. Who¡¯ll remind you to appreciate architecture, or enjoy the colors of sunset. Make you have a good meal. Fuck, I¡¯m rambling.¡±

    I didn¡¯t drink while she spoke. It wouldn¡¯t have been right if I did. Not when I did know my next step, the actual reason we¡¯re here, and that I had an offer from the one person both her and Amber don¡¯t trust in the slightest waiting for me to open. I rolled the cup between my palms¡ªthey¡¯d gone cold somehow¡ªand bowed my head as I pondered my problems like they were sediment at the bottom of a glass.

    ¡°Melissa,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill the Lodgemaster.¡±

    Melissa¡¯s sensibility broke through the surface of her tipsy stupor. She gripped the table like a gecko and pulled herself together.

    ¡°Is that the truth?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said.

    She asked, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°I saw it,¡± I said.

    Melissa took a deep breath in before she expelled a hot breath.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said.

    I could see the load discorporate like a slain entity from her shoulders. Her smile stretched higher, and I ached at how a few words of admission healed her. There was so much I could admit. Wanted to admit, but there¡¯d be a point at which they¡¯d become new burdens. The source of more worries rather than less. I thought about the envelope¡ªthat would be a new burden¡ªthen decided to leave things like this. Let that be my big secret now revealed while I dealt with what remained.

    That was when the final dish came. Each of ours was different and the waiter set up a screen to block us from seeing each other eat. Instead I only saw the mirror that lined my screen and reflected back my face. My eyes were haunted by the dead of last night. I watched my face twitch and dance under my own observations¡ªmy expressions were broken, wrong. Did I always look like this? Was I always this open? I shut my eyes unwilling to stare at myself. Opened them when I was safe to see only my plate. There was a pudding¡ªit looked like a pudding at least¡ªand a little sign pinned at the center. It said: Curdled Future.

    The name wasn¡¯t appetizing, but I still took a bite. There were sparks of brightness-fatty yet light, a promise to come¡ªand after every spark I tasted a rancid oil that coated my throat. It brought to mind hands stayed, decisions never taken, and the sour taste of promise brought undone. When my eyes closed I couldn¡¯t force out the flavor, I just let itself inside of me. In pudding induced visions I saw Amber¡¯s body¡ªashen and broken¡ªcurled around Melissa¡¯s in an attempt to squeeze tight onto a life that had already vacated her body. I only had the one bite¡ªturned instead to the waiter with fury in my eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯d never want this,¡± I said. ¡°How is this the last thing I¡¯d want to taste?¡±

    The waiter shook and squeaked, ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯d never want it. The dish is the last thing, as in the least, you¡¯d want to experience. We only serve it as a nudge during exam season.¡±

    ¡°Of course you do,¡± I said, bitter and unwilling to eat any more of it.

    The table was cleared, and we were left to bask in the haze of food that spoke a little too loudly for my taste. Amber had them bring out a whiskey and poured the three of us shots. We battened down our palates with something Real.

    Melissa told us we already paid, so we left. When we crossed the door¡¯s threshold, I stole a glance back and saw that the door was gone. Probably for the best. We meandered over to the elevator, but stopped as we noticed a crowd had formed on every balcony peering down below to the secretaries¡¯ desk. A crowd of summoners¡ªeven including the blowhard from the outpost¡ªbanged against the desk. Their voices carried upwards like a hot draft.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you we deserve special circumstances! I know you offer them to others, so why not us?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said someone else, ¡°we were targeted just for being examinees.¡±

    ¡°The Lodge should do something,¡± another yelled.

    ¡°Like what?¡± someone on our balcony yelled. ¡°Give you another shot for proving you¡¯re shit!¡±

    On the balcony below us one of the Blue Tears boys from earlier shouted, ¡°Ask if you get an award for losing before it started?¡±

    That began the cavalcade of heckling. All of us examinees knew we¡¯d be leaping into the jaws of death tomorrow. The tension in the air¡ªthe worries that plagued us about what was to come¡ªwe lanced it like a boil and spilled the putrid pus of our anxieties onto them. We flung our resentment like bricks. Those summoners got to turn back¡ªlive another year if they were smart¡ªso why come here and demand a chance to die.

    I noticed Melissa¡¯s eyes stayed on the blowhard at the center. She remembered him¡ªeven through the haze of booze she remembered him¡ªand looked to me in confusion.

    ¡°What happened?¡± she asked.

    I pretended not to hear her. Ignored the question that lurked underneath, what did you do? Instead I let the rage and disgust in the air flow over me. There was no sympathy in the words being hurled, and from what I saw today I expected none to be found in the tests tomorrow. We, us examinees, all knew what we signed up for. It was time I accepted it. So I looked over the crowd and bent my mind down to scrub out their faces.

    Carve, wipe, scrape, gone, gone in the process of othering them until they weren¡¯t people. Faces scribbled over like a word that had to be ground out from the memory of the page. Sure, it flickered¡ªglimpses of the humans beneath coming through. I reapplied it harder the next time. Fixed it in my mind as I walked to the elevators and ignored the faceless men and women¡ªno, the faceless empty things that pushed air out of nonexistent mouths¡ªand smiled.

    ¡°Amber, which way to where we sleep?¡± I asked.

    * * *

    When we arrived, I realized that there were three rooms attached to one central suite. Amber had set our sleeping arrangements herself. My room was between hers and Melissa¡¯s, or it would be provided I was willing to move my bags myself. I also noticed that all of the cookware in the small kitchen that came with the suit had been dumped into the sink. They still shone with a wetness from a fresh clean. Before I could ask her what it was about, Amber had retired to her leaving me to deposit Melissa in hers.

    Melissa had taken to the booze the worst of us. I set her on her side and slid the waste bin beside her head. When I left she clutched at my pant leg. Her eyes fixed on me, and she shook my pant leg for emphasis.

    ¡°You¡¯re a good person,¡± she said.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± she said, ¡°if you weren¡¯t I couldn¡¯t still love you.¡±

    Her voice trailed off as she fell to sleep. I watched her body inflate and deflate with each breath. The taste of the Curdled Future and the visions it conjured brought me to the edge of agony each microsecond it took for Melissa to breathe again.

    ¡°Her body is resolute,¡± Sphinx said.

    I muttered, ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Food can¡¯t see the future,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°I know. Let¡¯s go read that offer.¡±

    I followed Sphinx into my room¡ªthey shut the door with a kick of their hindleg¡ªand I fell onto the bed. They hopped up next to me, and I removed the envelope from my pocket. Pressed my nail under the flap, worked until my thumb was nestled inside, and slashed across its length.

    The envelope popped open, and deposited a square package wrapped in brown paper onto my chest. As it fell it had assembled itself out of motes of light. I looked back to the envelope to see a tiny formation lose its subtle shine¡ªits function fulfilled. Then I withdrew the letter. Read it aloud to Sphinx and myself to avoid missing any words.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been duly recognized for your skill and ingenuity by the Lodge and its staff. As such, you are being offered the first of an unknown number of tasks to earn yourself a number of extra points on your exam evaluation. Note, this offer does not prevent you from failing the exam itself. However, a high enough score before failure may incur an automatic exemption pass to be applied for next year¡¯s exam. Secondary note, the continuation of this offer¡ªthat being the acquisition of extra points¡ªis contingent on your acceptance of the prior task. If these terms are desirable, please equip yourself with the gear found in the parcel. You are responsible for providing your own weapons. Also, for the sanctity of the exam¡ªand your own plausible deniability¡ªit is required that you store your entity for the duration of your task. Thank you, Regional Lodgemaster, Nemesis Khapoor.¡±

    I sat up and unwrapped the parcel. Folded in the center was a gray suit that looked similar to latex, but had less of a sheen. Atop the suit was a mask, plain and unadorned, but the way my eyes and attention rolled off it was all too familiar. It was the same Sorcery that my parent¡¯s killers used. I forced myself to stare at that mask even when I wanted to look away. Hated everything that it stood for¡ªthat its creators took from me¡ªand then I placed it on my face. Didn¡¯t think about what it meant that it fit perfectly.

    Instead, I read aloud the words that hovered in the air before me, visible only due to the HUD the mask provided: Please proceed to the Wild Hunt, in ten minutes.

 Chapter 15

    I only had a few minutes to arrive, but I wouldn¡¯t be rushed. Not for this. The room came with a small desk and a pen, some paper, and envelopes. In a handful of minutes I drafted two letters. One for Melissa and one for Amber; they deserved to know what had happened to me if I didn¡¯t make it back by morning. They needed to know why I didn¡¯t make it back. In retrospect, the letters weren¡¯t really for them, but me. In drafting them I confronted why I was doing this¡ªI needed practice. What I hoped would come from it¡ªresolve, maybe, or power if for future use. As well as if I had any sense of guilt or awareness that¡¯d let me turn away from this path¡ªnone at all. They should¡¯ve been letters expressing my feelings to them both. Those I¡¯d intimated or knew but didn¡¯t have the heart to say. Instead they were arguments, bluntly, that I hoped would dull the edge of their pain and anger toward my selfishness.

    I left them on my desk and slipped out the window.

    The streets were nearly empty¡ªsave for the golden trail the mask¡¯s HUD conjured to lead me to the meeting location. It was the quiet hours when bars slept and parties slumped to unconsciousness. Here in the city, the stars I¡¯d grown accustomed to back home were distant. Their light, a celestial memory. Yet the moon was there. The lone eye of heaven, so broad that you¡¯d think it was peering through a magnifying glass to better observe our petty dramas. It was red that night¡ªthe moon¡ªmaking its crystal palaces look like dripping murder weapons. I turned my mind back to earth, and raised a hand in a half-hearted wave as I spotted Secretary.

    They leaned against the edge of a fountain that burbled in shifting colors that played delightfully across their skin. When I was close enough to see their face¡ªstill far too pretty, too designed¡ªI was taken aback. I¡¯d expected a smugness similar to early in the day. Instead I found them resigned to some degree.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked.

    Secretary shook their head, ¡°Just the worst thing, little brute. My department decided to place bets on tonight.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I know. Secretaries, they have no decorum, but the money being placed was too much for even my refined morals. I bet as well, but then they told me how it¡¯d work. We¡¯d be stuck betting on those we nominated.¡±

    I rolled my eyes behind the mask¡ªremembered I was wearing a mask. Then tilted my head and arrayed my body to better sell the way my sympathy for them had dried down to clay. They pantomimed their hurt.

    ¡°You think I¡¯ll be the worst?¡± I asked.

    Secretary said, ¡°Hardly, but this was a bet about the quantity of the work. Not the quality. I think you¡¯ll be rather middle of the pack. Fair place to be, but oh well.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be my pleasure to lose you money,¡± I said. ¡°Anyways, I want to amend the deal, just a bit, before we start.¡±

    ¡°Little brute, you¡¯re not so early to begin negotiations. We¡¯ll be starting any minute.¡±

    ¡°I know. Means you won¡¯t have much time to wiggle out of what I want.¡±

    Secretary pursed their lips. ¡°Clever,¡± they said. ¡°I can¡¯t give you more points, it¡¯d be unfair.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want more,¡± I said. ¡°I want to share them. Three way split, even between Melissa, Amber, and myself.¡±

    ¡°Really? What makes you think they didn¡¯t get chosen for the Wild Hunt as well?¡±

    I looked around the empty square. ¡°There¡¯s no one else here,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, I owe them more than they owe me. I¡¯m splitting my points.¡±

    Secretary said, ¡°Points are hardly a gift.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all I have besides my life,¡± I said. ¡°So, split them.¡±

    Secretary waved their hand as Blotomisc stepped into my conscious acknowledgement. The damn thing still wore my dad¡¯s face.

    ¡°Tell the point tabulation committee that entrant, Nadia Temple, will be splitting all her points that derive from her assignments with the Faceless Corps. with entrants Melissa Knitcroft and Amber Scorizni.¡±

    Blotomisc took a bow to acknowledge the order before stepping back beyond the edge of any conscious senses. Secretary pushed up from the fountain and gripped my shoulders as if to squeeze me together.

    ¡°Done. Now don¡¯t fuck this up, my little brute. I want my bet to at least break even.¡±

    They raised their hand into the air and snapped. Though in that instance it was no snap, but a singular peal of thunder born from the unison of a hundred people¡ªSecretaries¡ªsnapping as one. It ripped through the air and with it the spell that I was under without realizing. The square was full of my competitors as well as their Secretary sponsors. Each of us clad in the grey skinsuit and mask given to us.

    ¡°This is your field-spell?¡± I asked Secretary.

    They held a finger to their lips. ¡°Trade secret. Even to my little brute.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have time to question them further because a sharp whistle sliced through my thoughts. Most of us in the crowd clutched at our ears from the pain. My eyes found the source of the sound leaning against the railing of some cafe¡¯s terrace. Their face was masked, but they were no less distinctive. First there was their height¡ªso small they¡¯d make Melissa feel at least somewhat tall. Then there was the fact that they lacked human arms though looked as if that was no bother. Atop their head was a furry entity with six round marble-like eyes. Its body ran down theirs like a mantle of some sort. Albeit one with arms¡ªfour of them¡ªthat were muscled, clawed and moved with the boneless fashion of a tentacle at the summoner¡¯s whim. It was with one of those arms that the person had used to whistle.

    ¡°Good, I have your attention. Y¡¯all can call me the Kennelmaster. Well, you will call me the Kennelmaster,¡± the Kennelmaster said. ¡°Cause y¡¯all are dogs. Mine now to deploy as I see fit for the tasks the Lodge has decided must be carried out. Tasks that are, well, too much for the Lodge¡¯s common roster.¡±

    An arm slid their mask just slightly out of the way so they could take a drag of a cigarette. They blew the smoke through the mask¡¯s nostrils.

    The Kennelmaster continued, ¡°See, most of the roster are people unlike y¡¯all. People with feelings and morals that they¡¯re unwilling to compromise on save the most dire situations. So, that¡¯s where you all come in. You, my lovely dogs, don¡¯t have none of that. Your Secretaries have found you to be brutal people. Unforgiving people. Capable of the worst that need be done, but aren¡¯t so far gone that we¡¯d have to put you down. Cause we would, will, and have when it turns out one of our dogs is a smidge too feral.¡±

    ¡°Kennelmaster, we have an itinerary to maintain,¡± a Secretary¡ªnot mine¡ªsaid to them. They lounged in a chair at one of the cafe¡¯s tables.

    ¡°I know, I know. I¡¯m just trying to give them a full picture,¡± the Kennelmaster said.

    This Secretary said, ¡°Dogs don¡¯t need to know the full scope of their pen. Now, some of our targets are on the move, and I¡¯d rather we do this efficiently.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± the Kennelmaster said to them. Turned back to us, ¡°To skip to the end, because apparently showmanship is dead, y¡¯all are being tested on how good of dogs you¡¯ll be. Cause neither the Lodge nor myself wants to keep a dog incapable of doing what¡¯s asked. Thus, we come to the Wild Hunt, where we¡¯ll let you pups loose onto the entirety of the district to go after the Lodge¡¯s enemies. They always try to slip in during exam season. You¡¯ll find ¡®em, kill ¡®em, and be graded on such by the Lodge¡¯s ever lovely Secretarial department. If you fuck up, they¡¯ll see it, and if you do it especially well they will as well.¡±

    The Secretary near the Kennelmaster snapped their fingers. In a wave all our masks fit snugly onto our faces. A few people¡ªmyself included¡ªtugged on it in surprise. It didn¡¯t come off. Soon after my HUD was updated. A roster of names and crimes scrolled down in the bottom corner of my vision. In the other corner a minimap of the Lodge district appeared. Dots clustered at the edges. While that same guiding glow trail that led me to the square returned. Only this time it was a loose web that wiggled out in every direction¡ªto every target.

    ¡°Now, alls below, happy hunting,¡± the Kennelmaster said.

    We needed no more instruction. I watched as some of my fellow dogs seemed to teleport, take to the air, or step into some kind of portal. Me, I just ran, glaive held in both hands as I sprinted down streets toward the nearest target¡ªI wasn¡¯t trying to be picky. I especially didn¡¯t want to look at their names. Made it easier.

    * * *

    My first target was a few blocks from where we started. I didn¡¯t look at their name, but I did see their crime: serial homicide. Just the type of target to help make this. . .easier for me. The killer moved slowly but in a flickering fashion. They¡¯d linger only to hop a few feet, linger, then hop.

    ¡°They¡¯re hunting,¡± Sphinx said inside of me.

    Let¡¯s see whose better, I thought.

    I cut through an alley and took a spot in a dumpster¡¯s shadow. From my vantage point I could only see a woman wobble down the street. She was drunk enough to smell of booze even where I lurked. At the thought, words flashed briefly at the center of my HUD: Nasal Filter Applied. How convenient. Still, I didn¡¯t see the killer despite the insistence of the golden strands. I blinked on the Omensight and grinned as they were revealed in such perfect clarity.

    A cloud¡ªthere weren''t many other ways to put it¡ªclung about them. Strands of some Court that was ambitious yet demure waved in the breeze as if saying, ¡®No, don¡¯t look at me. I¡¯m hardly worth it.¡¯ I frowned as I watched the spindly thing leap from lamp to lamp, unnoticed by anyone relying solely on the mortal sight. It¡ªbecause I had already gouged its face from my mind and could hardly call it a human being¡ªclung by its taloned toes atop a lamp¡¯s point. Its body tensed ready to fire.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Under the Omensight, I could see the thread that connected it to the woman. The thread dripped with sadistic glee that was caustic to my eyes. Slowly the thread grew taut. I flicked to the woman. She slipped and tumbled to the ground¡ªan opening! I bolted from my shadow. Springboarded off someone¡¯s trash can. All at the same moment the cowardly killer shot itself from the lamp. I need more distance, I thought to sphinx. They responded by shifting inside my spirit and unfurling their wings from my back. In two flaps I had more air, more distance, and the thread of my own imminent violence intersected with the killer.

    Mother¡¯s Last Smile was thrust forward to take the cruel little thing in the side. We crashed diagonally through a storefront. I rode his body like a scooter across the shards. It quivered¡ªI twisted my glaive¡ªit grew still. Limbs curled on itself like the spider it thought it was. In the corner of my HUD its entry briefly flashed green before it disappeared. I left through the business¡¯s front door. The woman had barely processed any of what happened.

    I held out my hand to help her up, but stilled as I saw the gold of the HUD linger around her. She was on the list. I resisted the urge to spot her name. Focused on the crime.

    ¡°You extort businesses?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Whuh,¡± she said. ¡°I guess. I mean, messes happen around here.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± I hummed. ¡°Says you funnel the money to a cult out east.¡±

    ¡°Says who?¡± she asked playfully, not yet aware this was an interrogation. ¡°What can I say, there¡¯s a nice little group out near Tahoe. I wanna help them out. Now, are you gonna like, help me up?¡±

    My eyes narrowed behind the mask. I watched as a black void ran itself across her face. Swipe-swipe gone. She was no woman, but a parasitic worm that belonged at the bottom of some rare bottle Amber stole from the outpost¡¯s bar. Still, I clasped the worm¡¯s hand¡ªenveloped it in my own so no hand-spells could form. Then hauled them onto my glaive. Its tip pierced the extortionist¡¯s neck. I nicked an artery from how the wet warmth of its life splattered my legs. It raised its other hand to form a spell. Fumbled drunkenly with their fingers, so I helped them again. Cleaved hand from wrist¡ªno more confusion¡ªand waited for the entry to disappear.

    When it did, I went to gather up the wannabe spider¡ªmy feet pulling away from the sticky blood puddle growing beneath the worm in wet-sucking plops¡ªand dragged it back into the street. Dropped its body atop the worm and split the tiniest infinity with my hand-spell. Chalcedony flames poured from my finger in a burning waterfall. I sweeped it this way and that to coat their clumped bodies with as much fire as possible. Let them burn down into nothing, so I felt nothing when I took to the street again for my next target.

    * * *

    The golden path crawled over the apartment¡¯s face like an orichalcum centipede. Zigzagged down the fire escape to curl in front of the doors. The list had no human names for these entries. Instead the only name connected to each dot in this place was, vestal of Searing Light.

    ¡°My cousin is present,¡± Sphinx said.

    Cousin? I thought.

    ¡°A soldier from the Court of Virtue. Per mortal system, we both sit under the ruling banner of Stars as a Principle.¡± Sphinx mused, ¡°They¡¯ve made a temple of this place.¡±

    Through the Omensight, I pushed my vision through the walls¡ªthey weren¡¯t that thick¡ªand watched as bound mortals¡ªchildren and young teens¡ªwere pushed inside of a focusing circle in the apartment building¡¯s common room. With each one the circle would flair, and out step another vestal. They stood tall as Amber¡ªover six feet probably¡ªand were dressed in white tunics that fell to the thigh. Golden armor cinched their waists, banded their arms into clawed gauntlets, and made sabatons and greaves of their feet and legs. Two long elven ears spred from behind a featureless golden mask set within a jungle of wavy chocolate tresses.

    Terror slathered my thoughts, This is a chain-summoning. It¡¯s a nest!

    ¡°Nadia, quick, another hunter seeks your prize,¡± Sphinx said.

    I pulled my vision back from inside the building just in time to make out a lithe form sprinting down the rooftops toward the nest. As I shouldered through the lobby doors they flipped onto the fire escape and slipped into a room on the top floor. It¡¯d be a race between us for who could clear this place faster.

    Guided by the HUD and my Omensight, I sprinted down the hallway into the common room and froze. The block I put over the faces of the ¡°summoners¡± flickered as I knew my options strained at what Amber¡¯s mental trick could help me ignore. People used in a chain-summoning were chosen for what they lacked. Not enough spiritual mass to retain their ego in the bond. Nor enough density to remain the master, or at least an equal. The minute each one was bonded they were lost. Either you killed the entity and left their spirit a frayed thing full of holes, or you killed them and forced the entity to discorporate.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°remember who the target is.¡±

    It doesn¡¯t make it any better, I thought.

    In the moment of freezing, the vestals stopped summoning and examined me as one. Raised their hand as one. With one blazing glint of light, they all fired upon me. Square cruciform strips of fire shot toward me. I ran laterally to evade¡ªleaped behind a couch¡ªand waited. Their spells pummeled the couch. The heat leaked through the leather, but it didn¡¯t pierce.

    When I didn¡¯t move, the vestals hurriedly grabbed another kid. He was small, plump like kids could be¡ªif he lived he¡¯d grow out of it¡ªand he fought for the chance to grow. Struggled and thrashed in his pajamas. His feet burnt on the carpet as they dragged him.

    ¡°Stop!¡± I yelled.

    I leaped up and let loose an Atomic Glory for the summoning circle. The flames consumed the paint, and the threads of Virtue that embroidered the symbols with power. They dropped the child before the flames could touch him, consume him¡ªI didn¡¯t finish that thought. Brands of fire were loosened back in my direction as I returned to my couch cover.

    As one the vestals spoke, ¡°Cousin, it is not typical for us to make war. Why do you do so?¡±

    Their voice carried along the strands of reality that backed even the Real. Conceptual vibrations that shook the entirety of my spiritual musculature. Sphinx responded for the both of us.

    ¡°No war, cousin, only a hunt. You¡¯ve crossed a mortal line.¡±

    ¡°Ahhh, given time they¡¯ll all be pure. Pity your bondmate won¡¯t be privy to the sight.¡±

    As one they raised their hands to receive swords of frozen sunlight that kissed their way into existence. They laid blade over gauntlet and advanced on my position as a unit. Their attention turned from the children onto me made my job much easier.

    ¡°Kids, close your eyes,¡± I ordered.

    Through the Omensight I saw them obey. Ten pairs of eyes shut, their owners cowered, and with that I rose. Pointed my hand-spell at the boy who dodged a future as a battery, and brought him with me into Godtime. The vestals¡¯ advance slowed to a crawl. In their feature-less faces I could see the moment of their recognition; letting go of the children had cost them the only leverage they had over me.

    I hopped over the couch and methodically¡ªdefinitively¡ªstruck each one with an Atomic Glory. There wouldn¡¯t be any defense from them. We may have been in the same link in the Chain, but they were new while Sphinx and I were tested. I dropped the Godtime and watched as their ¡°summoners¡± collapsed to the ground. The bond was new, but even a new bond between a summoner and an entity was a deep one. These kids¡¯ spirits were frayed and worn¡ªI never checked back to see if they recovered. In the moment, I left the kids to the kids, and ran up the stairs to keep hunting.

    Unfortunately, my opposition had already made it to the first floor above the lobby. I pushed my mind how many other entries I knew were in all the rooms above me. Failed to ignore the red that flickered before the entry was stolen. We spotted each other from the other end of the hallway. She wasn¡¯t just the lithe silhouette I saw earlier. I could see that she was muscular¡ªrippling with power for quick bursts¡ªand she had cat ears. Two tails that swung behind her as she no doubt took her measure of me.

    ¡°A hunting cat,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°How cute.¡±

    My opposition growled, ¡°You¡¯re slow. I thought we¡¯d be competing for prey.¡±

    ¡°Things were complicated,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re fast though.¡±

    ¡°I make things simple,¡± she said.

    Her hand flicked away droplets of blood onto the seafoam wall. We both glanced to the door with the last vestal behind it. Tensed our bodies to race for the last target. Then there was white. A train car of white that blew through the room and into the hallway. So bright I saw stars. Gone so soon that I only processed what it was by the smell of ozone in the air. The clap of thunder confirmed it as both me and the cat girl covered our ears. Hers were no doubt more sensitive than mine; the sound sent me to a knee, it sent her sprawling.

    When I could move I inched toward the gap in the hallway. Looked out into the street to see another hunter astride some avian entity with white-blue wings whose feathers were still dimming from their electric brightness. The hunter tossed a mock salute my way before taking off in search of other targets. I didn¡¯t look at the size of the smoking skeleton that remained in the room. I did make my way to the roof.

    I leaned my glaive against the ledge of the building. Leaned my head out into the open air to catch a cool night time breeze. Through the Omensight I watched the district explode with street level fireworks of Sorcery. Loops of one Court, another, a third, from the common to the unknown whipped into the air as dogs ran wild and blood with them. With me. I looked down at my body. My lower-half, red on grey, with the shoes of the suit being the brightest. So soaked that my footprints were still made out in crimson. I looked back to the district.

    ¡°Why¡¯ve we stalled?¡± Sphinx asked.

    I¡¯m tired, I offered.

    That wasn¡¯t true. My heart beat fast and clean, adrenaline pumped through my veins, and part of myself was lost in the heady high of violence. The life-death dispute I had resolved multiple times now, and kept winning. I¡¯m happy I couldn¡¯t see my face¡ªI could feel the smile that stretched across. Told myself I was just happy to save the kids from the ferocious cat on the first floor.

    ¡°You like what you like,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± I asked aloud. ¡°I¡¯m a dog.¡±

    ¡°A dog wouldn¡¯t ponder the disgust that lies beneath its pleasure. You¡¯re complex. Human.¡±

    I was pacing now. Shaking my head as I walked between the poles of my disagreement.

    ¡°But what does it say that this was the offer? That even in the explanation I didn¡¯t go home. This is what Secretary sees me as!¡±

    ¡°The Kennelmaster, said you are this,¡± Sphinx began, ¡°but Secretary only offered you a chance to see how broad ¡®anything¡¯ would be. You¡¯ve discovered that. What anything doesn¡¯t cover.¡±

    The blood the cat girl had splashed on the wall came to mind. Not that. Never that.

    ¡°But I¡¯m enjoying¡ª,¡± I said.

    ¡°A job well done. A city made safer,¡± Sphinx put forward.

    I had killed a serial killer. Slew an extortionist funding cults in the east. Helped destroy a nest of chain-summoned entities before they could wreak havoc. Alls below, I saved children.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m good. It¡¯s fine that I enjoy this. Making things safer for everyone, so Melissa doesn¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    ¡°Nadia?¡± Sphinx asked, worry creeping in.

    I ignored it, ¡°I¡¯m sure Mom and Dad smiled just like this after they were done. Splattered with the result of hard work. Yet, kept things separate. The work them¡ªthe hidden them, and what I got.¡±

    My smile returned to my face wider than ever. I even panted as I felt the urge¡ªthe LUST¡ªrun through my body with the little crack in my logic. I ran my bloody hands down the mask. Shivered with delight at the sweet sanguine pleasure that flooded my brain. The guilt, the worry, the regret could wait for daytime. While I was masked I could let go, and accept myself.

    ¡°Nadia, I think we should go home,¡± Sphinx urged.

    I shook my body out and loosened my limbs. Cooed from behind the mask.

    ¡°Never,¡± I said. ¡°Forward, always forward!¡±

    And I caught sight of a thick river of gold¡ªpoints to be claimed¡ªthat twirled through sky toward others who had to die. With a slight twist of my spirit I flexed and let loose Sphinx¡¯s wings. Then leaped from the top of the building. Its wings stiffened to catch the wind¡ªit¡¯d never let me fall¡ªand together we flew amongst gold.

 Chapter 16

    I followed the trail of molten sunshine that wound its way above the district. Sure, there were tributaries of gold that trickled off in other directions¡ªother targets. They were too minor to sate the burning urge that ripped an emptiness through me. A chill that could only be destroyed through the consumption of something more than one off targets. It was in search of whatever that more was which led me to touching down atop a warehouse on the edge of the water. Though at this hour the bay was akin to an endless void. Even the moon refused to mirror in the invisible tide that gave a writhing life to the dark. The only light I had eyes for was the golden trail that curled around a skylight set within the warehouse¡¯s roof.

    Wings folded, I crept toward the portal of color and peered down through the glass at the corpses I¡¯d make. Their faces were hidden to me¡ªalready scribbled out¡ªbut their body language betrayed a relaxed joy. They sat around a table, circular and covered in a green felt, and tossed chips into a growing horde. Clutched chards in their fingers as they only had eyes for a treasure they¡¯d never claim.

    Though the urge pushed me onwards I clung to the rim of the skyward window. I checked the list, and oh their crimes were delicious to see listed: conspiracy against the Lodge, stolen identities, members of a cult¡ªmy attention bisected the lust cloud that drowned my brain. They were Lurkers in the Deep. I licked my lips as I recalled the worry and resignation of Melissa¡¯s face when she had spotted their graffiti. Then imagined the beautiful face she¡¯d wear after I told her I¡¯d dyed the ocean red with the blood of those very same Lurkers. That I¡¯d made the exam safer for us all. The lust tickled my nerves as I quivered in glee.

    I tested the glass with my foot, and found it sturdy. I¡¯d need force if I was to shatter it. Sphinx heard my unspoken request and stretched its wings. It took only one heavy flap to propel into the air. The second drew me up into the sky. At the third I knew I¡¯d make one grand entrance.

    Its wings folded and I fell, hard and fast as a judge¡¯s gavel. In the midst of my descent I pointed to one of the Lurkers who had just tossed chips into the air. A laugh trailed above me at what imagined was the most confused expression as it saw them tumble slowly in the air. A sight so peculiar it leaned over the table to better examine. It didn¡¯t even look up¡ªshame, it might¡¯ve not died first then.

    Within the sluggish Godtime, my entrance was marked by pieces of glass that tumbled lazy as snowflakes. From below it must¡¯ve looked like a beautiful explosion as each piece sparkled within the lazy incandescent lights. A sky full of stars¡ªtheir final sight.

    I landed on the distracted cultist¡¯s head. It made such a good cushion as my feet shattered its skull and smeared its brains¡ªwhat little it had¡ªon the surprisingly clean poker table. Which turned out to be stunningly well-made as it didn¡¯t shatter beneath me. Chips flew into the air like rice at a wedding. I Godtime¡¯d the Lurker in front of me. It screamed as the chips made sleepy somersaults above us. Enough of that noise, I thought, and solved the problem.

    In a generous sweep of both arms, I tossed an arc of chalecdony fire in direction and in the other I introduced the bright-tenderness of Mother¡¯s Last Smile. The screaming cultist before me was lucky enough to get both courtesies. Its face was forgotten in the consumptive fire, and its head severed from the weak neck that supported it. The other cultists hadn¡¯t gotten to ponder the scene for more than a second in their own subjective time before they too died.

    My heart drummed quick and light as I waited. There was no sorcery in the air nor the clackety-clack of some mechanical weapon. It was only the light tinkle of glass and muffled plonk of chips. I¡¯d done this perfectly, and oh the joyous moan that came from my body as I saw all those names, those serious crimes, be checked away. I¡¯d earned that moan and held myself lest the pleasure bisect me.

    The rapturous afterglow was cut short by the whirling roll of a flushed toilet down the hall. I stood tall, teeth bared but hidden by the mask, and made my every muscle¡ªflesh and spirit¡ªtaut in anticipation. It was that bullheaded blowhard from the outpost that opened the door. I hadn¡¯t expected it, and so I saw his face. I smiled, and I laughed sharp as a hyena.

    ¡°This is great,¡± I said.

    He asked, ¡°Two-spell.¡±

    I hissed, ¡°It¡¯s three now.¡±

    You might not believe me, but before we began our merry chase I saw myself in his eyes. Arms spread wide as if to embrace the sheer enormity of the moment. Half my body shiny-slick with the blood of what I put together were his friends. Though really I did more ¡°taking them apart.¡± There was only a quarter of my body untouched by blood. He probably had enough in him to make the coat even.

    I like to imagine that at the sound of my laugh he understood that it was only a rendition of his laugh as he mocked me¡ªI hate to be laughed at. From how he ran, I think he finally got that. I skipped down from the table as he bolted back into the hallway. He had such luck that my toss of chalcedony fire caught the door rather than him¡ªhe¡¯d closed it in his retreat. I sprinted through the curtain of nothing the sorcerous flames had degraded the wood into.

    It took the bullheaded idiot the first turn of the hallway to cast spells back¡ªthe idea a bit too slow to catch the coward at the start. He had formed the hand-spell before I had turned the corner. His hands parted as if in supplication right when I re-established sight of him. A sunrise orange miasma poured from his hands. Billowed into the air like smoke before taking shape as a crowd of ancient warriors. They let loose the Glory hungry roar of the human animal and charged. Past them all I saw that bullheaded bastard linger to watch his spell take my life¡ªconfirm it. I wouldn¡¯t give him the pleasure.

    I let loose my own maenadian bellow of all that was in me¡ªall that Bloodlust¡ªand unleashed a Fivefold Atomic Glory back at him. We were the same link in the Chain, but Amber was right that sparring didn¡¯t mean shit. Chalcedony incinerated the orange sunrise as Revelation trumped the meager strength of mortal Glory. The floors, walls, and ceiling of the hallway were lathered in hungry flames that chased him down the hall and out the window.

    He lucked out again and rolled down stacked boxes of cargo that were right below the window. Five drops six feet each to an interlude of safety.  When I flew through the window after him I noted the shock on his face¡ªhe didn¡¯t expect those boxes either. Though he quickly gathered himself as he heard the beating of Sphinx¡¯s wings. Sprinting off into the labyrinth of shipping containers thinking that he¡¯d lose me. Forgetting that I could just follow the fleeing ant that he was from up in the air. The Omensight making it so I could see perfectly in the night.

    Our chase led us down turn after turn after turn. I kept it exciting by directing Sphinx to unleash a barrage of Atomic Glory¡¯s from the eyes on its wings. The sprinkling of violent stars rained about him. Unfortunately, his reflexes weren¡¯t atrocious and every star that had a chance of even grazing him he¡¯d block by conjuring a spectral phalanx of warriors proud to die. When that grew boring I talked to him. Hoped that the distraction would lead him to a dead end.

    I asked, ¡°Why the Lurkers? They¡¯d never let you join their ranks.¡±

    He answered, ¡°We weren¡¯t joining their ranks but allying against that bitch of a Lodgemaster and monsters like you.¡±

    Rapid barks of laughter tumbled from me. He thought I was the monster. Really? I swooped low and had Sphinx drop me from the sky. My glaive cleaved air, but crashed onto another set of spectral shields. I kicked off of them before the array of conjured pilum snaked out in the gaps between the layered shields. Two flaps and I had righted back in the air.

    ¡°They kidnapped you, or did you run your head into a wall and forget?¡±

    He yelled, ¡°No, but they made amends. Paid us for the injury upon our names they caused. That¡¯s more kindness than the Lodgemaster showed us and the collectives who¡¯ve been allies to the Lodge since it was founded in this region. She did nothing to make amends due to her lapse in duty.¡±

    ¡°Lapse in duty?¡± I asked. ¡°I saved you. And this is the thanks I get?¡±

    ¡°No one saved us. I woke up to a building filled with corpses and empty of the living.¡±

    ¡°That was me clearing the way,¡± I said. ¡°Also, I did cut the lock to your cell.¡±

    ¡°You could¡¯ve woken us up. Led us out of there.¡±

    ¡°Why should I? You were competition.¡±

    ¡°We were without weapons. No supplies. Left in the Underside without a proper suit. We could¡¯ve caught curses!¡±

    I scowled, ¡°And now you¡¯re on my list, and I¡¯m so happy to check you off!¡±

    His phalanx scattered as an Atomic Glory crashed into it. He leaped out of the way just in time. My eyes narrowed in frustration, and happened to catch the shock-pink glint of a Luck curse that swam about his head like a crown. Strings of it unspooling from the mass as it wove into the fiber of his being. The bullheaded annoyance was being made luckier by the second.

    Once again he ran. Made a turn and this time I smiled as I knew it was the dead end I¡¯d been waiting for¡ªwhy was he still running? I swooped low and took the turn tight. Gasped as I saw him raise a narrow quartz slate that was the dark-blue of the Abyss. It shined in the bioluminescent color of a deep sea as thread ran from it to one of the Whalefall murals¡ªthe key thread to its activation.

    The jellyfish swirled and pushed through the wall like it wasn¡¯t even there. A bloom of them cluttering the air like paper lanterns on New Year¡¯s. It was the groaning cry of the dying whale in the mural that smothered the scream of rage which tore down my throat. I swooped low and with Sphinx¡¯s wings sped down the path after my prey.

    We wouldn¡¯t be fast enough. I knew that in my bones. There were no targets for me to Godtime, so I could catch up. His phalanxes were fast enough to keep blocking my flames by the grace of the curse. My eyes screwed shut as I screamed again¡ªthis time at my impotence.

    Sphinx said, ¡°See, Nadia.¡±

    I opened my eyes. The world in lilac save for the colors of sorcery and the touch of the Courts. It connected the key to the mural. His body was woven with them as a summoner, the curse was woven in him in its parasitism, and a thread of purest enmity ran from me to him. All those threads. My sight landed gently on the string that connected us. I could feel it draw against the memories inside; teasing at the visions of the past I could review. A hypothesis came to mind.

    Atomic Glory would shoot through the air of Realspace. It was dodgeable as a result. Yet the tie that connected me to him couldn¡¯t be shirked. Could it burn? Not as the after effect of letting the flames consume my target, but as the vector by which it could travel. With how the key unlocked the mural by a tie of fate it seemed possible.

    Sphinx¡¯s rumble of approval vibrated in my spirit. It wasn¡¯t a new spell, but a twist on a classic. My fingers parted from around the tie of enmity as I split infinity once again. Cried out in orgiastic self-satisfaction as an infinite number of outcomes were incinerated to fuel the one I¡¯d chosen. In the flames I saw the possibilities. Delusional resolutions that hinged on impossible choices. They burn so bright.

    Atomic Glory raced down the string¡ªhe was still running, nearly at another Lucky escape. Fortunate for me, Luck is for trumping what¡¯s Real not the future seen within Revelation¡¯s flames. I flicked off the Omensight, amused to see the bead of flame disappear¡ªspells cast along fate¡¯s threads weren¡¯t visible to those without some form of sorcerous vision. A detail I stored for some other time. Some other fight. Instead I let myself sink into the moment. Experience the tiniest bit of surprise and glee as my bullheaded enemy spontaneously combusts. Flowers of chalcedony burning him from within like some wicker sacrifice.

    He tumbled to his knees. Dropped the key. I picked it up for myself as I stalked his crawling corpse to the very end. I pushed him with the butt of my glave so I could roll him over. He didn¡¯t scream as he died. Just a rasp as every strand that made up his future, his present, his connections, all of it went up in flames. He was being hollowed until not even the Real could support his existence. When I blinked the flames were dying and whatever had burnt was gone. There was only the bright green of an entry checked off and fading.

    A low smoky voice called out, ¡°Your flames are pretty.¡±

    I whirled about to see one of my fellow dogs slow clapping at the end of the aisle. I banished the dark with a blink of my eyes¡ªthe tears mixed with my sweat stinging my eyes from the spell. It was worth it because his body was something to behold. Sculpted with graceful curves from a generous amount of muscle that lurked below, his physique was a thick inverted triangle. A powerful frame that barely tapered at their waist. As he walked toward me I saw how he slouched, shoulders rolled forward. Prowling like a tiger with an effortless implication of the violence they could impart. I tasted salt on my lips as I stalked toward hit¡ªit was only right to meet halfway.

    It took effort to keep down the hot pulse of fear that blossomed behind my navel. This dog was tall like the statue they were. Taller than Amber. Nearly a foot taller than me going by how my eyes landed at his chest¡ªthe hard decorative pillows my mom loved to collect came to mind.

    I asked, ¡°How long have you been watching?¡±

    My voice totally didn¡¯t crack.

    ¡°Since that,¡± he said.

    Shoved his thumb behind him. I gave a quick hop and caught sight of the warehouse. It was a veritable bonfire.

    I said, ¡°Oh, well, no one will remember that when it¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°Pity. I think I¡¯d like to remember something that beautiful,¡± he said.

    Though he kept his mask¡ªI hoped his eyes¡ªtrained on me as he spoke. Then his mask tilted downward to my chest.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to sate myself with this,¡± he purred. ¡°In that suit you look pretty as the apples on my grandparent¡¯s orchard. Right size too.¡±

    Apples. . . I looked to my chest and felt my face burn hot as a hearth.

    ¡°You pig,¡± I spat.

    Thrust Mother¡¯s Last Smile at his head. He tilted his head out of the way. Wove back under the glaive as I swept it to the side. His hand shot out to catch the weapon beneath the bright-white head. I tried to tug it from his grasp, but it was like every force imaginable led straight to him¡ªto that grip. He was higher up the Chain. It only took one pull from him to jerk me forward. I crashed into him. Stumbled a half step, and his other hand caught me by the waist.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Dogs aren¡¯t supposed to fight, Orchard,¡± he said.

    He pointed with his head up and to the right. I turned my head to follow and spotted a Secretary sitting atop the containers. They looked around in surprise then pouted. I turned back to him.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°Now let me go!¡±

    He released me, and I could actually take a step backwards. I¡¯d asked him to let go, but for a half-second I lingered. Then I coughed and reestablished a fair distance between us¡ªa conversational distance. My awkwardness crumpled up the majority of my high from a job well done. It didn¡¯t take away the heat though¡ªthat still coiled in me.

    ¡°Nice tool you got there, Orchard,¡± he said. ¡°Not a lot of examinees running around with Conceptual weapons. How¡¯d you get one?¡±

    I heard the howl of stormy winds and the patter of angry rain in my mind.

    ¡°From my mom,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°Family heirloom, that makes sense. I have one myself. Well, not right now. I worry it¡¯d make me too distinct for now.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh, well last I checked you¡¯re the only pig taking the exam. And stop calling me Orchard!¡±

    ¡°Alright, what do you want me to call you?¡±

    I nearly answered with my own name. Anything to not let him put some pet name on me. Then I remembered I was trying to keep a division between the night me and the day me. A different name would help.

    ¡°F-fine. Orchard is fine,¡± I said, then had a thought, ¡°if I get to give you a name.¡±

    The chuckle that rumbled in him made my face heat up.

    ¡°Sure thing, Orchard. I¡¯ll take any name you want to call me.¡±

    ¡°Piggy,¡± I said.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    I circled him¡ªreally took him in¡ªand gave a satisfactory nod.

    ¡°Yeah, I think Piggy is a great name.¡±

    He shook his head in disbelief. Held up two fingers to mimic the appearance of a boar¡¯s tusks.

    ¡°Piggy is is then.¡±

    Our banter was interrupted as a river of gold materialized above us only to bleed into a dripping red. The HUD filled with a message: Emergent Threat Determined. Assigned Highest Priority. We glanced at each other.

    Piggy asked, ¡°Think it¡¯ll give the most points?¡±

    ¡°It better,¡± I said. ¡°Race you to it!¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s wings hurriedly smacked the sky to propel me to the air. Piggy¡¯s response chased after.

    ¡°You¡¯re on,¡± he yelled.

    I took an early lead because I could fly over the labyrinth of shipping containers. Piggy stole the lead back by applying some spell that left me locked in place. Even with the Omensight I couldn¡¯t perfectly parse the magic used¡ªthe suit and the mask doing something to anonymize our sorcery. He didn¡¯t let me go until he had a block and a half of lead on me. Our game took us from the cluster of warehouses at one end of the bay to the other where large houses sat at the edge of a cliff that dropped down to the water. Piggy had beat me there, and joined the small crowd of dogs that had formed at an intersection

    ¡°Not going to gloat?¡± I asked as I touched ground.

    Sphinx¡¯s wings had folded back inside of my spirit¡ªI didn¡¯t want too many of my competitors noting the distinctive markings on them. Which is when I noticed no one had watched me at all. Before I could ask why, Piggy grabbed my hand and led me through the loose crowd. The answer was memorable; from the street down to a house that was half-collapsed were the bodies of at least twenty other dogs like me. Their blood filled the grooves of the cobblestone road. There wasn¡¯t a single body that had made it more than halfway to the ruined house.

    ¡°Looks like no one is getting those points,¡± Piggy said.

    ¡°If no one¡¯s going to try, why''re they all standing around?¡±

    ¡°We want to see if someone can,¡± the cat girl said.

    I found her perched on a tree branch overhead. Her twin tails swung back-and-forth in the mild boredom that cats often found themselves in.

    ¡°Why not do it yourself?¡± I asked.

    She said, ¡°Because I like life more than points. Also, there¡¯s a beast in there that I know I¡¯m not the sort of predator to take on nor turn my back to.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t fault her for keeping a clear estimation of herself,¡± Piggy said. ¡°No one even knows what makes this target such a high priority.¡±

    I read the entry that was at the top of my list. It said: Potential White Womb Scenario. None of which made sense to me at the time. I only figured it had to be something awful since the lot of us were tasked with killing it. So I watched the crowd alongside Piggy and waited to glean some information. We didn¡¯t have long before one of our dogs was hyped up by his peers that maybe he could be the one to do what twenty could not.

    He gave a quick stretch, formed a hand-spell with some unknown effect, and ran. His arms pumped as he kicked off the ground with each step. That¡¯s when we saw the dawn emerge. A pillar of light shooting up from the horizon¡ªno, the house¡ªand arcing down onto the road. The light broke apart in its descent to create individual bullets of purest Morning. Our fellow dog kicked up his pace. It was pointless. Through the Omensight I observed the spell and could see the ties of fate that guided each bullet to the ground.

    The dog was barreling through threads one after another. They didn¡¯t stick to him, but they told a prophecy of their trajectory¡ªhe wasn¡¯t going to escape them. When the first one landed it sounded like the sizzle of fat touching a pain. It was the fat cooking, rendered down by the heat. He was a lanky dog, but he still had enough fat for the spell to agitate. The rain of bullets made clean holes through his body. Quickly polka-dotting him until he had only the thinnest strands of flesh keeping his silhouette in one doyly¡¯d piece that fell to the stones below.

    Piggy whistled. One of our other dogs swore. It was a different one that pointed out our current tester wasn¡¯t done yet. Whatever spell he cast before running went into effect. His blood swept back into his body. Flesh and muscle stitched themselves back together. Death was undone. The sheer energy of it caused the cobblestone to glow orange-hot before it dulled to a black glass as the heat escaped. A few dogs cheered¡ªit was impressive.

    ¡°It¡¯s not done,¡± Sphinx said to me.

    Morning rose again. We all felt it. The dog did his best to scrabble out of the glass shallow he¡¯d made. His shoes couldn¡¯t find purchase, so he slipped. Shattered his jaw on the product of his own sorcery. The bullets made sure he didn¡¯t process the pain for long.

    ¡°A one and done spell isn¡¯t that good,¡± Piggy said. ¡°Probably wouldn¡¯t¡¯ve outran the spell even if he hadn¡¯t slipped.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Think you could get past this?¡±

    Piggy snorted, ¡°I¡¯m not that cocky, Orchard.¡±

    ¡°Shame,¡± I said. ¡°Guess I¡¯m bigger.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± he asked. ¡°I take it you have an answer.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said.

    The way my other dogs turned to me made me want to hedge my bet.

    ¡°At least if you helped me,¡± I said. ¡°You can run fast.¡±

    Piggy pushed off of the tree and rolled his shoulders to stand at his full height.

    ¡°You¡¯ve hooked my ego. What¡¯s the plan, Orchard?¡±

    I grinned behind the mask. It wasn¡¯t the kind of plan that Nadia would have, but Orchard would. She just wouldn¡¯t tell, so I didn¡¯t.

    I asked, ¡°I¡¯m still in the soldiery so I can¡¯t get a good read on the spell. How strong do you think it is?¡±

    ¡°At least viscount. Weakened a bit because of the casting distance. Weakened again for some other reason. Maybe lands somewhere near the high end of Baron, comparatively speaking.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll work.¡± I said, ¡°Bend over for me.¡±

    ¡°Just because, dog, is our designation doesn¡¯t mean we have to act like it,¡± the cat girl said.

    I stammered, ¡°Not like that. I just need to get on Piggy¡¯s back. It¡¯ll make this easier.¡±

    Piggy chuckled, ¡°Of course. Though you should know, I prefer to bend people over rather than get bent.¡±

    I ignored the comment and slipped my legs between the loops he made with his arms. The sheer amount of heat that ran through his body ripped up my centerline. He gently flexed and pinned my legs against himself. Looked back to me.

    ¡°Now what?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Run.¡±

    He nodded. Bent his knees and arched his back as I felt everything draw into him like he was the center of the universe. Then it all snapped and he rocketed forward. With a single bound we cleared two yards. Two more in the second bound. This couldn¡¯t even be called running; he skipped off the ground like a flat stone on a placid lake.

    I fought the way the wind shoved my face into his neck. Tilted my head up, and witnessed the Morning in its awful glory. As we raced to the house I realized how wide that pillar of imminent doom was, and I screamed into Piggy¡¯s ear.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to put a spell on you. Don¡¯t resist.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dream of it,¡± he replied.

    One hand-spell later and I had plunged the two of us into Godtime. True to his word, Piggy didn¡¯t resist me when the spell touched him. While his physical body was straining, his spiritual one was relaxed and absorbed the spell much better than when I had used it on Secretary without warning. The result of which helped it slip past the innate defenses that came from having a higher spiritual density than a spell¡¯s caster. So rather than the half-speed pantomime of slowness that occurred with Secretary, I was at least able to slow the bullets down to a quarter of their speed.

    ¡°I¡¯m still not going to make it,¡± Piggy yelled.

    Of course he wouldn¡¯t. That¡¯s why this plan had two stages. With every core muscle I had¡ªplanted from years of working out with Mom¡ªI arched my back against the force of the wind. When I could see the dogs watching upside down I knew I had the right angle. My arms crashed together as the wind yanked them back. I wound my fingers and my thumb together.

    As Piggy¡¯s foot came down and the world condensed on that single step, I wound infinity in my hands fivefold¡ªprayed to the Sovereign of Revelation that this would work¡ªand split it as slow as possible. The star that winked into being squinted and flexed from the uneven flow of fuel that trickled into its blazing mass. I had leashed my Atomic Glory so it wouldn¡¯t fly toward the crowd. Instead, I had Piggy ride the waves of the power that screamed behind him.

    All of it together rocketed us forward. Houses and trees became streaks of color on the wind. Behind us, I watched as the bullets of Morning ascended to smash into the street. They were right behind us¡ªthe heat tickled my fingers¡ªbut they didn¡¯t touch us.

    I howled our victory as Piggy cleared the wave of bullets and we smashed through the front door that still remained attached to the ruined house. It was a blur of wood and metal as we crashed through wall after wall. Both of our spells dropped in the process. We found ourselves in the kitchen of the house. Piggy had curled around me blocking the worst of our landing. I clambered off of him¡ªworried that I¡¯d sacrificed him due to a poorly thought out plan.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked.

    He groaned, ¡°I might need. . .¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Mouth to mouth.¡±

    I punched him in the thigh.

    ¡°I was actually worried about you,¡± I said.

    He pushed himself out of the crater he made of the oven we were stopped by. I heard a few cracks as he stretched.

    ¡°Worry is fine for now,¡± he said, ¡°but long-term it might prove necessary.¡±

    I rose and nearly swooned. Piggy caught me by the shoulder and righted me. I blinked away the darkness that crept at my vision. Sucked in a deep breath that did nothing to alleviate the pain.

    ¡°Just, stay still for a moment,¡± Piggy said, ¡°you have summoner¡¯s exhaustion.¡±

    ¡°What? That¡¯s never happened to me before,¡± I said.

    ¡°Have you pushed yourself this hard before?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Well, if I have, I was just casting spells normally.¡±

    Piggy nodded, ¡°That¡¯d do it. That isn¡¯t normally how the spell is supposed to go, is it?¡±

    ¡°Not even close. Was my first time doing that actually.¡±

    ¡°That checks out then. Twisting a spell puts more of a strain on your spirit than casting them straight. Though I get a sense there¡¯s nothing really straight about you, Orchard.¡±

    I let him have that one. He was right.

    ¡°When does it stop?¡± I asked.

    Piggy shrugged, ¡°No idea. Not really a practical question in the first place though. Spells take effort, same as flipping a tire, but the more you do¡ªespecially if you¡¯re twisting the spell¡ªthe more your spiritual musculature will develop. Well, that¡¯s the theory anyways.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said your grandparents ran an orchard?¡±

    He said, ¡°The ones on my dad¡¯s side of the family do. My mom¡¯s dad¡ªmy other grandpa¡ªis a bit of a researcher. Though you wouldn¡¯t find his name on any major org¡¯s membership list. I help him out when I can though. Guess I picked up a few facts in the process.¡±

    I hummed approvingly at the new light I saw him in¡ªso my pig had a bookish side. We didn¡¯t linger in the moment long as a woman¡¯s pained screech split the silence. Our attention snapped in the direction of the noise. We looked over the kitchen island to the living room that was connected¡ªwell, the remains of a living room. The far wall was gone and you could see the ocean void beyond the cliff. Hear the water as it crashed in the near distance. There was only a portion of the ceiling that remained. I figured most of it was destroyed by repeated castings of that spell from how what was left of the ceiling diminished along the bullet¡¯s trajectory. Everything else was seared black from the force of the spell. Burnt well and good, but largely still whole. A condition that was arguably better than the summoner that sat in a plush chair across from us.

    Whatever her age was supposed to be I couldn¡¯t tell. Her eyes were sunken in along with every other part of her, save the impossible swell of her stomach. She rattled with every breath and glistened silver by the light of the television that played off the sweat that coated her. Plastered her hair against the cap of her skull like it was painted on.

    ¡°You should¡¯ve stayed back,¡± she rasped.

    Piggy stalked around the island. I mirrored and went the other way¡ªhands tight around Mother¡¯s Last Smile. We both could see how the bloody trail of a high priority target circled her.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be a hunt if we did,¡± Piggy said.

    ¡°A hunt, after everything I did for¡ª,¡± a choked-sob interrupted her. ¡°Fine. I tried to do right, so enjoy your monster.¡±

    Piggy raised his fists. I flicked on the Omensight and immediately shut my eyes¡ªthough it didn¡¯t help. Something was in her, and it glowed an impossibly bright white. Devoid of any color, allegiance to any particular Court, it was something that felt wrong. An intrusion. Sphinx hissed from with my spirit¡ªI might have hissed alongside it.

    Then the summoner in the chair exploded.

    Her flesh disintegrated in the blast¡ªtoo fragile¡ªbut her blood still flew and coated the room, including PIggy and myself, in an even coat of reddish-black. My heart slammed in my chest like a car door. Adrenaline and pleasure chased each other through every vein. I let out a low long breath as I tried to keep tight my senses.

    ¡°Mommy,¡± came a voice.

    It was a song and a strum of a string. Partially Real and partially Conceptual. Vibrating the air against my ear and playing upon the Metallic fibers of my spiritual musculature.

    I yelled, ¡°There¡¯s a kid here!¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°I sense none.¡±

    ¡°Mommy!¡± it screamed, so scared.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you hear it?¡± I asked. Both to Sphinx and Piggy.

    ¡°Only thing I hear is the sweet sound of those points,¡± Piggy said.

    I forced my eyes open. The light had cleared, and what stood in the remains of what was once a woman drew a gasp from my chest. It was banded in purplish-black scales. Had bulbous eyes that swiveled in search of something¡ªits mommy. The three claws that tipped its two fingers and thumb rang against the scales with the clean tone of a tuning fork. Its mouth worked open to reveal misshapen human teeth. A thick ping tongue slipped from its mouth. While a pink umbilical cord spotted with black wrapped around its neck like a scarf. It rippled in the wind.

    ¡°Mommy,¡± it whispered, fearful that it had been abandoned.

    What kind of entity is this, I thought.

    ¡°It¡¯s. . .not quite one,¡± Sphinx said.

    I leveraged the Omensight to get any hints as to what it was. The answer was just as inconclusive¡ªthe monster¡¯s ¡°body¡± was a skeleton that a white miasma of undyed threads clung to. Though with each cry of, ¡°Mommy,¡± that went unanswered an ashen black stained the miasma with Death.

    It¡¯s Courtless? Entities never lack Courts.

    ¡°Humans do,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°What is this?¡±

    We both observed the creature as its eyes sought out its mom. My HUD flashed: Confirmed White Womb. Eliminate With Extreme Prejudice. Piggy ruffled the blonde mane that fell down in a shaggy cut down his neck. He stepped through the blood and splattered viscera until he was an arm¡¯s length away.

    ¡°Piggy, don¡¯t,¡± I screamed.

    He reared back¡ªfoot sliding as he took a boxer¡¯s stance. Fist cocked tight against his abs. The world compacted around his forearm. Condensed into a tight ball around his fist. Space warped in my vision at the power he loaded into this one punch. The White Womb¡¯s eyes locked onto Piggy. Its mouth opened showing those same teeth¡ªbaby teeth¡ªas it coo¡¯d happily.

    ¡°Mommy!¡±

    He punched and the world rubber banded with him. If there was a wall in that living room it would¡¯ve been gone. When his knuckles touched the White Womb¡¯s head I heard the squelch of a pulped skull. Then the sharp sonic boom as all the force of Piggy¡¯s punch ripped forward and tore off the top half of the White Womb¡¯s body.

    I watched as the remains of its arms dropped to the ground. Its pelvis and legs weren¡¯t far behind. Piggy spun around and threw wide his arms in a florid stage bow. I didn¡¯t give him much attention¡ªmy eyes remained on the White Womb¡¯s body. The miasma had blown away under the force of Piggy¡¯s punch, but there were still skeletal remains.

    I gasped, ¡°Oh shit.¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°It¡¯s not dead.¡±

 Chapter 17

    Behind Piggy, the remains wobbled as the miasma flooded back into the room. It forcibly condensed itself into a tighter weave of threads that regenerated the White Womb¡¯s skeleton first. Then it packed itself around the bones. A new color dyed the threads alongside Death, the iridescent hue of Dream that I had become so familiar with. I watched the colors blend, and held a bated breath to see what Court it¡¯d fall into.

    Principles swirled together¡ªPiggy didn¡¯t notice, he was still gloating¡ªuntil their deliberation was done. Its Court was decided, Oblivion. The White Womb was whole again, and rose as if a string tugged its chest. It had filled out with muscle and sinew, stringy but far more present than its initial allotment at birth, and from the sides of its torso another set of arms peeled away.

    It screeched, ¡°Mommy!¡±

    Spittle hit his neck, and Piggy spun and swung his fist with perfect accuracy and honed instinct. The White Womb caught his fist. He¡¯d had less time to build up raw power behind it, but it was still a sorcery assisted punch thrown by someone at Baron. I could see how the force made the tightened threads of this pseudo-entity¡¯s Court rippled. It coughed¡ªnot blood, I¡¯m not calling it blood¡ªbut damn it it still caught that punch.

    Before Piggy could throw another one, the White Womb threw him. It used all four of its arms and flung him so high in the sky that he¡¯d disappeared even to the clarity of my Omensight. The White Womb was stunned by its own power, distracted, and so I attacked. Shot across the floor with my glaive trailing behind. Torque¡¯d my hips and swung with all my might. A bright line traced through the air¡ªonly to stop at its fingers. It caught Mother¡¯s Last Smile by the blade.

    It whispered, ¡°Mommy.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not yours,¡± I yelled.

    I formed Atomic Glory and unleashed a bowling ball sized burst of fire. The White Womb let go of the glaive to cover its head. Flames splashed against its scales. My face fell as I watched it stare in awe as my spell danced on its scales. It burbled at the beauty of the fire that ate at its flesh. Then it clenched in on itself, and I watched as fire fell into the void it briefly turned into. It stepped forward, I stepped back, and it pointed at my weapon.

    ¡°Mommy,¡± it said, possessively.

    My eyes widened at the possibility I¡¯d not only die, but lose my mom twice over. Then I heard the sound of a pig flying. I looked up to see Piggy angle himself to cleave through the air at double speed. Hands clasped for one hell of a hammerblow. I aimed my hand-spell at him.

    ¡°Godtime,¡± I said, more as a prayer than an incantation.

    The White Womb slowed to a crawl¡ªit may have found a way to swallow my flames, but it wasn¡¯t strong enough to shirk all my spells. I leapt backwards, and watched as Piggy swung.

    His fists connected with the top of the White Womb¡¯s head. This time flattening it in one go, and pressing it down into a crater of the house¡¯s flooring. I slid backwards from the pressure wave of his blow. Stopped only by a wooden pillar holding up a portion of the second floor. Piggy twisted in the air¡ªhe was briefly pushed up from the sheer power¡ªto right himself before landing.

    ¡°Okay, now I think it¡¯s dead,¡± Piggy said. ¡°Hate death-defying spells.¡±

    I said, ¡°Piggy, it didn¡¯t use Sorcery until right now when it ate my flames.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d it come back to life then?¡± he asked.

    ¡°It just did. Came back together the same way a ball falls after you toss it up.¡±

    ¡°Still, it should¡¯ve been weakened, right?¡±

    ¡°It ate my spell.¡±

    ¡°Orchard, you had summoner¡¯s exhaustion a few minutes ago. You¡¯re not as strong as usual.¡±

    ¡°Listen to me. It came back stronger. Denser. I don¡¯t know how or why, and I doubt the answer is in your grandpa¡¯s theories!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what he knows,¡± Piggy said, cold.

    ¡°Maybe not, but I doubt he knows anything about that.¡±

    I pointed to the fleshy splatter of the White Womb in the crater. Looked more closely, and noticed that while there wasn¡¯t a single whole bone there was still the dust. Threads of Oblivion surged up into the tapestry of the world. Fell on the pile of bone dust like a blanket. Warped around the reformed skeleton of the White Womb that regenerated standing up. Piggy watched, and his muscles clenched in the same abject rejection of whatever inhuman thing this was that caused my own body to stiffen.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± I whimpered.

    Stunned, Sphinx said, ¡°It graduated.¡±

    In three minutes and two deaths, the White Womb went from being bereft a Court to now dense and large as a Baron. Its body was ten feet tall. Sharp edged vertebrae peeked from its spine like teeth on a chainsaw. The four arms it had stretched wide to prop it up like some kind of six limbed dragon. Those once bulbous eyes became inset within its tree-splitting skull. Three layers of eyelids cleaning each toxic purple orb. It hissed and its scales fluttered like flowers in the breeze. From beneath the raised scales, missiles of white bone cloaked in purple-black smoke shot out fast as fireworks.

    Piggy grabbed my arm and flung me back into the kitchen. With a mystic burst he leaped after me. It was a good attempt, but I saw what he didn¡¯t. Void-black threads traced each missile directly to us¡ªit was attacking us along a vector of fate for guidance.

    ¡°They¡¯re homing spells,¡± I said.

    Piggy spat, ¡°I hate those the most.¡±

    He gripped two drawers and ripped them from the cabinet. Wooden utensils, silverware, and cooking tools flew through the air. He formed a hand-spell, and I watched as the ties that connected the spells to us were redirected to the aerial spray of kitchenware. The missiles consumed their new targets in a spherical pop of black that removed itself from existence.

    I pulled Piggy down after so we could take cover. Used the Omensight to crawl my vision around the kitchen island, and observe the White Womb as it extricated itself from the pit Piggy had punched it into. Its head swung this way and that in search of us. Though it didn¡¯t actually move and truly seek us out.

    ¡°It looks stronger for sure, but not smarter,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s learning fast though. I think each death is just giving it the stimuli it needs to grow.¡±

    Piggy sighed, ¡°So how do we kill it?¡±

    ¡°Its revival isn¡¯t instant,¡± Sphinx said.

    And it always centers on the bones. The only Real thing about it.

    Sphinx and I spoke at the same time. ¡°We destroy its bones between resurrections.¡±

    I smiled inward toward Sphinx. Its purr rolled inside of me¡ªmutual approval.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Piggy said, ¡°I¡¯ll destroy the bones. You get out of here.¡±

    ¡°What? I¡¯m not leaving you.¡±

    He laid a hand against my masked face. His hand was big enough that it felt like my entire head was supported. He shook his head.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be leaving me. Once you¡¯re gone, I can go all out and finish the thing off. But when you¡¯re here I have to worry about not harming you with my actual spells. I¡¯d be doing more than throwing haymakers if I could.¡±

    ¡°What an honorable pig,¡± Sphinx muttered.

    Honorable my ass. ¡°If I didn¡¯t tell you those weird disintegration bolts were homing on us you¡¯d have died dodging around a kitchen island.¡±

    ¡°I would¡¯ve,¡± Piggy admitted, ¡°and now I know. Doesn¡¯t change the fact that you getting caught in a fight between Barons isn¡¯t good.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how many Barons I¡¯ve fought,¡± I hissed. ¡°Besides, when I say ¡®destroy the bones¡¯ I mean burning them out from Realspace entirely. Not a hint can remain inside of reality. Do you have a spell that can do that?¡±

    ¡°Not a one,¡± he said.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. We kill it, and I burn the corpse.¡±

    Piggy muttered, ¡°Alls below, I love an obstinate woman.¡±

    Thump. Thump. Thumpthumpthumpthump. The ground quivered beneath us. I turned my Omensight back onto the White Womb to find the hulking thing throwing a tantrum.

    ¡°Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!¡± it chanted furiously.

    With each stomp a pool of Oblivion stretched out from beneath the creature¡¯s shadow. It crawled amoeba-like as it pulled across the floor. Where the pool touched furniture fell with it. The tv, the chair, the edge of a table slipped past the rim and into the sprawling void. I watched it spaghettify as it disappeared.

    ¡°Get up, get up,¡± I ordered.

    Piggy and I climbed atop the island to avoid the pool that had crept around the structure.

    ¡°It figured out field-spells,¡± Piggy groaned. ¡°Some things have all the luck. Cover me, Orchard.¡±

    He clapped his hands, and I felt Realspace flex around him. Whatever his Court, it was cold and intolerant of anything Piggy deemed didn¡¯t belong. A category that currently meant the White Womb and its own field-spell. The monster was a newly made Baron, and for all I could tell of Piggy¡ªseeing as he was holding back apparently¡ªhe wasn¡¯t. His use of power was fluid and smooth. Even pushing back against an already established field-spell, he didn¡¯t lose any ground or cohesion in the bubble of safety he¡¯d made for us.

    ¡°Lucky for you, I¡¯m a specialist in field-spells,¡± Piggy said. ¡°I¡¯ll have this thing broken in no time.¡±

    I looked from him to the White Womb and swore. The creature¡¯s mouth was wide open, yellowed teeth framing a growing ball of Oblivion that condensed beneath its tongue. Its eyes were narrowed on us with hatred, and I could swear its mouth was smiling. I was wrong. The thing was stronger and smarter. Luring us out from cover with the field-spell, distracting the only threat¡ªPiggy¡ªand taking aim with a second attack to kill us. If Piggy stops fighting the field-spell we fall into the void, and if he doesn¡¯t we¡¯ll be shot.

    ¡°I think we lost,¡± I said.

    Piggy asked, ¡°What?¡±

    The White Womb fired. I dragged Piggy and myself into Godtime. The Obliteration Beam trudged solemnly through the air. Shuffling forward a few inches every second. Who knew one¡¯s doom could be seen in such slow motion.

    ¡°Just block the spell,¡± he said.

    I choked, ¡°I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t know any defensive spells.¡±

    ¡°Fuck, Orchard, I won¡¯t say I told you so,¡± Piggy said.

    ¡°So don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°No, I have to say something,¡± he stated. ¡°Getting into fights without knowing a single defense is a bonehead move.¡±

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± He smiled behind the words, ¡°Now go cast a defensive spell and give me some time.¡±

    ¡°Did you not hear me say I don¡¯t know any?¡±

    ¡°Then figure one out. You were clever enough to get us into this place. Just be clever enough to get us out.¡±

    Sphinx whispered, ¡°You¡¯re not alone. We can solve this.¡±

    I swallowed and nodded, to Sphinx and Piggy. Then I tested some options. I unleashed a Fivefold Atomic Glory along the tie of fate stretching from us to the Obliteration Beam. The beam drilled through the blazing star and scattered the power. I moved around the small island, and discovered that the tie was to our direction not us specifically. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to abandon Piggy¡ªwhich I didn¡¯t¡ªthe moment I left the protection of his field-spell I¡¯d be swallowed up by the black hole pool that was consuming the living room and kitchen. I wracked my brain and came up with nothing.

    Sphinx, anything?

    I felt it purr, ¡°Always something, Nadia. If it cannot be destroyed, dodged, or denied we still have one ¡®D¡¯ that is available to us. Your noble boar already demonstrated it. Even though his demand poisons the well of your creativity.¡±

    We don¡¯t block it? Ugh, what did he do? I rifled through my immediate memories and did my best to ignore the destructive spell that was already halfway to us. Piggy had punched, punched some more, ran really fast, and none of it helped me. I fluttered through memories, but felt Sphinx¡¯s paw press against my heart.

    ¡°Slow down,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Revelation doesn¡¯t bow to time.¡±

    In one motion, assisted by its paw in my mind, I flipped back a memory¡ªjust past the way Piggy¡¯s hand cradled my face¡ªto when he overcame the homing spells. Fate led them to us, and he drew, no, diverted them to another object.

    We divert it. If Revelation can burn fate, perceive it, then who says we can¡¯t divert it!

    ¡°No one who wishes to live long, Nadia,¡± Sphinx said.

    Can you help me shape it?

    Sphinx smiled, ¡°I already said you won¡¯t have to walk alone.¡±

    My spirit flexed as Sphinx pushed its wings out of my back. Guided by inspiration and Sphinx¡¯s own insight, we made the first time I cast the spell into a dualcasted work of art. The eyes of its wings flared with power as chalcedony fire streamed out from them. Accreted itself around the chalcedony nucleus I conjured myself. The flames fused into one whole as unified as my spirit was with Sphinx. Gone was the fire, and in its place a frozen starburst that always held four points no matter the angle you observed it from.

    In one voice we named the spell, ¡°Inviolate Star.¡±

    ¡°I knew you could do it,¡± Piggy muttered.

    When Sphinx and I cast the spell we dropped the Godtime, and put our new magic to the test. The bar of raw Oblivion crashed into the aura of the Inviolate Star. It tried to drill forward, but only unspooled itself around the ¡°shield¡± of the star¡¯s light. Something akin to an aurora borealis snaked through the air as the condensed energy split apart into the baser principles of Death and Dream. I couldn¡¯t help but scream.

    ¡°It¡¯s working,¡± I said.

    ¡°So am I,¡± Piggy affirmed, ¡°we¡¯re nearly out of this.¡±

    I could feel the cracks ripple through the White Womb¡¯s field-spell. It wouldn¡¯t be long until¡ªit gave up? My eyes widened in surprise as the flat black hole that had carpeted the floor just dissipated into the air. Piggy shot to his feet, triumphant, and turned just in time to see why his victory was sudden. The White Womb¡¯s body inhaled all the threads of Oblivion that were freed up from maintaining the field-spell. It made a choking sound as a boulder-sized tangle of Oblivion zipped down the Obliteration Beam to smash into the light of my Inviolate Star.

    My feet slipped. Piggy flexed his field-spell to keep me from falling. I still slid backwards. The White Womb¡¯s spell had been half-cast. Its power split between maintaining the field-spell and trying to destroy us directly. Now I felt the full mass and density of a Baron pressing its weight against my defenses.

    Piggy crushed the White Womb¡¯s arms with his field-spell. Turned bone to dust and muscle to mush, but the creature had learned a lot from us already. It learned violence, hatred, and now it mirrored our own persistence back at us.

    I felt Piggy push me forward¡ªflexing with the entirety of his field¡ªall to keep me standing. If the Inviolate Star fell there wouldn¡¯t be a chance to dodge.

    ¡°It dropped its field-spell,¡± I yelled. ¡°You can run!¡±

    Piggy disagreed, ¡°Not a chance, Orchard. What kind of Baron leaves a soldier to fight his battles.¡±

    ¡°A smart one,¡± I joked.

    He laughed, ¡°Unfortunately my sister¡¯s the smart one. I¡¯m just pigheaded.¡±

    His field locked me in place the best he could, but from how he panted I knew the summoner¡¯s exhaustion was creeping into him as well. No one came out of a direct clash of sorcery at a hundred percent¡ªa fact I was quickly learning from how my spirit cried under the abuse I was putting it through. I begged my body to hold out for just a moment longer¡ªuntil I could find a way out of this spell clash¡ªthen my spirit tore.

    The fibers that wove the spirit muscles in my arms shredded apart. In Realspace, my blood vessels burst and re-hydrated the blood that had soaked my suit. My fingers quivered¡ªa crack snaked through my Inviolate Star¡ªand tears rolled down my face.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t protect you.¡±

    From the sound of its voice, I knew that the tears I shed weren¡¯t mine. Just a manifestation of my bondmate¡¯s sorrow. I ground my teeth into my lip and ignored the burst of copper on my tongue. If there was one thing I hated, it was being laughed at. If there was a second thing, it was to see those I care about cry. Whether it was Melissa¡ªher face flashed in my mind, scrunched and red¡ªor Sphinx. Its face artfully composed as shining tears fell.

    My arms were destroyed, so I walked.

    I took a step forward. Quivering, unsteady, but I moved forward. Then another step. Another! I ran my foot along the edge of the kitchen island. Traced a burning line in the proverbial sand.

    ¡°I¡¯m not losing. I¡¯m not giving up. I¡¯m not dying!¡±

    That line blazed in my mind. I felt it D***** the world before me. There was where I lost, succumbed, and let myself and Piggy be turned to dust. On my way to wherever the dead went, and there I¡¯d greet Mom and Dad. They¡¯d tell me I did my best. Amber and Melissa would find their letters. No idea what they¡¯d do next in my absence. It was an abhorrent outcome. Then there was the other. Where I fucking won, and I saw how.

    ¡°Piggy, help me compress the star,¡± I screamed.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked. ¡°We¡¯d be shrinking our defensive zone.¡±

    ¡°Trust me,¡± I said.

    I don¡¯t know what he heard in my voice, but he nodded and trusted me. His field-spell pressed into the star. Compressing it while I maintained its cohesion. There was a shape I had in mind, but I couldn¡¯t make it on my own. Sphinx, I need more flame to beef it up.

    ¡°Anything,¡± Sphinx said.

    Its wings fluttered as it fed more flame into the Inviolate Star. I felt a rib shatter somewhere in my body¡ªthe core muscles of my spirit had snapped and took it with them. Blood dribbled down my chin as I bit down on my lip in focus. The Inviolate Star thinned, the flame caused it to grow, and I maintained the cohesion. None of us technically had the magic to make what I saw in that other outcome, but we got close enough that the Inviolate Star wasn¡¯t really a star anymore. It was a fucking knife.

    The Obliteration Beam split on the edge geometry of my spell. Scattered raw unfocused power around the destroyed remnants of the house. I breathed in and thrust my hands out. The newly formed Inviolate Knife carved down the beam. So sharp that the ¡°inevitable¡± force of Oblivion was bisected as it swam upstream and slashed deep into the White Womb¡¯s face.

    It dropped the spell. We won. My body went limp as I no longer had the overwhelming pressure of a Baron to lean against. As I slumped in the air¡ªheld up only by Piggy¡¯s field-spell¡ªI felt that blazing line in the sand be blown away. With it went the memory of why I even thought to shape an Inviolate Knife.

    My eyes rolled up to meet the White Womb¡¯s gaze. One of its eyes had popped like a water balloon¡ªthe one that the knife had struck¡ªwhile the other burned with infantile rage. I called the fight too soon.

    Its arm lashed out¡ªstill shattered¡ªand caught me full on with its palm. Like a full body smack, and whipped me through the ceiling into the second floor. Then it was dark.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°You have to get up.¡±

    I floated in something warm. Reminded me of a hug. I submerged myself in it. Pain flared at my ankle¡ªdid Sphinx bite me?

    ¡°Yes, and I¡¯ll do it again if you don¡¯t get up.¡±

    I gave it some thought, and decided I didn¡¯t want to. If I got back up there¡¯d be pain. I¡¯d have to keep fighting. Kill stronger and stronger things until I was the stronger that got killed.

    ¡°That¡¯s life, Nadia.¡± Sphinx pleaded, ¡°It¡¯s the life you held so dearly onto that you beat a Baron in a clash of sorcery.¡±

    That was an exaggeration. It was me, Sphinx, and Piggy that worked together to win. I felt myself float back a bit¡ªarguing always pulled me back, at least a little bit.

    ¡°Then argue with me,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Argue, fight me, don¡¯t ever listen to me. I don¡¯t care, I just need you to get back up. If you don¡¯t Piggy will die. I¡¯ll die. You¡¯ll die. Please.¡±

    Was Sphinx crying?

    ¡°Yes. I hate it, and it¡¯s your fault.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t handle it when others cried. I let myself rise to the surface of that warm expanse. Sphinx rolled me onto what felt like my back. It hurt. Why couldn¡¯t we know a healing spell.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. If we live, figure one out, but for now we play with the toys we have and see what happens when the body is made inviolate.¡±

    What¡ªmy thought was cut off as I felt Sphinx¡¯s lips press into mine. They were soft, but its style of kissing was so insistent. It worked my mouth open and slipped its tongue inside. Pushed something down into my throat. Then pulled back, and prayed to the Sovereign. I didn¡¯t know how that would¡ªhot¡ªdo anything. I mean¡ªhot¡ªit was just a kiss¡ªhothothothothothothot.

    * * *

    I reared up from the pool of my own blood. Clawed at my chest as I felt a horrible burning inside of me. Blinked on the Omensight and witnessed the frozen flame twirl in front of my heart. Streamers of Revelation bridged torn fibers of spirit back together. Latticed around shattered bone to fit it back into place. Whatever exhaustion¡ªspiritual or bodily¡ªwas banished by the fire that seared down to the end of every extremity.

    ¡°Nadia, you have to move. It won¡¯t last forever,¡± Sphinx yelled.

    Even my cursory self-examination told me that. If the Inviolate Star could warp the lines of external fate, then when placed inside of someone it could, albeit temporarily, deny the fate of their body. The causality of failure that¡¯d normally drag someone down. I flicked off the Omensight, and realized that the spell also had coated me in a corona of fire.

    I groped for Mother¡¯s Last Smile, rolled it into my palm, and propped myself up. From my second floor vantage point I could see that the White Womb had resorted to whatever primal¡ªI refuse to say human¡ªinstincts it might¡¯ve had. Its claws swung wildly as it sought to disembowel Piggy with each blow. He leveraged his field-spell, and parried every blow he could. Used it to slide himself around the room to evade the blows he couldn¡¯t parry. Even as a summoner, he only had two arms. The White Womb had four. As he slid out of the way of one swipe he caught sight of me.

    ¡°Orchard, you¡¯re alive,¡± he said.

    In the gap of attention, the White Womb spun and swept Piggy¡¯s feet out from beneath him with its tail. Thrust its four arms forward and caught him in mid-air. It creened gloriously.

    ¡°Mommy!¡±

    I took a few steps back¡ªpressed myself against the wall¡ªand then bolted forward. Sprinting across the remains of the second floor before leaping into the air. Glaive high above me. In the eternity in which I hung in the air, a memory came to mind.

    * * *

    It was ten years ago when Mom decided I could finally learn the glaive. The autumn wind blew leaves all over the courtyard between the house and the temple. She waited for me to stop jumping up and down before she explained something to me.

    ¡°Sweetie, you have to remember the glaive is pretty simple. Beside the thrust there are really only two other moves. Encircle the Moon, where you twirl or rotate the glaive vertically, and Bisect the Sun,¡± she said, ¡°where you slash horizontally or diagonally using your hips. No matter how small or grand the motion, those two movements build to everything.¡±

    * * *

    I exhaled. Let the corona of fire crawl from my body up the glaive to its head. The bright-white crescent of Mother¡¯s Last Smile framed by chalcedony flames. They flared and I let myself fall forward. Faster and faster. Rotating until I was but the center of a wheel of fire and bright metal that descended violently to the earth. Encircle the Moon.

    The glaive cut through the White Womb¡¯s arms as easily as one draws a line on a piece of paper. I landed and slid my feet across the ground as I positioned myself between Piggy and the White Womb. I could hardly make out the details of my enemy¡ªthe flames were dying, and my sight with it. Good thing it was ten feet tall and screaming. Made it easy for the next bit.

    I twisted my hips just like Mom taught me¡ªcould swear I felt her hands guiding me through the proper motion like she did ten years ago¡ªsweeping the glaive around me in effortless motion.

    ¡°Bisect the Sun,¡± I said to no one.

    The light within the glaive¡¯s head flared. Then dimmed as a bright line of white flashed, flew, wreathed in a shell of chalcedony fire and split the White Womb in half. Its component parts tumbled to the ground.

    ¡°Orchard,¡± Piggy said.

    He said more words, but I didn¡¯t hear him. The spell was fading and I had to work fast. Do what only I could do. Using the glaive I propped myself up crossed the distance from me to the White Womb¡¯s swiftly dying body. It had reverted to a skeleton again, unprotected by the layers of dense Conceptual flesh that fueled its resurrections.

    Its jaw clacked. Speaking one last time, ¡°Mommy?¡±

    In my haze I responded, ¡°You killed her.¡±

    Then wound my fingers together and set fire to the infinite futures where it came back to life.

    The wind blew, and I imagined it carrying the nonexistent ashes of the creature to that distant shore where the dead go. If it was lucky maybe it¡¯d see its mom. I hoped she¡¯d forgive it.

    I turned to Piggy, and smiled forgetting that the mask covered my face in the eternal grin of a dog lusting for blood. Though right now my mind was completely sober.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to carry me out,¡± I said.

    Piggy asked, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Carry me.¡±

    Then I collapsed, and fell into darkness once more. Though this time I rode the waves of unconsciousness in and out. Piggy had carried me out of the house. I could hear the howling of my fellow dogs praising my victory. Even the Kennelmaster said something.

    ¡°She looks like shit. If she doesn¡¯t die, tell her to enjoy the points.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t much, but it was something. Then I felt myself get handed off to someone else, and I let myself fall into the dark properly this time. A smile of a job well done plastered on my face.

 Chapter 18

    I shot up from the dark of unconsciousness. Groping at the air as if to avoid sliding back into that dreamless sleep.

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I called out.

    Hands pushed me back down¡ªgentle, but insistent. My head landed in a lap softer than any pillow. I blinked the remnants of sleep from my eyes, and found Secretary¡¯s face looming above me. I was resting in their lap.

    Secretary said, ¡°She¡¯s over there, little brute.¡±

    With the back of their fingers they tilted my head in Sphinx¡¯s direction. It had slumped across one of the chair¡¯s that came with the room. Its face smoothed from one of wary grit to rapturous joy. Sphinx clambered down from the chair over toward me. Pressed its head onto my chest, and smiled with such beaming joy I couldn¡¯t help but mirror back.

    ¡°She kept watch over you the entire night.¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°I¡¯d never entrust you to a puppeteer as cruel as they. Not again.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°But, Secretary, Sphinx is an it, not a she.¡±

    Secretary raised a brow. Quirked their lips at some hidden amusement to my statement.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Secretary hummed. ¡°Did you learn that from asking Sphinx?¡±

    To be technical, I hadn¡¯t, but I knew my bondmate. I looked towards it and was shocked. Sphinx had stopped looking at me. Its smile now sickly and pained¡ªnot too dissimilar to someone trying to swallow food that was lovingly made but tasted like shit.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said.

    Sphinx babbled, ¡°It¡¯s a new thing. Pay no heed to it. Just another thought that woeful secretary plucked from my mind.¡±

    I mutely nodded. Then asked Secretary, ¡°What about the hunt?¡±

    ¡°Over,¡± Secretary said. ¡°The points tabulated, and the dogs to their crates.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you broke the Mother¡¯s Prayer getting me back,¡± I said.

    ¡°Then I won¡¯t. What I will say requires you to get off of me.¡±

    Sphinx stepped back and followed me while I slipped from Secretary¡¯s lap. Got my feet under me and stood. I¡¯d expected to find a weakness in my legs, my ribs, and my arms. I felt nothing¡ªno, not nothing¡ªjust good. I turned the feeling over in my mind in disbelief. The memories of last night were clear as a freshly cleaned window.

    ¡°It was real,¡± they said.

    ¡°What was it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°The Lodge had a label for it. A White Womb.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and that¡¯s the extent of my knowledge as well. The Lodge likely knows more, but I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Who would?¡± I asked.

    Secretary made a drama of pressing finger to chin. Tilting their head this way and that.

    ¡°ERO might,¡± they answered.

    ¡°ERO?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Entity Research Organi¡ª¡±

    ¡°I know what ERO is,¡± I snapped. A flash of heat in the hind part of my brain.

    ¡°Poor little brute, can¡¯t be happy just knowing you killed it.¡±

    Breathe. ¡°I¡¯m happy it¡¯s gone, but if ERO is cooking up more of these. . .¡±

    I trailed off. Remembering I was in a room with a Secretary. No matter the ease with which I fell into a rapport with one¡ªmine¡ªthey would never be a friend in the way that mattered. Secretary¡¯s smile curved wanly. Then nodded once.

    ¡°Noted. Now, despite your displeasure, the Lodge does know how to say thank you.¡±

    Secretary rose and bowed. It was a straight-backed bow that bent entirely at the waist. Their hands folded over themselves atop their thighs.

    ¡°For the deed of slaying the White Womb, you¡¯ve been afforded extra points atop the predetermined value each head from the hunting list would normally afford.¡±

    Secretary rose and settled back into their habitual slouch of complete bemusement.

    ¡°The second thanks is from me directly. You won me the office prize pool.¡±

    ¡°I was the top hunter?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Alls below, no. You were above average I do believe.¡±

    ¡°You said I got extra points.¡±

    ¡°You did.¡± Secretary smiled darkly, ¡°But some of the dogs this hunt were very prolific. No, I¡¯m referring to a different bet. After you emerged from that domestic ruin, all of the Secretaries wanted to gamble on whether you¡¯d die, live, or ever walk again.¡±

    I shouldn¡¯t have been touched by the sentiment. ¡°What was your bet?¡± I asked.

    Secretary rolled their eyes.

    ¡°Why ask when you already know the answer?¡±

    ¡°I want to see if you¡¯d lie.¡±

    ¡°Fine. I knew you were too dumb to stay down, little brute,¡± Secretary said. ¡°It¡¯s your curse.¡±

    ¡°More like my power.¡±

    ¡°I find they¡¯re usually both. Now, I¡¯ve placed your suit and mask within the trunk beneath your bed. That key of yours is there as well. If that¡¯s everything, then I¡¯ll go?¡±

    Their voice lilted at the end. Was that everything? I thought of the mask, and the way that even when I held it in my hands I could feel my eyes wanting to just look away. Secretary took my silence for approval. Swayed toward the window¡ªit was open¡ªand my hand shot out to catch their wrist as an arm swung back.

    ¡°No,¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to be more specific than no,¡± they said.

    ¡°Who built the masks?¡±

    ¡°The Lodgemaster,¡± Secretary answered. ¡°She pioneered it back during her time with AoSI, some odd seven years ago. They¡¯ve been implemented for wild hunts and missions ever since. Anonymity is so hard to find when cute summoners like you have sorcerous work-arounds.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± I said.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, glad to know she¡¯s been so involved.¡±

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t she,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Though if I could, how can you stand right now? I remember you leaving that house on the edge of death. Did you work out a spell in your sleep?¡±

    ¡°Can anyone?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised. Oh well, if you don¡¯t have an answer, pay it no mind. Until later, little brute.¡±

    Secretary tossed themself back through my window. I rushed over, throwing my arm out into the air. I caught nothing because there was nothing. Secretary was gone, and before me was a pleasant view of the district waking up. People out for a jog, shopkeeps opening up for the day, and even children racing and laughing amidst the morning dew. Sphinx dragged me back inside.

    ¡°Any ideas why I¡¯m in one piece?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx shook its¡ªher?¡ªhead. ¡°None that would be definitive. I can only see the end result of the method. Your body temperature is a few degrees above the human norm. While your spirit¡¯s risen in density and mass.¡±

    Normally damage to your spiritual musculature causes dips. Back during school¡ªwhich felt like a long time ago¡ªa kid had caught a curse. Made things like chairs and tables Return to being disassembled pieces. When it finally was removed it apparently caused a dip in his density. He ranted about it all day in line for the spiritual exam.

    ¡°Any chance this is just me adjusting to my spells like Piggy said? Or maybe it¡¯s the remnant of sorcery in my body. Changing it like it did my eyes.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, but neither are definitive things. In the former, it would be unlikely for you to see such precipitous growth. Your spirit would be at most more flexible to support future strains.¡±

    ¡°And the latter?¡±

    ¡°The change would usually be biological alone. Perhaps a path for future growth, but hardly growth in itself. The effects of residual sorcery have too many variables. Each human takes to it differently. While Court and the specific spell in question alter things as well.¡±

    ¡°Nothing definitive then.¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Sphinx said.

    I dropped onto my bed. Sphinx hopped in so I could lean on it¡ªher.

    ¡°If anyone asks, we say it was Inviolate Star. Amber and Melissa were there when the Omensight changed me. This is just a thing Revelation does.¡±

    Sphinx purred, ¡°What does it do?¡±

    ¡°Reveals,¡± I said, cringing at how much didn¡¯t get across in that answer.

    ¡°It is in the name.¡±

    ¡°Let me try that again. Revelation, is about showing you something. A way forward, a way out, a way to win. But, it¡¯s a journey that¡¯ll change you in the process¡ªand it should! Change you, that is, because what you find in that way is so profound that it¡¯d be impossible not to be unmade by it. Emerge as something new even if it¡¯s something lonely.¡±

    I felt my mind trip when I closed my mouth. As if I was being led down a winding way, and upon arriving my guide let me trip on a root. Help me see the view from an unconventional angle. I could feel the rumbling purr that vibrated through Sphinx at my answer.

    ¡°You¡¯re a special summoner, Nadia. The only one I¡¯ve heard of to come away smarter after what should¡¯ve been brain damage.¡±

    I smirked, ¡°I told you I was a fast learner. Always have been.¡±

    The rumbles became little thud-like hops¡ªSphinx was laughing. She was laughing.

    ¡°Sphinx, what¡¯s happening to you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Pay it no mind.¡±

    ¡°No. If it was just expressions then maybe, but you¡¯re different. You kissed me last night. What¡¯s happening to you?¡±

    ¡°You are,¡± Sphinx hissed. ¡°The bond is more than an access point to Sorcery, or an avenue for telepathy. It¡¯s an enmeshing of us. A slow bleeding of our colors into each other.¡±

    ¡°Like two glasses of colored water poured back and forth.¡±

    Sphinx nodded.

    ¡°And my color?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx whispered, ¡°Painfully human. Beautifully you.¡±

    ¡°How do you feel about that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because of you I can really process that question,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°I¡¯m afraid, I think. Each day since my summoning I feel more, understand more, but I forget. Oh I forget so much, and am just left with the fear of the gap that exists where knowledge used to reside.¡±

    ¡°What did you know?¡±

    ¡°Everything. I think.¡±

    My throat went dry. I slid my hands on my thighs. Sphinx knew, everything? And was losing it because she was gaining feelings. A process that was my fault I suppose. The bleed of my color into hers. The spark for the development of something new, personal.

    You¡¯re gaining a personality.

    ¡°And it takes up a lot of room. It¡¯s not all your fault though. Causality holds no love for what I knew and smuggled in when you summoned me¡ªincarnated me into this world. It would have disappeared slowly anyways, but these developments hasten things.¡±

    ¡°Can I do anything to help?¡±

    Sphinx bent their neck down to look me in the eyes. I could actually see how red their eyes were¡ªpuffy too¡ªand I knew I¡¯d messed up.

    ¡°Just take responsibility. You¡¯re my tie to this world. To this current incarnation of myself. Of this self. If you perish then I¡¯m gone. In a way that I¡¯ve only just begun to understand. Besides, I wouldn¡¯t want to see you die anyway.¡±

    I accepted the chastisement. I was right that I needed practice, but running into a road littered with the corpses of others just as hubristic as me wasn¡¯t necessary. Fighting the White Womb rather than escaping when Piggy offered wasn¡¯t smart either. I wanted to make sure Melissa was safe, but as I looked into Sphinx¡¯s eyes¡ªthose eyes which rippled in burning rings of concentric color¡ªI understood that I hadn¡¯t kept her safe. Let alone the dream that she and her Sovereign held of a return into the world.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be better. You¡¯ll get your vengeance as well, I promise.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Sphinx sighed, ¡°Worry about your oaths when you can properly safeguard your life. Now, the mummer and maiden stir, and we still have tracks to clear.¡±

    Her eyes landed on the letters left on the desk. My task laid before me, Sphinx walked into my body to curl up within my spirit. While I snatched up the letters. I stayed my hand, briefly, because I knew I¡¯d just have to rewrite them later. I was going to do better by my girls¡ªall of them if I could help it¡ªbut it would never be a hundred percent safe.

    ¡°Ugh, Temple, you up?¡± Amber mumble-yelled through my door.

    Her banging caused my confidence to tumble in on itself. I split infinity and let the flames consume the envelopes as I spun about to findt Amber leaning in the doorframe. Her face, hardly as ¡°sleepy¡± as her voice implied.

    ¡°What was that?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Nothing, just some notes.¡±

    ¡°In envelopes? We have a word for those.¡±

    ¡°Teach me later.¡±

    I slipped past Amber into the living room. Then stopped. Something was off about the room. I made a slow turn, and watched as the lights of the room fell unevenly across everything. Walls, floors, couch, coffee table, everything was splattered with a weird dullness where the light didn¡¯t catch right. I finished my rotation with my gaze on Amber.

    ¡°Did something happen?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If it did, wouldn¡¯t you have heard,¡± Amber said.

    She smiled at me and then drifted over to Melissa¡¯s door to knock on hers next. Though she¡¯d flung the door open before Amber¡¯s knuckles touched the wood. Already put together she took a look at both of us and clapped her hands. I couldn¡¯t help but jump. Amber noticed.

    ¡°They say the body remembers more than the mind.¡±

    I hissed back, ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°Get ready,¡± Melissa said. ¡°Breakfast is being served right now, and I don¡¯t want to lose out on any of the good stuff.¡±

    Amber tousled Melissa¡¯s freshly-brushed hair. ¡°You bounced back pretty well after last night¡¯s meal. Especially after all those drinks.¡±

    ¡°I produce worse toxins in the venom sac at the base of my spine. Now, let¡¯s go.¡±

    With Melissa tapping her foot by the door, Amber and I got ready in record time. Though Melissa stopped me when I had grabbed Mother¡¯s Last Smile. She reminded me were going to breakfast, not battle, but it wasn¡¯t out of combat preparation that I¡¯d went to grab it. I just felt better when my glaive was in my hand. Though reason eventually ruled out when Sphinx said that we¡¯d be giving my identity away too easily to my fellow dogs from last night¡¯s wild hunt.

    * * *

    Brightgate¡¯s Lodge district was nothing like my memories from last night. There were no masked killers whooping and hollering with each green check off their list. I didn¡¯t see any of the blood that slipped into the gaps of the cobblestone streets. As we marched up a slope we passed the storefront I had smashed through the front window of when I killed that spider. In the daytime it was a laundromat.

    Walls lined with shrines that doubled as cleaning tubs. People in pajamas or their most worn down clothes waited as their fabrics had even the memory of dirt or grime cleared from the fibers. There wasn¡¯t the streak of blood across the floor I had expected to be there. Alls below, there was actual glass in the window which I hadn¡¯t expected either.

    As we marched we took a bend down a street and I saw the apartment building that had been a nest last night. A sign out front said: Rooms for rent. I looked up and saw that where there should¡¯ve been a massive hole in the facade it was just good as new. Well, not new, but good as yesterday¡¯s morning at least.

    We weren¡¯t as lucky as Melissa hoped¡ªthere was already a line for breakfast¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t that bad. Though you¡¯d think each person was fixing a plate that matched the one she saw for herself from how she tapped her fingers against her legs. A fast beat for big worries. It was only a couple of more minutes before we got to grab our plates and go.

    Breakfast was being served in one of the Lodge¡¯s banquet halls. The center of the hall was littered with curved booths filled with plush seats upholstered in formation fabrics. The interlaced phonemes were finely tessellated to keep stains from setting. While the floor was polished marble inlaid with lines of gold formations of Collection¡ªan assumption I made from how those who¡¯d finished eating would slide their plates and cups off the table to the floor. Each utensil and piece of dishware disappearing with a psychedelic ripple in the marble. While From the ceilings dangled golden shrines that when initiated¡ªfrom a dial set in the center of the table¡ªcaused a misty curtain to descend. Surrounding the table in a privacy screen the color of a gentle intimate sunrise. The light of which brought a warmth to the dining room that allowed the blinds to stay lowered over the bay windows. There¡¯d be no rude summer sun to sear your eye¡¯s shut in that instinctive urge to stay asleep¡ªslow to accept the labors the day would bring.

    Along the walls were stations manned by chefs of Mastery. Each one offering a single dish made to perfection¡ªas far as non-conceptual fare could go. We were only examinees after all. The line moved quicker than you¡¯d expect seeing as the chefs each employed a field-spell to bend the temporal mandates of what was possible when it came to cooking. Still, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care much about the food. My memory¡ªand my eyes¡ªturning toward my fellow dogs. How feral we were when released from the burden of identity, and how much unity we had even as competitors in seeking out prey. When I looked over the line and the floor, I only saw starving men with dark eyes unwilling to share the riches they¡¯ve just had a taste of. There were a few who were different, but I didn¡¯t take note of them really at the time. I had only one I wanted to take note of. Find, and he wasn¡¯t here.

    ¡°You look disappointed, Temple,¡± Amber said.

    We slid past the waffle station and its chef whose face was of a dreamy peace as ten waffles cooked in the air. While his hands added ingredients into the ring of batter that he continually made and circled through the air about him. I waved at the spread of syrups and agaves that waited in quaint little decanters on a nearby table. Conjuring up a reason for whatever it was she read in my face.

    ¡°They don¡¯t have the maple syrup I¡¯m used to. It¡¯s this habanero-maple blend.¡±

    ¡°Habanero-maple? I¡¯m kind of glad they don¡¯t. Sounds horrible.¡±

    ¡°Never, it¡¯s the perfect thing for chicken and waffles. Has this sweet-smokiness that¡¯s so good. With a little burn so you know you¡¯re alive. Mom raised me on the stuff.¡±

    Melissa added, ¡°It¡¯s definitely a try before you disregard. Nadia¡¯s mom had this super special recipe. Never told it to anyone, so only she could make it just right.¡±

    I felt a pressure against my chest. Exhaled a bit too loudly, and saw Melissa shrink in on herself a bit. She hadn¡¯t done anything wrong¡ªit was my excuse to use¡ªbut I had forgotten that bit. That I¡¯d never get that taste ever again.

    I waved weakly as Amber and Melissa shuffled off, apologetic for pain that was ultimately self-inflicted. All because I didn¡¯t want to answer the obvious questions that¡¯d follow after my real answer. I was looking for Piggy. I remembered him carrying me out, but I knew nothing about after. Though I don¡¯t even know why I tried looking for him. He was big enough that if he was around you wouldn¡¯t need to look.

    I slid down toward the omelets. Couldn¡¯t help imagining what I¡¯d do if Piggy was here. If he¡¯d say something first or slide his hand across the small of my back. Hook his fingers about my side and give a small¡ªsqueeze? I slid down the line to get a good look at who touched me.

    Handsome. That was the first thought that slipped past the daze I¡¯d fallen into at the sight of her. She was tall¡ªbetween Amber and Piggy¡¯s heights¡ªwith an angular physique that dripped down toward the hips that peeked just above the low-rise of her pants. If Piggy was some fusion between tiger and bear, then she was all wolf. From her shaggy cut to the slouch that masked her proper height. What wasn¡¯t masked though was that face with a jaw a girl would want to slice her wrists with because who wanted to see anything else after that. It definitely helped that she was covered in bright silver piercings that complimented the gentle tan of her skin. Bars through her proud nasal ridge, a ring about her septum, and bands that looped over her lips. She had piercings that dangled from her ears¡ªa stylized sun. Sunglasses however hid her eyes.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not talking to a pillar right now am I?¡± she asked. Fuck, her voice had a rasp meant for the blues. From the guitar bag over her shoulder I wondered if she¡¯d play for me.

    ¡°Fuck, I did get a pillar. Damn power cables.¡±

    ¡°No, no, you didn¡¯t,¡± I stammered. ¡°Get a pillar, that is. I¡¯m a person. Not a pillar.¡±

    ¡°Oh, the silence was a bit long. Can you tell me what¡¯s in that?¡±

    She pointed to the omelet station in front of us.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think taking off the sunglasses would help?¡±

    ¡°I try all the time,¡± she said. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t seem to.¡±

    She drew her sunglasses down to reveal eyes that were clouded over.

    ¡°Oh shit, I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s omelets. The soft gooey kind you break over rice. They have plain rice, with steak, and the third is um lots of mushrooms and peppers.¡±

    ¡°Sweet,¡± she said.

    Then slipped past me to gesture at the sign to the chef for the mushrooms and peppers one. It joined the stack of fruits and bread already on her plate. She was a vegetarian wolf. I quickly got my own omelet and hurried over to the floor to find Amber and Melissa. They¡¯d grabbed a booth while I lingered.

    ¡°I think I met a vegetarian wolf lady,¡± I said.

    Melissa asked, ¡°What?¡±

    I leaned across the table a bit, and pointed out the woman. She sat in a booth with nothing but her guitar for company. Melissa swatted my side in excitement¡ªshe had a tendency to hit whenever she saw a pretty girl. I often came home with a bruise if one of our people watching sessions proved too arousing that day.

    ¡°Okay, yeah, that¡¯s woah,¡± she said.

    Amber rolled her eyes. ¡°Where¡¯d you meet her?¡±

    ¡°In front of the omelets,¡± I said.

    ¡°Omelets aren¡¯t vegetarian.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not?¡±

    Melissa explained, ¡°The eggs.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense, but still¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s very hot. Maybe I should talk to her,¡± Melissa mused.

    Then chuckled into her horchata from the look my face made. I didn¡¯t want to imagine anyone with Melissa, but a woman like my wolf made that stance feel a little less firm.

    ¡°I¡¯m unimpressed,¡± Amber said.

    She swirled her coffee before taking a big swig backwards. Melissa backhanded Amber¡¯s comment from the air.

    ¡°You¡¯re never impressed.¡±

    Amber disagreed, ¡°I am when I am. I just haven¡¯t seen anything worth the feeling in awhile.¡±

    Her gaze landed on me, and that heat she kept hidden behind the joviality leaked out. I stopped watching the wolf and instead dropped my eyes to my food. Amber hummed pridefully at that. I stole a glance over to her table one last time¡ªshe was looking at us. Well, our direction at least.

    It was about a half hour into breakfast before the proctor arrived. A harsh wind cut through the air at the appearance of a narrow rhombus cut into space that stood eight feet tall. Narrow however in the sense of one getting a peek at the beginning of an alley. The proctor arrived first, a broad man with a prodigious gut in a buttoned cotton shirt and a silk vest over fine trousers. His face covered a third by his mustache and another third by wide black circle glasses. He dropped to the floor, and held out his arms for the secretary that tumbled out of the aerial alley. Their hair swept up into a dripping copper crown. They squirmed in the proctor¡¯s grasp for a moment before he set them down.

    ¡°No more Alleys!¡± the boyish secretary screeched. ¡°I wanted a shortcut.¡±

    ¡°It was short, and we cut,¡± the proctor said, his voice airy in age.

    ¡°Through space. Which is the defining trait of an Alley. They¡¯re always so wet.¡±

    ¡°When we¡¯re done we can go through a more windy one. Will help with the drying.¡±

    ¡°It was only two floors. Now, do the stupid presentation.¡±

    The secretary dropped into a booth. Formed a hand-spell that caused a wide screen to form in the air above the entire hall¡ªit had a dusty pink hue to it. On the screen was a close-up of the proctor¡¯s face. His cheeks were ruddy and his nose just slightly askew from some poorly healed blow he suffered in some raucous past.

    ¡°Hello everyone, I¡¯m the proctor for the first test,¡± he said. ¡°I consider it a pleasure to note that as your first proctor I shall be explaining the structure for this year¡¯s exam as a whole. To those who have arrived at this starting line through exemptions of the year¡¯s prelim, or the rest of you that had the wisdom, skill, and strength needed to overcome the teeming dreaming masses of those that strove to stand where you are right now; do not waste the moment you¡¯re in. You might not get to experience it again.¡±

    His eyes rolled over us¡ªbeyond us¡ªto the ghosts of prior year¡¯s examinees. I shuddered beneath the weight that fell over the room. My knee¡ªunconsciously restless¡ªsuddenly stilled and my feet felt dragged into the floor like I had six feet to fall until my resting spot.

    ¡°Good. Stay here, like this, and you¡¯ll get through this exam. Cause it is not about winning or losing, nor success or failure. If you want to pass, it¡¯s life or death. Yours or theirs,¡± he said. ¡°Now, as to the structure of this year¡¯s exam. Lodgemaster Khapoor has decided to test you in the most practical way possible; doing the job itself.¡±

    His face dragged to the right while shrinking on screen. Three bullet points dropped beside him but had almost nothing informative. They filled as he spoke.

    ¡°The first, Information Protection and Retrieval,¡± he said. ¡°As fulfilling our role of summoners it comes to us to safeguard the architects of the New World and its futures. This being why so often a lab or research group has on loan at least one Lodgemember to protect the fruits of their work. As well as the bodies of the researchers who made it possible.¡±

    He continued, ¡°And it¡¯s to that same end which we might come to be tasked with retrieving information from those whose research may be the undoing of everything we struggled to build. Thus why I¡¯m your proctor for this test, as I head the committee which manages and posts these positions. As for the two tests they will be examining you through the lens of the other myriad of duties that you might undertake for the Lodge. So for those who¡¯ve already decided they¡¯ll be passing, think about what else we do hear if you want to get an idea of what awaits. Secretary, could you please?¡±

    The secretary slid from their booth. Swiped their hand to display the next slide; four logos belonging to the four major research groups: ERO, AoSI, SIRD, and the Orphean League.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be coming up here and telling us which of the four groups you¡¯d like to be assigned to for this test. Afterwards you¡¯ll be free to leave and wait to receive your assignment. We¡¯ll be going in order of rank for picking.¡±

    Someone yelled out, ¡°What do you mean in order of rank?¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you rank us if some did the prelim and others didn¡¯t?¡± asked another.

    Questions rolled from the crowd in a murky discontent¡ªnot willing to accept someone might have an edge on them, but also unwilling to get rid of what could be a potential boon.

    The secretary skewered them all in one answer. ¡°The exam is more than the tests. We¡¯re always watching, and you¡¯re always being judged. However, we don¡¯t love to announce that because it makes you all so tense.¡±

    Booming, the proctor laughed, ¡°Wait until you realize how many of you have already been eliminated. Show them.¡±

    The secretary shrugged and swiped up to a different slide. On it were squares upon squares of reddened pictures, their associated names, and reasons for being eliminated clearly stated and scrolled through. Rare was the gift of an elimination reason that differed from, ¡®Killed¡¯ or ¡®Lost¡¯.

    The proctor answered the unspoken question. ¡°Killed is for those who were such. Lost is for those lost while in service to the Lodge and its aims.¡±

    ¡°Please, be safe with all nighttime activities,¡± the secretary said.

    From there they started listing names. Amber, Melissa, and myself kept one ear out for our name to be called in the proctors airy grandpa voice.

    ¡°Which one we doing?¡± Amber asked

    Melissa said, ¡°I don¡¯t really care. Do we go for what seems like it¡¯ll have the least people? We don¡¯t know what type of test it¡¯ll be exactly. Maybe we don¡¯t want a lot of people.¡±

    ¡°For the same reason, maybe we do. It¡¯s not a good criteria to go on. Temple, you have an opinion?¡±

    ERO, I barked out in my mind. The answer was quick, instinctual, a need to feed into or smother the fear of another White Womb that gathered in my mind in the only way possible, information. Then I reeled in the feeling. If I came out with all that feeling it¡¯d be too much. They¡¯d ask questions. Night would blur into day.

    ¡°But still you want answers,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Forward, Nadia.¡±

    I exhaled, ¡°ERO.¡±

    Opened my eyes to see Amber and Melissa reading my face. I wonder what the text said.

    ¡°I expected AoSI,¡± Melissa said.

    Amber added, ¡°After the outpost I¡¯d agree.¡±

    It would have given me more answers about the axis mundi that the killers used, but I could get that later. Right now I wanted only one thing and that was an explanation for last night.

    I said, ¡°I can worry about that and the others whenever. I want to be in the here and now, and I didn¡¯t hear too many choose ERO. Though it wasn¡¯t like too many did choose it either. We go for the balanced option.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t a lie either of them could read in me¡ªcause there wasn¡¯t a lie. It wasn¡¯t my deepest truth, but it was a truth of my reasoning. Which was good enough for Melissa by how she fell back into the seat. Amber was the harder¡ªalways the harder sell¡ªbut she shrugged in the end. Acceptance or an inconclusive determination?

    ¡°Alright. Anyways, you¡¯re up first princess,¡± Amber said.

    She slid out of the booth so Melissa could leave to go put her name down for ERO. Then told us to meet her outside. I was the second to be called up before them. Up close, the proctor seemed smaller, not the large imposing figure I saw on the screen. Though after I gave my answer¡ªERO, obviously¡ªI couldn¡¯t help but sneak a look back toward him. Blinked on the Omensight and immediately was blinking it off before the brilliance of an Earl seared itself into my vision. I was still trying to smudge it down when Amber finally exited the hall.

    ¡°How¡¯d we get called up before you?¡± Melissa asked. ¡°You¡¯re the Baron.¡±

    ¡°No idea, princess, maybe it¡¯s just too hard to judge my magnificence,¡± Amber offered.

    ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s go head into the city.¡±

    I peered up at her from my seat on a bench. ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, I told my mom before I left that I¡¯d give her a call when I made it to Brightgate. It slipped my mind the first day, and then I realized we¡¯d have to get our sorc-decks synced to the local network before I can even make a call.¡±

    ¡°The district has its own local network we can just get on.¡±

    Amber asked, ¡°Were you thinking a private or a public?¡±

    ¡°Public,¡± she said.

    ¡°Okay, Temple we¡¯re going into the city.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so special about a public network?¡±

    Amber said, ¡°The temple for Brightgate¡¯s public network is right atop the city library. Princess here is thinking after we get synced we can do some research. Isn¡¯t that right?¡±

    Melissa nodded. ¡°I figured we could try to learn something about your dad, Nadia. Maybe by knowing him better we could figure out who¡¯d want to go after him.¡±

    My mouth stopped working as I oscillated between a touched smile and simple awe. I always did trend towards tunnel vision, each new question eclipsing the previous one. With all thoughts turned toward yesterday¡¯s monster I¡¯d nearly forgotten the question of two nights ago. I nodded and acquiesced to Melissa¡¯s plan. We¡¯d see what we could learn about my father, and in the process ignore the fact that depending on the test we might have our oaths to each other tested.

 Chapter 19

    It took us two cable cars to arrive at the heart of Brightgate, a large hill of many terraces devoted to civic buildings, a few residential areas, and the amenities needed to support them all. The driver for the cable car explained that it was the center of the city because it was the first hill to settle down and propose treaties of peace with the others. As compared to the Lodge district, it was apparent that the city had a peaceful heart despite the dogs that ran wild only two cable cars away¡ªand the one that stood on the steps to the First Brightgate Public Library & Temple.

    At its most simple, the building was a boxy resolute thing of concrete and brutalist determination. Yet it was adorned with stony petals that made the whole thing look fluffy and inviting. From the cable car you could see the temple that was built halfway into the terrace above the library with the other half resting atop its roof. The temple was larger than the one Dad had built back home. Designed using different principles for the same end result¡ªproviding access to the NewNet for about half of the city¡ªit was something alien to look at. Dad¡¯s temple was a thing of beams and pillars, all squared and wooden, but arranged like the most confounding puzzle box and living room game. Where if you removed just one beam the entire thing would collapse, but by them all being together it had weathered everything. Well, everything short of a goddess falling atop it. No, this temple was so fragile to look at. A twenty-sided polyhedral tesseract of colored glass that scattered wandering beams of color that painted the simple civic buildings while bouncing the beams off what glass they did have.

    Rainbow polka dots crawled across our bodies as we stood there admiring the building. Soaking up the light that bounced off the temple atop the library. We took the stairs that cut through the winding slope which led to its double-sized front doors. Once inside we stalled again, as the sturdy concrete exterior hid an organic interior of rounded wooden terraces that formed the central reading area. Families sat on blankets as parents read to their children, and pairs of teens enjoyed coffees while co-reading magazines. At different terraces there were hallways that branched off to the library¡¯s many sections.

    We climbed up the stairs past terrace after terrace until we hit the administrative floor of the library. There wasn¡¯t much to see beyond the hallways that led to offices, meeting rooms, and other unromantic locales that saw librarians to work. At the center of it all was a pair of double-helixed elevators which carried patrons, like us, to the temple up above. They were made from this succulent-red glass that reminded me of the organs that had looped about some of the Lodge district¡¯s lamps last night. I exhaled a breath that wobbled under the pressure of my own gorey recollection.

    ¡°Are you going to be okay?¡± Melissa asked.

    I scoffed, ¡°Yeah, why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your first temple since you lost yours,¡± Amber answered. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be off to be off about it.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re both worried I¡¯ll bawl at the sight of some sorc-desktops and ancient Old World computers? I think I¡¯m stronger than that.¡±

    I pushed past them to catch an elevator a second-to from leaving. The shimmering chrome doors cut me off from Melissa and Amber. I tapped my head against them and offered a brief smile to the grandmother in a pair of sunday-sweats as Mom referred to her laziest pair of clothes¡ªI¡¯d packed them for myself to sleep in. They maybe had a few days left before they stopped smelling of her.

    When the doors opened I slowly stepped out into a nightmare world of light and noise. The grandmother was unbothered by the kaleidoscopic color which shifted seven shades in every direction. Bounded off happily into the rows and rows of screaming arcade cabinets, claw machines, and other games that saw a litany of patrons roaring and laughing in mad glee. It was worse than the wild hunt. Melissa and Amber arrived soon after finding me on a nearby bench.

    ¡°Holy shit, Temple, was your place like this?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°You¡¯d never been?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I have a lot to do most days. Never had any work that took me to your side of town.¡±

    ¡°Short answer is no,¡± I said. ¡°Dad had quiet sensibilities. Why he enjoyed putting so much emphasis on the cafe part of computer cafe. Was his way of helping people wind down and connect. But every temple architect is allowed to monetize however they want around the function of providing NewNet access.¡±

    ¡°Says who?¡±

    ¡°SIRD. Was their major stipulation as a group when they released the first plans for rebuilding the ¡®net to encourage individuals to build temples in as many places as possible.¡±

    ¡°So whoever did the build here got to decide that this place would be an arcade,¡± Amber said. ¡°Alls below, didn¡¯t think I¡¯d see something like this since Tokyo.¡±

    ¡°You mean Shin-Tokyo?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯ve been?¡±

    ¡°Years ago. Though these days most just call it Tokyo.¡±

    Melissa interjected, ¡°Does the architect get to design the temple outfits as well?¡±

    I followed her arm as it pointed out one of the temple-girls advancing toward us. Her vestments were a two-piece of a two-toned googie jacket and skirt combo. Though from the jacket¡¯s crop and how short the skirt fell due to the multi-hued petticoat beneath, they hardly seemed enough fabric to make either.

    ¡°They do,¡± I said.

    When the temple-girl arrived she asked, ¡°How can we help you today?¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°We¡¯re just trying to get our sorc-decks linked to the network while we¡¯re in town.¡±

    ¡°Smart move,¡± the temple-girl said. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    As we followed her into the depths of this torturous arcade the architect designed, I did my best to just admire the tiles. It was the best option between making my eyes bleed from overstimulation or being stuck to observe the temple-girl¡¯s flouncing skirt. The sight of which made my indignation roil into near-rage. There¡¯s a propriety to temples. To the vestments worn by its girls, boys, and kin. It¡¯s not a religious thing, but it¡¯s an honorable one. He may have run a small town¡¯s temple but he knew that much. Dad knew that much.

    The temple-girl led us through a door into the only quiet place in here: the confessionals. There were about six booths built for each wall not counting the one the door was set into. They were only big enough for one person and a small counter for you to place your sorc-deck that you wanted linked to the network. Dad¡¯s were pretty austere¡ªall wood¡ªbut the function was an austere one. You had to clearly state your identity and last network access point. Any hint of a lie meant no NewNet until you told the truth. A way to keep people honest seeing as the Old World¡¯s net granted copious ways to anonymity. ¡®One of the positives and issues of the net that was,¡¯ Dad used to say. This place¡¯s confessionals had fucking plush pillows.

    ¡°What¡¯d two questions they ask to give you a face like that, Temple?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°My face is fine,¡± I said. Fixing my face into something presentable.

    Amber smirked at my attempt. I turned from her to Melissa whose thumbs danced across her sorc-deck. She looked up from it blushing an apologetic hue.

    Melissa said, ¡°My mom¡¯s freaking out, so I have to call her. Meet you two at the cafe next door?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.

    She texted me a list of books she¡¯d put together for us to pour over. Then hurried off for the cafe, her sorc-deck already to her ear. Amber and I took to searching the stacks. As we followed Melissa¡¯s list we cut through the history section¡ªmost libraries are pretty clear about what shelves hold books on the Changeover¡ªand after loading all of those onto my sorc-deck the two of us hopped down two terraces to access the Myth and Folklore section. Melissa had the Gospel of the Godtenders on the list, and Changeover Folktales and Fairymyths. Apparently Brightgate had the fancy original version with all of the researcher¡¯s marginalia from penning each entry. As well as the illustrated character plates that occupied the page next to every entry.

    I ran my eyes over the dark bluish free-standing walls that served as the library¡¯s stacks. Each wall marked by about fifty rectangular boxes across and five down denoting the glass servers that held about twenty books each. I waved my sorc-deck across the inlaid beads that functioned as the access port for my sorc-deck to read the server¡¯s book list.

    ¡°Temple, did you ever wear a temple-girl¡¯s vestments?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°For a few summers. I started manning the temple three years ago. My mom wore the vestments way more than me.¡±

    ¡°Were they¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I barked. ¡°They were long. Normal. Not something floofy like the girls here.¡±

    ¡°Any photos I can see?¡±

    ¡°Ask Melissa.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯d you kill last night?¡±

    I froze. Tilted my head out one end of the stacks scanned both ends of the room for anyone nearby. When I felt like we were alone¡ªand had used the Omensight to confirm we were¡ªI returned to scanning the shelves.

    ¡°No one.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lie, Temple,¡± she said.

    ¡°You can read my mind now?¡± I said, whirling on her.

    ¡°No, but when you kill enough people your eyes start to turn red. Yours are flecked with carmine.¡±

    I reached up to my eye unconsciously. I was trying too hard to keep fixed an invisible mask, and Amber caught me trying to adjust it back in place. Her smirking mien cracked as grin turned to grimace. She reached out to me and I slid backwards¡ªI was caught and didn¡¯t want to be touched.

    ¡°Is it really?¡± I asked softly.

    Amber wrapped her hand about her other one. Leaned against the wall opposite me. The stacks were narrow with a little under four feet between them. Yet we found plenty of places to look at that wasn¡¯t each other. We had that much courtesy.

    ¡°Uh, not by and large. I knew one girl who it happened too, but she was fucking crazy. Changes like that can happen when you move up the Chain, but it¡¯s not happening to you.¡±

    ¡°Good. I have my mom¡¯s eyes. That¡¯s what everyone said.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I remember hearing that. Temple, who were they?¡±

    ¡°Other,¡± I said confidently. ¡°Just like you said. No name, no face, and no problem. They were bad though.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± she said, refreshed like she¡¯d just taken the first sip of cold bear. ¡°Took my advice?¡±

    ¡°Mhmm. Worked great too. Thanks for that,¡± I said.

    My eyes traced a squiggle around her face¡ªI had to know, I just had to know¡ªbut it was shadowed by the way her head tilted. A great inky black that obscured her face. When she was ready she turned back to me, and into the light.

    ¡°They worth it?¡±

    ¡°I learned how to strike through fate.¡±

    ¡°Fate?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s what I call the lines, threads that connect everything to every other thing.¡±

    Amber rocked on her heels. ¡°Sympathy lines.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°No such thing as fate, Temple, but there are sympathy lines. Conceptually connects ¡®everything to every other thing.¡¯ A lot of formations and complex spell work makes use of them.¡±

    I bit down on my own denial. Maybe that¡¯s what she and others called it. I knew what it was thought, and it was sympathy and it was fate. That extra special connection.

    Defensively, I said, ¡°Sure, but I also got a spell. A defensive one. I have my four.¡±

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I mean, Temple, you¡¯re at the starting line now. Maybe it¡¯s a good spell, but tell me it wasn¡¯t a lot of people?¡±

    My breath shortened. I could feel my wrists tensing from how my fists dragged themselves tight and dense as a star.

    ¡°Temple, please?¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Temple¡ª¡±

    I snarled and threw myself at Amber. Trapped her against one of the stacks with both my arms barring an easy escape in either direction. My face was close enough that I could count her eyelashes¡ªwell I could if my eyes weren¡¯t so blurry at the time. I just blinked rapidly to clear them up since I needed my hands to keep Amber trapped.

    ¡°Stop asking me things!¡± I hissed. ¡°You don¡¯t get to ask me things, or act like I¡¯m just so readable. Maybe I don¡¯t want you to see what¡¯s inside. Maybe I want to be fucking blissful before we go into this madness of a test later. Maybe I just. . .¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m tired of you asking me everything and taking answers from me while giving over nothing I want to know. So I¡¯m done.¡±

    Amber smirked at my primal grunts and hisses of displeasure. Her calm still around her she clasped my wrists in her grip then spun us about. Pressed my back into the wall, and pinned my arms above my head. She loomed over me with a bemused smile that had her incisors peeking out from behind full lips. Yet try as I might I couldn¡¯t evade her rosy eyes that sought me out from every hiding spot within myself. She just saw me.

    ¡°Ask me a question,¡± she ordered.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re not going to answer.¡±

    ¡°I will, Temple.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    She shook me once. The inlaid bead ground itself into my shoulder blade.

    Amber whispered, ¡°Any question. I¡¯ll answer.¡±

    ¡°What happened last night?¡± I asked.

    Amber¡¯s face softened. ¡°Thought you¡¯d give me a harder question. I killed people, Temple. A lot of people, but they were more dogs than people. Had these masks.¡±

    ¡°Masks,¡± I said. ¡°Masked dog-people.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say it like I¡¯m lying,¡± she chastised.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Why¡¯d you ask?¡±

    ¡°Cause everything looked so weird. Dull in spots.¡±

    Amber nodded as she understood. Removed a hand from imprisoning my arm¡ªher other hand took up the slack easily¡ªand held her palm out to me. Waved it to catch the light.

    ¡°Dull,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hm, well congrats Temple. Seems like your special eyes came home with a new feature. You can see, at least partially, into the UV section of light.¡±

    ¡°So those splatters. . .¡±

    ¡°Blood. Lucky us as I think urine would be more of a problem. We¡¯d have to ask the princess¡¯s mom to give us her special spell to get it out.¡±

    I only cared about Amber¡¯s initial answer. Blood. Splattered all over the room in arcs and droplets and massive running globs. My eyes fell on the palm she showed me, and the dull arm that matched. Blood to her elbows.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have much time to interrogate them. Their little pack was pretty big, and I had to work fast. Didn¡¯t want them to harm Melissa. I knew you¡¯d hate it if a single one got through.¡±

    ¡°If a single one,¡± I said.

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°But that many summoners and not having an attack spell?¡±

    ¡°I had said maybe I don¡¯t have one. Though it wasn¡¯t as many as you¡¯d think. Most of them just bled a lot and though a traditionalist I can be a bit rusty.¡±

    She reached into her storage-spell and removed a chef¡¯s knife still dripping in muddy red blood that hid every inch of steel that was needed to gather that much blood. I nodded slowly at the weapon. So humble. Then to Amber, who winked and slid the knife back into her storage-spell.

    ¡°You¡¯re not scared of me, Temple?¡± she asked. Her face flushed ever so slightly.

    I said, ¡°No. I¡¯m glad you were there. If Melissa. . . but why¡¯d the wild hunt come for us?¡±

    ¡°Maybe the Secretary went tattling with some thought they shouldn¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know, but we were bound to face enemies when we set forth. It wasn¡¯t anything I didn¡¯t expect. Nor be unprepared to do again.¡±

    My lip quivered. She stilled it with her thumb. Ran it across my lips before touching it to her own.

    ¡°Are you sure it won¡¯t be too many ghosts for you to drink for?¡±

    ¡°Temple, I have a necropolis in my closet. What are a few more ghosts between friends?¡± she asked. ¡°I kill for you after all. Whether I stay my hand, or drown this place in a red wave it¡¯ll only be for you. Always for you.¡±

    My cheeks were dusted with a nearly imperceptible blush. Her eyes never broke from mine throughout her gentle declaration. She tilted her head, and assumed an almost submissive expression. Eyes just barely wet.

    ¡°Do you want me to keep doing it?¡± Amber asked.

    Her lips hovered over mine. ¡°Yes,¡± I breathed.

    ¡°Who dies?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know best.¡±

    ¡°No, Temple, I want to know clearly who dies. I don¡¯t want you snapping at me again. Who?¡±

    ¡°Anyone in my way,¡± I said. It was too broad, my answer, but Amber¡¯s smile was even broader. A waxed moon of pleasure at the command that felt more like I was releasing something.

    She dropped my arms and took a step back. Her body arched into the stack opposite me. My heart throbbed in my ears. My skin was hot from having been beneath her eyes.

    ¡°Do you like it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°You know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°Do I? Let¡¯s use our words, Temple. We are in a library.¡±

    ¡°Killing. Do you like it?¡± I asked.

    Scenes of her smile as she danced with the cultists back in the outpost before drugging them spiraled into my mind.

    ¡°Not really. It¡¯s the most boring time. The dying of one thing, and the perpetuation of another who won their life by sacrificing something else¡¯s. Seen that a hundred times. The fight through,¡± she said. ¡°I cherish the fight. To see each new person and what genius they¡¯ve brought into this world, or treachery that might redefine what summoner on summoner combat looks like.¡±

    Amber dragged in a thin breath before exhaling in a puff of luxurious release.

    She continued, ¡°But beneath the steps is the person. What led them to this moment? Moved them to throw their life into the air in the hopes they¡¯d still be standing to catch it. Is it just a job, or is this a matter of utmost vengeance¡ªlike your reasons are. Then when they start to come undone¡ªthey always come undone when they catch sight of death¡¯s shadow¡ªyou learn who they were before this moment. The person they¡¯ve decided is worth the life of another human being. It¡¯s so intimate. With a climax I¡¯ll never get enough of as we reach the ending and steel penetrates the safety of their rib cage. Nicks the heart, and lets spill their life.¡±

    At some point in her answer a heat had settled against my heart. It pounded a lustful beat that missed the way blood painted the cobblestones just right; made it feel so good as it splattered against my skin. Amber quirked a brow at seeing the state she¡¯d brought me to. A panting dog.

    ¡°Everything after that moment, gets boring,¡± she finished.

    The denial was a polar front that chilled me back to self-awareness. My eyes flicked about in search of any voyeur that¡¯d pushed Amber to stop. She winked at me¡ªno voyeur, but not here¡ªshe said without words.

    Amber waved her own sorc-deck over a bead¡ªa hit. She used her thumb to select the option from a drop down menu that downloaded the Gospel. I quietly turned back to my stack. It was three beads over and one down before I found the server that had Changeover Folktales and Fairymyths. Both books downloaded, we made our way to the cafe to find Melissa.

    * * *

    Since I knew Amber had more money than me, I had her go buy us some drinks. I didn¡¯t drink coffee and neither did she, but the place sold milkshakes and I was craving something indulgent. While she did that I sought out Melissa. Bobbing up and down to peer around the two-seat and four-seat drinking pods that made up the interior. I heard Melissa before I saw her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m doing after the exam,¡± she said. ¡°I know. I know, I said I only wanted to see Nadia off, but we got exemptions. Don¡¯t ask me how unless you¡¯re ready for one of your four hearts to collapse.¡±

    She sipped from her coffee¡ªit was in a tiny mug¡ªand slouched inside her pod. I¡¯d found her in a corner where you could barely hear the phone call. She was so into it that I barely had to hide as I eavesdropped on her.

    ¡°If we pass, I don¡¯t know what comes next. I¡¯ll probably take my Lodgemember card and turn it in for an acceptance to some university or other. Brightgate has an intercontinental station. I could go anywhere. With Nadia? No, no not with her. Yeah, I promise Mom, after this it¡¯s probably where we part ways. No, I agree, it¡¯s for the best.¡±

    I crumpled the end of my shirt in my fists. I¡¯d thought¡ªI don¡¯t know what I thought. She¡¯d come all this way, but that didn¡¯t mean she¡¯d come the entire way with me. It¡¯d be for the best if she didn¡¯t actually. I wouldn¡¯t have done the wild hunt if I didn¡¯t have to make things safer for her. My tongue slipped past my lips as I stuck it out at the Nadia reflected in the shiny brass shell coating the pods¡ªthat Nadia, me, knew that wasn¡¯t a fair excuse.

    Amber slipped behind me as I wallowed in the muck of a goodbye I didn¡¯t have to make yet. She pressed the cold metal canister that held my milkshake against the back of my neck. I yelped and hopped out from my cover. Shot up as I locked eyes with Melissa who hurriedly hung up on her mom. I didn¡¯t look back at Amber as I rushed over to the pod Melissa had established for us. Amber slid into the pod on Melissa¡¯s side.

    Melissa started, ¡°Nadia¡ª¡±

    ¡°Apparently they have a sakura flavored milkshake. Want a sip?¡± I asked.

    She nodded and let me shut her up with the thick milkshake that took forever to squeeze itself through the metal straw. Her eyes were scrunched as she smiled around the straw at the pleasant taste. The straw fell from her lips with an airy pop.

    ¡°How was it?¡±

    ¡°Really sweet,¡± she said. Not even once looking back to the frothy pink milkshake. When I had my sip, I couldn¡¯t taste anything beyond the bitter flavor of Melissa¡¯s lips.

    We uploaded the books we¡¯d gathered into the group chat that Melissa made when she sent us the list. I sucked down my milkshake¡ªriding it to the end so I didn¡¯t have to speak¡ªas we got to work. My thumbs swiping across my sorc-deck to turn the pages of the double-page spread conjuration that hovered in front of my face¡ªI hated bending my neck.

    First were the history books, but there wasn¡¯t much to be read. There were a few historical groups trying to put together a record of the Changeover¡ªproblem was how do you cover the end of the world in one book? So while some groups chased the dragon on putting together the perfect definitive text others released multiple volumes on every continent. An absolute pain to reference considering some of the major fights of the period spanned multiple continents and bounced between Realspace and the Underside until they ended. Meaning you¡¯d finish one paragraph then open a different volume to read another only to go through at least three other volumes before you finished one moment.

    Melissa, ever the student, focused on journals instead. Pretty much everyone who survived wrote a journal or two. Noted down their experiences, grievances, and blessings if they were so lucky. Dad said he tried to keep one back in the day, but found most of his journals destroyed or lost as he bounced around the Changeover. When I think of that and the photos in that album, I wondered if they were destroyed during some old fights of his. Simple sacrifices that he¡¯d have no idea would contribute to how gone he felt.

    ¡°Most of these journals are useless,¡± Amber said.

    They were.

    Melissa said, ¡°I know, I just wanted to grab anything that referenced godtenders. It is the biggest detail about her dad¡¯s identity.¡±

    It was. If you didn¡¯t see how he died, and if he wasn¡¯t your dad.

    I sighed, ¡°This textbook doesn¡¯t have much either. It¡¯s more about the Godtenders as a group than godtenders as like, people. Lists all the important ones: Jiyoon the godtender of Tomorrow, Ahmed the godtender of Confession, and Marguerite Ghost-shepherd the godtender of Ghosts.¡±

    They had the rest of the nine of course, but it¡¯s why the book was useless. The nine godtenders were famous¡ªdivine mortals if you believed the followers of the Gospels. Each of them critical to one piece or another of the New World. Jiyoon had made the Thunder Declaration. Ahmed had compelled the Old World leaders to tell the truth of their plots to turn man against man. While Marguerite quelled the lich lords that sprung up from the battlefields across Turtle Island and prevented them from making it out alive¡ªwell, undead, I suppose. If any of them had died it¡¯d be global news. Dad didn¡¯t even make the front page of the town paper.

    Melissa perked up and spun her own projected pages in my direction. I closed my projection and gave hers a once over. She¡¯d highlighted a short passage of the journal: Through a blackened world lit by stars, she led us from the burning tips of Abya Yala to the tepid center of its northern end. Her breath was even and her temperament caring as she looked over us. A saint with a smile that shamed the moon. My niece, Clara, said that people called women like her ¡®godtenders¡¯. Bonded to entities that made magic mundane and miracles common.

    ¡°There¡¯s not a woman like this amidst the nine,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Okay, are you thinking my dad was a woman?¡±

    ¡°No, but that¡¯s a fair point. What I¡¯m saying is we can confirm easily your dad wasn¡¯t one of the nine that actually make up the Godtenders. But entries like this means there are probably more godtenders running about than make up the nine. Which means we ignore history¡ª¡±

    ¡°After we already read them all,¡± Amber chimed.

    Melissa ignored her. ¡°We ignore history, and focus on folklore. The Gospel is mainly on the deeds of the nine, so we go straight to Folktales and Fairymyths.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s see what¡¯s here,¡± I said.

    I duplicated my projection for Melissa and Amber, and then opened the book. Its chapters had titles like: Tales of the Unbonded, Conceptual Travel Stories, and Diasporic Survival Sagas. Before. . . everything, I used to read more. Most of the time it was temple and shrine architecture magazines. A few serial fiction catalogs I¡¯d found on the NewNet and would download for Mom¡ªwe had different tastes, but now and again I¡¯d find my head in her lap as she read a story. In fact, she had read Folktales and Fairymyths to me when I was a kid. Most people¡¯s parents did, but they usually stuck to the long meandering ones emphasizing adventure, an unwillingness to give in, and ingenuity. The good children¡¯s stories.

    Mom never cared much about good children¡¯s stories. She read me a little bit of everything from the dark diasporic sagas of communities whittled down to an undying nub as they traversed the death world of the Changeover to the haunting stories of unbonded entities roaming the hidden parts of the world. Though as I flicked through the chapter titles I tripped over the one category that she never read: Wandering Folk, a chapter on those weird figures who¡¯d pop up all over the world, but who never fit into a neat archetype.

    Knowing their relationship to Every Train, I hurriedly opened the section. The story that began it was less of a story, but more like anecdotes and interviews with maybe the longest entry being a few pages out of the twenty that composed the section of the chapter.

    ¡°The Ten Cruelties,¡± Amber said. ¡°That¡¯s a deep cut.¡±

    ¡°Who are they?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°The reason we don¡¯t let you New World kids bond to an entity until you¡¯re basically eighteen. According to the legend, each cruelty was pushed to bond way too early. Intending to be heroes, their entity¡¯s power warped their minds and bodies.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They destroyed a bunch of shit. Admittedly, I doubt they¡¯re real. Just society looking for a reason to explain away what basically everyone rushed to do initially,¡± Amber said. ¡°Most of the Old World adults were too old to make rapid advancement up the Chain, so everyone looked to the kids to fill that role. The collectives did it the most. And it usually resulted in everyone¡¯s demise including whatever reason was used to motivate things.¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°I mean, with names like the ¡®Slaughteress,¡¯ ¡®The Faceless Lady,¡¯ or the ¡®Deathless Hedonist,¡¯ it doesn¡¯t help them sound real anyways. What¡¯s the next section?¡±

    I flipped forward through the section on the Ten Cruelties and paused as I stared at the illustrated plate. It was of a helmeted figure with a sword the size of a person. He crossed a ruined street while skyscrapers stood slashed to pieces in the distance with smoke covering the sky with only a red sun to mark it by. The man¡¯s armor was the exact same as Dad¡¯s was in the photo album Every Train gave me.

    ¡°I think this is my dad,¡± I said.

    My eyes slid over to the name for this section, and my blood became a sluggish slushie that circulated a chill to the tips of my being. It was titled: City Killer, First Sword of the Changeover.

 Chapter 20

    ¡°Nadia, your dad was forty,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°So?¡± I asked.

    Amber answered by reading, ¡°While it can be argued what the ¡®official¡¯ beginning of the Changeover was, no one doubts that we had fully entered that era after the destruction of Capitol Hill. Thus why City Killer commonly appears in stories with the epithet, First Sword of the Changeover. Their appearance within and subsequent decimation of that Old power¡¯s capitol had severed the head off a dragon that at the time had threatened the entirety of the world. While also consigning the world to a nearly instantaneous explosion of violence that tore away any illusions of the new normal we¡¯d stepped into.¡±

    ¡°Oh, if this is dad then he¡¯d be. . . a hundred?¡± I asked.

    Melissa wobbled her hand. ¡°Higher to be technical. It was about a hundred years from the Changeover¡¯s start to today. So considering that unless there¡¯s just a fetus in all that armor, City Killer would be a hundred-and-twenty. Like, minimum.¡±

    ¡°I mean, going up the Chain does make you live longer,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°No it doesn¡¯t. It makes you age slower, but it doesn¡¯t innately make you live longer.¡±

    I asked, ¡°Difference being?¡±

    ¡°Longer peak. But a steep drop-off into a grave when your time¡¯s up,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Maybe it all changes at Sovereign?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± she said, ¡°but the Godtenders aren¡¯t saying anything. Besides, how could a killer of cities be your dad? He built stuff all the time. Was so kind. And far as I know he never traveled. This person¡ªbecause no one knows City Killer¡¯s gender¡ªgot around constantly!¡±

    ¡°My dad has a personal suite on Every Train. She¡¯s international and really damn fast.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean anything. For one, your dad could be like a runaway heir to a collective,¡± she said.

    Amber said, ¡°Wow, junior, you¡¯re just shooting everyone¡¯s ideas down right now. That theory you just gave is romance novel nonsense.¡±

    ¡°You have a better one?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Every Train wasn¡¯t covenant summoned until C.10. City Killer, however exists to ring in C. 0, so it¡¯s an irrelevant factor to proving anything.¡±

    I said, ¡°Every Train gave me a photo album of her and my parents. Dad¡¯s wearing that armor and has that weapon.¡±

    That brought Amber and Melissa¡¯s bickering to a close. Neither had known that, and stewed for a moment to avoid what felt like an inevitable truth.

    Melissa offered, ¡°Maybe he just inherited the role? Like, there¡¯s always a City Killer and it gets passed down.¡±

    ¡°Really,¡± I asked, ¡°why are you fighting this so hard?¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you!¡±

    ¡°Because if he is then I have an answer!¡± I screamed. ¡°I¡¯ll get closer to knowing him even though I can¡¯t know him anymore.¡±

    Other patrons jolted and leaned from their pods to see what was happening. Amber, Melissa, and myself formed a small phalanx of declarative, keep your eyes on your own damn table. Even at odds we found it easier to fall together in the face of a problem. Once everyone had turned away I sat back down. Melissa guided me through a centering breath then spoke softly.

    ¡°Nadia, if he¡¯s City Killer then it means. . .¡±

    ¡°It means what?¡±

    Amber reached out for my hand. Held it firm so I couldn¡¯t flee if I wanted to¡ªand oh how I wanted to.

    ¡°He might be one of the worst monsters in the world, Temple.¡±

    I ¡°centering breath¡¯d¡± my way through the fury that rose in my throat like bile. Groped about with my other hand for something to cling to¡ªMelissa held that one for me.

    ¡°They can only prove the capitol one, right?¡± I asked.

    Melissa read ahead and nodded. ¡°Stories all agree he did the capitol one¡ªtechnically the first capitol he was present for the destruction of¡ªthe rest he was present but no stories agree if he did it. That still means he murdered tens of thousands of people.¡±

    ¡°The stories all agree there was nothing but snakes in that capitol,¡± I hissed.

    ¡°Nadia!¡±

    ¡°Temple, be serious.¡± Amber said, ¡°If you want your dad to be City Killer, then he is good and bad. Otherwise, maybe he just took the suit from the last guy. Choose what story you want, but accept what kind of story that gets you.¡±

    I felt the world spin without spinning. My chair rotating in a reality separate from the one that the rest of the cafe was in. I¡¯d wanted to think my parents were still heroes or at least half-decent, but tens of thousands? Trying to swallow it was like eating a sword, careful not to let the edge taste your tonsils. The room eventually stopped moving, and I didn¡¯t pick a story. Instead I looked down and saw that at some point a secretary had given us three folders.

    It was stupid, but I looked around alongside Melissa for any sign of secretaries. As if we¡¯d catch one slinking out the door just then rather than realize one had lurked beside our pod¡ªmaybe in our pod¡ªfor as long as they wanted. What¡¯d they hear? Amber wasn¡¯t perturbed though and opened her folder. Melissa and I followed her lead.

    The opening document was a breakdown of the rules of the test. All of us were being assigned to a lab associated with one of the four major research groups we¡¯d chosen. Seeing as the test was termed, ¡°Information Retrieval & Protection,¡± it meant some of us would be retrieving and others would be protecting. The test itself was pass-fail. Retrievers pass by grabbing anything termed as ¡°credible intel¡± such as documents, experiments, even a takeout menu. The intel would then be graded based on its severity and awarded extra points. Protectors pass by doing the exact opposite. They must keep any of the retrievers from absconding with any intel until sunrise. From there extra points are awarded based on how many attempts they pushed back and if they captured or killed any of the retrievers.

    ¡°Captured or killed?¡± Melissa asked. ¡°It¡¯s like the Lodgemaster wants us to murder each other.¡±

    ¡°She probably does,¡± Amber said.

    We continued reading to find that the next page would tell us the details of our assignment.

    ¡°What if we¡¯re on opposite sides?¡± I asked.

    Melissa and Amber¡¯s heads snapped up.

    ¡°More likely to be at different labs,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°But what if we are,¡± Melissa said. ¡°On different sides.¡±

    ¡°Then we let Temple win,¡± Amber said. ¡°We don¡¯t want this. You need it.¡±

    Melissa chuckled, ¡°Yeah, I mean it¡¯s not like being a Lodgemember is that helpful for me. Some collectives and universities actually reject you if you are. You can keep this.¡±

    ¡°Will you leave?¡± I asked.

    Melissa smiled, ¡°Not until you do. Now, let¡¯s just turn this thing so we know what¡¯s what.¡±

    As one we turned the page. It read¡­

    ¡°Lab 447,¡± we said at once.

    Then we turned the next page. At the top was the team list. The first name was¡­

    ¡°Nadia Temple,¡± we all read.

    ¡°Alls below, I didn¡¯t want to lose to you,¡± Amber said with a heavy exhale.

    Melissa nodded. ¡°Yeah, universities ask for some serious contributions before you can even apply. Trading my Lodge membership saves me so much time.¡±

    Amber added, ¡°Do you know how hard intercontinental shipping is? The markup of any good alcohol is wild. The Lodge membership though, free cross continent travel on Every Train once a season as long as you can mark it off as official Lodge duties. I¡¯ll finally get to have good soju again.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°You really know how to pierce a moment.¡±

    The humor of it all was good for us. Just lanced the tension and calmed our hearts as we avoided having to break the oath we¡¯d only just made.

    ¡°We¡¯re protecting,¡± Melissa read.

    ¡°Tch.¡± I clicked.

    Retrieving would¡¯ve justified everything better to Melissa and Amber without having to reveal anything. We¡¯d even have extra points cause I found it hard to imagine that info on something like the White Womb wouldn¡¯t be of high severity.

    ¡°If we¡¯re protecting we at least have the cover of needing to cover ground,¡± Sphinx said within me.

    Fair point, I thought. The White Wombs are high severity, so retrieval is incentivized to grab them. So we might as well be there to greet them.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Who¡¯s, Lupe of the Sunken Valley?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°Our last teammate, apparently,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Here¡¯s hoping she doesn¡¯t suck,¡± I said.

    * * *

    When we arrived back at our residence, Amber pulled out three backpacks. They were slate gray with all kinds of airy netting and clinking carabiners to clip on who knows how many attachments. Amber explained that we¡¯d find some basic medical supplies, water, and a flashlight. Then told us to grab anything else that¡¯d be necessary.

    The first thing I grabbed was Mother¡¯s Last Smile. No reason not to have a conceptual weapon that can cut through a Baron when you¡¯re going to the place that likely made said Baron. After I had my glaive I dropped into a crouch and pulled out the trunk beneath my bed. Popped the lid and laid my eyes on the crimson mask that had been my face last night. Sphinx stepped out of my body and circled the box. Drawing my eyes up from the mask.

    ¡°Nadia, leave it,¡± she said.

    ¡°No.¡±

    I grabbed the mask and shoved it into my backpack. Sphinx darted around me to interpose herself between me and the door.

    ¡°Then tell me why we need it?¡±

    I said, ¡°It¡¯s a stealth tool. Who knows what we¡¯ll find that¡¯ll make us wish I was wearing the mask that makes it harder to be remembered. It¡¯s just a precaution.¡±

    Sphinx stared me down but eventually acquiesced. She couldn¡¯t deny that it did serve that purpose, but I couldn¡¯t deny that it just felt nice to have it. My excuse to ¡®let go¡¯ if needed.

    We assembled out front of the residence building where all the other protection teams were forming up their groups before heading off. The proctor had created over a dozen Alleys for each team to step through and arrive at their assigned lab. Most of them were hidden somewhere in the world. While a few¡ªgoing by the smattering of secretaries in Undersuits¡ªwere in the Underside. Our lab though wasn¡¯t some majorly hidden facility lurking on the side of reality. According to our dossier it was on the outskirts of town, and so we were waiting for the cable car to pick us up.

    Amber said, ¡°Alls below, this girl has to be an idiot. This car won¡¯t come back until a good two hours after nightfall if she misses it.¡±

    ¡°If she misses it. The cable car isn¡¯t even here yet anyways,¡± Melissa said.

    I shrugged. ¡°Hope they don¡¯t suck.¡±

    Being down a person would be rough, but if they sucked then it wouldn¡¯t usher in the second Changeover or anything so apocalyptic to not have them in the first place. As a result I let my disinterest cause me to slump over my backpack and closed my eyes to bank rest before I¡¯d need it. Behind my eyes I saw it, the mask. Rust red, lips pulled back in a snarl over perfectly carved teeth that curved like beams on a pagoda¡ªno, something rougher than that¡ªlike the tusks of a boar. A canine face with fishhooks for fangs the way they arced out of the mouth.

    It was dripping blood. Drip, drip, drip. Then the winding breath of a rushing stream. The churning static of blood flowing over blood. Filling the backpack. Ruining the meds. Tainting my water. Staining my lap. Drip. Drip. Dri¡ª

    ¡°Hey, sorry I¡¯m late,¡± I heard a perfectly raspy voice say that roused me from my nap.

    I turned back to spy my wolf girl¡ªLupe, apparently¡ªcome walking across the residential quad with her guitar slung across her back and wearing nothing but what looked like a glossy latex skinsuit with a cropped sleeveless tee over it. The suit clung to every curve and planar shift in the topography of her abs that were otherwise hidden from view this morning. I followed that river of muscle down to what was a lazily hidden bulge at her crotch. I threw my eyes toward anything else to look at as I tried to not leave the impression I would be a lecherous teammate.

    ¡°What are you wearing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh, this, it¡¯s just a conweave suit. Which, I¡¯m noticing you all aren¡¯t wearing,¡± Lupe said. Her rasp imbuing every word with this smoky flavor.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s expensive and hardly worth it unless it¡¯s graded high enough,¡± Amber said. ¡°Some suit rated for Barons isn¡¯t doing shit to keep you alive.¡±

    ¡°Amber, come on. A suit¡¯s better than no suit¡­right?¡± I asked.

    Melissa nodded. ¡°When it¡¯s a good dense conweave then yeah. Will basically give you constant protection against any Sorcery coming your way.¡±

    ¡°And my suit¡¯s rated for Earls actually,¡± Lupe said. ¡°And it was handmade as a gift, so I can assure you it¡¯s quality. You can touch if you don¡¯t believe me.¡±

    Amber sneered at the suggestion. ¡°You got one thing wrong, junior, they don¡¯t protect you against every Sorcery even if it¡¯s below the rating. Like how I broke that field-spell a while back, there¡¯s always a weak point.¡±

    Lupe shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t disagree there.¡±

    ¡°Does your mom make conweave?¡± I asked Melissa.

    ¡°Technically in that Undersuits are all made with a degree of conweave in them to protect from curses,¡± She said. ¡°Besides that it¡¯s too labor intensive to make those kind of suits without a buyer lined up. Let alone the fact that Mom¡¯s not far enough up the Chain to make any that¡¯d matter.¡±

    We heard the whine of the cable car as it arrived then clambered inside. I entered first and claimed a window seat for myself. Behind me followed Lupe and then Amber. Lupe obviously noticed the nervous way Amber would peer from behind her to catch sight of me. Briefly stilling her muttered complaints about Lupe. So the math was simple when Lupe swung onto my bench stealing the only seat next to me. I glanced up to Amber with a, what can you do, kind of expression.

    ¡°You better not suck,¡± Amber hissed.

    Lupe said, ¡°And you better go get a seat so we can leave.¡±

    She shook her head and took a bench way in the back. Melissa took a seat next to Amber so she wouldn¡¯t be lonely.

    I said, ¡°Sorry about Amber. She¡¯s perennially unimpressed with people. I mean, we all suck sometimes.¡±

    Lupe asked, ¡°Does that include you?¡±

    Her voice wrapped around us like a boa of gentle smoke. My mouth went dry as I processed how to answer. I¡¯d launched us into the innuendo, but was she committing or was her voice just that hot?

    ¡°Uh, no. Not really. I¡¯m pretty good at this kind of thing.¡±

    She smirked and leaned back into the seat.

    ¡°Shame.¡±

    I tapped my head against the window of the cable car. Spotted the bay at sunset from the corner of my eye. The sun, a molten disc, descended down to the water for its daily dusk quench. It was there I found my vengeance waiting for me. Sun drizzling its molten self¡ªand my feelings¡ªout into the water. It was more sobering than a cold shower. What was I doing?

    I asked everyone, ¡°What¡¯s the plan for tonight?¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°Whatever it is we need to cover four floors with four people.¡±

    ¡°Simple,¡± Amber said, ¡°we each take a floor and leave it at that.¡±

    Lupe hummed, ¡°You sure? That¡¯s a lot of lab for each person to cover alone.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but after this test we might not be allies again. If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯d rather cover a floor by myself in private than be forced to hold back so I don¡¯t give away any secrets.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± Lupse said. ¡°We all have something to hide. So, who¡¯s taking what floor?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the fourth,¡± I said. It was where the lab kept its records. No fancy experiments likely, but I wanted to get a full picture of whatever was going on.

    After that Lupe claimed the third, Amber the second¡ªshe said it was to man the security room and monitor the cameras, and Melissa took the lobby. When we finally arrived, we stepped off of the cable car and onto a small hill on the far fringes of the city. Looking back you could barely see the bridge that Brightgate took its name after. The ancient edifice of an Old power dwarfed against the seniority of a grander universe.

    We crossed the soft clover lawn into the building itself. Lab 447 was a squat ugly thing of brick that you¡¯d be all to ready to dispose of from your memory once you had the chance. Whatever paint had been used to gussy it up just left the exterior looking like someone had mauled the white hide of some creature. While flecks of paint-flesh were torn away by the greedy hands of time. Once inside the building our opinion turned.

    The interior was larger than the boxy exterior implied. With beautiful wooden floors and what Dad referred to as a mid-century sort of design. The lobby was an open floor plan with only a few columns for support of the ceiling. As well as a small upper section of the ground floor that was held up by smaller columns which formed a sort of alcove where the elevators hid.

    Melissa slowed me down a half-step on the way to the elevators.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Melissa said, ¡°be careful okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m always careful,¡± I said.

    ¡°The day you¡¯re careful is the day I¡¯m sure Sphinx has taken over your mind. But, seriously, they keep saying and pushing it, and I just worry¡­¡±

    ¡°That someone¡¯s going to kill me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°A little bit, but I¡¯m more worried that you¡¯ll kill people.¡±

    ¡°You know¡ª¡±

    ¡°I know, the tests are pushing this on us, but that doesn¡¯t mean we have to let them. Aim for capture or just make them run. We only have to pass.¡±

    I stopped and pulled Melissa into a hug. Held her head against me so I wouldn¡¯t have to lie to her face.

    ¡°If I kill anyone,¡± I began.

    ¡°Nadia.¡±

    ¡°No, listen, if I kill anyone it¡¯s because they tried to harm you. If I kill for anyone it¡¯ll be you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want that on me,¡± Melissa mumbled. ¡°Just, wait for them to cross that line first. Let it just be you putting down an animal rather than killing a man.¡±

    ¡°I can do that,¡± I said. It was the least I could¡ªand would¡ªdo.

    She then pushed me away, and smiled. Formed her hand-spell and Mutated into her chimeric form. Let a purr rumble in chest down her arm and into my chest. Playing its song on ribs. I blushed and joined Amber and Lupe in the elevator.

    ¡°How much of that was true, Temple?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°All of it,¡± I said.

    ¡°Alls below, you make a lady jealous.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°Still, you going to try and capture them first? It¡¯s harder that way.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind it when it¡¯s hard,¡± I said. Lupe chuckled at my own innuendo.

    ¡°More power to you. A lot of the summoners trying to join the Lodge are animals. Why not thin the herd? We might make this whole test a little less lethal along the way.¡±

    Ding. We¡¯d hit the second floor¡ªtechnically the first basement¡ªand Amber crouched around me, almost curving like a snake. Her eyes narrowed and blazing.

    ¡°Even if you¡¯re trying to capture them. Don¡¯t hold back. Let them earn your mercy before they exploit it. Got it?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I said.

    ¡°Good girl,¡± she said, and kissed me.

    It was as brief and hot as sticking your fingers into a candle. Her teeth teased my lips. When she pulled away I noticed her eyes flick to a blushing Lupe whose face is pointed downward at the elevator¡¯s buttons. A smirk of confidence filled Amber¡¯s face as she exited the elevator.

    ¡°Why¡¯re you blushing?¡± I asked.

    Lupe said, ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t after seeing that? She might as well be yelling at me to keep my hands off of you.¡±

    ¡°You can see? I thought¡­¡± I trailed off.

    Lupe waves the question, ¡°Eh, it¡¯s not a secret. I lost my vision as a kid, and once I became a summoner I found a way to fill the gap.¡±

    ¡°Seeing eye entity?¡±

    ¡°Better,¡± Lupe said. ¡°I made this bracelet using a few phonemes I learned early on. Hooks into my spiritual musculature to project a field of Morning constantly. It¡¯s not a real field-spell at all, so interfering with it is harder than it¡¯d seem. All the energy does is hit stuff creating a kind of ¡°shadow map¡± around me in a sphere. The denser the spirit of whatever my light bounces off of the clearer the map. With some things, like most walls, not being dense enough to keep my light from moving through them.¡±

    ¡°So, you saw Amber kiss me then?¡±

    ¡°I did. Though it was more like two bright human-ish silhouettes pushing against each other. Neither of you are far enough up the Chain to be more distinct. Though you were some sexy silhouettes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sexy then?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t go fishing for compliments,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Still, you are what you are. Sexy and so unsubtle when ogling a girl. Made me feel great that morning.¡±

    ¡°I was so subtle,¡± I said.

    Lupe laughed, ¡°Then chalk it up to a vision-issue. You have to turn your head to really look at something. Me, I could face a wall and still be drinking in your figure. Anyways, this is me.¡±

    Ding.

    ¡°See you on the other side,¡± she said.

    The doors shut behind her. In the barely reflective steel of the elevator doors, I watched as Sphinx exited my body.

    ¡°It¡¯s only us now,¡± she said. ¡°How it¡¯ll be in the end.¡±

    I laid my hand atop Sphinx¡¯s head and gave her a few scritches that pulled soft purrs from her. The two of us hurtled down toward the final floor where answers and our test awaited us.

    Ding.

 Chapter 21

    The fourth floor¡ªtechnically the third sub-basement¡ªof Lab 447 was a maze of hermetically sealed boxes, filing cabinets, and retired equipment. Whatever the reason was, the place pushed the bounds of what I¡¯d expected from a research archive¡ªmainly in terms of the hoarding on display. Sphinx and I kept our heads on a swivel and as we peered between the wire-rack shelves in the low-light from saucer shaped bulbs swinging gently above to the tune of the world as they dangled. After about five minutes of walking we¡¯d arrived to find a stele with a map of the archives on it.

    Sphinx said, ¡°It¡¯s a flower.¡±

    ¡°That makes less sense.¡±

    She flexed a claw free and gestured at the map. Traced around the many ¡°petals and sub-petals¡± that all branched off from a central position¡ªour position, going by the ¡°You are here,¡± dot.

    ¡°Each petal is numbered. Is there a key?¡± she asked.

    I glanced down and saw nothing. There was too much map for a single key to cover without covering the map itself. The numbers were familiar though triple digits, a decimal, three more digits set above a line with three digits beneath. I pulled out my sorc-deck.

    ¡°While perhaps prudent, wouldn¡¯t requesting aid demand an explanation as to why?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m not requesting anything. I already know this,¡± I said. ¡°All the major research organizations use the same method, revdew.¡±

    ¡°Revdew?¡±

    I found the document I was searching for. It was a chart saved on most sorc-decks for easy reference, and how you interfaced with whatever books you had on it. With a swipe I displayed the chart¡ªthe key¡ªin the air next to the stele.

    ¡°It¡¯s short for Revised Dewey decimal. The first six digits across denote everything down to the subject, and the three digits below the line modify that based on how the topic of entities, the Underside, the Courts, or Sorcery are involved.¡±

    Sphinx purred happily. ¡°Well then, I suppose we¡¯d be looking under science?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d think, but no.¡± I said, ¡°Each section relates to a question, and science, when pure, is about the world. Applied science or technology, is how do we control it or make it do stuff. But the White Womb wasn¡¯t the world.¡±

    ¡°It was a child.¡±

    ¡°Something like that, but the question about it is ¡®what it is,¡¯ which would be a modification of the question, ¡®what am I¡¯. You can¡¯t mark the line between human and entity without knowing what a human is in the first place. We¡¯re going to philosophy.¡±

    Sphinx spread her wings as I climbed astride her back. She took off in a single stride and a mighty double-beat of her wings. Below us the multi-colored wire-racks static¡¯d into the composite image of a psychedelic fractal flower. Its petals shifting from a motionless wind. While above us the ceiling warped and fled to an even higher height. Future-proofing in case the archives were forced to extend vertically. It didn¡¯t hurt that the lights became broad impressionistic smears against the tenebristic dark of the ceiling.

    When we landed in the specific ¡®sub-petal¡¯ of philosophy, the first thing of note was a mosaic that covered a circular seal in the courtyard. Two teardrops curved into one another with an S-shaped border breaking up the circle. In one half was some nouveau depiction of a Hungarian woman. Her arm outstretched¡ªbreaking her frame¡ªto grasp the hand of an androgynous being of black obsidian with a crown of blades the color of Glory. It lacked a mouth or a nose, but possessed four Glory-colored eyes. Over their hands was a four pointed chalcedony star.

    ¡°The first summoner and her entity,¡± I said. ¡°Sphinx, they say she was a community manager originally.¡±

    ¡°What happened to her?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°Disappeared after she posted evidence of her entity to win a flame war. That¡¯s what they say.¡±

    I slid from Sphinx¡¯s back, and went to examine the shelves. They were sparse, empty enough that the books were laid out flat rather than stood up spines outward. All of these were on the topic of human-entity union. While the White Womb was maybe a human-entity fusion seeing as they aren''t well known I figured union would get the same point across.

    ¡°This text at least covers wombs I presume,¡± Sphinx said.

    I leaned back from my shelf to turn Sphinx¡¯s way. She had an anthology of entity-on-human erotica hanging from her mouth. I ignored the cover¡¯s well-rendered and incredibly graphic art as I took the book from Sphinx. Not looking Sphinx in the eye, I flipped through the table of contents and noted a section put aside in the back for academic writing on the subject. There was an essay on consent, relationship restructuring due to the omnipresence of one¡¯s entity in their life, and way in the back was one titled: ¡°The Rebis: An Examination of Summoner-Entity Convergence Theory.¡±

    ¡°Selene Ying, Department Chair of New World Metaphysical Studies, Threyo University,¡± I said.

    ¡°Threyo University,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°It¡¯s out east, past the Black Vein.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°there used to be many of my kin who¡¯d walk those halls.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll go there,¡± I said as I flipped through the book for the essay.

    Sphinx asked, ¡°When?¡±

    I bumped my legs against her shoulder. ¡°After the exam. We¡¯ll probably have to run anyways, so why not run all the way to the east coast.¡±

    ¡°If your way takes that bend then it takes that bend. I¡¯d rather accomplish your vengeance first than delay things if possible.¡±

    ¡°Well now you¡¯re just being a contrarian,¡± I said.

    I leaned against a rack as I read the essay¡ªtechnically just the abstract. Its central argument was that if entities become more ¡°human,¡± defined by an understanding and successful adoption of our moral framework and viewpoint, then humans became more like entities as we ascended up the Chain. Bound tighter and tighter by the metaphysics of our bonded Court.

    ¡°A negotiation with the bitch called physics,¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°What?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s something you said early on when we returned to Realspace that first time. You told me not to stare lest physics noticed you cheated or something.¡±

    ¡°You remembered.¡±

    ¡°I do listen to people,¡± I said. ¡°Though I could be better.¡±

    ¡°Trying is good enough, and your excavation of our old words is well-timed. Everything about entities is a negotiation when you subject us to the Real.¡± Sphinx said, ¡°The fullness of our self trimmed down so we might exist. Anchored through the humanity our summoner provides.¡±

    ¡°And you did say the bond is like two cups being poured back-and-forth between each other.¡±

    ¡°You said that,¡± she said.

    ¡°Fair point.¡±

    The rest of the abstract then expounded that there might be a hypothetical point beyond Sovereign. One where the balance of human and entity was so perfect, so blurred, that we¡¯d be both and neither at the same time. A rebis. That was a solid enough lead far as I was concerned, so I took a picture of the essay¡¯s first page with the author¡¯s name and titles. Dropped my sorc-deck back into my backpack as I returned to looking over the racks.

    Sphinx, however, shoved their bulk against my leg.

    ¡°Pick the book back up,¡± she said.

    I did. She followed something only she could see, rotating until she was looking at the mosaic. I flicked on the Omensight, blinking away tears, to spot the moonsilver thread of an unknown Court connecting the bookshelf to the mosaic. Hidden in the swirls of the art nouveau border was a glowing sorcerous phoneme. The thread was taut, throbbing at a high frequency, and I quickly looked for other threads that matched it.

    ¡°Sphinx, pick up the record and the paper on entity blood samples. I¡¯ll grab the idol and the book of dialogues.¡±

    Stolen novel; please report.

    We darted to opposite racks and quickly lifted each item on our list. I kept an eye on the mosaic as each new item awakened the luminescence of the formation. At the third item, the idol lifted after Sphinx grabbed the record, the formation¡¯s light flickered and died. The threads went slack.

    ¡°It has an order,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°We go again.¡±

    After everything was placed back in its original position I saw that moonsilver light race back up the threads¡ªthe formation was reset for activation. First was the erotic anthology, then the record, and this time I waited and watched. When each strand was in its proper order the strings were tight and vibrating. I laid my sight upon each strand and felt them for any differences in tension. If there was an order then there had to be a hint as to which would come next. I felt the strand connecting the paper on blood samples to the mosaic¡ªthere was a hint of vibration.

    ¡°Try the paper,¡± I said.

    Sphinx picked it up which illuminated the next phoneme. Our code-breaking method discovered, I directed us to the end of the activation sequence. With the complete formation activated, black water flowed up from between the tiles. Filling the circle without breaking the ring of phonemes.

    ¡°Entities first?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re equals,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Together?¡±

    I walked alongside Sphinx into the circle. The water rippled under our footsteps, but never fully broke. When we reached the center of the circle we found only our reflections staring back at us. The stacks of the archive surrounding them. When I looked up, I discovered that Sphinx and I were on a large platform overlooking a wide black pit.

    ¡°Are we in the Underside?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°we¡¯ve just Transitioned from one local space to another.¡±

    ¡°Transition?¡±

    ¡°Another cousin court of ours.¡±

    ¡°Remind me to get the full family tree later,¡± I said.

    I could only barely make out other platforms along the pit¡¯s edge. Like theirs, our platform extended down to a small grate balcony connecting into a smooth concrete hallway. Since my Omensight was still up, I wasn¡¯t caught off guard by the multi-layered formations that covered the hallway in a mural of sorcerous graffiti.

    ¡°Quite the net they¡¯ve woven.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, I only have patience for one puzzle a night,¡± I said.

    I formed the hand-spell for Inviolate Star, and strode forward into the hallway. Sphinx carried her own Inviolate Star not far behind me. The logic was simple: Inviolate Star¡¯s light diverts fate rather than blocking it. Ergo, all of the connecting points between the formations and their traps would be temporarily diverted around Sphinx and myself, and peacefully left resting.

    When the light of the star touched the first thread that connected to a formation with phonemes from at least four separate Courts¡ªSuppression, Bondage, and two more I didn¡¯t recognize¡ªI ground my teeth into my lip. The threads unwound into their composite Principles like sand tossed into a breeze. The cloud of energy floated out to the air but the trap didn¡¯t go off.

    ¡°It works,¡± I said.

    My sorc-deck rang from inside my backpack causing my concentration to waver. I propped it back into place before I dropped the spell. As we moved forward diverting thread after thread of well laid traps, I fished my sorc-deck from the pocket I¡¯d placed it. It continued to blare as I fumbled one-handedly to input my access sigil and end the alarm.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you set something that obnoxious?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°It was my alarm for sunset,¡± I said. ¡°We have to hurry, the retrievers can attack at any time they want starting now.¡±

    Sphinx and I broke out into a jog as we raced from the trap laden hallway through a doorway into another wider hallway free from any formations or previously laid spells. The floor was a grated catwalk that cut between a mess of torso-thick cables and hissing pipes that reminded me of the entrails of some technological behemoth. Pressed into the tangled mess were squares of electric blue that matched the lighting of the hall.

    When we neared the first square I leaned over the railing to get a better look. It wasn¡¯t glass¡ªthe Omensight told me that much¡ªbut some spell that separated the interior room and the exterior of the hallway. The room was stained orange with no clear hint as to what color the walls were initially. While the only furniture was a bed and a toilet¡ªthe remnants of the room¡¯s occupant had fallen into the toilet. Strips of skin from what would have been their ass and the underside of their thighs.

    The next room was much of the same though this time the few remains left behind were clumped into a C-shaped mound on the bed while everything else was coated in a yet to be unwashed glaze of blood. Each room was the same story, and perfectly reminiscent of the way the White Womb¡¯s ¡°mother¡± had exploded when it was born.

    ¡°How many rooms are here?¡± I asked.

    ¡°At least ten,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°In this hallway at least.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s keep going. I want to find an office or something with documents.¡±

    Sphinx trailed behind me as I pushed forward. Our hallway terminated in a T-intersection with another passage. The wall was arrayed with doors listing medical labs in numerical order¡ªI took the closest one to the right, medical lab #13.

    On entry the lights flicked on in the lab. We¡¯d only been subjected to the darkness for a scant moment, but I wished we had it back. As the glaring light pushed my eyes to the side forcing me to see¡ªto acknowledge¡ªthe wall of infant White Wombs each curled up and bobbing in cylinders full of some unknown sorcerous concoction. To the side of their arrangement was a keypad that controlled a mechanical claw which could navigate the multiple rows and columns of experiments¡ªit reminded me of a vending machine.

    ¡°The children aren¡¯t a threat, Nadia,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°They lack a secondary Principle.¡±

    ¡°Right, so the best time to kill them is now.¡±

    ¡°Are you so threatened by sleeping children¡ª¡±

    ¡°Stop calling them that,¡± I said. ¡°Like they¡¯re people or something. That woman blew up just giving birth to one. Who knows how many people Nemesis has been sacrificing for this experiment.¡±

    ¡°And now we¡¯re sure it was Nemesis¡¯ fault?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in a secret ERO lab, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Even if they have a tie to your enemy that doesn¡¯t make them your enemy.¡± Sphinx said, ¡°Piggy struck the White Womb first. Gave it its first death that instigated its transition into a bastard entity of Oblivion. Who knows what would have happened had you both acted differently.¡±

    ¡°Show compassion to the monster, hmm?¡±

    Sphinx shook her head. ¡°Show compassion to the child that did nothing but live, and lost its mother for it. I¡¯d think you would understand that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s low.¡± I said, ¡°Fine, we can¡¯t afford to leave too much of a mess anyways.¡±

    As we crossed the lab to the door leading to the offices I took one last glance at the wall. They were White Wombs, but they weren¡¯t the one I¡¯d faced. Each tube held a unique creature lightly coated in a thin haze of a single Principle. There was a corpulet little girl-thing covered in a mantle of iridescent bubbles. An androgynous lithe figure coated in chitin that did its best to contain the Storms that crackled soft as static between its plates. Taken one way, maybe they were beautiful things, but the idea of anything being able to revive as it did¡ªstrengthened by death¡ªthat terrified me in a manner that no amount of unique beauty could outweigh.

    The office connected to the lab was simple and stark. Clean dark wood desks, a wire rack of research files, and typewriters on every desk to draft up the reports that filled those files.

    ¡°There¡¯s not a single sorc-deck here,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s all aggressively analog.¡±

    ¡°When everything is minimal the smallest shifts are maximized.¡±

    ¡°So we put everything back as we found it.¡±

    On the way to the research files, I stopped at a desk where a typewriter was abandoned mid-draft. The top of the document said: White Womb Incident Report #36. The rest of the document was only drafted far enough to cover how Piggy and I resolved it. As if to taunt me the last words pounded into the page were, ¡°pertinent background information.¡± There hadn¡¯t been enough time, it seemed, between then and the scheduled test.

    The research files themselves proved more fruitful. I¡¯d taken a stack of folders at once and flipped through them together for easy comparison. However, there was far more contrast. Each person¡ªnot all of the ¡°mothers¡± were women after all¡ªwere traceable to origins all across and even beyond Turtle Island. Their ages ranged from as young as sixteen to as old as sixty-eight. While in some cases their time of disappearance was listed anywhere between a few weeks to a couple years before reappearance.

    ¡°Why end here, though?¡± Sphinx asked. ¡°From an origins perspective they¡¯re incredibly diverse, but their every path terminates here in Brightgate.¡±

    It was the main point of commonality. Most of them were found on the street begging for help in whatever language they spoke if they hadn¡¯t already been aided by a ¡°helpful¡± secretary that led them into the arms of the Lodge.

    ¡°Maybe they escaped from here, and were just recaptured?¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°Doubtful.¡±

    ¡°It makes more sense if they just all happened to appear here?¡± I said, ¡°This one¡¯s from Shin-Tokyo, and he¡¯s from New Nairobi. Sphinx, if they were taken from somewhere else then why would they all be released here? Why not to their homes?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps because whoever did it knew the mothers wouldn¡¯t survive, and their spawn left to fend for itself against whatever dogs harassed it.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the reason then they wouldn¡¯t be considered mothers. They¡¯d be¡­bombs?¡±

    ¡°Your puppeteer did imply that a Lodgemaster would have many worthy grudges on their head.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t deny that since I am one of those grudges. Still, that¡¯d mean there¡¯s someone else doing this. The Lurkers?¡±

    ¡°Any answer I¡¯d have would be poorly considered. Next page.¡±

    I flipped the page to a blown-up picture of the ultrasounds done on each ¡°mother¡± along with a comparative animagraphy. The former was great for checking for any physical details that might become an issue for the birth of the child, and the latter¡¯s perfect for examining the spiritual musculature of the child in case there might be a spiritual defect. Fun fact, the animagraphy¡¯s have great results in testing for a potential stillbirth.

    While the ultrasounds were surprisingly normal, the animagraphy photos were anything but since they didn¡¯t show anything. Each and everyone was white¡¯d out by some kind of flash. I raised it close to my eyes and could just barely make out the frayed edge of the blur barely noticeable against the far side of the womb.

    ¡°Interference from an unknown Court¡¯s presence,¡± I read. ¡°Anthem stored in evidence box #5.¡±

    Unasked, Sphinx dragged the box from the wire-rack over to the desk where I had the files laid out. She used her paw to flip the lid off the box, and reveal a small handful of cassette players. As well as a smaller box, unlidded, that held a mess of tapes labeled after each mother. I grabbed #20¡¯s tape and popped it into a player that I set on the desk. Then hit play.

    Anthems were an old method of cataloging a Court. Early researchers would rig a tape recorder to pick up the unique ¡°sound¡± a Court made when its spells were cast or when an entity would speak or breathe. It wasn¡¯t a bad method necessarily, but I think humans love to see pictures more than we do sounds. Pictures are harder to deny even when the sound is something you feel in the very fiber of your spirit.

    ¡°We have to find who¡¯s making these creatures, Nadia,¡± Sphinx said.

    I didn¡¯t have to ask why her voice bristled in mad panic. The anthem was still playing, and in that part of my spirit where I remembered the honeyed timber of our Sovereign I heard the resemblance. However these victims came by it, Revelation was in their bodies, and none were bonded to our Court. Before we could dig deeper, my sorc-deck rang in its insistent default tone that mimicked the incessant tap of a woodpecker.

    ¡°Another alarm?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°I only set the one.¡±

    I swung my backpack around to free my sorc-deck. Amber was calling. I answered.

    ¡°They¡¯re here, Temple!¡±

 Chapter 22

    Sphinx pressed against me. Her warmth battling the wintry slush that¡¯d become my veins.

    ¡°How many?¡± I asked.

    Amber said, ¡°Four. We lucked out there, but they hit fast and hard. They, um¡­¡±

    ¡°They what?¡±

    ¡°We lost the first and third floors. Some of them are chasing me down on the second. You have to hurry!¡±

    I felt the mask in my backpack. Drip, drip, drip. ¡°I¡¯ll be on my way,¡± I said, and hung up.

    Sphinx and I didn¡¯t rush as we put the files back. Each second wasted on reversing any sign of our investigation was an agony. We¡¯d lost the first and third floor. My mind was a maelstrom of the worst possibilities¡ªMelissa disemboweled, Lupe beheaded, Amber hunted down and speared. Then the next moment the violence and the victim would shuffle around to taunt me with other arrangements. Was there any way for my friends to die that wouldn¡¯t haunt me?

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°we need a plan before we go back lest we tumble into a trap ourselves.¡±

    ¡°If things are that bad then no matter how we come back it¡¯s a trap.¡±

    I led the way out of the office, through the medical lab, and down the hallway.

    ¡°If they¡¯re that bad.¡±

    ¡°You heard Amber¡ª¡±

    ¡°Did I? Did we? The easiest sabotage happens under the guise of friendship.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying someone stole Amber¡¯s phone and mimicked her voice?¡±

    ¡°Is that so impossible to imagine?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t to be honest. Amber lacked offensive spells¡ªwell, maybe lacked them¡ªand her motto was to cheat in any fight she found herself in. If the enemy cheated before she could then it¡¯d be the situation with the lindwurm all over again. Stealing her phone would be rather easy. The mental phantoms of Melissa and Lupe¡¯s death disintegrated from my mind. Amber¡¯s, however, remained prominent like her last words to me: Don¡¯t hold back.

    Sphinx and I passed through the hallway of traps without sparing a moment of our attention. On the steps to the platform I shrugged off my backpack. Fished out the mask which had weighed on my back, and met Sphinx¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°If I ask, would you put the mask back?¡± Sphinx asked.

    I said, ¡°Not until my girls are safe.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to that,¡± she said.

    ¡°I hope you do. For both of us.¡±

    Tears ran rivers down my face as I activated the Omensight and set the mask on my face. It smelled of the copper-citrus notes of blood. Tangy and tantalizing. A shudder ran through my body¡ªthe echoes of a night more pleasurable than I¡¯d care to admit; the fear of what I¡¯d soon do to those unfortunate enough to mar what was mine.

    * * *

    When we returned to the archive, the aching quiet was removed by the crooning strings of some distant flute. Its song was of soft blankets, crackling fires, and the build-up of snowbanks so high that they¡¯d tease at the windows on the second floor. A yawn broke from my mouth. I narrowed my eyes at the unbidden vocalization. In a search for the song¡¯s origin I noticed the snowy shawls of Sleep slung over the shelves, hung from the walls, and flooding the floor. It was even in the air. Snowflakes of sleep swinging lazily in their descent before joining with one of the pre-existing masses. A winter wonderland if there ever was one.

    I turned a hand over and caught a snowflake upon my palm. It wasn¡¯t Real. Just a representation of the audible yet invisible spell that blanketed the archive. A clue that only someone with sorcerous sight would have a chance at picking up on. I watched the snowflake melt in my hand decomposing into a faint smoke of Death and Stars. In fact, every snowflake that touched my body met a similar end.

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s more than my body temperature that rose. It¡¯s like an innate resistance to spells or something.¡±

    ¡°A greater resistance is a fine gift, but don¡¯t mistake it for immunity,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t think of it.¡±

    An Inviolate Star bloomed above my fingers as I formed the hand-spell. Its light repelled the thick layers of Sleep that¡¯d risen to mid-calf in height. The bubble of safety was large enough to cover Sphinx and myself as I clung to her back on our flight to the center of the archive.

    From the air I finally noted the origin of the song. Ensconced within the walls were speakers that all sang the same song of how comfortable it¡¯d be to close your eyes and let Sleep take you. I sneered at the sentiment and the lack of threads connecting me to the spell.

    ¡°Where¡¯re the ties of fate?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not here. This spell it¡¯s unfocused and uncaring. There¡¯s no intention to target you, and thus no fated connection.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s what, coincidence?¡±

    ¡°Nothing is a coincidence, Nadia. This is nature. It happens as it happens, and whether you¡¯re there to hear it or not the sound and cycles exist.¡±

    ¡°I hate it,¡± I said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    When we neared the center of the archive I discovered the faces of my enemies. One of them was clothed entirely in black¡ªsweater, pants, boots¡ªwith a semi-sheer black veil over her face. While the other was a brick-wall of a boy in denim overalls and a raglan tee. On his back was a shimmering aquamarine isopod that clung to his body with chitinous legs that pierced his body. Under the Omensight, both of them lacked the luminosity I¡¯d come to expect from fighting upChain foes¡ªgood.

    ¡°Sphinx, maintain the star for me.¡±

    I felt through my spirit as she wrapped the Inviolate Star in her own control. Carefully, I stood atop Sphinx¡¯s back and formed the hand-spell for Fivefold Atomic Glory. Fuck holding back. I loosed the spell.

    A streak of fading chalcedony flames trailed behind the brilliant howling star that consumed distance like kindling. From our distance to the square¡ªwe had a few minutes left before we arrived¡ªI couldn¡¯t tell if my two targets had noticed it or not. Even if they had, I didn''t expect them to survive. When the spell had landed it exploded into a towering pillar of chalcedony fire that stretched up toward the spatially expanded ceiling. For a solitary moment it was as if a faucet had been turned on connecting the archive to a world of infinite fire.

    We arrived as the pillar thinned to a needle and then was gone. In its absence I noted how much it took with it¡ªthe stele with the map, numerous petals and most of the miniature maze connecting the elevators to the archive¡¯s center. I had us land in the epicenter of the blast. There weren¡¯t any flames that kept burning¡ªRevelation was a moment after all¡ªso it wasn¡¯t like the rest of the archive was at risk. I did feel a pain though, in the place where I remembered that there was a life where I would¡¯ve been a researcher, as I noted how many racks of information, files, and artifacts I¡¯d just destroyed.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t hold back at all, huh?¡± a boy¡¯s voice said.

    I turned atop Sphinx¡¯s back to watch as the boy and the black-clothed woman next to him surfaced back into reality. The planes of themselves slowly connecting until they had fully extricated themselves from whatever space they¡¯d stepped out from. It was similar to what Amber had done back at the outpost. Slipping beneath the threads of the world.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to be rude,¡± I said. ¡°Now, what¡¯d you do to Amber?¡±

    I emphasized my question by leveling the glaive at him. He held up his hands and pointed past my shoulder. Wordlessly, I took back control of the Inviolate Star while channeled her own Atomic Glories so they¡¯d be ready at my order. Sphinx raised her wings aiming the eyes at the boy while I turned my head, slowly, to his companion.  She sat atop one of the racks. Between her fingers she dangled Amber¡¯s sorc-deck¡ªher bloodsoaked sorc-deck¡ªas if it was a used tissue.

    ¡°Just doing some vocal training,¡± she said, before assuming Amber¡¯s voice. ¡°Did I do a good job?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I lied. It was a masterful impression.

    ¡°Shame, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be practicing it much beyond tonight. Now, you can stand down and take the test next year, or you can be like Amber¡­¡±

    She tossed the sorc-deck through the air. Blam. A crack of ear-splitting thunder. The sorc-deck shattered into a rain of expensive shards. My eyes slid to the boy holding two phantasmal revolvers in meaty fists. One was smoking¡ªa wispy cloud of stardust that glittered in the light.

    ¡°Dead,¡± she finished.

    ¡°You¡¯re lying,¡± I said.

    ¡°The only lie that¡¯s been said is that I did a bad job. Toby, show her.¡±

    The isopod on the boy¡ªToby¡¯s¡ªback extended long pedipalps that formed a halo behind Toby¡¯s head. It twisted and wove Stars with Stars. As it worked an image of Amber¡¯s slaughtered form took shape in between the three of us.

    Phantasmal swords had skewered her chest. Her fingers were blackened and loose, unable to hold the blood-drenched knife she¡¯d shown me in the library. There was no fire behind her rosy eyes. While her lips were pale, lifeless, never again to press against my own.

    ¡°Get it now. Back down or¡ª¡±

    My laughter severed her voice. Whatever script she was following I¡¯d thrown her off of it into the deep end of what churned inside my heart. She may have been veiled, but the flood of laughter had instilled a tenseness in her body. She shared glances with Toby who looked to her for direction. It was just so funny that I couldn¡¯t help but smile even though they couldn¡¯t see it.

    ¡°Alls below, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Toby asked.

    ¡°The idea that you killed Amber. She¡¯s a Baron, and both of you are just soldiers. If all your team are like you then you¡¯re down the person needed to even begin to challenge her,¡± I said. ¡°But, I think I prefer humoring you. So let¡¯s say you did.¡±

    I slid from Sphinx¡¯s back. Tossed the Inviolate Star just a bit above me as I formed the seal for Atomic Glory. My eyes on the thread of fate tying us together by her intent to threaten me.

    ¡°If you did,¡± I said, ¡°then that means I¡¯ll need your heads so I can have a good funeral gift.¡±

    Infinity split. The tie between us went up in flames that raced along fate¡¯s edge to pierce her heart. She likely had some sort of sorcerous sight as she fell forward and disappeared beneath the skein of the world. My flames burnt down to nothing as their target was¡ªfor all intents and purposes¡ªno longer existent.

    Toby lacked sorcerous sight, so when he finally caught on he was too late on pulling those triggers. I¡¯d caught the Inviolate Star and slid my body in front of Sphinx as the ¡°bullets¡± those unReal guns fired were dispersed along the edge of light the star cast.

    Sphinx loosed her own Atomic Glories. They were a rapid fire barrage of chalcedony bolts that lanced the air. Speeding up, Toby¡¯s entity traced a square with its pedipalps that conjured a wall that splashed against the hasty defense.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°My entity says we¡¯re cousins,¡± Toby said.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yup, Primordials on my end,¡± he explained. ¡°Revelation on yours.¡±

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯re definitely going through all your cousins after this.¡±

    The conjured wall dissipated as did the guns in Toby¡¯s hands. He bounced on the balls of his feet before suddenly throwing himself backwards. The pedipalps traced a circle conjuring a trampoline. It sproinged Toby forward fast as an arrow. Sphinx fired more Atomic Glories. She had perfectly calculated three steps ahead. Toby stopped two steps in. Circle. Another trampoline¡ªthis time below his feet¡ªshot him upwards in a tight arc. Sphinx aimed upwards firing lances of chalcedony flame toward the ceiling. To its credit, Toby¡¯s entity had already begun rapidly conjuring walls. One per lance. Null result. Null result. Null result.

    He landed in front of me. Low as a monkey. Wicked sharp phantasmal swords of stardust in his hands. One upward slice! I danced back with a lean narrowly evading. He lunged forward catching me on the backfoot. Thrust his blade out to skewer me. Sphinx caught the back of my shirt with her teeth. Whipped me to the side as she corkscrewed low. Kicked her back legs out as they clanged against the quickly sketched shield that saved Toby¡¯s arms from being maimed.

    He slid back a few feet from the force of the blow. The shield already dissipating. Drip, drip, drip. This time the blood drops weren¡¯t in my mind. A bright red splatter-flower had bloomed to the side of my feet. In a glance I noted its origin, a sanguine line drawn across the side of my torso. It burned with the reminder of my own mortality. I narrowed my eyes at the dissipating sword.

    ¡°Hmm, looks like spells from outside have problems, but spells from the inside are fine.¡± Toby said, ¡°Tell Shenshen I need a bit of help.¡±

    ¡°Who are you talking to?¡± I asked.

    A howl cut through the air in response. My gaze slipped from Toby toward the air beside me. Between the ever-falling snowflakes emerged a dire wolf. An iconic entity for those bonded to the Court of Sleep. Large as a sedan, their fur was wild and black like frostbitten fingers. Large holes seemed cut out from its limbs and shoulders through which the wind whistled and brought as herald a maelstrom of snow. While its skull was no lupine thing but rather a crescent of deepest winter blue ice brought to a sinister point. It was with that eyeless crescent skull it gored Sphinx and raced her off from beyond my light.

    The wind came after toying with my hair as the cloud of snow formed a thick screen around the sanctuary my Inviolate Star provided. A spell in and of itself¡ªrather than just the product of one¡ªits composition obfuscated my vision due to the Omensight. Lines of thought plowed across my brow as I pushed my sight past the spell that had curtained the archive from me. Toby was gone.

    I ducked low and kicked out, making a T of my body. My shoe crunched into Toby¡¯s face. His feet continued while his head snapped backwards. His body spun and his head cracked into the ground. The knives he conjured dissipated instantly. One-handedly I attempted to twirl Mother¡¯s Last Smile, but it wasn¡¯t that light of glaive. By the time the tip was to the ground and I dropped to a knee in a bid to drive it through Toby¡¯s face he¡¯d already rolled away. Spun on his shoulder, snapping a kick into my already wounded side.

    While I hissed in pain, he kicked back to standing. The pedipalps sketched a maul into his hands¡ªthe kind you¡¯d use at some faire game. I yanked free my glaive only barely interposing it in time before the maul¡¯s head swung into my weak side. Though I¡¯d caught the maul on the shaft his blow still struck with full force. I felt it flatten the entirety of my body as if a wall had been slammed into me. Then came the waves of shock that rippled through my viscera and shook my teeth. It was a mercy that the blow sent me flying through the air into one of the racks. Less of a mercy when I bounced off of it into a secondary arc that landed me between the shelves.

    Through wheezing gasps I voicelessly railed against the unfairness of it all. Toby was a horrible fighter. Physically capable but in a competition of skill he wouldn¡¯t be my match in the slightest. He wasn¡¯t my match in the slightest. Unfortunately his team had stacked the deck and dealt me the worst cards possible. If I dropped the Inviolate Star to wield my glaive properly it¡¯d force me to rush through fighting Toby before the omnipresent spellsong put me to Sleep. If I didn¡¯t drop the spell, then I¡¯d be slowly ground to nothing under the endless barrage of Toby¡¯s attacks.

    I eyed the star that floated above my hands¡ªeven knocked aside I¡¯d kept the spell up. I wanted to swear at it, furious that my opponent was the one who revealed one of its weaknesses. Spells cast within its light weren¡¯t scattered the way external ones were. It¡¯s why his sword and maul could wound me, but his bullets¡­his bullets couldn¡¯t!

    ¡°Toby, if it wasn¡¯t for your teammates I¡¯d have killed you by now,¡± I called out.

    Toby said, ¡°Yeah, yeah, whine all you want, but I have my teammates and you don¡¯t have yours. Complaining doesn¡¯t change the facts. Besides, you¡¯re the one stuck using an inelegant piece of Real gear. Me, all my toys are made to order. No fumbling needed.¡±

    Through the Omensight I saw past all the shelves as his entity sketched a bench for him to sit on to catch his breath. The bench wasn¡¯t Real, nothing about it was, and in truth its entire function was found in enforcing a causal relationship through its own ontological purpose. A bench was to be sat on, and thus he could sit on it. Effect found through the visual establishment of cause. Pieces were being slotted into place, a theory forming, and I tested it by examining my first wound of our fight.

    The cut he¡¯d landed on me still held traces of his Court, a few traces of the Bloodlust that seemed so loud and obvious when I wore the mask, and beneath all of that was the fate that came from being cut. Bleeding until my mind was dizzy and flesh pale. Until I looked just like Amber. His attacks had the full might of causality and fate behind them, and the wounds dogged you until you stumbled into a grave. This was everything I¡¯d hoped for.

    I regarded the Inviolate Star with a shy appreciation and embarrassed smile. It wasn¡¯t its fault I wasn¡¯t the summoner I imagined myself to be. If I was, I wouldn''t have forgotten that there was a second way to use this spell.

    ¡°Hey Toby,¡± I said. ¡°How¡¯s my entity doing?¡±

    ¡°Better than you.¡±

    ¡°Great.¡± I said, ¡°I think I¡¯ve caught my breath. Ready for round two?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Using Mother¡¯s Last Smile, I propped myself up. Leaned against it as I opened my first mouth, fangs parting in thick strings of bloodthirsty salivation. Opened my second, soft lips pushed aside by a flat pink tongue that made a tunnel for my spell to travel down. I pressed the Inviolate Star against my tongue. Curled around the sorcerous creation and pulled it into my throat. Felt it blacken my esophagus. Melt my intestines as it fell into my gut. It was an atrocious sensation, but after any bout of pain came the syrup flow of pleasure. That sweetness which made the whole cycle worth doing again.

    It soothed the pains Toby had caused me. Diverted the fate of my wound and thus delayed my end. The flame that burned in my gut even soothed the secret hurts that drilled beneath my fingernails and made slow my hands¡ªwith the White Womb, had I killed a child? Without Amber can I pass the exam? Am I going to die? Under the pyroclastic flow that had worked through the barrier of my intestines and invaded my arteries all of those concerns became ash on my breath.

    I was immolating. I was great. I would win.

    My glaive felt loose in my hand as I my shuffled steps became loping bounds. Out past the wire-racks into the aisle. The corona of chalcedony flame searing those Sleepy snowflakes from the air before they had a chance to befoul my skin. I stared Toby down. He shifted and his bench collapsed from beneath him¡ªits purpose fulfilled as he had already sat down.

    ¡°You crazy bitch,¡± he said.

    I laughed, ¡°Come on Toby, if we¡¯re going to kill each other we have to go at least that far!¡±

    Then I sprinted at him. A wide-mouthed hunting bitch ready to rip him limb from limb. He fumbled to his feet. Raised a rapidly conjured gatling gun in both hands. Fired.

    Unwilling to reveal my gambit just then, I dashed to the side. Shifted myself to run in an arc around him. His thoughtless spray gave me perfect cover to run near Sphinx. She was wounded from the spear that was the dire wolf¡¯s skull. Oh she¡¯d given back as much as she could from how the flames licked at the entity¡¯s body. It was¡ªin even further testament to how unfair this fight had been¡ªhardly enough to stop it. As its summoner¡¯s song proved capable of putting even the flames of Revelation to Sleep. So I decided to even her fight.

    ¡°Sphinx, catch!¡±

    I pirouetted on my next step, used all the extra force the motion afforded me, and threw my glaive. It spun end over end and struck the haunches of the dire wolf. Scored a sharp line through its flesh before arcing up into the air. In two wingbeats, Sphinx had taken to the air to catch the glaive¡¯s haft in her own jaws.

    End this cousin of ours, Nadia. She thought.

    Click. Toby¡¯s gun was empty. He made the mistake of looking down at it in disbelief as it discorporated. I raced forward. The scent of the kill teasing my nostrils and tying a noose about my inhibitions. There was violence to be done.

    I wasn¡¯t so lucky as to catch him unhanded¡ªhe¡¯d formed knives just in time. They caught me in the gut at once. Both of them intent on pincering through my necessary organs. Knives stab after all. Toby yanked them back, his entity conjured more, and he stabbed again. Ten times he stabbed me between both hands. I stood there and took it. My body shuddered with each blow.

    ¡°Tsk tsk,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll need something more Real if you want to put me down.¡±

    As someone who suffers from chronic tunnel-vision, I understood Toby¡¯s pain. He had executed his plan perfectly. Strike me with multiple causal weapons until I succumbed to my fated end. It wasn¡¯t his fault that he didn¡¯t know Revelation makes causality her bitch. Nor was it his fault that, despite having never done theater, I was still a decent actor.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± he said¡ªand it¡¯s only now that I realize he was so young, we both were. Shame.

    I said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t change the facts.¡±

    His weapons discorporating and mind fraying, Toby leaped backward to gain distance. Gain time to think. I denied him either. My foot stomped atop his pinning him to the ground. His entity¡¯s pedipalps sketched a shield between his face and my fist. It was the causal truth that shields block, but we were beyond such concerns now.

    My fist shattered his shield diverting the fate he wished to impose on my body. Crashed into his guard. His arms flew wide. My other fist curved in tight next to my lead foot. Crack.

    ¡°Sorry about your rib, Toby!¡±

    My hands shot around to the back of his head. Toby had such pretty dark curls, perfect for gripping. I clinched and rammed my knee into his chest. Once, twice, three times and then crack. Now there was a song to be found. His sternum shattered I reared back for my killing blow. Formed the hand-spell for an Atomic Glory. Split infinity and clenched my fist around the flames sheathing it a formless mass of hungry fire.

    I released a haymaker only a beast could devise. It arced beautifully toward his head. Through the Omensight I could already see the potential splatter patterns of his ruined burning skull.

    ¡°Intermission,¡± she incanted.

    As I said and everyone tells me, I suffer from tunnel-vision a lot. In that moment where victory was nigh I forgot that this wasn¡¯t a one-versus-two. It was a one-versus-three. My body¡ªthe world¡ªfroze for a moment and four things happened.

    One. Toby¡¯s teammate, the black clothed girl, returned from that secret place behind the world.

    Two. She dragged him back from my fist, the heat of the flames had only just begun to melt his skin¡ªI can still hear the fat bubbling and popping like bacon on a skillet.

    Three. The two of them receded back behind the world only to reappear on the opposite side of the clear my earlier Fivefold Atomic Glory had made.

    Four. This one I hated the most. The girl, probably using her own entity, added their fourth teammate to the fight. In that one moment where I lacked all agency and control due to a power greater than mine I struck an unknown well of compassion against those who suffered in my Godtime.

    The Inviolate Star within me, already straining to divert the effects of the spellsong and Toby¡¯s attacks as I didn¡¯t dodge every bullet, failed to save me from this new sorcery. Sphinx had already warned me, albeit in reference to the after effects of Inviolate Star, that resistance even when overwhelming was not immunity.

    Time began and I felt a small palm strike me dead between my shoulder blades. A cooling balm flowed from her strike across my back. Wound across my body snuffing the corona of flames that burned and flicked in petulant rage. I stumbled, rolled, and before I could rise to my feet¡ª

    ¡°Bow,¡± the soft voice said.

    My head snapped low, but my eyes rolled up to peer up at the one who ambushed me. She was cute¡ªdespite my snarling rage, she was. Small and pale as a doll with wide bright green eyes she wore her oversized jacket well. From its many steel loops were different booklets of seafoam formation paper. Their complex mortal crafted spells written in calligraphic strokes of Underink. On chunky turquoise platform mary janes she walked forward trepidatiously. There was a curiosity in her eyes at the beast before her.

    ¡°I need to know that you understand me,¡± she said.

    ¡°Understand that unless you let me go,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to jam my Toby¡¯s radii through your eyes after I tear them from his body!¡±

    ¡°Good enough.¡± She said, ¡°First, I want you to hear me when I say that I am of the rank of Baron. You¡¯re not breaking through my Suppression seal on your own. Second, this is your last chance for mercy. If you fight against my seal your organs will shut down and you¡¯ll most likely die.¡±

    I pushed forward. Limbs outstretched and hands ready to wring her doll-like neck until those emerald eyes rolled into her skull.

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°Die.¡±

    Thud. My heart came to a rushing halt. Every part of my body froze in the moment of that last pounding beat. I could feel my nerves belay each successive order that would¡¯ve let me follow through on my sudden assault. Instead I just fell to the ground. There was no pain¡ªmy receptors had stalled as well. Everything was shutting down.

    The Inviolate Star within myself was but an ember stolen on the wind. It flew off into the recesses of my being. Not snuffed, but Suppressed. Then came the snowflakes that fell against my body. Thousands upon thousands of them entombing me in the winter chill of Sleep. I could imagine the soft furry blanket that I used to wrap around myself during winter. The crackle of the hearth. Mom and Dad quietly sipping tea. The gentle song of the snowy wind teasing the windows. It all lulled me into a darkness that dragged me¡­

    Down.

    Down.

    Down.

    Down.

    Down.

    Down.

    Down.

    Down.

    Darkness.

    My last sight was of an elevator opening. A woman tall and wolflike standing proud. Her hand to the air as she wielded something. While her guitar was strung low¡ªperpendicular¡ªto her body.

 Chapter 23

    In the end there was nothing. A void that wasn¡¯t black because even black was something. My self¡ªwhat even there was of me¡ªadrift bodiless. Mindless. Everything I¡¯m saying right now, just an approximation of what it felt to be obliterated, or what I thought at the time was obliteration; in that place of no place there was no such thing as sensation¡ªor so I thought.

    Dad used to joke whenever he turned on the lights in my room to wake me up for school when I was a kid. He¡¯d say, ¡°And then there was light,¡± in mimicry of some hoary storyteller. As if light came before everything else. When the truth was sound came first.

    A growl ripped through the nothingness. Nothing like what came from Sphinx¡¯s throat, but something more articulated. Electric and fuzzy at the edges. Warm with a hint of stickiness from how the notes¡ªit was sound, music!¡ªwouldn¡¯t fade into memory. Raoooow!

    There it was again. Additive to the sound that still haunted the present moment with their echoes. The two noises ripping into each other until the erratic tearing left beautiful sonic ribbons tying them together. Ribbons.

    Ribbons of light¡ªstrings¡ªcut through the void. Gold as honey. Amber. Sunlight. Morning dawn!

    One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six beautiful strings. Then bountiful chaos. Energetic. Lively. Life. Each string vibrating as they were struck by some unearthly force. In their motion I knew direction, and with direction I fell.

    Down¡ªno¡ªup? Yes. Up and up from the void into the deep dark where once again I saw black. My first taste of something from the mire of nothing I had nearly made home. It was heard I heard the compliment to the wailing guitar that beckoned me siren-like. The voice was raspy, yearning, and dripping with the kind of need that made a mother run in search of her kid. It pleaded to the world and me to come back. To get up. To live.

    It was then I opened my eyes. Shoved my head from out beneath a heavy winter white comforter. My hair wild and bonnet half off. I gripped the sheets as I regarded the cabin I¡¯d found myself in. It was simple¡ªwooden with only one large room¡ªand very little furniture. Walls were adorned in photos. Memories of happier days. While across from the bed were two plush chairs, a table, and a fireplace whose flame had gone low. Only sputtering embers remained.

    ¡°You¡¯re letting in the cold,¡± a voice whined. It was so familiar?

    Then, no doubt belonging to the voice, a foot collided with my side punting me from the bed. I hit the floor and rolled to a propped up crouch¡ªeven in death my mom¡¯s lessons still held. The foot disappeared beneath the blanket before I could see it. Though I did make out the lump beneath the sheets that I realized I¡¯d slept against.

    I said, ¡°It¡¯s not really my fault. Someone let the fire go out.¡±

    Grumbling moans seeped out from my unseen cabinmate. An arm thrust out from beneath the blanket. It was the same color as me, but cold in its undertone where I was warm. The fist at the arm¡¯s end shook vigorously in uproar.

    ¡°Then go do something about it,¡± it said. The voice was feminine. ¡°Here, take this.¡±

    I held out my hands as it dumped bright silver-white strands of something into my cupped palms. The first became a flat hand that fanned me away in dismissal.

    ¡°Toss it on the fire. Be quick about it. It¡¯s cooooold,¡± the voice whined again.

    Holding the strands carefully, I crossed the cabin toward the fireplace. Tossed them onto the flames and watched as the embers¡ªthey were chalcedony?¡ªconsumed the strands greedily. Streaks of that beautiful silver-white bringing an energy and a texture to that familiar fire. It was in one burst¡ªa bit of a burp really¡ªthat the flames rose and expelled outward. Eating me.

    * * *

    I screamed as I pushed up from the ground. Around me the imperceptible din of reality flooded my ears at once. My brain took a few moments to resume control of my faculties, and parse the many channels of information that I¡¯d become rusty noticing and ignoring.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t she dead?¡± an annoying voice¡ªa cheater¡¯s voice¡ªsaid.

    Unbound from the doll-like summoner¡¯s command, I lifted my head. The three of them had clumped together behind Toby as Sphinx fired endless volleys of Atomic Glory at them from the air. Apparently the dire wolf had retreated. Going by the blood that dripped off my glaive¡¯s blade like water off a duck, I figured Sphinx had used the weapon well.

    To the left of me was Lupe whose eyes were shut and mouth wide as she sang a wordless song. No, I could feel it resonate with the fibers of my spirit. It was the same way that entities spoke. The way incantations worked¡ªmy mind renewed and freed from the grip of adrenaline or Bloodlust made that connection plenty clear.

    Lupe sang, ¡°A thousand children who knew only Night/Who played forever bound in Abyssal depths/Remember true that all things die/Though praise the Morning which lives again/Golden blades in both hands/Time shall be cut anew/From black bolts Tomorrow is sewn/And Freedom known as we once knew.¡±

    My heart quickened at the mournful invocation of an unmet tomorrow. One the singer believed they¡¯d never know yet could only believe in. Without it¡ªthe faith¡ªthey¡¯d crumble. It was a song for deities that¡¯d never listen nor act. Well fuck them, and fuck that. I rose on unsteady legs. My nerves relearning the best routes through my body. They were too slow, and I didn¡¯t need them anyways. I flexed my spirit and felt it pop. Crack. ROAR.

    The corona of fire that accompanied me when using the Inviolate Star this way bulged and flared. Briefly I was a pillar of chalcedony and quicksilver fire. An unnatural wickerwoman come to cut a way toward tomorrow for the pretty girl that asked for me.

    ¡°What¡¯d I miss?¡± I asked.

    Lupe ceased singing, but her hand stayed a blur as she strummed strings of amber plasma¡ªsunlight stretched across the neck that also served as haft to an ambrosia gold labrys. Her hair glistened from the sweat that poured down her brow. I couldn¡¯t help but imagine where else she might¡¯ve been sweating. I really was alive.

    ¡°Not much. Nearly lost you, but glad I found you. They buried you pretty deep,¡± she said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°and now I¡¯m going to return the favor. Sphinx, glaive me, cutie.¡±

    I tugged the mask¡ªit bit into my skin as if unwilling to part¡ªthen tore it free. Dropped it to the ground as I raised my hand up toward Sphinx. She opened her mouth and let it tumble through the air and down into my grasp. As if there was no other place it¡¯d rather be.

    ¡°Thanks for not slobbering over it,¡± I said.

    Sphinx smirked. ¡°Nadia, I have never once ¡®slobbered¡¯ and never will. Now please, can we see to them?¡±

    ¡°Sure, why not.¡±

    I spun the glaive effortlessly in my hand as if the memory of its heaviness was just a fiction. Perhaps it was¡ªthey weren¡¯t called Conceptual weapons for nothing. Though as I let it land over my shoulder I don¡¯t even know why I thought it was a weapon. It was my Mother¡¯s Last Smile. An expression of joy, love, sorrow, and the glee she had whenever I told her of how I faced the odds and didn¡¯t let that stop me. Earlier I said Toby and his teammates stacked the deck and dealt the cards. Well, this is where I flipped the table.

    I swaggered forward. Glaive swinging light as love on my shoulder. The tiny doll-like summoner¡¯s eyes became narrowed emerald talismans against my advance. So of course I stepped forward again. Again. Howled with laughter as she formed hand-spell after hand-spell to control whatever seal she had put inside of me.

    Toby asked her, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you use your best seal?¡±

    She said, ¡°I did. It¡¯d put down anyone that could actually be affected.¡±

    She stumbled backward and looked so small there on her ass. She crawled across the floor like the pitiful creature she¡¯d devolved into upon the sight of my not being dead. I grinned and licked my teeth¡ªwere they always that sharp?¡ªas some predatory streak couldn¡¯t help but desire to pin her to the ground by fang or glaive.

    ¡°What are you?¡± she asked.

    I let the glaive fall. Pinned it between my back and the crook of my arms. Angled myself and pushed forward fast as a comet. Flame trailed behind me. Toby¡¯s eyes widened. I let my left hand rise and just suggest a thrust through the glaive. In one motion¡ªmy body all intent and action without the infirmities of flesh¡ªI skewered the boy.

    ¡°A princess,¡± I said.

    Another suggestion of my desire, and the glaive rose with the boy upon it. The first living banner heralding my ascension. In his eyes I saw the burning dream of myself. Bright metal fangs that complimented eyes of primal innocence.

    It was that same innocence that guided my tongue free from my mouth to catch the droplets of his blood which fell like rain. He tasted of stardust, of pure ideas untainted. Purest aspiration and highest ideals. Oh if you could bottle that.

    ¡°Put¡­me¡­down,¡± he said.

    His face was growing pale. He could die. I ran the calculations on if I could hide the body¡ªI¡¯d told Melissa I would only kill for her after all. The numbers weren¡¯t good, and it helped that the third teammate, the one in black, was trying to sneak away. My Omensight was still up, and I watched as the world rippled against her touch. Like blinds, or curtains.

    ¡°No slipping away this time,¡± I said.

    I flicked the glaive flinging Toby from his impaled position to collide with the coward who was about to abandon them all. The two fell in a tangled clump. From my shift in attention I hadn¡¯t noticed as the other girl had fled toward the elevators. She held one of them open as she formed a hand-spell.

    Strands of Suppression¡ªthe colors of which were muted and ugly¡ªwove against the space between her and her teammates. It flared in a dull light that desaturated the threads around it. When the unlight cleared, the team was together in the elevator. I giggled at the creativity. She¡¯d Suppressed distance. Now there was an idea.

    I ran toward them unwilling to let them get away. Toby raised a gun while one of them hammered at the ¡®close doors¡¯ button.

    ¡°You can¡¯t keep trying the same thing, Toby,¡± I yelled. ¡°That¡¯s just crazy!¡±

    He flipped me off. Winced as the girl in black had to shift the pressure she kept against his wound. Then, following my advice, he shifted his aim from me to Lupe. Fired. I spun to her and plunged us both into Godtime. I ran back toward her where the stardust bullet hung in space only a few inches from kissing the spot between the eyebrows. That spot which rippled just barely as she focused on playing. Enhancing me of all people. She was a key piece of things and I wouldn¡¯t let her die.

    I thrust the glaive forward as I removed us from Godtime. The bullet flattened into a curled back flower against the blade. Ding went the elevator and my retreating foes.

    ¡°Lupe, I appreciate the buffs but you have to dodge next time.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but dodge what?¡± she asked.

    ¡°The bullet.¡±

    ¡°There was a bullet?¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°Nadia, it can be hard to see a flashlight under the noontime sun.¡±

    ¡°What she said. You¡¯re really bright right now,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Only thing brighter was the smaller girl, she was at Baron, right?¡±

    ¡°She was. Now, we have to go catch them before the taller girl slips away with them all.¡±

    Lupe shook her. ¡°Not likely. Each floor¡¯s spatially enhanced, so the elevator has to be like really spatially constrained. Only way it can connect to each one.¡±

    ¡°Then we can still catch up?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If that¡¯s our aim,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°then get on.¡±

    We both climbed atop Sphinx as she landed. Lupe¡¯s strumming became more muted and with it so to my flame. I¡¯d been renewed by her spell, but renewing from nearly zero doesn¡¯t necessarily add anything to you. Beyond what you need to get up and out of bed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± she said, ¡°when we get a quiet moment I¡¯ll fill you to the brim.¡±

    ¡°Innuendos are my job,¡± I said. ¡°Stick to playing with your guitar.¡±

    She rested her head against my shoulder as if my clothes would hide the blush that betrayed her. From between my legs I felt Sphinx rumble and warm. It was a good burn that followed the curve of her spine before she opened her mouth and expelled a concentrated beam of chalcedony at the elevator door. The sorcerously treated metal softened beneath her assault, but failed to fully come undone. So I helped.

    I worked my core so I could sit up, and gestured with Mother¡¯s Last Smile. The stroke was smooth¡ªso it was fast as fuck¡ªas a bright edge of light flew from the glaive to shear the weakened elevator door¡¯s in two.

    We entered the elevator shaft at such a rush Sphinx had to kick off of the wall to evade ramming into it. She kicked off the opposite one¡ªjust above the doorway¡ªbefore she could finely engage her wings and propel us up after our fleeing foes.

    Sphinx even cast Atomic Glory through the patterned eyes on her haunch fur. They burnt hard like the photos of spaceships launching back during the Old World. Though I like to think it was more that she was mimicking a usage I¡¯d already discovered. Whatever the inspiration, we quickly rocketed after them. Were a hair¡¯s breadth away from them. Equal.

    Through the Omensight the elevator may as well have been windowed glass from how I could peek at them. They were shaking in fear. The two girls were arguing. While Toby had gotten his feet beneath him, and the pedipalps of his entity had woven bandages tight around his body. A clever enough idea to keep from bleeding out.

    ¡°Lupe, I need you to play hard.¡±

    ¡°Normally I save that for the off-the-clock,¡± she joked, ¡°but for you, anytime.¡±

    She struck the strings of her labrys-guitar, and fanned my flames to a heroic frenzy.

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± she asked.

    I said, ¡°Bring some gifts.¡±

    Keep Lupe safe, I thought.

    Think of yourself, Sphinx thought back.

    Then I jumped from her back. Legs drawn up into a tight isosceles triangle. Glaive clenched tight to my body as it contorted to gather strength. The bladehead caught an invisible light as it glistened¡ªwinked¡ªbefore I thrust it forward. My mother¡¯s other technique on my lips.

    ¡°Blind the Stars.¡±

    The elevator¡¯s wall sheared apart as if unseen thumbs were breaking open a pastry to lap at the cream inside. Hands on my weapon, I let it carry me forward into the elevator. I winked as I passed the girl in black. Toby. Before my weapon sheared into the other wall¡ªthough I didn¡¯t permit it, as I didn¡¯t want it¡ªand blew that apart as well. Though this order came after I had severed the smaller girl¡¯s arm from the shoulder.

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    ¡°Gaaaah,¡± she screamed as she slid down the wall that remained only because I wished it.

    The girl in black said, ¡°Inter¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said.

    My fist punctuated the order by stamping it knuckle-first into her throat. She froze in a silent scream as her own magic flowed back against her. I marveled at the newly learned consequence to failing to finish an incantation. Pride welled within me as I remembered how long of an incantation Lupe¡¯s spellsong was. She¡¯d done that mid-fight without missing a word.

    ¡°Catch,¡± Toby said.

    He¡¯d tossed me a grenade that I caught one-handedly. Weak as he was, it was hardly a difficult throw to receive. I looked at him with a faint sneer of boredom.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯ve already established your attacks aren¡¯t working on me. There¡¯s none of your other teammate¡¯s music here to try and weaken my defenses. At best the only thing you did here was blow yourselves up.¡±

    ¡°You talk too much,¡± the doll girl said.

    She¡¯d raised a slip of formation paper in her remaining hand. Threw it against the ceiling where it stuck. Before flattening into the metal; merging with it. Then formed a hand-spell to activate the formation. The script illuminated before it fell around me in a circular curtain of repeating phonemes. I scanned the rivulets of script and parsed the formation¡¯s name, Tower of Sanctuary. My eyes met those doll-like ones as my confusion raised my question.

    ¡°For us,¡± she said. ¡°From you.¡±

    Then the grenade blew up. That one was my fault.

    Trapped inside of the cylinder of force, the grenade¡¯s explosion could only flow downward. Which, for whatever reason, the trap didn¡¯t perfectly extend into the floor. A factor which saw Toby and the smaller girl leap into the air and cling to the elevator¡¯s interior. Toby¡¯s entity saw fit to conjure a rope to wrap around the girl in black to save her too. All I could do was cling to Mother¡¯s Last Smile as the explosion pushed down through the metal. Aided by my own weight falling through the absent floor while I clung to the glaive¡¯s shaft. It fell further.

    I rotated the glaive so the unsharp inner curve of the blade¡¯s crescent hooked onto what remained of the elevator¡¯s metal. My nails drew blood as the veins of my arms bulged in a bid to hold on. The explosion and lightened weight caused the elevator to rocket upwards faster than its winch could handle. Something high above cracked as the entirety of the lift swung through the air like a flail.

    We crashed into the interior of the shaft. Carved through the earth as the formations that constructed the elevator overrode the untreated earth between floors. Only for the wire cable to snap releasing us from any tether.

    I wouldn¡¯t let my glaive¡ªmy mother¡ªgo even as all strength flagged within me. I¡¯d gone beyond the range of Lupe¡¯s song. My vision dimmed as the lobby rotated end over end. Floor then ceiling then floor again. Crack. Everything was white. Another thing in me broke. Then I dropped from the pillar I¡¯d smacked against down to the floor. It was cold.

    Bloody coughs worked through my body splatter-painting the wooden floors. The pain screeched through my mind, skewering every thought. I rose again all the same. Clinging to my glaive through force of spirit and blazing will. Even without Lupe¡¯s spell to banish the shadows of injuries I knew lingered in my body, I wasn¡¯t going down into the dark. Not again. The flames flared again, not into a glorious uproar, but a temerous blaze that could only exist from knowing the shadows with which it denied.

    The three members of the retrieval team crawled out of the remains of the elevator that had speared¡ªupside down¡ªinto the center of the room. They rose to their feet with murder obviously upon the mind. A hunger to put down something that terrified them.

    ¡°I¡¯m not that special,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe you all just suck?¡±

    As a unit they marched toward me with weapons drawn. The girl in black had pulled out a katana while the smaller girl¡ªnow singularly armed¡ªdragged a three-section staff behind her. Toby for his part leaned on a spear that had impaled a piece of debris he likely planned to beat me to death with. Despite their assembly and bitter determination they were no less ragged. My violence and the crash had pushed them to the brink. Was only a matter of what snapped first, their bodies or their minds.

    ¡°What are you?¡± the small armless girl asked.

    ¡°Told you,¡± I said. ¡°A princess.¡±

    ¡°You died,¡± she said.

    ¡°You¡¯re exaggerating.¡±

    ¡°Any human would have.¡±

    ¡°Guess I¡¯m just built different,¡± I said with a wink.

    Toby said, ¡°I can¡¯t wait to pull you apart and find out.¡±

    ¡°No one¡¯s pulling anyone apart,¡± Melissa bellowed.

    Her voice boomed down from the darkened ceiling as she dropped like a meteor of garbage from the lunar palaces. The trio hurried backward and waved their weapons in front of themselves as if anything Real could hope to leave even a blemish on her scales.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± the girl in black asked.

    ¡°My fiancee,¡± I said.

    ¡°Ex,¡± Melissa rumbled. ¡°Now put your weapons down or I hose you with a potent neurotoxin that¡¯ll make you hallucinate so hard you rip your flesh from your bones.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try it,¡± Toby said.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t,¡± Lupe said.

    From beyond my ex¡¯s chimeric form and my assembled enemies had landed Sphinx and Lupe. Catching sight of me, Lupe strummed her guitar. I felt my flames increase, banishing my sense of pain that barbed connector between body and spirit. My back straightened as I walked around Melissa to face down the three of them. If you counted Sphinx and I as one¡ªwhich you always should with summoners¡ªthis fight was finally even. While I may have been beaten down to the Underside, so were they and my allies weren¡¯t.

    ¡°I have one amendment,¡± I said. ¡°I do want to tear them apart.¡±

    Melissa looked to me with the soft pain of betrayal in her eyes. I pressed my hand against her monstrous bulk.

    ¡°They crossed the line first. They killed Amber.¡±

    Even when she was in her chimeric form, there was a gentle humanness to how Melissa carried herself. Where despite the sharp fangs, envenomed claws, and reptilian eyes she¡¯d still be just as likely to say, ¡°oh shucks,¡± if she dropped something. When she heard my news it evaporated. Her scales mutated into spikes of unyielding keratin while her maw opened. Super-acid drool dripped between her fangs bringing the wood to a sizzle as acid consumed organic matter. While her claws gouged the wood as she advanced on them.

    ¡°Much as I¡¯d love to see you kill in my name, Princess¡­¡± Amber¡¯s voice called out.

    She passed from beneath the world¡ªthrough the curtains¡ªwith an effeminate boy¡¯s hair wound up within her fist. His steps stumbled into drags as their heights were too disparate. In one hand was a clutched flute while the other latched limply about his throat. Nestled just beneath the knife¡ªAmber¡¯s knife¡ªthat had been thrust through his throat. Shiny blood beading around the imprecise and all too sharp plug.

    ¡°My death has been greatly exaggerated.¡±

    From how Toby and the girls looked, they were as surprised as me. The girl in black stomped her foot. Her voice high and nasally as she cried at the unfairness of it all.

    ¡°Don¡¯t any of you stay dead?¡± she asked.

    ¡°All of us would,¡± I said, ¡°if you weren¡¯t bad at fighting.¡±

    ¡°Oh shut up, you believed we killed her too.¡±

    ¡°Really, Temple?¡± Amber asked. ¡°Were you driven mad in grief at my apparent demise?¡±

    ¡°She was,¡± Toby said.

    ¡°Shut up, Toby,¡± I said. ¡°Amber, I was not ready to say goodbye. So they had to pay for taking what belonged to me.¡±

    ¡°She belongs to you?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°Are you all in one polycule together?¡± Toby asked.

    ¡°Toby, shut up before I rip out your vocal cords with my second inner jaw,¡± Melissa yelled.

    Lupe laughed at everything. We¡¯d come out on top, so why not laugh. So I joined in, and let my spirit clench and release in relief. Melissa¡¯s own laughter came out as a bassy purr that teased the bones. None of us died.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to go out there and give up,¡± Amber said, ¡°or I pull this knife from his neck and get to painting the floor.¡±

    Toby said, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t kill him.¡±

    ¡°Seeing as you all tried very hard to kill me,¡± Amber said, ¡°I might just slip.¡±

    She carefully took the knife between two fingers. Pulled it slowly from his neck. Beads of blood became red rivulets down his throat beneath his thick jacket.

    ¡°Shut up Toby,¡± the smaller summoner said.

    Amber stopped the knife.

    Melissa said, ¡°Amber, we won.¡±

    ¡°We did, princess, so now I¡¯m negotiating their surrender.¡±

    ¡°We will. All of us.Just tell me, how¡¯d you not die.¡±

    ¡°Easy, I wasn¡¯t the one you ¡®killed¡¯. Nahey, if you will,¡± Amber said.

    From an empty space in the room, another Amber¡ªthe wounded one with dead lips and skewered by swords¡ªentered from between the curtains. A brightness returned to the mimic¡¯s eyes as it gave a polite parade leader wave at all of us, its audience. Then it fell apart. Collapsing like a tower of sand before becoming a flock of butterflies¡ªNahey.

    The swords dispersed into stardust and nothingness. While the girl in black stumbled backward in complete terror. She leveled an accusatory finger at Amber.

    ¡°She¡¯s a liar,¡± she screamed. ¡°She¡¯ll kill us all.¡±

    ¡°Wren, don¡¯t move.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not letting her touch me.¡±

    The girl in black¡ªWren¡ªswiveled on her foot and ran off between the curtains. None of us were quick enough to stop her. Toby and the small girl looked to Amber and their friend on the edge of death¡ªwho by process of elimination was probably Shenshen. Amber scoffed and dropped him from her grip. Then stepped between the curtains herself.

    They flitted into the world and back to that hidden place beneath. Their footsteps pounded on the balcony above us. We whirled around just in time to hear them pad across the clover lawn out front. I sprinted out the front door with Sphinx hot on my heels to see Amber drop from nearly twenty feet in the air. The last thing to appear being her hand as both her middle fingers had hooked into the girl¡¯s eyes like one would a bowling ball. Amber, however, treated her head more like a football as she launched her down into the ground.

    It was likely because of the clover making the soil soft that she bounced back up. Amber by then had landed. Her foot extended toward the sky like an executioner¡¯s axe before she swung it down, catching the girl in the stomach with her heel. Sphinx crossed in front of me, a bulwark against the pressure wave that spread across the lawn shattering the glass of the facility¡¯s windows and the lamps above the its lawn.

    My mouth fell into a scowl as I crossed around Sphinx to discover the crater that Amber and pushed Wren into¡ªused her to create. Another knife was held in Amber¡¯s hand as she menaced questions into the air with its point.

    ¡°Out with it,¡± she said. ¡°Who trained you? The Holly Stars, the North-East Conservatory, or was it just some wandering improv junkie?¡±

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said.

    ¡°Not now, Temple.¡±

    ¡°Is this one of your secrets?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but it¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    ¡°Shame. You¡¯re still having this in front of me. Can¡¯t help but be my business.¡±

    Amber pushed her back. Calming her raspberry locs into an orderly formation. Shame that same calm did nothing to quench the flames in her eyes. A point in my favor then that I was already on fire, and that look which burned me only days ago could do nothing to me right now.

    ¡°Help,¡± Wren said, ¡°she¡¯ll kill me.¡±

    I sighed, ¡°No she won¡¯t.¡±

    Amber looked about in search of some other woman named Amber. Then glanced at me with her eyebrow raised on stilts of incredulity.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t talking about me,¡± she said. ¡°I am going to kill her. Right after she tells me who taught her.¡±

    ¡°You can get the info, but you¡¯re not killing her.¡±

    Amber said to Wren, ¡°Stay here.¡±

    She drew a second knife from her storage-spell and tossed the two of them through Wren¡¯s hands, crucifying her against the earth. Amber kicked off the ground in one leap out of the crater. Met me there at its edge and towered over me. Her eyes an incinerator of problems.

    ¡°She¡¯s dying, Temple.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that,¡± she said.

    ¡°Sounds like trouble we don¡¯t want,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°You know, only Temple¡¯s the cute one here.¡±

    ¡°Still,¡± I said, ¡°you said if someone doesn¡¯t want to tell you it¡¯s trouble you don¡¯t want. So I don¡¯t want it. She lives.¡±

    ¡°Temple¡ª¡±

    ¡°Do you kill for me?¡± I asked.

    The flame in Amber¡¯s eyes dimmed so she might actually see the steel of my own expression.

    ¡°Of course,¡± she said, pushing bounce into her voice.

    ¡°Then I say, she¡¯s not in my way. Which means?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t kill her,¡± Amber said. ¡°Oh, is junior watching or something? Trying to be the moralist despite having already wracked up a body count yourself?¡±

    ¡°Heel, Amber.¡±

    My spirit flexed, unfurling more fire like a flag snapping in the wind. A pronouncement that illuminated the lawn in a small circle about us. Amber¡¯s eyes softened at the sight of my determination and the flame which wound about my body like a raiment. Her fire snuffed. Then a mirth and a sparkle lit up her eyes as a smile twisted across her face. Gooey like an overfilled bun being squeezed until death.

    Amber moaned, ¡°Maybe you¡¯re more of a top than I thought, Temple. Still, let¡¯s hope you can handle holding onto my leash.¡±

    She leaped over the lip of the crater. Slid down its side where Wren remained pinned. Amber snatched the veil from her face. Exerted a field-spell over it as she crumpled it between her fingers returning it to a cloud of ebon dust. She inhaled the dust. Smirked, and leaned back over Wren as she met her crying face.

    ¡°Hmph, the North-East Conservatory,¡± she said. ¡°Thought you were hiding something new. Could¡¯ve saved yourself the trouble you idiot.¡±

    She cracked her foot against Wren¡¯s ribs. Then raised her hands in mock apology as she evacuated the crater to return to the building.

    Once Sphinx and I had freed Wren¡ªbecause Amber ¡°forgot¡± to remove her knives¡ªwe¡¯d set about binding the retrieval team using the binding suits that Amber apparently had in her storage-spell. They were like Undersuits¡ªmade of a repelling conweave¡ªbut not as bulky. Their tightness somewhere closer to a full-body straitjacket. While the repelling portion was internal rather than external so it could trap any magic used within the suit rather than letting any out¡ªironically, the reason why one could cast in an Undersuit but not risk suffering overexposure.

    After we locked the zipper and clasps on Toby, Sphinx took the cable¡ªalso courtesy of Amber¡ªinto her mouth to fly and hang him from the rig we¡¯d set up onto the many tall lamps illuminating the lawn. Shenshen and Wren were already hanging from their own. I had the fourth suit over my shoulder as I approached the smaller girl.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t put me in that if I were you,¡± she said.

    ¡°It¡¯s a part of the terms of your surrender,¡± I said. Amber had added more after Wren¡¯s attempt to flee.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°but I don¡¯t want to remove my seal from you without knowing for sure it won¡¯t kill you.¡±

    ¡°Are we still on this?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never left it,¡± she said. ¡°You might think we ¡®suck,¡¯ but I passed the prelims. I¡¯m not a bad summoner, and you¡¯re not that great of one either.¡±

    ¡°And what does this have to do with worrying about if I¡¯ll die?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how Suppression works,¡± she said. ¡°Most of our seals target something specific. While our spells employ a form of Suppression on the subject. When I fight summoners I use the one seal I know can apply to all of them while I try to find a better fit.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡±

    ¡°Their humanity. When I incanted your death it should¡¯ve Suppressed all your organ functions. Seeing as I watched you¡ªalbeit not fully¡ªdie, it worked. And I shoved the seal in as far as I could go.¡±

    ¡°Lupe¡¯s song revived me. Stop trying to get out of wearing the suit.¡±

    She rose to her feet. ¡°I¡¯m the diva of the Goetic Enclave, a collective North of Moontower. Kid, I¡¯m a Baron. My seals are tight enough to keep out a soldier¡¯s spellsong, and even if they weren¡¯t I can monitor what slips past easily. So trust me when I say, none of her magic touched your organs. Can you even feel them?¡±

    My throat was dry. I pressed my hand over my heart as I made a mocking smile. Of course I¡ªcouldn¡¯t? There was no beat in my chest against my breast.

    ¡°Did you even notice that your musculature is visible in the flames right now?¡±

    I examined my arm and saw the damascus pattern of my metal spirit flesh overlaid atop its corporeal counterpart. The fight was over and now was the time of mortal clarity.

    ¡°You¡¯re a tower of blocks right now,¡± she said, ¡°and we don¡¯t know which are load-bearing.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t wear the suit then,¡± I said.

    I glanced to the rest of my team yelling for a secretary to show up. Toby was yelling with them.

    I said to the diva, ¡°Then why am I standing?¡±

    ¡°A mystery of magic,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯d love to find out, but far as I can tell the girl may not have worked open my seal but she unplugged something that brought up that power of yours. Or maybe I¡¯m wrong. Hard to think when my brain is yelling that the arm¡ªwhich I no longer have¡ªis itchy.¡±

    The girl walked off yelling for a secretary as well. Eventually one showed up as we all remembered they were even present. Their outfit hidden beneath a black capelet with golden buttons embossed with the sun over the Brightgate¡¯s ancient bridge.

    ¡°Now that all parties are unanimous. Let¡¯s go over the forms.¡±

    A stack of papers materialized in their hands with a pen on top. Melissa loped over toward me where I loitered within the beam of light that stretched like a luminescent tongue from within the building.

    ¡°You okay?¡± she asked.

    ¡°You heard?¡±

    ¡°The ¡®diva of the Goetic Enclave¡¯ is kind of loud. Especially when you have super-hearing from mutating your ears to pick up a broader spectrum of sound at a farther distance.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. And, right now I don¡¯t know. I think I¡¯ll be fine, but it¡¯s why we need this damn secretary to show up. Once they formally give up we can go home and I¡¯ll get checked out. Besides, I¡¯m not going anywhere until I get some well-earned praise.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± she said. ¡°My girlfriend or fiancee would get praise for nothing. I don¡¯t know about you.¡±

    ¡°Please, I kept my promise. I didn¡¯t rush off and kill anyone. Technically, I even kept Amber from killing anyone. Everyone lived, can I at least get some praise for that?¡±

    ¡°Nadia, people should usually live.¡±

    Her ears¡ªtriangular as a junk¡¯s sails¡ªswiveled.

    ¡°Usually, but don¡¯t. Please, I could kind of use a hug right now.¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    My heart¡ªif it was beating¡ªwould¡¯ve skipped and shattered against the ground at her refusal. Instead my eyes only widened as she raced towards me. Her body morphing back into its chimeric form as fast as it could go. She leaped. Grasped my shoulders and turned me until her back was to the distant woods.

    Plsssh. Eyes barely peeking over Melissa¡¯s pronounced trapezius, I saw the secretary¡¯s head blow apart like a bat taken to a melon. The retrieval team screamed. Lupe shouted. Amber pushed her back toward the building for cover.

    Pwack! I felt a thud, but didn¡¯t burn with the pain of a new wound. Instead I felt the sudden weight of a chimeric Melissa slump against me. Sphinx tugged my shirt and helped me drag Melissa back inside as well.

    Free from the doorway I laid her down on her front. She¡¯d grown layered ceramic plates across her back like some mutated armadillo. They were shattered by a spider web of cracks around the sniper bullet that had gored her shoulder into a mess of churned meat.

    ¡°Amber, she¡¯s hit!¡±

 Chapter 24

    ¡°Temple you have to stop. Temple!¡± Amber said

    I pawed through the meat in search of the bullet. My fingers parted Melissa¡¯s flesh like sand. The only thing on my mind was what¡¯d happen if I didn¡¯t find it. I¡¯d have to call her mom¡ªwho¡¯d been my second mom for over a decade¡ªand tell her what happened. Then I¡¯d have to choose between finishing the exam or going home for the¡­for the¡­no. No, I was going to find the bullet and pull it out. Yank it free before death could take her. I wouldn¡¯t see another loved one step into that lightless place called death.

    Amber slipped her arm under my chin, locked her hand in the crook of her other arm¡¯s elbow, and yanked me back. She normally wore such long jackets that I hadn¡¯t realized how muscular Amber was until those very same muscles exerted dominance on my carotid artery. She rolled onto her back. Slipped her legs between mine and locked them up using her own.

    ¡°Nadia, you¡¯re killing her!¡±

    My hands unclenched letting meat and scales fall to the floor with a pitiful splorch. I rolled my eyes to their corners to meet Amber¡¯s face. She actually looked scared. For what? Of what? Me? I looked back to Melissa to find the Suppression summoner at her side. A rectangle of talismans creating an impromptu triage field.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°Are you?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Her legs unwound from around mine. Muscles unflexed as she slowly released me from the full-body submission hold she¡¯d had me within. I rolled onto my knees. Took in the scales, muscle, and blood that I¡¯d scattered all around us in my mad search.

    ¡°Will she be fine?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Only if you stay back,¡± the small girl said. ¡°Those flames of yours had you tearing her transformation apart like paper. You even being this close is messing up my work. Not like the anxiety of a sniper freely roaming makes me feel any better.¡±

    I only had eyes for Melissa. They¡¯d propped her upper body up using a rolled up binding suit like a wedge pillow. The kind Melissa and I would use when we¡¯d be together. I dragged my nails across my arms in worry. My skin broke in a ragged stop-and-start line of a wound. It was the pain that dragged my memories out, spinning them up like one of dad¡¯s old vinyls.

    Melissa had taken a bullet for me. Her ears had turned moments¡ªmaybe an age to her¡ªbefore the bullet had struck. She¡¯d wrapped her arms around me to move me. Hug me. Was this going to be our last hug? I wanted to hold her hand. Hold her and say it¡¯d all be alright. That I¡¯d make sure none of us died. As if I was a god.

    A bitter laugh bubbled past my lips. We were here because even gods didn¡¯t get to delay death. I pulled up my knees and buried my forehead against them. Begged for purpose so I could do anything other than watch someone I loved die.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Melissa moaned.

    My head snapped up. ¡°Yes? I¡¯m here.¡±

    Her hand groped about in the air for something¡ªme?¡ªso I took it between my own.

    ¡°What¡¯d I say about touching her?¡± the girl asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Melissa said. ¡°I just have one request.¡±

    ¡°Anything,¡± I said.

    ¡°Save the other three,¡± she said.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked. They¡¯d tried to kill Amber after all. Melissa needed me here.

    ¡°Already surrendered,¡± she said. ¡°No need to die.¡±

    Her grip was growing faint. If I¡¯d looked anywhere but her eyes¡ªhalf-lidded and duller than I¡¯d ever seen¡ªI would¡¯ve noticed the way her scales sloughed from her body. How her muscles unspooled, provoking ripples beneath the skin. My touch was undoing everything. Killing her.

    I tried to let go, but she gripped harder. Hacked up a clotted ball of blood with a shred of copper sunshine hidden within¡ªthe bullet. Then opened her eyes that sparkled alongside her smile. Even befanged, she had a caring smile that moved me as much as threats of her tears did.

    ¡°I took a bullet for you, Nadia,¡± she said. ¡°You owe me.¡±

    Winked. Then her other lid fell. Eyes shut she slumped. Her hand slid from mine like a leaf from a pool that¡¯d filled past its edge. I nodded to no one. Grabbed my glaive and fished the bullet out of the blood clot. Took a breath using it to help me stand. Sphinx rose with me as we made for the door. I glanced to Lupe whose head was turned toward the door, but who I knew saw everything that¡¯d transpired. Even if it was only as shining shadows.

    ¡°Play me off?¡± I asked.

    Lupe stood and grasped the neck of her guitar. ¡°Now¡¯s not the time for innuendos. It doesn¡¯t matter how hard I play if you get domed by some guy hiding out miles away.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m dealing with him,¡± I said.

    Then set my eyes on the tie of fate between this bullet and the sniper¡¯s gun. It was a multi-thread chord of Mystery and something darkly primal alongside that familiar strand of Bloodlust. Through the Omensight I followed this braid like a merry road out the door, through the air, into the trees on the nearby hill, and onto a platform where a man in a thick jacket sat back in an unadorned chair. Within his grip was no ordinary sniper rifle. It was segmented like a lobster¡¯s tail held up by adjustable legs that ended in three toes in a Y-shape. Six eyes black as an unlit tunnel lined the sides of the barrel. While the man¡¯s eye was magnified by the sight attached to its back.

    ¡°Found you,¡± I whispered.

    Back where my body was within the ERO facility, I flicked the bullet into the air. Sphinx gave it a glance as she tossed a coin-sized amount of chalcedony fire at it. It burnt through the bullet and disappeared into the air¡ªnot gone, but traveling. Seeking. Racing down that murderous braid all the way back to the man who pulled the trigger.

    Whatever assassin¡¯s trance he was in caused him to be unaware of himself. The double-edged nature of hiding within Mystery so that no one, not even yourself, could find you. It was with absolute focus and determination to land this next shot that caused him to make no noise as he burnt to death. As I pulled back my Omensight, I shook my head at the ties of fate that burnt away with him. Leaving him unable to be mourned or missed. Just another face forever embedded within my mind to suffer the torments of how I decided they¡¯d be remembered.

    ¡°He¡¯s dead,¡± I said.

    Lupe asked, ¡°Who is?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Now, play me off. Time to go rescue the others.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do you one better,¡± Lupe said. ¡°I¡¯ll be your accompaniment.¡±

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said, ¡°kill anyone who tries to touch Melissa or¡­what¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Ina,¡± the Suppression user said, dryly. ¡°Thanks for saving them.¡±

    ¡°Save her, and no thanks necessary.¡±

    Amber drew a rapier from her storage-spell. Its guard was gate-iron black twisted into gothic swirls of rose stems. The blade itself was a glistening obsidian thing whose serrations could only be seen from how the light caught the edge. Overall, the implement burned bright as floodlights under the Omensight¡ªa Conceptual weapon, and a strong one at that.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me worry,¡± she said.

    Then Lupe, Sphinx, and myself walked back into the night. We were only a few steps from the building¡ªToby, Shenshen, and Wren only a few yards away¡ªwhen a familiar darkness fell over us. Our targets and even the way back imperceivable in that watery black. Lupe named its source before I could.

    ¡°Lurkers,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re¡ª¡±

    ¡°Bonded to Abyss, I¡¯ve been acquainted,¡± I said. ¡°Sphinx, cover Lupe.¡±

    ¡°I can push this back easy.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but I need you to play for me. Unless you¡¯re willing to bring your entity out to cover the other one.¡±

    She frowned at the suggestion¡ªwe all had aces to hide¡ªthen acquiesced to my plan. Sphinx stretched out her wings filling the feathers with the fate-bending light of an Inviolate Star. Her range covered Lupe who quickly began to let more of herself fall into a musician¡¯s trance. The world distilled into six strings and twenty-seven frets.

    Her pace was slow through the dark which Sphinx matched so Lupe would be closest to the centerpoint of its power. I circled them as I enforced the bubble¡¯s perimeter in wait of anything that¡¯d come rushing from the darkness or the slightest hint that the pseudo field-spell that¡¯d fallen over us might decide to manipulate local pressure rather than just consign us to blindness.

    The moments melted into minutes which stretched across my mind like hours. Questions rustling my senses in false alarms. Would the first attack be from our twelve o¡¯clock? Maybe our three and ten? What if there was no one because they¡¯d slipped around us, and were charging into the building to kill everyone? Amber was good, but just a Baron¡ªif they had the numbers¡­

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Sphinx hissed.

    I dropped to a crouch as a metal cudgel whistled overhead. Its wielder, a muscular woman with a Tyrants¡¯ crown dripping lava down her face into a warlord¡¯s mask¡ªscowling with distaste. From the side a humanoid entity of walking chainmail thrust out to catch me in the side with a sword. The woman was one of the rarer combat strategies, a berserker. Loaded up with boost-spells so her and her entity could charge at you at once to catch you off guard. In some ways a great strategy just not against me.

    ¡°Godtime,¡± I incanted, to Sphinx¡¯s surprise.

    It was the first time I ever spoke the language of entities to cast a spell of Revelation. Vibrating the spirit fibers in my throat to put to speech every complex bit of Sorcery that made spells like Godtime possible. Looking back, I¡¯d seen enough incantations that day¡ªeven did some despite knowing how really¡ªso in that instant where a hand was too slow to raise and point at my target, well, speech was fast enough and Lupe a good listener.

    ¡°Excellent diction,¡± Sphinx said.

    The woman and her entity stilled to the most imperceptible crawl. I rose back up and politely cut off her head. Unbonded by her death, the chainmail figure collapsed into instantly rusting rings before discorporating. Lupe had slowed her playing. Missed a note as the head bounced against the ground. Notable¡ªthe missing note¡ªonly from how my flame briefly guttered.

    ¡°She wasn¡¯t a Lurker,¡± Lupe said.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I said, ¡°but she decided to throw her lot in with them.¡±

    ¡°Then she¡¯s worse. Let¡¯s keep moving.¡±

    We walked like that under the Godtime. Each person Lupe became aware of fell under its effects. The spell¡¯s efficacy unhindered due to how it affected targets directly rather than exist spatially and thus challenge the field-spell¡¯s dominance¡ªa challenge even the Inviolate Star¡¯s light barely made by diverting its effects versus outright combating them in some attempt to break the field-spell¡¯s hold.

    Lupe stopped missing notes after I decapitated the third person we met. They were baby-faced with gentle eyes that didn¡¯t match the sinuous serpentine neck that lashed out from the shadows in a bid to plunge their envenomed fangs into my shoulder. They¡¯d gotten close enough that the overripe scent of rotten meat in summertime had clogged my nostrils and throat. The Godtime¡¯s stickiness was losing its touch.

    ¡°Let the spell go,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°No. It¡¯s the best way to keep us safe.¡±

    ¡°Revelation is not safety nor is it drawn out. You make her a poor target for later use if you spill all her moments over one night.¡±

    ¡°If we die then there won¡¯t be moments to use anyways.¡±

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Lupe said, ¡°save your strength for more important spells.¡±

    I let out a breath and felt it erase the Godtime from the air. Listened to the way boots sucked into mud before kissing out with disgusting pops. I danced in front of my girls. Two men, one women, surfaced from the dark. Sighted their hands rose to shape spells. Under the Omensight I read the Courts that wove themselves around the signs: Cultivation, Glory, Instruction.

    They looked like they had a plan, but I didn¡¯t care. Mother¡¯s Last Smile darted forward while I leaped to meet them. All three slipped against the dew-slick clover underfoot in surprise at the blood-painted face which met their charge bearing bright teeth. Their spells were useless as my glaive skewered their brains in the opposite order from which I read their Courts.

    It was two feet past their corpses that we found Shenshen, Toby, and Wren. They were untouched and dangling just like we¡¯d left them. I split infinity three times to flourish three quick needles of chalcedony fire severing the cords by which we¡¯d hung them.

    ¡°Come on, we¡¯re going back inside,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh no,¡± Wren said.

    ¡°Wren,¡± Toby said, ¡°let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°You can go back to her. Not me. I¡¯m running.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so afraid of Amber?¡± I asked.

    Wren shook her head. ¡°She¡¯s the nightmare of every summoner bonded to Masks, the Star Killer. Alls below, she¡¯s why I left the East and risked crossing the Black Vein. She¡¯s death.¡±

    A terror came over Wren as she stared into the past at a tragedy she didn¡¯t care to name. Then bolted, her hands still cuffed behind her, and disappeared into the darkness. I heard the loathsome crack of gunfire and a thud of a life wasted to escape a death she thought she¡¯d caught ahead of its chance to reach her. The rest of us retreated in a mad scramble.

    ¡°Jump in six steps,¡± Toby called out.

    Six more steps from the safety of the facility was a bulwark of corpses. Their flesh melted into a quilt of tones and tattoos atop liquid muscle and shifting bones. Some had slipped around Lupe and I¡ªfrom the height of the wall and its width, more than some¡ªonly to meet Amber waiting for them. Her face cold and pristine as all the blood flowed away from the facility¡¯s lobby.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Everyone jumped the barrier to get back inside. I stopped and turned. I¡¯d fulfilled Melissa¡¯s request, but had failed to sate my own growing desire to stack up more heads. Kill enough of these people until I felt that I¡¯d balanced my own pre-weighted scales. I clenched my glaive and ground the toe box of my shoe into the dirt. Readied to dive back into the dark¡­

    ¡°Did Nadia make it?¡± Melissa asked.

    Her voice sounded better¡ªstronger. Good enough to worry about me, again. I loosened my grip and turned away from the foes I knew had to be lurking in the umbra. There¡¯d be other times to chase, but I wouldn¡¯t make Melissa worry. I hopped the bulwark and entered the building. Avoided Amber¡¯s foxish grin and rosy ember eyes that applauded my decision making.

    Freed up from healing Melissa, Ina directed Shenshen and Toby to close the door. Then tossed talismans at the frame¡¯s corners and one that bridged both doors. A pane of amber-hued force winked into existence to present another obstacle if our attackers wished to siege the place. As she did that I crossed the lobby to Melissa. Arms wide to embrace her. Sphinx caught the hem of my shirt as I was mid-step.

    ¡°Sphinx, let go.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she mumbled over the clothing. ¡°The maiden is sealed into health. Not fixed.¡±

    ¡°Ina, you said you¡¯d save her,¡± I said

    ¡°I did. Used my best talismans to Suppress everything from hemorrhagic shock to the slightest hint of an infection,¡± Ina said, ¡°but that doesn¡¯t mean she¡¯s healed. Suppression doesn¡¯t fix things. Just bury them. It¡¯s the Caverns in us.¡±

    ¡°So no hugs until we get to a hospital,¡± Amber said.

    I crossed my arms in a poor bid to hug myself whole. Lip quivering as I refused to let my eyes drift from Melissa¡¯s face as if some force might blow her away if I don¡¯t look. Shenshen and Toby helped each other out of the binding suits.

    Toby, fiddling with his answers and the scope of his worries, asked, ¡°Not that I¡¯m unhappy about being saved, but are we just waiting here to die? Is anyone coming to rescue us?¡±

    ¡°Good question,¡± Amber said.

    She pulled a sorc-deck from her pocket. The device was wrapped in a leather fold-out case with an embossed insignia of the regional Lodge headquarters.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you get that?¡± Shenshen asked, his voice a raspy whistle.

    ¡°The secretary¡¯s corpse. Pocketed it as they fell.¡±

    ¡°Unbelievable,¡± Ina said. ¡°No wonder Wren was scared of you. Speaking of, where is she?¡±

    ¡°She tried her luck elsewhere,¡± Shenshen said.

    Toby added, ¡°Said Amber was a star killer or something. A big deal to Mask summoners.¡±

    I snuck a glance at Amber in the hopes there¡¯d be some tell or tick that¡¯d draw back the blinds on who she was and what she¡¯d done. Though if the accusation meant anything to her it passed her by without notice or comment. Rather she focused on the sorc-deck in hand. Mimed a flurry of hand-spells before the device flashed on. A screen projection cutting up into the air.

    ¡°Then she¡¯s twice scorned the boat. Not my problem then,¡± Ina said. ¡°Anything on the deck?¡±

    Amber¡¯s thumb slid across the screen as she swapped through different screen projections. I walk over to peer at the projection myself¡ªa contact sheet. Amber selects an entry, Test 1 Proctor, and calls. A pleasant tone bobs in the air for a moment. Then a sucking noise that leveled out¡ªhe picked up.

    ¡°Secretary SW#430, any insights on the attack?¡± he asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re disposed currently,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°How¡¯d you break into the deck, it¡¯s encrypted.¡±

    ¡°Eh, through Caverns, so not too difficult. Anyways, what¡¯s the Lodge¡¯s plan for examinees during this attack?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Are you sending any rescue teams?¡± Toby asked.

    ¡°Alls below, no. We¡¯re thin enough as is discerning real attacks from fake ones.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°It was pretty real when the secretary¡¯s head exploded.¡±

    A silence. ¡°Noted.¡±

    ¡°What if we get ourselves out?¡± I asked. ¡°Anything the Lodge will do then?¡±

    ¡°If you get yourselves out the Lodge will handle any injuries incurred whether it be during your escape or from the exam itself. Comes with the probationary badge. Now, who¡¯s in charge?¡±

    Amber pulled me close in a side hug. ¡°That¡¯d be Temple here. Nadia Temple, she¡¯s in charge.¡±

    ¡°Perfect. We have your deck number on file¡ª¡±

    ¡°How?¡± I asked. ¡°I synced with the city.¡±

    ¡°We have it on file,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll send you the address of a few Lodge sponsored hospitals outside and within the district. Good luck,¡± he said.

    My own deck chimed next to me. I looked around in surprise, noting that I¡¯d left it in my bag which was back on the fourth floor¡ªthird sub-basement technically. Only to see it and my deck within the hands of Nahey currently in the form of me. The map was already up on my deck with a display illustrating our position at the edge of the city, and the few roads that wound back into Brightgate proper.

    ¡°Appreciated,¡± I said.

    She curtsied¡ªused my body to curtsy¡ªbefore collapsing into a cloud of butterflies again that flitted off between the curtains of the world. I shrugged my bag back on, and rubbed my sleeves against my face to mop up any blood that¡¯d yet to dry. Seeing how coated I was, or at least how coated Nahey made me think I was, had planted a seed of self-consciousness.

    I turned back to Amber just in time to see the late secretary¡¯s sorc-deck discorporate into fading spheres of light¡ªjust like how Secretary, my secretary, would handle documents and other items. Toby whistled at the impressiveness.

    ¡°Some kind of kill switch,¡± he said.

    Amber said, ¡°A kill switch would just brick it. This is more like a cord they¡¯re yanking on to bring it back home. Shame, would¡¯ve been nice to keep a backdoor into the Secretary¡¯s files.¡±

    ¡°So, leader,¡± Ina said to me, ¡°how are we getting out of here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not actually the leader, am I?¡±

    ¡°The other Baron here doesn¡¯t want it, and neither do I. I¡¯m basically tapped holding onto seals so I don¡¯t bleed out from my missing limb, so your fiancee¡ª¡±

    ¡°Ex,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t die. I have to maintain yours, and the one on Shenshen. I¡¯m done thinking.¡±

    I run a hand through my hair as I look at Melissa¡ªshe¡¯s standing but not transforming anytime soon. Then to Lupe¡ªwho was fixed on keeping a few notes floating my way to help keep my own Inviolate Star burning. Shenshen and Toby were obviously out. Which left me, the only person who knew the competencies of everyone here.

    ¡°Revelation oft shines a way, Nadia. So sparkle,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Um, Toby can you only make weapons?¡±

    ¡°I can make anything really long as it already exists or existed.¡±

    ¡°Great, Shenshen, any chance you can play your flute?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°but my dire wolf can still cast spells.¡±

    ¡°Putting together a plan, Temple?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. It¡¯ll be dangerous, maybe lethal, and arguably it¡¯s a horrible idea for a bunch of injured people to undertake.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°Well, it all comes down to you Toby,¡± I said. ¡°Any chance you can drive?¡±

    A smile spread on his face like butter on a skillet.

    * * *

    It was a horrible plan, I¡¯ll say that immediately, but I was tired. We all were tired, and none of us had the energy¡ªphysical or mental¡ªto make a literal run for it. It didn¡¯t help that we were long past when the cable cars ceased operation for the night. Our only avenue remaining was by car. Normal wheelbound car. Which was why the plan was bad¡ªBrightgate wasn¡¯t a city made for wheeled cars, not since the Old World maybe. Even out here at its frayed municipal edge that truth held true. It was also true though that some things didn¡¯t travel well by cable car, and only a truck or van would do. So there weren¡¯t many roads to take, and thus not many that had to be blocked to keep us from escaping. The car could get us back to town in time, but we¡¯d have to get through one last fight to escape.

    To give us the best odds I¡¯d laid our roles out like so: Toby would make the car and drive. It¡¯d also be on him to do any on the fly maintenance. Ina was to apply some of her talismans to the vehicle to give it extra durability. While Sphinx would lay atop the roof to put the whole thing under the cover of an Inviolate Star. Next to her went the dire wolf, according to Shenshen it¡¯d need the wind to blow through its holes to cast the Sleep spell so we could get extra cover. Melissa was laid up in the backseat as she needed to rest. While Lupe sat back there to keep an extra eye on Melissa, and be close enough to me so I could hear her playing. While Amber rode shotgun with Toby to help keep him from being killed thus losing us our ride.

    ¡°What about you?¡± Ina asked.

    Everyone had already piled into the car¡ªit was a thuggish bestial vehicle with a front face that looked ready to consume limb and life of the people we¡¯d likely be running over soon. I stood on my toes to peek in through the windows. There wasn¡¯t room.

    ¡°Toby, why isn¡¯t there space for me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± he trailed off.

    ¡°The flames, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°You¡¯d burn through the car if we let you inside.¡±

    ¡°If you try to abandon me I¡¯m killing all of you,¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯d never,¡± Amber said. ¡°You¡¯re just going to have to ride with us rather than inside.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Nahey,¡± Amber said.

    Nahey emerged from behind the curtains and dropped a cord¡ªsimilar to what we used to tie up Shenshen and Toby¡ªalongside a pair of rollerblades. I looked back to everyone who were all failing to hide their amusement.

    ¡°I rescued you,¡± I said.

    ¡°And for that, this plan is possible,¡± Toby said. ¡°Now, uh, hurry and hitch yourself to the back.¡±

    ¡°Think of it as a chariot,¡± Sphinx said.

    Her encouragement broke the social seal on their laughter. I rolled my eyes unwilling to kill the mood. We had enemies outside ready to do that for us. Once the rollerblades were strapped on and the cable secured around the back of the conjured car and my waist, it was time.

    ¡°Dropping the talismans,¡± Ina called out.

    Snapped her fingers triggering the self-destruction of the talismans attached to the door. The pane of shimmering force dissipated in one last downward flow before it was gone.

    ¡°You in the ready position?¡± Toby asked.

    I said, ¡°Alls below, shut up and drive Toby!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the boss.¡±

    I could hear his foot stomp the pedal. Then the car, because its purpose was to go, went. Fast as an entity freed from a binding trap it surged forward slamming its vehicular bulk into the front doors. They never had a chance at holding back the beast Toby had designed. The doors tore from their frame and crashed down atop an unlucky summoner who¡¯d stepped forward to examine the doors. His voice was a wet squeal before the wheels churned it into the sound of a thick stew ladled into a bowl.

    The cord attaching me to the cord snapped taut with a twang to rival Lupe¡¯s strings. I knelt low to firm up my balance as my rollerblades skipped to the fastest rotational speed possible. Skimming me across the wood of the lobby and over one of the collapsed doors. My first view of things since we¡¯d rescued Shenshen and Toby, I wasn¡¯t surprised to see the field-spell had fallen. There¡¯d been no need to blind their own forces without an enemy for them to ambush. On one hand, a victory for us, but on the other it meant that their forces could see us perfectly and there were a lot of them.

    Beyond the bodies strewn across the lawn courtesy me and my glaive, there were at least thirty summoners waiting for us. Behind them was a motley assortment of entities humanoid, bestial, and altogether strange. Unlike the ones that dared the dark, these were hardened professionals who knew patience and whose Sorcery leaped to hand with a quickness.

    Spells splashed against the Inviolate Star¡¯s light before diverting across the surface into auroras of their component Principles. Those stronger than a soldier still skimmed the edge before blasting into the distance. While a non-negligible amount speared straight toward the car.

    ¡°We¡¯re down four plates on the face,¡± Ina said.

    ¡°How many deep?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Two.¡±

    Despite the warning of our depreciating defenses, Toby drove the car straight as a battering ram. The summoners arrayed against us fled to the sides to escape being run over. A few were too slow and forced me to leap over their popped carcasses. With a hop I turned backward, faced the summoners to our rear and formed the sign of a Fivefold Atomic Glory. Held it.

    ¡°Lupe,¡± I yelled.

    Her response was the fanning of my flames. They flared high leaving a long tail before me, and I let the strength her magic afforded me seep into the spell I¡¯d held at the edge of release. My hands glowed the hot pale color of chalcedony¡ªand then I let go birthing the star of my vengeance for what they¡¯d done to Melissa.

    I arced it up through the air. Watched as my blazing fledgling star grew and grew like the conflagratory snowball it was. Before it passed its apex and descended hard as a judge¡¯s gavel. When it landed it bloomed into a flaming camellia that consumed most of the survivors of our great escape. I watched as my spell brought day to night until night returned again.

    Another hop and I was back to facing the car. We raced down the small hill into a valley between two larger ones. Immediately we were beset upon by thick beams of Cathartic lightning. Unwilling to chance our defenses, Toby swerved around them the best he could which meant I swerved all over the road in great sweeping arcs.

    Ina cried out, ¡°Passenger and driver side plates are down two deep. One layer left for each.¡±

    Amber leaned out of the window. Sat herself inside of it as she formed a hand-sign I¡¯d not seen before. Immediately phantasmal mimics of the car and myself peeled away from the central body like notes on a stack.

    ¡°Shenshen, tell your wolf he¡¯s up,¡± I said.

    Acting in accordance to his bondmate¡¯s unspoken command, the dire wolf leaned up into a sitting position and let the wind slip through the holes in its body. Chilling aeolian tones streamed behind us becoming a localized blizzard obscuring the car. Our mimics acted in accordance at the same time. We were a rapid cold front that raced through the valley.

    Amber then reached into her storage-spell and pulled out a matte black device long as a desk. It was rectangular, and Amber fed what looked like a dark metal rod into the top of it. She closed the device up, grabbed a bar on the side of the thing, and yanked it back with a click before resetting its position two-thirds up on its length. It was with that bar she held it in one hand while the other held normal grip and trigger.

    ¡°What is that?¡± I asked even as the rushing wind stole my words as they left my mouth.

    ¡°Sight me, Temple,¡± Amber said.

    There was no joke or follow-up from her. Just the command of one warrior to another. I had to wait for another beam of lightning to crash into a nearby mimic¡ªCatharsis was brief in all aspects even the remnants of fate left behind were quick to dissolve. As it burst apart I used the Omensight to trace the spell back to the source. It stretched up and up into the sky toward a solitary black cloud that hid nothing from me. There, atop a bird with luminescent wings still fading from their last blast was our target¡ªa fellow dog, a traitor. I pointed him out cheerfully.

    She pulled the trigger. Electricity cracked near the mouth of the gun¡ªif you could call it that¡ªas the rod propelled up toward the sky. Blew apart the cloud. Turned the traitor and his entity into rings of flesh that quickly dispersed into raining clumps of corpse. Amber slid the weapon back into her storage-spell with all the pomp and circumstance you¡¯d have when returning a broom back to a supply closet.

    ¡°Why do you have that?¡± I asked with a fragile reverence.

    ¡°I¡¯m a bit of a hoarder, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°Never know what you¡¯ll need until you need it. Besides, who doesn¡¯t like to have a deep toybox?¡±

    Amber pushed herself back into her seat leaving me alone to still consider the donutified cloud that her ¡°toy¡± had made. I knew I hadn¡¯t seen everything the world held¡ªI was eighteen from a moderate sized town, how could I¡ªbut there was something in me that said I wouldn¡¯t see anything like it again. At least, not on this side of the Changeover.

    We soon cleared the valley. Cheered as the city¡¯s skyline swallowed the horizon denoting just how close we were to safety. There were no more attacks. No more hidden traps. We were clear, and so I had us activate the last part of the plan.

    ¡°Hit it, Toby,¡± I said.

    I hopped, twisted, to watch. Far beyond the valley, up the hill we¡¯d descended, and through those broken doors we¡¯d left a present. All because Melissa asked a question.

    * * *

    ¡°What happens to the test for us? It¡¯s technically our job to protect everything in this place.¡±

    I¡¯d said, ¡°Technically the test was for us to keep these guys from retrieving anything. We passed.¡±

    ¡°Is it that simple?¡± she asked.

    No one had an answer for that.

    ¡°What if we make it so no one can take anything?¡± Lupe asked.

    Amber answered by producing a bomb from her storage-spell¡ªa deep toybox indeed.

    * * *

    It wasn¡¯t instant¡ªthe button press to the explosion. Whatever process it took left us on the edge of anticipation. Ina was the first to give up.

    ¡°Are you sure that bomb was a dud¡ª¡±

    The pressure wave from the bomb caught up to her before she could finish airing doubts to its magnificence. It violently tore at my hair, swung from rib to rib disturbing my organs as if I was struck by Toby¡¯s maul ten times by ten times. Blood forced its way out my mouth into a beautiful spray. Then we saw it¡ªthat glorious tower of fiery blossoms that billowed up like so many baking muffins. Fwoomsh, fwoomsh, fwoomsh, they went. Crowned atop it all with a black smoke regalia that dispersed into the sky. I was sure we¡¯d passed the test.

    From there the rest of the way into the city was nothing but stretched out silence. Despite our commotion, Brightgate was sleeping and surrounded by numerous temples stretching potent wards across the city to keep it safe. Though put another way, the fight we¡¯d had¡ªthe fight all the examinees were likely going through nearby and elsewhere¡ªwere the very fights that allowed for those wards to go largely unstrained.

    Amber read the map instructions off my sorc-deck, and it wasn¡¯t long before we¡¯d pulled into a Lodge sponsored hospital on the edge of town. The nurses at the frontdesk were quick to pull us inside as they¡¯d been notified by the proctor that Lodge members would likely be showing up. Each of us was strapped to a gurney, but I had to wait as they pushed tubes and placed electrodes against my skin. Ina had let them know my situation, so it was only after all life support tech was inserted that I could finally relinquish the Inviolate Star which blazed within me. While I wouldn¡¯t tell Amber this, I was happy for the rollerblades. The darkness that descended on me was sudden and I¡¯d lost the ability to walk miles back up the road.

    I don¡¯t know how long I was out for, but I do remember what I woke up to. Bright sun that dappled across my skin due to the tree near my window. Sphinx, shrunken to the size of a child¡¯s plushie¡ªor a small dog really¡ªwith a soft slightly-pudgy face to match. While in a chair at the side of my bed was a suit-and-skirt wearing secretary with a large sorc-deck in hand.

    ¡°First, let me congratulate you on reaching Baron,¡± they said. ¡°Now, you have forms to sign.¡±

 Chapter 25

    My mouth worked through a series of shapes as I processed the statement. Looked down at Sphinx, and doubted every word that the secretary had said. They read my disbelief as it was cyclopean in its enormity. Tapped at their sorc-deck to project my medical chart before me. The ¡®patient template¡¯ already applied with its attendant highlighting and sidebar explanations.

    ¡°You¡¯re not a true Baron, no, but the tests conducted show that you¡¯re well within the range to be one if you so choose.¡±

    I read, ¡°¡®Mass coefficient, two-hundred-and-fifty-five. Density, two-hundred-and-thirty-nine.¡±

    ¡°See, well within the range and if I might hazard, they¡¯ve likely been there for some time now,¡± the secretary said. ¡°You could attempt the graduation trial right now if you wanted. Of course the entity you¡¯re after to replace your current one would affect the specific risk factors.¡±

    I looked down to find I¡¯d been petting Sphinx since I¡¯d woken up. My fingers running through her raven black hair¡ªcalming me as much as comforting her. The idea that graduating would mean replacing her was a rancid thick grease in my throat. Even the verb used, ¡°replacing,¡± as if it was the most casual thing in the world¡ªsome part of me knew that it should¡¯ve been.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m in no rush to graduate.¡± The admission was a surprise to me as much as it was to the secretary. Lodgemembers were supposed to be the reckless type. Graduating faster than even summoners from the collectives tended to do.

    ¡°Even so, if you change your mind please attempt all trials in the graduation chambers we have on-site. They¡¯re completely free to use.¡±

    ¡°Why have chambers at all?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes the last refuge for survival is only reached through graduation,¡± they said. ¡°The benefits are high enough to justify making on-site chambers for the inevitable failures that always occur.¡±

    After I nodded, the secretary returned the sorc-deck to the forms that¡¯d graced my return to consciousness only moments ago. They were release forms for my medical information to be stored in the restricted sections of the Public Record.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve been to a hospital by myself. I never got sick much, and my parents normally dealt with all this.¡±

    They glanced at the clock in the room and sighed. I was keeping them from something I gathered. Maybe another patient or form that needed filling and filing. Dealing with one girl¡¯s first brush with New World healthcare as an adult was probably the job they hated the least. Though when I followed their glance I noted that it was twelve thirty p.m.¡ªlunch. Their stomach growled in a dull admission of where their mind was already at.

    ¡°Quick plan comparison then. Sign the release, and the information is on the restricted section of the Public Record¡¯s medical corpus. Anyone trying to access it would need to be a fully vetted member of a medical group held in good standing with O.P.R.¡±

    The Officiators of the Public Record, the people who made it their holy mission to uphold a free-flow of information throughout the world. They were why anyone, no matter how disconnected from society, could walk into any random city, village, or town willing to let them use a sorc-deck and go from knowing nothing about entities to being fully capable of summoning and binding one from a number of Courts. Supposedly in the spirit of how the first poster released the Herald¡¯s End grimoire on an Old Net forum revealing summoning¡¯s existence.

    From there it was just O.P.R. fighting the good fight in making sure collectives and cults¡ªeven the universities who were never that innocent, in the New World or the Old¡ªcould monopolize too much information. They were even headed by a Godtender that defended them and just sat in the NewNet to prevent anyone from destroying or defacing the information inside. Though going by Dad, godtenders weren¡¯t infallible or always honest.

    ¡°They may just be people, but they¡¯re why we were able to treat your mutant friend. In fact, if your information is there, any hospital capable of tithing to O.P.R.¡ªand even a few who can¡¯t¡ªwill be able to bring up your history and immediately treat you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a plus side,¡± I said.

    ¡°Never know where your duties as a Lodgemember might send you.¡±

    ¡°And if I don¡¯t sign?¡±

    They swiped the sorc-deck bringing up a different document. ¡°Then you pay in tokens.¡±

    ¡°Three royal tokens,¡± I said, eyes bulging. ¡°Was I that fucked up?¡±

    ¡°No and yes. No, because full body organ failure over an hour long period is rather trivial to repair with the right Courts on hand. The real issue was that you required a team of at least three Viscounts to treat you.¡±

    ¡°Viscounts,¡± I said, the word soft and unreal as a bubble on my tongue.

    ¡°We were forced to activate more than a few of our auxiliary formations to keep about thirty patients in three layers of medical stasis. That takes a lot of power.¡±

    ¡°So I pay in information or pay in energy.¡±

    ¡°Think of it as paying for the wounded soul that comes after you,¡± they said. ¡°Whether it¡¯s sorcerous technology or simple information, it takes a lot to save a life. Though if you aren¡¯t the charitable sort maybe you¡¯ll find a surprise. More than a few genealogical groups have access to the same information. Maybe you¡¯ll find an aunt you don¡¯t know about.¡±

    Or a mother that didn¡¯t know my dad was dead and his entity¡ªthe mom who raised me¡ªkicked out of reality. Even the idea of finding an aunt would be amazing. Though if Dad was City Killer, the only City Killer, then it¡¯d be more likely I¡¯d get connected with some distant cousin. Did his side of the family know what he was? That was what moved me to sign the release form. All my information up on the NewNet, restricted or otherwise, for anyone to find. I hoped someone would find me.

    ¡°Have a good day then, Nadia,¡± the secretary said. ¡°If you plan on undertaking any more dangerous actions do let me know, so I can have a proper team and bet in place.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Their need for professionalism packed away, the secretary scurried from the room in pursuit of whatever decadent meal was waiting in the cafeteria going by the scent. Amber, Melissa, and Ina entered the room.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look so happy to see me,¡± Ina declared. Her voice a murder weapon dripping in sarcasm.

    I said, ¡°Just surprised. What¡¯d they replace your arm with?¡±

    ¡°Brilliance and Cultivation largely,¡± she said. ¡°Though Mel helped connect it all with Mutation.¡±

    ¡°Mel?¡± I asked.

    Melissa nudged Ina¡ªplayfully¡ªbefore gracing me one of her spirit soothing smiles.

    ¡°I was the first to be fixed up¡ª¡±

    Amber interjected, ¡°Technically, I was the first.¡±

    ¡°You had nothing that needed to be fixed,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Love it when you compliment me, princess.¡±

    Ina side-eyed Amber like she was some temerous party crasher for the banter. Which, by how her eyes sparked to life just saying Melissa¡¯s nickname¡ªa life I would¡¯ve otherwise guessed Ina was born without, Amber was. On her part, Amber ignored the glare and settled into a chair by the window letting the light play across her melanin until she took on a bright radiance that complimented the summer-y raspberry of her locs.

    Melissa said, ¡°Anyways, after I was cleared I saw Ina moping because prosthetics aren¡¯t really something Suppression can make on its own.¡±

    Ina added, ¡°And Suppression unfortunately is pretty common, so we don¡¯t get rarity incentives on our phonemes when valuing our tokens.¡±

    ¡°So, I decided to help her out. She was the one with the actual plans.¡±

    ¡°Melissa had the know-how to make a rather foolish dream possible.¡±

    ¡°Afterwards, we just grabbed a few doctors and¡­¡±

    ¡°Banged it out,¡± Ina finished.

    Ina held up their new arm like a trophy. It was a faded gold-leaf yellow on the outer arm with a more faded tan-yellow for the inner. Entire thing spotted with lapis rings. Tiny suckers marked out the sections of her hand. It was a tentacle mimicking the shape of a human hand. She curled her fingers backwards one by one into tight rolls with glee before unfurling them to close into a proper fist. A human hand with none of the downsides.

    ¡°The damn thing even produces Underink,¡± she said. ¡°No more paper costs.¡±

    Flourished in the air with her finger tracing a quick formation in the air. With an unseen twist of her spirit the formation hardened as a thin slice of air¡ªthe troposphere¡ªbecame a talisman. She tossed it like mom would knives at the knife throwing booths during festivals. It sunk into the window before Suppressing some hidden aspect of itself before opening.

    ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± I said, the words needing to be dredged up from within me. Hopeful that Melissa knew I meant the arm¡ªit was legitimately a great piece of work¡ªand less the hint of an idea that her and Ina of all people banged it out.

    The sound of an active Brightgate stumbled over itself in a muddled discordance to enter the room. Riding the noise like a wave, however, was an elegant song being sung. Though it was voiced with Real words I could still hear its echoes in my spirit. From black bolts Tomorrow is sewn, and Freedom known as we once knew.

    Sphinx stirred in my lap as she also recalled the song. Though hers was a more frantic twitching that paired with fear rather than the tune¡¯s emboldening themes. In fairness we had encountered the song from different perspectives and contexts.

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    I gently scratched her scalp stilling her twitching leg. Her eyes fluttered in worry until they opened to find my smile¡ªand ideally concealed sorrow¡ªready to greet her. Her mouth stretched open in a yawn.

    ¡°What happened to ¡®entities don¡¯t sleep¡¯?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx¡¯s smile curled playfully. ¡°We don¡¯t. I was in dormancy.¡±

    I looked to my friends¡ªand Ina¡ªfor an answer. Amber smirked around the information. Then pulled a bottle of some amber-hued whiskey from her storage-spell alongside a stunning crystal tumbler that bounced the light up into the drink. The whole thing visually aflame as Amber took a sip. Then glanced to Ina pitifully.

    ¡°Hmm, would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d know what with being the ¡®diva of the Goetic Enclave.¡¯¡±

    Mentally I clenched my fist in a victory that wasn¡¯t mine but one I¡¯d claim. Ina stewed in annoyance at Amber while Melissa only rolled her eyes unaware that she was the territory dispute between the two of them.

    ¡°There, you¡¯ve made fun of someone. Can we get an answer?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°If the price has been paid¡ªsorry it was you, Ina¡ªthen I will.¡± Amber assumed her professorially affectation¡ªI hadn¡¯t heard it since I¡¯d chased after the lindwurm.

    ¡°Dormancy, or the thanatonic sleep as some know it by, is the state in which entities attempt to preserve their hold within Realspace by ceasing function of any ego dominant actions or sorcerous operations,¡± Amber shifted back into her avuncular rhythm. ¡°Say it simple, reality was trying to kick Sphinx out, so she shut down to stay beside you.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t die though,¡± I said. ¡°Alls below, I got stronger.¡±

    ¡°What,¡± Ina said.

    I framed the news with a grin. ¡°I¡¯m a Baron now according to my chart.¡±

    ¡°Pseudo,¡± Ina said. ¡°Until you have that sphinx¡¯s upChain form in your lap you¡¯re not a true Baron. Alls below, I¡¯m sorry you have to deal with this, Mel.¡±

    ¡°Deal with,¡± I said aghast. ¡°I saved your life. Everyone¡¯s life. If it wasn¡¯t for me you wouldn¡¯t have that arm.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you want me to thank you for severing my arm. That¡¯s your stance?¡± she asked.

    Melissa hissed sharp and low. Her hair stiffening in a sudden threat display.

    ¡°We¡¯re not doing this,¡± she said. ¡°You promised you¡¯d be good.¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Ina said.

    ¡°And Nadia, I still love the confidence, but you did die. I clung to the side of the hospital just to watch them do their best to keep you alive after both soldiers and Barons couldn¡¯t save you. They used three layers of stasis just to give Amber enough time to literally abduct some Viscounts who had the necessary specialties.¡±

    My eyes sweeped to Amber for confirmation. She wobbled her hand noncommittally.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a full death technically.¡±

    ¡°Her heart and brain stopped working,¡± Melissa asserted.

    ¡°But her spirit didn¡¯t. Only two out of three, not a full death,¡± Amber said. ¡°Means in my book, your record is still pristine.¡±

    ¡°Reality,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°plays by different rules. Two out of three is enough to begin my eviction.¡±

    ¡°It was that bad?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Giving me a new arm only took a few soldiers,¡± Ina said.

    ¡°Why¡¯d I need Viscounts though?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Inviolate Star,¡± Sphinx answered.

    Melissa said, ¡°The doctors said you were too hot to touch.¡±

    ¡°Singed their spirits and melted spells when they tried,¡± Amber added. ¡°If there were any Barons that could¡¯ve still worked through all that then we didn¡¯t find them. I figured someone up the Chain could get around that innate resistance you built, and I was right.¡±

    Amber sipped her sunlit drink in an attempt to guzzle sunshine and the cheer that came with it.

    ¡°Glad I was,¡± she said softly.

    ¡°If this happens every time you use the spell that way then you have to stop,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Stop,¡± I said, incredulous at the directive.

    ¡°Temple, your spirit wasn¡¯t dead but it was nearly a husk. A smoldering furnace-hot husk, but a husk. The fact that whatever it¡¯s doing is fixing up your spirit to drive it even higher is impressive and terrifying. I haven¡¯t seen anything like it.¡±

    The gravity of Amber¡¯s statement was lost on me in the moment. They wanted me to swear off of my own spell. One of my best spells. All because of their worries.

    ¡°Sure, and you¡¯ve seen everything. Totally can¡¯t be the fact that you get off on being the most secretive and cutting edge and knowledgeable person in the room. Are you afraid I¡¯ll outpace you at this rate, or something? Toss you aside when you can¡¯t keep up.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, what if you use it and there¡¯s no Viscounts conveniently around, Nadia? I can¡¯t help you, Amber can¡¯t move you, you¡¯d be done. Dead.¡±

    ¡°Why are you talking like you¡¯ll be with me the whole way to even care? You¡¯re dipping after the exam ends anyways. That¡¯s what you told your mom anyways. Besides, what happened to not making decisions for each other? That we ¡®didn¡¯t have that kind of relationship¡¯ anymore.¡±

    Melissa backed away from the accusation, and inadvertent reversion of how far we¡¯d come¡­toward whatever had been our destination before I spoke.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t the maiden¡¯s idea nor the mummer¡¯s,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°Then whose was it?¡± I asked. ¡°Ina? Toby?¡±

    ¡°Mine,¡± she said.

    In one word she¡¯d skewered me. I looked to Amber and Melissa who¡¯d faced the heat of my own petulant rage at having any of my power¡ªmy tools to avenge my parents¡ªbe stripped from me. Amber had only sad smiles for me. Melissa was tearing up which caused my star to fall even further in Ina¡¯s esteem.

    ¡°You introduced me to it,¡± I said.

    ¡°An action I don¡¯t regret insofar as it saved your life the first time.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve done this before?¡± Melissa asked.

    Amber had already put together a timeline in her mind from the way her brow rose and fell with the rapid calculation. I still only had eyes for Sphinx.

    ¡°It¡¯s the only way I can get in touch with Mom,¡± I said.

    ¡°Nadia¡ª¡± Sphinx started.

    ¡°What¡¯s this have to do with your mom?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°My glaive,¡± I said, pointing it out where it rested in a corner¡ªthe bond between me and it, me and my mom, firmed up enough that even with my eyes closed I could¡¯ve still pointed in its direction. ¡°It¡¯s the last piece of her I have, and when I use the star I can feel her again. Make strong all of those techniques she taught me.¡±

    ¡°Temple, I know you¡¯re an idiot but conceptual weapons are made by entities or miracles of the Underside. Not provincial mothers to a no-name town.¡±

    ¡°All true,¡± Amber said, ¡°but you made an assumption there Ina.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± she asked.

    I cackled, ¡°My mom was anything but provincial. She was a Sovereign. She was Ishisaga-no-Maturama.¡±

    In my heated defense of my mother¡¯s name I¡¯d flexed my spirit as I stressed each syllable. Turned it from just a name into something in-between an incantation and a divine petition that paired power to soundwaves. Amber¡¯s glass shattered. Ina¡¯s ears bled as her eyes were dyed a foamy pink from broken capillaries. Melissa dropped to her knees with a wail of pain that iced my ego and introduced guilt into every cell that composed my body.

    Everything else in the room untouched by us¡ªunfilled chairs, the end table, even some of my monitors¡ªwere yanked up into the air. Flipping into a perfect mirror of their previous position. It was a complete Upheaval of the decor and the mood. Even the song from outside was silent.

    Melissa whispered, ¡°When did you find out?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Ina helped her to her feet. ¡°When did you learn your mom was a Sovereign, a god?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Temple, you didn¡¯t tell her?¡±

    Melissa snapped, ¡°You knew. You knew and you didn¡¯t tell me either! How long?¡±

    ¡°Since I brought Sphinx home,¡± I said.

    Melissa roared¡ªliterally she roared into my face like the pissed off lioness she was.

    I stammered out excuses. ¡°We¡¯d just called off the engagement.¡±

    ¡°You were engaged?¡± Ina asked.

    ¡°And then we went weeks without talking. By then I¡¯d forgotten about it¡ª¡±

    ¡°You remembered well enough to assault Ina with your mom¡¯s name,¡± she said.

    ¡°If it helps, I only learned that one on the train when Every Train and Sphinx told me¡­¡±

    ¡°The name?¡± she asked.

    ¡°And not to say it casually,¡± I admitted.

    Melissa nodded. Clapped her hands together, and walked out without a word. Ina followed after her with all the gleefulness of a dog that didn¡¯t know why she was getting a walk but was just happy to have one. She did, however, stop at the door to spare me a few more words.

    ¡°Know what, I hope you enjoy that glaive of yours. I mean, if it really is Sovereign made then you have excalibur right there. Gaebolg. The kind of weapon that could raise a nation or kill a Godtender if you were able to get in tune with it and bring out all that power,¡± she said. ¡°Me, I never really needed power. Only love. Which is pretty spare back in the collective. They¡¯ll cherish me cause I¡¯m a diva, one of the best of the best they have, but they won¡¯t love me. If I was struck by a rock and made dumb as you they¡¯d politely kick me out. Whether I was or wasn¡¯t a fifth-generation member. But Mel, that girl right there has so much heart she could love anyone. She loved you.¡±

    ¡°Your point?¡± I muttered wishing I could get across the room fast enough to decapitate her.

    Ina smiled and said, ¡°Thanks, I suppose. For making your priorities clear and tossing her aside so one of us other loveless assholes can treat her right.¡±

    When Ina left, Amber sat with me for a few more minutes in silence. She stared at the remains of her spilled drink and shattered glass.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said.

    Amber said, ¡°That was Venetian glass.¡±

    ¡°Is that expensive?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hmm, not necessarily. Just rare. Not like Venice exists anymore, so the fact it was Venetian glass from Venice gave it a certain value. I hadn¡¯t paid anything for it to be honest. Know the lesson in all that?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Shame, was hoping for someone besides me to give me a bit of wisdom right about now. My siblings have the rest of the set¡ªif they weren¡¯t dumb enough to lose or break theirs.¡±

    The way Amber spoke was heavy with age. She avoided looking at me, but couldn¡¯t resist glancing back to the shards of the thing she hadn¡¯t realized how much she cherished until just now. I couldn¡¯t stop glancing at the door wishing Melissa would come back if only to hit me.

    ¡°Relationships are stronger than glass, Temple.¡±

    ¡°Are they?¡±

    Amber laid a hand against me. Squeezed my arm tight like someone packing one more pair of panties into an overfilled suitcase. I turned to find her haloed by the sun. Features shadowed, but smile bright with promise. With her other hand she drew my head close until our foreheads touched in a primal communion.

    Then she let go. Walked around my bed, and gave one last glance at the glaive.

    ¡°Temple, you said you were using her techniques with this thing?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Each one was one she¡¯d taught me. Encircle the Moon, Bisect the Sun, and Blind the Heavens.¡±

    There was no weight behind the names, but I felt throbbing within myself¡ªthe bond between me and the glaive? Amber turned back to the glaive. A quiet overtaking her again.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked.

    Amber raised a hasty smile. ¡°Nothing, nothing. Just, during the Changeover there were a few summoners of Upheaval that ran around. I¡¯d heard a lot of incantations in those days. None of them like that.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s not like entities teach us every spell of their Court.¡±

    ¡°True. True. And as we established, I don¡¯t know everything. I¡¯d make less mistakes if I did.¡± Amber added, ¡°What I do know is whether those are Upheaval spells or otherwise, conceptual weapons don¡¯t let you use another Court¡¯s sorcery. Bluntly, they¡¯re just a physical metaphor you beat someone to death with.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said as I felt then that the bed was made of sand, and I was sinking into it.

    Amber made for the door. With one leg past the threshold and one still in the room¡ªwith me¡ªI pushed myself to say something. To still hold onto her.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said. On cue she stopped, half-in half-out.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°What I said, I¡­I was just mad. Scared,¡± I admitted. ¡°I¡¯d never toss you aside.¡±

    And Amber said, ¡°I know, Temple. You¡¯re not that kind of person.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    She smiled, and peered just beyond the door before turning back to me. ¡°I¡¯ll go keep an eye on Melissa. Knowing her, she''s just hungry and grumpy. She¡¯ll come back.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll come back,¡± I repeated.

    And then Amber also left. I looked down to Sphinx in my lap¡ªshe¡¯d waited patiently for my attention¡­so I had perfect notice of her walking inside of me to recuperate in my spirit. Leaving me alone with the Sovereign-made glaive that could raise a nation and leave a girl isolated.

 Chapter 26

    I waited in that room until the inversion of the furniture my mother¡¯s name caused had faded, and it rained chairs and tables. I waited as the silence excoriated the excuses I¡¯d laid over my chest to defend my heart¡ªit beat a disgusting fleshy rhythm that churned my stomach. Another biological reminder that I yearned to sprint from to instead embrace the heatless flame of an Inviolate Star.

    With a blink, the star was in my hand. Balanced in a false precarity on the pad of my ring finger. There was a promise in its light. In the way it came to a skewering point but didn¡¯t break skin because its point had nothing to do with a Real sharpness but rather a Conceptual perfection.

    Tears rolled down my face. The silence had found my heart, and injected a venom of regret which was gleefully pumped throughout my body.

    ¡°Melissa is coming back. She¡¯s coming back with Amber. She¡¯ll come back,¡± I said.

    ¡°She¡¯ll be back,¡± my voice cracked.

    The weight of my wrongdoing silenced the phrase that had become a prayer. I¡¯d said enough lies. But they weren¡¯t lies, no they were partial truths. Whole fears. Altogether much worse than if I just had the creativity to lie. The grace. However grace is a rare to receive, and even rarer to have yet be willing to give away. It¡¯s why some of us chase the gods and their tenders, I suppose. Perhaps it¡¯s a flavor that Amber sought in every bottle she came across.

    As I let that star become the final point of my vision¡ªblackened in a pique of self-rejection, I knew that grace was a heatless flame that would willingly feed on the failings in me. Transubstantiate me into something worth the life I had¡­and my dad didn¡¯t.

    My jaw was open and I nearly guillotined my fingers between my teeth if it meant getting every bit of the star inside my mouth for one glorious moment of psychic self-immolation. Then I heard a chord. Gently struck but infinitely warm without ever becoming hot. The uplifting reminder of the sky¡¯s circularity. There¡¯d always be a star, bright and cold, but there was also dawn that never withheld a day¡¯s promise to go again.

    It sounds ridiculous¡ªmaybe it is¡ªbut I prefer to think Lupe was that good. I removed the star from my mouth after all. Shook out my hands to disperse the spell. Then pushed myself from bed. Cracked my knees against the linoleum to give me a feeling more base than traitorous empathy. I hissed and let myself be on my knees for a moment. Felt my tension release, and I breathed¡ªcycles of ten second inhalations and exhalations. I did five cycles then got dressed.

    I picked my way through the halls carefully. Surrounding me was a flow of nurses, doctors, and secretaries that moved with a practiced precision that I¡¯d interrupted by my existence as a non-wounded patient. When I broke free from the red arterial hallway that denoted my room being on the internal medicine floor, I let a smaller tributary of people carry me toward the elevators.

    I rode to the highest floor¡ªpostnatal care. I scoffed as the first thing I saw were the murals of rainbows leaping and looping in melting arches. There was a casual freedom that crawled between your legs daring you to tell it to behave. Room after room was filled with parents and babies¡ªsome rooms just those unlucky few that needed a bit longer to bake¡ªwho had no reason to regard cynicism or guilt as anything important in the face of a pure beginning.

    Sure, maybe some parents had a bit of regret, but when I looked at any of those kids I couldn¡¯t help but put my dark compound thoughts away. Instead of them, I indulged a bit. Siphoning the color that ran beneath my fingers as I trailed hand against wall. Painted with them, so if someone looked in my eyes they¡¯d see something they could compose¡ªlove¡ªinto a frame or image that didn¡¯t haunt them like the black-less dark of a grave at nighttime. Pregnable yet inescapable.

    I laid my hand against the door, and tested a few faces that¡¯d play well¡ªLupe couldn¡¯t see them to check, but a good mask makes it easier to pretend. Right?

    The door parted way for lances of the summer sun to blind me. I squinted, tightening my defenses, and forced the door further ajar to step out onto the roof. Immediately the wind took me in the side, tugging at my hair and loose clothes as I stood still in appreciation.

    Lit by the sun that made radiant the guitar in her hands, Lupe was the perfect image of a lupine wanderer. Hair fluttering up on the wind, but never cutting past the black shields of her shades. Though those were tilted down just enough that you could see the clouds in her eyes that rippled dark as light was trapped within them seeking its way out. She was¡ªthud

    I jumped and turned¡ªthe door had shut announcing me and revoking the gentle reverie I¡¯d fallen into. When I turned back I found Lupe¡¯s head raised¡ªno clouds, only glossy ebon glass.

    ¡°Were you disappointed?¡± she asked.

    ¡°By what?¡±

    She plucked a thick string while pressing down high up the guitar¡¯s neck. The bassy tone vibrating in lurching swings. My own nerves swung up and down with it. She stilled it.

    ¡°That I wasn¡¯t there,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Or did you not miss me?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that,¡± I said. ¡°I totally missed you, but I heard your playing from my room when Ina was showing off her new arm. You couldn¡¯t be in too much trouble if you were able to mindlessly strum.¡±

    She scowled at the mindless part.

    ¡°Never mindless,¡± she said. ¡°I just don¡¯t mistake my anxieties for actual thoughts. Keeps me from standing but not opening a door for three minutes.¡±

    ¡°You saw that,¡± I said.

    ¡°Or for a justification to moodfuck the people who cared about keeping me alive.¡±

    ¡°Moodfuck?¡±

    ¡°Have a better word to describe how you talked to Amber and Melissa?¡± Lupe asked. ¡°Alls below, get out of that shadow.¡±

    She formed a hand-spell over the guitar¡¯s soundhole. A golden pollen spread outward from her in a wave that dissolved every mote of shadow that I¡¯d used to hide.

    ¡°You heard everything?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t trying to be quiet.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said.

    Lupe leaned against the steel mesh fence that covered the rooftop¡¯s perimeter.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need an apology,¡± she said. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t mind the truth though, since you had fun throwing it around earlier.¡±

    ¡°What was the question?¡± I muttered.

    ¡°Were you disappointed when I wasn¡¯t rushing in to see you?¡±

    I spat, ¡°Alls below, yes. I sure as shit wasn¡¯t excited to see Ina. I¡¯d thought¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± she asked. ¡°That I¡¯d fallen for you after two conversations and getting pointed toward the omelet station? Gosh, you¡¯re so used to being the center of girls¡¯ worlds that your heart broke a bit realizing that you weren¡¯t the center of mine.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡ª¡± I muttered.

    ¡°That I could give you less room in my mind than I use going through a few random chord progressions. That¡ª¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m the center of anyone¡¯s life,¡± I snapped.

    A cloud passed overhead, bluish-gray and herald to a fleet that could be seen just teasing the edge of the horizon. I sucked in a breath¡ªit was still summer and any shadow was a fair reprieve from the way moist summer-heated air bludgeoned you down into a muggy sludge.

    ¡°Really?¡± she asked. ¡°Do you want my shades because you¡¯re blind as fuck, Nadia.¡±

    I stayed quiet. Turned my head to the side to hide from the accuracy of her accusations. As if she needed to see to see through me.

    ¡°Want to know what I see?¡± she asked.

    No.

    ¡°Melissa, a girl you were engaged to for how long?¡±

    Don¡¯t say¡ª, ¡°Ten years,¡± I answered.

    ¡°Wow, you really suck, and not in the cool slutty way,¡± she chuckled. I squirmed.

    ¡°So ten years, for ten years you both knew each other was the solution to every problem we face in life¡ªmost of the time facing alone,¡± she said. ¡°Who¡¯ll hold me when I¡¯m sick? Who¡¯ll love me when I hate myself? Who¡¯ll laugh with me when I think of a random joke?¡±

    Lupe began to strum a gentle melody on the guitar. It languished in a minor key as each plucked note dropped with the heat of fresh tears. A pitter-patter against some psychic ground. She looked up at me, shook her head, and looked out across the glittering bay.

    She said, ¡°Forget about yourself, she had that comfort. I don¡¯t know why you two divorced¡ªthough I bet it was your fault¡ªbut I can tell how much care she has for you with every breath that¡¯d be better spent cursing you if she said your name at all. It¡¯s more than you have for her real or performed.¡±

    Lupe strangled the guitar, choking the notes to rest.

    ¡°She took a fucking bullet for you, and you shoot her like that,¡± Lupe said.

    ¡°And Amber?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The weirdest case of hero worship I¡¯ve ever seen,¡± she said.

    ¡°That¡¯s just¡­no,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not a hero.¡±

    ¡°You surely aren¡¯t,¡± she said, ¡°but with how experienced you seemed dangling a life over a person¡¯s head¡ªor their arm¡ªI bet you did something to her.¡±

    I remembered the lindwurm frozen in mid-air, and my Sovereign who had Observed me, put my life on this track, and slew it. If I stretched I could remember the way each drip of her blood around the wound she¡¯d suffered supporting me¡ªeven then¡ªthreatened to overthrow the balance of my chilled heart.

    ¡°For her.¡± I said, ¡°I endangered her life first, but I did save it. She¡¯s saved me enough times though that we¡¯re even.¡±

    ¡°Does she know that?¡± Lupe asked. ¡°Cause I haven¡¯t known a Baron in my life that enjoyed taking orders from a soldier. Especially when they have a past tall enough to make a girl run from them and into a sniper¡¯s bullet. So be real, do you really think you didn¡¯t notice how they felt? How they¡ªfor reasons weirder than the Underside¡ªstill probably feel about you.¡±

    ¡°I may have noticed,¡± I said in a scratched voice. The admission clawing up my throat in terror of what it¡¯d mean to be voiced.

    ¡°How couldn¡¯t you, you needy little girl,¡± Lupe said. ¡°So broken and so pretty, and who can resist caring for a broken pretty thing that if you fixed up just right maybe it¡¯d be yours forever.¡±

    She unslung her guitar and laid it against the ground. Opened her arms wide in ready for an embrace. I bit my lip fearful it was only a trap. Lupe shook her head and I raced into her arms. Let her squeeze me until the glue that held me together threatened to melt. Her body was soft and warm in the way the sun was when it teased your face in the morning.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Because you looked like you needed a hug. Your silhouette was slouching dramatically.¡±

    ¡°No, but, why me? After what I said?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not that special, and you¡¯re not that evil as to deserve or not deserve a hug. Besides,¡± Lupe said, ¡°when you have basically nothing all you do is preserve your fears and petty loathings for the right time to throw them at someone.¡±

    She stroked the center of my back while gently cradling my head against her chest. There was a heat inside of her that was every bit pained as my star was cold¡ªwe all had what we leaned on.

    Lupe didn¡¯t look at me as I raised my head in recognition of a question I could ask, and she didn¡¯t look down at me with expectation that I¡¯d ask it. Instead her fingers spider-crawled onto the guitar to erratically dance and pluck at its strings.

    ¡°What¡¯s the center of your world?¡± I asked.

    Shifting around in her grasp so my back was to her chest. She guided us down to sit before picking up guitar and laying it across my lap and hers.

    ¡°My song,¡± she said, ¡°the Seven Families of the Sunken Valley, is something special. An innovation in Conceptual weapons where we layered Courts atop Courts fused in damascus forge welds of melody. Way more than the ¡®metaphor you beat someone to death with¡¯ angle Amber has. I mean, you heard the song, it¡¯s more than just a Conceptual weapon and almost like a spell¡ªa proper entity given Sorcery.¡±

    She continued, ¡°It¡¯s what made Marduk decide to stay when he washed ashore naked and broke. Not a hint of Sorcery in his spirit that was small and loose like a child¡¯s. Overtime he became a fixture of the valley. Had children, and our problems started.¡±

    Lupe pulled the guitar flat against our laps. The sound was lurking, shifting beneath dark waters, before emerging in a shredding chord of sonic seafoam.

    ¡°See, old Marduk¡¯s kids weren¡¯t born right. They were born normal. A failure of the secret test he¡¯d conducted. Cause Marduk liked the valley not because of the people or the scenery. He liked its isolation. There¡¯d be few, if any, interruptions of his grand design. So he cast aside the cover he was using. Unveiled himself as a Marquis, and with a roll of his hand the valley fell under his territory.¡±

    I turned back to her in surprise, and didn¡¯t say anything when I saw the tears roll down her face, shining gems in the sunlight. Then returned my eyes down to the guitar and the long tanned hands that played it.

    ¡°That¡¯d just kill people,¡± I said.

    Territories were the harshest of any conceptual zone short of the Underside. A space under its maker¡¯s control, and tuned to the power of a single Court. So condensed it was a scalpel that severed unprotected too weak spirits; filling the gaps in a person with itself.

    ¡°Oh, Marduk knew, but he said, ¡®With pressure comes diamonds, and with this gift may the treasure that is mankind¡¯s future step forward,¡¯¡± Lupe said. ¡°The treasure was this mad plan of making humans into entities or something near enough. Unfortunately for Marduk, we were too adaptable.¡±

    The song settled into a bluesy haze of a land that¡¯d been sunk into the Abyss. Lupe sighed alongside her guitar¡¯s own rasp.

    ¡°And so our sunless time passed. Generation after generation until the sun became a myth, and children stopped being born with the ability to see.¡±

    I asked, ¡°What about moving?¡±

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°After the first generation of Sunken Valley¡¯s kids came of age they tried,¡± Lupe said. ¡°But the Abyss was in us now, and we¡¯d become accustomed to a certain pressure. When they passed the threshold their bodies just, thbbpt.¡±

    She pantomimed an explosion with her hands.

    Lupe said, ¡°We were like blobfish. Perfectly fine until removed from our environment. The homeland had become a cage, and the only way out was through joining the cult.¡±

    ¡°But you got out,¡± I said.

    She nodded, ¡°I did, but not by myself. See, those of us who didn¡¯t want to join the cult had accepted we¡¯d likely never use Sorcery again, but there were seven families who didn¡¯t. They weren¡¯t necessarily the most important before Marduk, but after¡­they were the ones who didn¡¯t give up. Helped a few young hopefuls bond with musician friendly entities, like this guy here.¡±

    Lupe fiddled with the whammy bar of her guitar-axe. Her hands not touching the strings I watched them vibrate until an eye formed in the plasma blur. It blinked once, twice, and became a smiling mouth. An eye again that closed.

    ¡°The Seven Families were our resistance,¡± Lupe said, ¡°but my sister was our escape. My escape. Dumb as hell but bold as fuck, she jumped a drunk cultist that¡¯d left the bar one winter. Killed him and stole his sorc-deck. The idiot had the cult¡¯s grimoire on there. So where we¡ªI¡ªgot to bond to Morning she pushed herself to bond to the Abyss¡ª¡±

    ¡°Then used magic to acclimate you to higher pressures,¡± I said.

    Lupe didn¡¯t sob, but her shoulders shuddered and her song was a curtain of feeling.

    ¡°Damn right,¡± she said. ¡°The families gave me our song to carry, and our plight to sing in the hopes we¡¯d find someone¡ªa real hero-type¡ªto help free us. It¡¯s the only reason I came for this death game exam anyways.¡±

    ¡°If you haven¡¯t found your hero, why not leave and try the collectives?¡± I asked.

    Lupe smiled with her teeth sharp and gleaming in answer.

    ¡°Because I know, in the same way I know the Abyss, that Marduk is here and I¡¯m gonna make sure he dies here.¡±

    I tap her leg, and she spreads them and her arms so I can crawl away. Not too far¡ªI wasn¡¯t running from her. Then I turned to face her. To hold her hands even as one held the neck of her guitar. I nodded in understanding.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good center,¡± I said. ¡°Same as mine really, vengeance.¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± Lupe said, ¡°vengeance is what I¡¯m doing, but it¡¯s a means to an end. Not who I am or what I¡¯m about.¡±

    ¡°Then what¡¯s the center?¡±

    ¡°Liberation,¡± Lupe said, and if I hadn¡¯t felt her hands I would¡¯ve sworn she¡¯d cast a spell just then as a cloud parted and a blade of sunlight cleaved through our shadow. Illuminating her and darkening me ever further.

    There was a weight to the way she said it. The combined dream of hundreds¡ªmaybe a few thousand¡ªpeople that only wanted to see the sun again. It was there, in that shadow, that I realized how cold I was and how much I wanted some of that light.

    ¡°Lupe, I¡­¡± I searched, ¡°I want to help. Let me help.¡±

    ¡°How, you¡¯re just a Baron and not even a real one.¡±

    ¡°I have a key,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d looted¡ªum¡ªI¡¯d recovered one after cutting down an ally of the cult. It accesses the murals around the city. Turns them into Staircases to somewhere.¡±

    ¡°His throne probably,¡± she said. ¡°Alls below, no one in the families have gone into that thing and come out before.¡±

    ¡°You can,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll hand it over the next time I see you?¡±

    Lupe furiously nodded. Her hair undulating in the wind. She was silent, but her hands couldn¡¯t help but play. A tune of clouds breaking, sunlight seeping in silent as a thief and ready for the big display. I left her to her thoughts¡ªplots?¡ªand made for the door. Her playing stilled.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± she called out, ¡°I¡¯m not a fighter, and¡ª¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you,¡± I said, the words smearing as I whirled back around to face her. ¡°Can I ask one thing though?¡±

    ¡°Why not,¡± she said.

    ¡°Did you want to be in the room earlier?¡± I asked.

    Lupe rubbed the back of her head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if I did,¡± she said. ¡°Amber and Melissa love you, and Ina is at least turned on by Melissa. There¡¯s no room for me in that dynamic.¡±

    ¡°But if you did,¡± I argued, ¡°it¡¯d make sense why you would be positioned only a few floors above my room exactly. The floors aren¡¯t that spiritually dense, and I¡¯m sure you have a way to see deeply if needed.¡±

    Lupe chuckled and strummed her guitar. ¡°That¡¯s a good theory,¡± she said. Missed a note in an arpeggio and fumbled her fingers back to hit it. It was a good theory.

    * * *

    I took the cable car back to the suite that¡¯d become ¡®home¡¯ insofar as it was the closest thing I had since losing my actual one. Inside was more quiet and loneliness. I placed the glaive in my room, and dove into a shower to ward off any strange feelings using the rushing water.

    It was a warm gentle drone that kept my thoughts to a minimum. Buried beneath the white noise rush that filled my ears. The shower was technically a shrine. Working off a series of principles that generated hot water at the perfect speed and amount of droplets to fall on you with the natural pace of a modest rain. Each drop of water tuned to cut through and absorb grime to be deposited down the drain with all the other refuse.

    A good shower could work wonders on the mind. As did Lupe¡¯s hug, and the sense of her pressed into my back. Soft and hard in all the right places. I almost felt like being a person again when it was over. I padded across the rather morbid shower mat in the bathroom¡ªthe thing turned red when hit with water. Creating the appearance of blood-stained footsteps in the otherwise pristine white of the mat. Like I said, morbid.

    I leaned against the sink and wiped away the fog on the mirror so I could see myself.

    ¡°No,¡± I screamed. ¡°Oh fuck, no.¡±

    Unveiled by one bold swipe, were my eyes flecked red in their usual gold. It was due to my look of horror that I realized my teeth had changed too. My canines properly sharpened into fangs capable of ripping out an artery so I could guzzle what I craved from the source. I stumbled backwards as I pounded the intrusive thought from my skull. It wasn¡¯t the first¡ªI know that now¡ªbut it was the first that I felt truly aware of at the time.

    I stared at myself in the mirror. At the reflection that wasn¡¯t me, and then I yawned. It, the reflection, yawned and I didn¡¯t. I beat a hurried retreat from the bathroom back into the suite¡¯s common area. Paced between the couch and coffee table¡ªignored the bloodstains my eyes could make out even though what had stained the area was just the barest trace of Amber¡¯s previous violence that soap and water could never remove.

    I forced my mouth shut so I didn¡¯t feel tempted to lick my lips.

    Then I formed the hand-spell to eject Sphinx from within my spirit. She herself yawned from her place atop the coffee table. I dropped down onto the couch in front of her.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Are you asking emotionally, mentally¡ª¡±

    ¡°And physically, mystically, I don¡¯t fucking know Sphinx. I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°I have fangs, red in my eyes, I¡¯m changing. Just now the mirror yawned, and if I¡¯m honest what did I see when I had my ¡®two out of three¡¯ death? Why a cabin?¡±

    Sphinx sealed my lips with her front paw. I noticed then that she¡¯d grown from her plushie size to something more equal to me¡ªstill not her full size, but this had a charm all its own.

    ¡°It¡¯s easier to read one book than seven at once,¡± she said.

    ¡°The fangs and eyes,¡± I said.

    She chuffed, ¡°Choices, Nadia, the parent to most change. Though all that is is sliding us on more delineated paths that might better suit the way we follow.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not an answer. At least tell me if they¡¯re really there.¡±

    Sphinx rolled her eyes and raised a paw bidding me to hold open my eyes for examination. She searched and then pushed my head up.

    ¡°Open,¡± she ordered. After a moment of examination she said, ¡°Nothing for either eyes nor fangs. If they¡¯re true then perhaps they¡¯re not Real. A symptom of something, yes, but buried inside your spirit most in places I can¡¯t walk to chase down the answers.¡±

    I fell to my side crashing into the plush solidity of the couch. Pressed the candy cloud softness of my bathroom against my skin. Sphinx tilted her head to follow my new orientation.

    ¡°You¡¯re unhappy with the outcome?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°but maybe a bit. Everything is happening so fast¡ªtoo fast¡ªand I feel like there¡¯s no ground beneath me anymore. Just blood and adrenaline and fire. Under it all I just, I want to know that there¡¯s something real about me. Intrinsic and immutable. Something I don¡¯t have to worry about betraying.¡±

    ¡°Intrinsic,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°At best that¡¯s just the result of an anti-choice to not change. There¡¯s no such thing.¡±

    I propped myself up. Eyes sharp as daggers as I stared down Sphinx for my own sanity.

    ¡°Yes, there is.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then tell me this,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°would the Nadia from the train, the one who¡¯d never taken a life until just then and was tormented in her dreams, look at the Nadia from two nights ago¡ªthe one that hollered and cheered as she dyed her suit red in blood and spilled futures¡ªand agree that there was an intrinsic sameness between them?¡±

    Emphatic, I said, ¡°Yes. Both her and that other her, could agree we only killed bad people.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember that Nadia, gleefully cutting down foes, saw them as people. Do you?¡±

    ¡°They were still bad,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°And what of last night¡¯s opposition during the test, were they bad?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d crossed a line. Killed Amber.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, so not bad, but they crossed a line. Is your line the demarcation of moral allegiance?¡±

    My lips squeezed behind the sour point Sphinx had just fed me. She didn¡¯t need me to say anything to keep going, to bury me.

    She added, ¡°And, to be clear, they thought they killed your darling gin-soaked mummer. They hadn''t, which would mean¡ªhad you successfully slain them before the player¡¯s appearance¡ªyou would¡¯ve crossed the line first.¡±

    ¡°They intended¡ª¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s voice boomed and the shadows in the room shock in time with her intonation¡ªhoneyed and strong, royal. The background pitter of dripping water stilled to nothing as I was dragged into a Godtime by the one that gave truth to its name.

    ¡°Now we speak of intention,¡± the Sovereign said through my darling Sphinx. ¡°You shift your borders so elegantly that you¡¯ve mistaken their tracks as the wind. So let us be plain, so you don¡¯t get confused.¡±

    I pressed myself into the couch in terror. This was more than a Godtime. It was an Observation.

    ¡°We made an oath, did we or did we not?¡±

    ¡°We did,¡± I said.

    ¡°So we did, I¡¯m glad we agree. The terms of which I considered very clear and very generous. I help you with your petty tiny vengeance. Through my Sorcery, which you¡¯ve taken too so well, I¡¯ve aided you in finding your foes.¡±

    I tried to defend myself. I sputtered, ¡°But, I promised Sphinx we¡¯d investigate soon about your foes. I have leads.¡±

    ¡°You do,¡± the Sovereign said.

    Using Sphinx¡¯s body, she hopped from the table and crawled up my body. Paws soft but her weight put atop each step to drive it like a spike through my body. She sat and stared down at me with burning ripple stars for eyes.

    ¡°But my terms were two fold, vengeance only one of them. The other?¡±

    ¡°Chart your return?¡± I said, the memory making no delay to be held up in a bid to win me a god¡¯s grace.

    She smiled. ¡°Perfect, you do remember. So why is it that my darling daughter, Sphinx¡ªsuch a creative name by the way¡ªis thinking about you not becoming a baron? Instead you¡¯re fixated on things as worthless as eyes and fangs.¡±

    Her face pressed in close to mine as she said, ¡°I can remove them for you if you¡¯ll be less distracted.¡±

    ¡°What does me becoming a Baron have to do with anything?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It has to do with everything,¡± she screamed.

    My spirit rattled and I felt fibers melt beneath a heat grander than theirs.

    ¡°Sorry, let me use my indoor voice.¡± She said, ¡°It has to do with everything, my dearest and most favorite summoner. The climb up toward the thrones of all that Is and will ever Be. I speak of the Chain, Nadia. You can¡¯t bring me back in my entirety until you tend to my divinity from a throne of our shared Sovereignty, understand?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes,¡± I said. ¡°I just¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not ready to see Sphinx go,¡± I whined. It was selfish and petulant and small and human. ¡°She said it¡¯d be us in the end.¡±

    ¡°Fool that you are, a child raised by an impossible union. A impossible union. It¡¯s why I was so impressed by you, and something I should¡¯ve taken into account before I let my gatekeeper see to you. To find that she¡¯s stalling, how indulgent.¡±

    ¡°Please, don¡¯t do anything to Sphinx,¡± I begged.

    ¡°Why would I? This too is Revelation, but please don¡¯t leave her older sister¡¯s waiting. They¡¯re only so polite.¡±

    The Sovereign gestured with Sphinx¡¯s wing to the four shadows that split from beneath, crawled up a wall each, to stare down at me with shining eyes of Revelation. A question, the question, as to them and the trial I¡¯d have to pass if I was to climb the Chain had squirmed its way atop my tongue.

    I swallowed it down; if I asked then¡­I don¡¯t know, but I knew, intuitively, that I wouldn¡¯t leave this Observation with Sphinx. So I turned my eyes back to my bondmate¡ªpossessed though she was¡ªand raised the question that¡¯d get me through this.

    ¡°Do you have a pace I have to hit?¡± I asked.

    The Sovereign smiled with Sphinx¡¯s face and licked a paw dismissively. ¡°No, but one shouldn¡¯t keep an ancient divinity waiting. There are many links in the Chain, my dearest and favorite summoner. So no stopping. Not for exhaustion, or love, or death. Upwards always upwards.¡±

    She blinked, the shadows that hid Barons behind them retracted, and Sphinx returned to me. Her smile a line of broken shards arranged in an attempt at something beautiful. The pitter became patter, and the water counted out the seconds of tension between the two of us.

    ¡°You said it¡¯d be the two of us in the end,¡± I said.

    Sphinx glanced away from me. I gripped her face and turned it back to mine.

    ¡°Was that just a lie to keep me climbing?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx said, ¡°No, it¡¯d be the truth. Our bond wouldn¡¯t change.¡±

    ¡°But you would,¡± I said. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be Sphinx. You¡¯d be something named and titled. Someone else.¡±

    ¡°I thought you believed in an intrinsic and immutable nature somewhere within people?¡±

    ¡°I do, but¡­¡± I trailed off.

    Sphinx filled in my words, ¡°It¡¯s different for ¡®people¡¯ than it is entities? Is that it?¡±

    My silence was agreement.

    Sphinx lowered herself against my stomach. Stared at me just above my chest.

    ¡°A lot of humans think that, but they don¡¯t have to be right. Their bonds are different than ours. They don¡¯t pour humanity into their entities the way you do me,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°But you¡¯ve been changing me since we met. You¡¯ve changed since we met. Yet you still call me Sphinx and I call you Nadia.¡±

    She smiled and raised herself. Took the lapel of my robe and tugged it loose bearing my chest in its modest stiff peaked glory. Her breath was heavy at the sight of me¡ªhair askew in a messy halo as I lay on my back.

    ¡°Even if you call me something else, you can always call me yours. Through the small changes and the big,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll still be of Revelation and you¡¯ll still be my divided summoner. You don¡¯t have to fear power.¡±

    Tears pooled at my cheeks before falling down the sides of my face to get lost in my hair.

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of power,¡± I said. ¡°I just¡­I don¡¯t want to look around to find that I have it and I¡¯m alone, Sphinx. I don¡¯t want to push away my friends, but things get scarier and scarier. I get scarier, and it seems like everyone around me dies. Mom, Dad, Wren, people close to me and strangers¡­¡± I trailed off. I cried. I couldn¡¯t stop crying the whole fears that lurked behind every cruel word I¡¯d said to Melissa and Amber.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want them to follow me if it means they end up in a grave somewhere. Cause it feels like death sticks to everyone but me. Even though I¡¯m yelling and screaming and opening my arms so wide for it to just take me. Cause it¡¯s all so hard,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s so hard.¡±

    Sphinx was quiet. She allowed me the space to sob. Didn¡¯t complain as it shook my body. Instead she stretched herself above me and I watched her grow¡ªjust a little bit more, closer to her proper size¡ªbefore she settled on me like a blanket. Then she pressed her mouth to mine in a kiss that attempted to claim the entirety of me¡ªburdens and all.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being selfish,¡± I moaned into her mouth. I knew she was alone and my sentimentality was dragging out her torment.

    She migrated kisses from my lips to my cheeks. Claiming a tear from each.

    ¡°What have I always said about apologies,¡± she reminded me. ¡°They have no place between us, and if anything I¡¯m the selfish one. Prodding you to advance when you needed me to have the wisdom to hold you back. Though even then, I¡¯m more selfish than you, because despite it all the concerns of the Court are far from my mind.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s on your mind?¡± I asked.

    She pressed her mouth to my neck. Grazed it with her teeth in a dangerous reminder of status as an entity. A danger that fled my thoughts when she pressed her mouth to my chest. Teased my breast between her lips, rolled its peak against her fangs, before letting go with a suckling pop.

    You, she thought, always you.

    I¡¯ve taught you the worst things about humanity, I thought.

    ¡°We¡¯re equals in all things,¡± she said. ¡°Even our selfishness as I don¡¯t wish to hurry from this moment with you.¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t,¡± I said.

    Sphinx drew my other breast into her mouth, and plunged us both into the heady depths of a lascivious Godtime. We stretched seconds into minutes, minutes into hours, and all just spent exploring the territory of each other that we hadn¡¯t dared do since she passed a star to me on our first kiss.

    She marked my collarbone in a constellation of greedy kiss-marks barely hidden beneath my own melanin. I said that this made us ¡®fang for fang,¡¯ and received a paw to the face for the joke. By the time our ten minute eternity had passed, I was worn out and breathing hard having traded her breath for mine and vice-versa.

    ¡°Sphinx, am I a good person?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Be specific,¡± she said.

    I said, ¡°I just feel like I¡¯m bad at being a person. Everyone¡¯s so clear about themselves and committed to things. What am I even doing?¡±

    ¡°Finding out,¡± she said. ¡°As is Revelation¡¯s way. Though if it soothes any, I love your dual-sided complexity.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s the worst thing about me.¡±

    Sphinx silenced my self-flagellation with a kiss. ¡°What we loathe in ourselves is often what others love. And though I can¡¯t speak for the maiden or the mummer,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°I can speak for myself. That your divided self, your petty humanity and glorious spirit, your gallant smile and even now your wounded tears; in all ways I find you beautiful.¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s eyes burned with the flame of Revelation as she continued, ¡°Nadia, no matter my link nor whatever I become, I shall inscribe it within myself to such depths that even when the stars grow cold and the last dream has been spun, my vow will remain untarnished. That I, Sphinx of the Court of Revelation, did love my summoner, Nadia Temple, ward of Kareem and daughter to a Sovereign.¡±

    ¡°Sphinx, you¡¯re crying,¡± I said. My thumb catching a streaking ember before it fell from her face. That single wipe became a cradling. A guiding hand. One last kiss.

 Chapter 27

    My robe hung loose slowly accumulating the drops of sweat that migrated down my body. The memory of Sphinx¡¯s body against mine¡ªsoft fur, dense muscle, and an enthusiastic warmth¡ªteased my expression into a smile as I savored the not-so distant memory.

    When we¡¯d finished, Sphinx returned to my spirit so she could continue recuperating. I¡¯d worried about her expending herself for something so trivial, but she¡¯d scoffed then said, ¡°With you, nothing is trivial.¡±  A sentiment that made all the sweat feel worth it¡ªshe made me feel worth it. Though as I poured water from the filtered decanter that sat cooling inside the fridge I couldn¡¯t help but wonder where she¡¯d learned to talk like this.

    As I returned to the living room, glass rising to my lips, the door flung open as Amber and Melissa flew inside. The jolt from their sudden entrance instigated a minor paroxysm in myself. I jumped back, spilled water against my chest, and scrambled to form the hand-spell for Atomic Glory with as much haste as I could muster¡ªthe spell instinctual by that point, but pleasure was a dulling agent.

    I shook the spell from my hand once I processed that it was only Amber and Melissa. Amber and Melissa. She¡¯d come back just like Amber said she would. I placed the glass down on the coffee table. Took careful steps as if to go too fast would break the magic of this moment, and see her leave me again. I stopped just a few feet from her¡ªshe was in the range that I could embrace her¡­if she let me.

    Despite the panic on her face only moments earlier, Amber had effortlessly returned to a sort of bemusement as she shut the door without a sound. Equally careful not to break the moment. Though my attention was entirely on Melissa as she¡¯d discovered some new expression¡ªscrunched up, face flush, brows knit, and teeth on the verge of slicing open her bottom lip. It was a new sort of anger I¡¯d not seen from her. She even quivered from the power of it. Her eyes darted about as if to look anywhere but me; besides her initial top-to-bottom assessment of my person to discern what she should feel. I had to say something.

    ¡°Melissa, I¡­¡± blanked. How do you apologize for hijacking someone¡¯s present, endangering their life, and stealing away from them the security of a life they were ready to live for nearly a decade? I suppose you just say you¡¯re sorry for all of that. Though sorry, I now find, is too small a word to wrap its arms around the enormity and diversity of my wrongs. It was all I had though.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°At the hospital I was feeling¡­just feeling everything again. Then you all told me to give up a spell that was necessary, and I didn¡¯t know how to handle it. I¡ª.¡±

    She raised her hand, calling for silence from me. I obeyed because I didn¡¯t want to keep talking. There was just too much to acknowledge, and bring up and some of it I just wasn¡¯t ready to talk about. My heart, wrenched open by Sphinx and Lupe, needed time to heal. Incorporate the bruises until it was denser. Stronger.

    ¡°No,¡± Melissa said, after a minute of furious thought, ¡°I can¡¯t do this with you. Not right now. Not like this.¡±

    She traced my silhouette with her hand¡ªah, the entirety of me was too much¡ªthen skirted past to her room. I didn¡¯t return to the present until I heard the door slam shut. My mind stuck on the way her head tilted away from me¡ªthe disgust that kept her from looking at me. It hurt, but I was due my portion of pain.

    Amber guided me to the couch. Set her bags on the coffee table, and leaned back into the cushion as she expelled a heavy breath that teased my nose with the scent of Bloodlust. She expelled another one, unfurling her body for peak relaxation. Feet on the coffee table, arms stretched out across the back of the couch, and her eyes shut. I was the opposite as I¡¯d curled myself inward¡ªknees tight together and drawn up to my chest.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re safe,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t left you in the best position back at the hospital,¡± she admitted, ¡°and something tripped the bugs I¡¯d planted so I presumed the worst. Even put on my ¡®killer face.¡¯¡±

    A smile glinted through the dark of my mood. Then confusion took over as I swiveled to match Amber¡¯s bright gaze.

    ¡°What do you mean you bugged the place?¡±

    She shrugged, ¡°That I planted surveillance devices. Not literal bugs, Temple.¡±

    ¡°I know not literal ones. I¡¯ve read spy serials,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, why? What kind?¡±

    ¡°Well, this room isn¡¯t that secure to begin with seeing that the Lodge can casually break the Mother¡¯s Prayer. I wanted to make sure no one¡¯s inside that you haven¡¯t approved of, so I installed Court- and Chain-trippers. Anyone not of our Courts at specifically our link trips the bugs which sends an alert to my sorc-deck. Doesn¡¯t tell me exactly who was here though.¡±

    Amber drew her expression into a pointed tool that dangled the unspoken question above my head, Who was here?

    There were a lot of ways I could answer that question. Recursive half-statements that¡¯d tease a few facts, but never enough for the full picture. I could lie¡ªhowever much good that would do seeing as even in my processing of an answer Amber was reading me, and I had no idea what statements my face was making. Though the complete truth, the unmitigated truth, felt like a cruelty that was ill-deserved.

    I¡¯d been Observed twice by a Sovereign. Back home it only took being Observed once by at least a Viscount to see people quietly erect walls between you and them. Your existence, an ontological hazard. Who knew if your interactions would cause the entity¡¯s attention to expand beyond you. It only took one Observation for that simple breach from the place beyond reality for your future to warp even subtly. While it was the literal act of Observation that did it, there was still the fear that to tell someone, to share words of what happened, could undo the listener¡¯s fate.

    ¡°Amber, how far in this are you going to go with me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Temple¡ª.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re even,¡± I said. ¡°You know that, right?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± she asked, hesitant¡ªAmber was rarely hesitant.

    ¡°I want to know you know,¡± I said. ¡°Cause you¡¯ve already saved my life plenty. More than enough for me saving you once.¡±

    ¡°Twice,¡± she said. ¡°You saved me twice, Temple. Once down in the Underside, and the second time last night.¡±

    She slid toward me with the hesitation that she might break our moment¡ªeyes enrapturing the other¡ªuntil she felt close enough, secure enough, to gently press her fingers to my shoulder. I shuddered softly at the touch.

    ¡°I thought we were past this,¡± Amber said, her voice low and gentle. Soothing. ¡°I thought we were¡­¡±

    Her eyes searched me for the next line to say, but I didn¡¯t know the steps to this dance. Amber pulled back slowly as those burning rosy eyes of hers flared with a want and an urge to say the answer that lurked inside.

    ¡°Comrades,¡± Amber lied. ¡°I mean, with everything we¡¯ve been through already I stopped keeping count. Figured there¡¯d be no point because I¡¯d planned to see this through to the end.¡±

    ¡°With Nemesis?¡±

    ¡°All of ¡®em. If you¡¯d let me.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t the answer I¡¯d expected. I slid my legs apart as I leaned close to Amber. A smile so wide and so innocent on my face at the generosity I¡¯d never imagined I¡¯d get. Then I saw her face. She looked so content at my joy. As if it was the only thing worth getting out of bed for. I retracted my smile, and tried to focus on her. Her motives and needs, and not let my own self-involvement blind me like it had for too long now.

    ¡°Why me though?¡± I asked. ¡°You said me saving your life meant it was only fair you help take one, but that¡¯s four more and we¡¯re already even with these back and forth rescues. If you don¡¯t even keep track anymore then your original math doesn¡¯t work. So, why?¡±

    Amber pulled herself back from me and slumped over causing her locs to fall into a rippling raspberry curtain across her face.

    ¡°Temple, don¡¯t make me say it.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t take you with me otherwise.¡±

    Her head snapped up; eyes wide with worry¡ªanything but that.

    ¡°I needed a cause,¡± she said.

    ¡°A cause to what?¡± I asked. ¡°Vacation, kill people, or¡ª¡±

    ¡°To live even if it was only for a day longer,¡± she said. ¡°It couldn¡¯t be for something petty or small. I needed it to be righteous. Maybe a smidge redemptive if I could swing it.¡±

    She ran her fingers through her locs as she tilted her head back up toward memories and the ghosts within them.

    ¡°It¡¯d been ages since I had a righteous cause. There were people I knew¡ªpeople I¡¯d killed¡ªwho said they had one or I was on one back during the Changeover. I don¡¯t know if they were right. If anyone was right back then,¡± she said. ¡°I did a lot in those years, Temple. I saved some people and killed others, regretted both, and sometimes wished I¡¯d chosen to kill who I¡¯d saved or saved who I¡¯d killed. And all of those worries pile on until you just wish you could stop. Cause it all gets too hard, Temple. It gets too hard.¡±

    ¡°I think I understand,¡± I said, the admission of life¡¯s difficulties matching the one I¡¯d made to Sphinx. ¡°But you were a kid then, Amber, it wasn¡¯t your fault whatever happened.¡±

    I placed my hand on her thigh. The only place I felt was appropriate as I craved the establishment of some physical tie to bind us down as her emotions swept free from within the depths of her spirit.

    ¡°Then I was a bad kid,¡± Amber chuckled. ¡°All the same, I was slowing down and circling the drain when you found me.¡±

    ¡°You were one of the crew¡¯s best hunters,¡± I said. ¡°That hardly seems like slowing down.¡±

    ¡°I love those guys, but it was rote and it was easy. Though I suppose my sense of ¡®easy¡¯ and ¡®rote¡¯ are shot to the Underside and back,¡± she said. ¡°Most of the New World feels rote compared to the churning mess that was the Changeover. You could be a villain one day and a hero the next. Endlessly reinvent yourself. Then suddenly it was over and everything you¡¯d done became a weight that you couldn¡¯t change yourself past any more.¡±

    ¡°No more heroic deeds to offset the ghosts?¡±

    ¡°Nothing offsets them once they¡¯re let in,¡± she said. ¡°But yeah, the hunters were rote and then I saw you. Small, sharp, and cold like a knife at wintertime. At first I just wanted to unthaw you. Help reintroduce you to the life your parents¡¯ death had shook you from. Then we found the lindwurm, that weird throne, and then you summoned an entity from a Court I¡¯d never seen. You were the first unique thing I¡¯d found in ages. I couldn¡¯t not be near you.¡±

    ¡°Even if being near me kills you?¡± I asked, soft and hoping for an answer that was so selfish.

    She lowered her hands. Placed one over mine which still rested atop her thigh. Her hand squeezed mine in an impossible grip that dared the world to see us parted.

    ¡°I was already dead, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°Why fear what I¡¯ve already been through?¡±

    ¡°Then,¡± I said, ¡°my Court¡¯s Sovereign tripped the bugs. She Observed me again.¡±

    ¡°Again?¡± she asked. ¡°This happened before?¡±

    ¡°When I summoned Sphinx. She was who I negotiated with when establishing the bond. The second time was when your bugs were tripped.¡±

    ¡°Amazing,¡± she said.

    ¡°Amazing?¡±.

    ¡°Obviously. Means I was right,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re so interesting even a god can¡¯t keep her eye off you. Now you have to let me stay to see how this ends.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy. Everyone knows that being Observed is like the worst thing that can happen to you. Even if you do something good it¡¯s a guarantee you¡¯re going to be in for the worst.¡±

    ¡°Temple, I¡¯m only hearing reasons why you still need me, and why I want to come.¡± Amber winked, ¡°Think you¡¯ll let me come?¡±

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°Fine, you can come,¡± I said. Then her pun hit me, ¡°Really? I thought we were having a moment.¡±

    ¡°We were. You¡¯re the one taking it there,¡± she said.

    I rolled my eyes and took stock of the bag that was on the coffee table. When I pointed at it, Amber gave her approval and I peeked inside. There was a beautiful creamy fabric with buttons glossy as river stones that were bordered by sharp elegant pleats.

    ¡°The ball,¡± Amber said. ¡°It¡¯s some little post-test party the Lodge is throwing.¡±

    Melissa¡¯s door swung open as she leaned past the frame. A thin white cream already evenly lathered across her skin accentuating the pout of her lips.

    ¡°Ugh, at least explain it right,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Sorry princess, I figured you were waiting for the chance to chime in.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t waiting,¡± she said. ¡°Anyways, it¡¯s a party that Lodge members probationary and current can attend to celebrate the passing of the first test. Also a way to send off everyone who didn¡¯t pass so there¡¯d be no, or at least less, hard feelings.¡±

    ¡°How hard could they be?¡± Amber asked. ¡°Everyone who helped defend the Lodge, pass or fail, got a prelim exemption that can be redeemed once for any Lodge exam in the future. They can even trade or sell it.¡±

    ¡°Still, it¡¯s a tradition, and people take it seriously. Every year after the party there¡¯s photos projected all over the NewNet of everyone¡¯s outfits. It¡¯s a big deal.¡±

    Amber chuckled, ¡°And here I thought she disliked the Lodge.¡±

    I smiled up toward Melissa. A furious¡ªand slightly embarrassed¡ªblush clouded across her cheeks. She folded her arms across her chest as if it¡¯d be a bulwark from our teasing.

    ¡°Oh, I think she does,¡± I said, ¡°but she¡¯s a Knitcroft through and through. If pretty clothes are involved then so is she. Actually, I remember every summer she¡¯d come running to my place, hop on one of the sorc-desktops, and show me on as big a screen as possible everyone¡¯s outfits.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not just pretty clothes,¡± Melissa argued. ¡°Each year it¡¯s people wearing some of the most creative fashion statements possible. They even have a red carpet event!¡±

    The energy in her voice wouldn¡¯t be contained, and by the end of her words she¡¯d risen in pitch at least three times bringing herself to an excited squeal.

    ¡°Definitely a Knitcroft,¡± Amber said.

    I wanted to stay in the moment. Luxuriate in the idea that we were three girls excited for a ball, but a part of myself¡ªthat mirrored part that refused to be singular¡ªfelt worried.

    ¡°After last night, why throw a party?¡± I asked.

    The question dropped the room¡¯s temperature by at least ten degrees. In the stillness of doubt and skepticism there came a silence for rumination. As usual, Melissa and Amber found stances that were in complete opposition.

    ¡°Reassurance,¡± Melissa proposed. ¡°These are legendary parties, and if suddenly for the first time one was canceled it¡¯d be a cause for concern. Throw the party, tell everyone things are under control, and buy time to actually get them under control.¡±

    Amber said, ¡°A fair point, but you¡¯re wrong, princess. The parties are legendary, and that¡¯s why they¡¯d be a perfect trap for anyone involved with what happened last night. As well as anyone dumb enough to decide that attacking the biggest gathering of Lodgemembers¡ªall of whom are lethal killers¡ªis a good idea.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but if it is for reassurance or a trap,¡± I said, ¡°then it¡¯d be dangerous either way. Why go?¡±

    Melissa was silent, and her excitement fell a few more degrees. I realized it¡¯d been a minor dream of hers to attend one of these parties. A dream that now contended with a potentially deadly reality. Amber threw an arm over me, pulled me close, and reignited Melissa¡¯s dream.

    ¡°Temple, it¡¯s hardly a trap if you know it¡¯s not for you.¡± Amber added, ¡°We¡¯re also not dumb enough to try anything, are we?¡±

    She volleyed the question to Melissa who nodded emphatically. ¡°Hardly. Not at all. Totally not.¡±

    ¡°See, Temple, we¡¯ll be fine.¡± Amber leaned in and whispered into my ear, ¡°Besides, what better way to make up with princess here than at the ball she¡¯s always wanted to go to?¡±

    ¡°Right. Okay, okay,¡± I said.

    Melissa asked, ¡°So we¡¯re still going?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going. Um, want to help me find something to wear?¡± I asked.

    She glanced away from me. Too sheepish to just come out with it, but not tore up about what had to be said. A nervousness for my benefit.

    She said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I told Ina I¡¯d help her pick an outfit. We were going to arrive together.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s¡­¡±

    She¡¯d come back to me, but she wasn¡¯t mine right now. In my mind I strung up Ina and cut off her other arm. It was enough of an emotional vent that I could force a smile.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you at the ball then,¡± I said.

    ¡°You will¡­see me.¡± Melissa said, ¡°When you¡¯re shopping try to keep the theme in mind.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a theme?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a theme,¡± she squee¡¯d. ¡°It¡¯s, ¡®New World, New Wave, No Rules.¡¯ Kind of a celebration for the New World hitting twenty years.¡±

    ¡°Got it. World, wave, no rules.¡±

    I slipped free from Amber¡¯s arm, and hustled into my room. When the door shut I realized that it¡¯d been open longer than expected. With my robe half-off, I glanced over my shoulder to find Amber leaning against the door. I turned away from her and back to my feelings.

    ¡°Give her time,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s only been a few hours since¡­¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, pick the best outfit you can and make it something that reminds her that when you¡¯re at your best, Ina¡¯s nothing.¡±

    A smirk teased my mood out of the spiral it¡¯d nearly fallen in. Then I heard a clack. Then another and another. Four clacks in total. Their tone gentle but clear as Amber placed them on my desk. Then I heard her steps behind me. They were soft and light. Her breath was a warm brush against the nape of my neck.

    ¡°Trust me, Temple,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure you don¡¯t lose her.¡±

    ¡°Cause she¡¯s necessary for the mission? Another comrade?¡±

    ¡°Cause she makes you happy. And that¡¯s enough for me.¡±

    I held my breath as I waited for something¡ªanything¡ªto happen. Then I released and turned around wanting to see her, but I was alone in the room. Besides the four royal tokens she¡¯d left that stood in a prim array for me to claim at my leisure. It was more than enough to get the kind of outfit I needed if I was to put Ina six feet deep¡­socially speaking.

    * * *

    After getting dressed I let myself wander the Lodge district in search of clothing stores. The tokens were muffled but clacked away in my pocket as I trudged up hills and scurried down them. They were gentler slopes than the city proper, but still demanded I keep a portion of myself present in my body. Adjusting speed and effort so I didn¡¯t faceplant and tumble away somewhere. It helped me not fixate on how helpless I felt.

    If Melissa had a comfort of knowing we¡¯d be together then I had a sort of leisure from it. We weren¡¯t married yet, but we knew our domains and let the other handle what needed to be handled. For me, Melissa handled the clothing. It¡¯d only made sense considering her family, so when we were picking clothes for the weekend or trips, or it was time for me to get new clothes crafted she was always there to give notes. Make it perfect for me because she knew what I liked¡­and now Ina was getting that.

    I stopped and chose the nearest store I could. Threw the door open, strode inside, and let the cooling shrine slowly quench the heat in my chest. I blinked and looked around the room taking in the location I chose. There were gowns here¡ªso I hadn¡¯t fucked up that badly¡ªbut they were of a darker palette comprised of the monochromatic nuances found in black. The silhouettes were diverse at least, and the fabric was good¡ªyou couldn¡¯t be engaged to a Knitcroft for as long as me and not develop a thumb for it.

    ¡°Can I help you?¡± a small woman asked.

    Her face was caked in a white makeup, and her eyes black sea urchins from the liner she¡¯d painted them with. While her own outfit was a black velvet affair that was so long it melted into her shadow.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for a dress,¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯d hope so. All we really sell here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for the ball tonight. I need something to¡­¡±

    ¡°To?¡±

    I mumbled, ¡°Try and win my girl back. I kind of fucked up recently.¡±

    The store attendant nodded, we¡¯ve all been there.

    ¡°Go to dressing room B, and I¡¯ll bring you some options.¡±

    I followed her instructions and waited in a circular dressing room. A semicircle of mirrors facing a dais so you could see yourself in nearly your entirety. When the dresses arrived, I dived into the options pulling each down from the rack built into the wall and throwing it on.

    All of them were¡­fine. Really, they were fine dresses in a fine fabric, but they felt limp on me. Unalive and devoid of a spark of brilliance or Brilliance that Melissa had hammered into me over the years every time she¡¯d shown me the outfits worn for that year¡¯s ball. I¡¯d need brilliance if I wanted to catch her eye and remind her that I wasn¡¯t the person from this morning yelling and accusing. That even if she didn¡¯t go with me to hunt down the rest of my parents¡¯ killers, we¡¯d at least be¡­something to each other.

    As I stood there in a black gown with a mesh cutout for my stomach and chest covered in embroidered snakes¡ªalso in black¡ªI spotted Secretary in the mirror. They moved in a way that made no noise as the dressing room curtain slid open just enough for them to slip inside. They stalked about the dais examining me. Horizon gray eyes lingering along my scant curves.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know being a voyeur was one of your duties,¡± I said, my own eyes snapping directly to their position.

    Secretary stumbled¡ªdidn¡¯t fall though¡ªand scowled at me.

    ¡°Rude,¡± they said.

    I turned to face them, and smiled from my position on high. Whatever the downside to my increased resistance to Sorcery, in that moment I was just happy to finally get one over on my favorite spy.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure most would consider peeping to be ruder.¡±

    ¡°Then they¡¯d be wrong,¡± they said. ¡°Besides, as your handler you¡¯re my highest responsibility.¡±

    ¡°At least to the exam¡¯s end.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± they said, ¡°we¡¯ll see. Until then my job entails cleaning up your messes like that bombed out ERO facility you left us.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t want the Lurkers and their allies taking anything from inside the place.¡±

    Secretary grinned tight without a shine to their eyes.

    ¡°Your sense of strategy is astounding,¡± they said. ¡°My other duty though, seems to be picking up after your leave-behinds.¡±

    Secretary took a step on the dais, and withdrew my mask¡ªred, snarling, its mouth open wide to rip open a throat¡­was its mouth always open? They took another step, and another as they ascended to the step just below mine. Guided the mask in front of my face, so I could see myself in the mirrors. It made me look like something monstrous and mad, but it was fiercer than the weakness the girl beneath it sometimes felt. My smile danced behind the mask¡¯s fangs.

    ¡°Still a perfect fit, I¡¯d say,¡± they said.

    Then came the guilt. I pushed Secretary¡¯s arm away. Stepped down from my position and let myself fall onto the cushioned couch that ran along the wall¡¯s curve.

    ¡°What if I wanted to leave it?¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯d tell you that these masks are expensive. Each one made for only one person. They¡¯re useless otherwise and reclaiming the material cost from them after they¡¯d been keyed to a wearer already is inefficient at the best of times.¡±

    They discorporated the mask in a flutter of luminescent balls that quickly dissipated.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t just send it back to me that way?¡± I asked.

    They hummed. ¡°Yes, but I wanted to make a point.¡±

    ¡°A point, okay. A sternly worded note could make a point. Is there a reason I need the mask right now?¡±

    ¡°Not that I¡¯ve been notified of.¡±

    ¡°So, you came all the way to me for a point that could¡¯ve been a letter? Sure you didn¡¯t just want to come see your ¡®favorite brute¡¯?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re my only one.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m one of a kind, then.¡±

    Secretary scoffed at my assertion. Scoffed again as their fingers steepled against their chest in mock bewilderment. Then assembled their face into a stony demeanor making for the exit. I launched myself from the chair to cross the room so I could catch their wrist¡ªI didn¡¯t want to be alone right then.

    ¡°While you¡¯re my highest duty,¡± they said, ¡°you are not my only one. The paperwork I¡¯ve had to fill out just to properly report on the facility you bombed. Then, I had to track down a spatial compressionist to see about recovering any of the racks or labs that may have gotten caught in some interstitial dimension or other after the formations collapsed. You made so much work for me!¡±

    Their voice had taken a tone that was so serrated and mad it¡¯d caused the attendant from earlier to peek in.

    ¡°Can I¡ª?¡±

    She was cut off by the slightest flex of Secretary¡¯s field-spell which stole the memory of why she¡¯d entered the dressing room in the first place. Which caused her to leave once again.

    ¡°She didn¡¯t do anything,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmph, maybe she just annoyed me. I mean, her taste is atrocious if she thinks any of this trash would cut it for the ball tonight.¡±

    Secretary was waiting for something from me. They were so petty.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for making so much work for you. Really, I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯d get in such trouble because of me.¡±

    I was sincere in that apology. I didn¡¯t know we were tied like this, and it all felt like another case of what Lupe was getting at. There were so many people around me, helping me even if only to help themselves, and I wasn¡¯t considering any of it.

    From Secretary¡¯s face, they were taken back by my words. Their eyes searched me for some trick, some unseen meaning, but I¡¯d said what needed to be said. Even as we moved on they held back a full acceptance as if to do so would lead to a unique pain. Which, for a spy, I suppose it often did.

    ¡°Fine, it¡¯s not like you needed to know the full scope of my tasks. The secretaries in the point tabulation department were impressed by your team¡¯s willingness to destroy everything,¡± they said. ¡°Too many people get stationed at these research facilities and can¡¯t bring themselves to tear it all down to keep it from falling to improper hands.¡±

    ¡°So, I did the right thing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°So naive, little brute,¡± they said. ¡°The Lodge only wants you to do the best thing. Speaking of, the best thing for me is to go back to what needs to get completed for tonight if I¡¯m going to make the ball, and flirting with you is not going to make that happen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to the ball?¡±

    ¡°I perish to name a summoner who wouldn¡¯t,¡± they said. ¡°For secretaries, many of us are still working on the night of the party, but the higher ranking ones¡ªproper handlers¡ªthey get to actually attend. Rather than carry around drinks with an ear open for gossip.¡±

    ¡°Is this the first time you¡¯d be attending?¡± I asked, knowing I¡¯d stepped beyond the shape of our usual conversations. We didn¡¯t talk about their past, and the break from this decorum caused them to pause as they weighed the truth on a value only they could discern.

    ¡°It is,¡± they said.

    ¡°Could you help me then?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯re always looking perfect, all of you secretaries do, and without Melissa I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m doing. Not really.¡±

    ¡°Find someone who can make you something custom, and fit it to you. Wear the clothes, don''t let them wear you, and all that. Happy?¡±

    I wobbled my hand, and then held my palms up in request for assistance.

    ¡°Know where I can go to get a custom outfit, last minute?¡± I asked.

    Secretary thought for a moment. An idea sparked, their gray eyes caught a knowing glint, and lifted their mood to something beyond a minor exasperation at my helplessness. It was something gleefully ambitious.

    ¡°Get changed,¡± they said. ¡°We¡¯re going to visit someone special.¡±

 Chapter 28

    ¡°Where¡¯re we going?¡± I asked.

    We¡¯d just stepped off our third cable car transfer, and were deep in the international district within Brightgate proper. Grand skyscrapers towered to the point that the streets were in an eternal shade¡ªcool with a breeze that picked up speed as it snaked about the buildings. Around us was the diversity of modern man that reminded me of the station.

    From our stop it was only a few blocks before we arrived at the Tower of Peace and Concord, or as Secretary put it, the Diplomat¡¯s Dive. The building was avant garde in its construction as portion after portion of the building rippled into a different architectural style. Endlessly shifting its exterior like an octopus testing out new colorations. A side-effect of how the entire building was spatially expanded to allow for as much room as was needed to accommodate its guests.

    Frankly, the whole place was intimidating, but Secretary entered with an eye toward dominance that failed to recognize anything¡ªespecially a building¡ªas above them. I followed close behind as we crossed the sunshine-hued lobby with its conversational pits and marble floors. The elevators were in the back, but rather than an up or a down button there was just a clearance scanner and a keypad for someone with the proper clearance to punch in the number coded to the guest¡¯s room.

    Apparently Secretary had the proper clearance, as they produced a small rectangular prism of sunshine yellow glass and held it to the scanner while punching in seven digits. The elevator doors parted, and we stepped inside.

    Its walls and floors were mirrors that repeated ourselves infinitely in all dimensions. I watched as a thousand thousand me¡¯s took in Secretary¡¯s endless reflections. Noted the way their eyes just barely slid toward me and my infinity. I smiled. They looked away from me, but in one of the endless them¡¯s I caught the playful crook of a smile of their own.

    It was only a few seconds of a wait, and then the elevator¡¯s doors opened as we stepped out into a bluish-green forest whose leaves shook in a silent not-breeze. The floor¡ªthe forest floor¡ªwas soft and loamy. Almost bouncy, and the child in me couldn¡¯t help but jump. Only to find myself floating up, and up into the weightless air. My head tilted back in glee as I beheld the void of space painted in nebula hues of purples, blues, and greens with Stars that felt familiar, or teasing upon familiar. Then I descended from my hop¡¯s apogee down toward the loamy floor.

    I swallowed nothing, and looked down at my arms¡ªI could see the bright metal musculature of my spirit. Secretary didn¡¯t care much to humor my astonishment, and passed me by leaving a smoky trail of their Phantasmal musculature. When I didn¡¯t move, they looked back with a quirked brow.

    ¡°She already knows we¡¯re here, little brute,¡± they said. ¡°No need to get cautious now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not caution. Just,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s interesting to know what your musculature type is.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re one of those girls who thinks your musculature means anything?¡±

    I shrugged as I had no real stock in the timeless debate. ¡°Not really, but sometimes it''s uncanny how much one¡¯s type can match someone.¡±

    In another low-gravity hop I landed beside Secretary. Gestured at their phantasmal shape¡ªtranslucent, yet a bit smoky, a haze of sorts.

    ¡°A Phantasmal spy that roams from assignment to assignment. It fits perfectly.¡±

    ¡°And here, a thick-headed brute that¡¯s a Metallic. Oh the stereotypes we fill.¡±

    Secretary pushed on ahead, and I followed as we winded beneath the trees. Their blue-green leaves luminescent in the starlight they bounced down toward the ground. I¡¯d never seen trees like them before, or blue loam that belonged out of a fairy-myth.

    ¡°What kind of person lives here?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No one of this terrestrial world,¡± Blotomisc said.

    I looked up to find him suddenly walking beside Secretary. It¡¯s head was a churning ferro-fluid ball that hovered above the collar of a long robe with the brocade embroidery of a human brain unspooling across his chest. Psychedelic threads of collar seeping from within the embroidered wrinkles of the organ. It was a gorgeous robe that felt like it belonged in one of Mom¡¯s old court drama shows that she¡¯d saved from during the Changeover.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have my dad¡¯s face,¡± I said.

    Blotomisc¡¯s ¡°head¡± churned in a manner that suggested a confused tilt of the head.

    ¡°I thought you disapproved?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I did. I do, but that never stopped you.¡±

    ¡°Of course it didn¡¯t, I told him not to comply with it,¡± Secretary said. ¡°I needed to be sure you were mentally tough, little brute, and not just a bundle of physical capability.¡±

    ¡°So now it¡¯s over?¡± I asked.

    Secretary smirked, ¡°Of course not. No, Blotomisc has to assume his unmodded appearance because of who we¡¯re meeting.¡±

    ¡°And that is?¡± I asked.

    Blotomisc answered, ¡°A Nightlord.¡±

    The term whistled through my ears but failed to catch a tune.

    Secretary said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to know what it is. It¡¯s just a moonie term.¡±

    It was then that the trees quivered, and the non-air breeze became a voice of solid admonishment that pressed down on my spirit.

    ¡°#404, don¡¯t go insulting my culture you grav-born slut,¡± a cheery youthful voice declared.

    We eventually crossed the treeline to arrive in a glen illuminated by purple bioluminescent flowers. On a picnic blanket the size of my residence suite, reclined a four-armed ten-foot tall woman with silver skin. A single ebon horn curved down toward the smooth purple metal plate helmet that covered her face, flowed down her neck in stacked segments, to a gorgeous gorget before becoming hidden by a fuzzy coat that teased the curves of her body. Stopping just short of her ebon hooves. This was the Nightlord.

    ¡°Hey, #404, we didn¡¯t expect to see you,¡± called one of the four secretaries already present and sipping mimosas beneath the stars.

    ¡°I had to pick up my charge,¡± Secretary¡ª#404¡ªsaid. ¡°So, unnie, you willing to dress her up?¡±

    The Nightlord tilted her head. ¡°Hmph, you know I hate to work last minute,¡± she said.

    #404 countered, ¡°Unnie, you hate to work, period.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± she sang. ¡°I¡¯m not meant to work at all. Ugh, talking to me like this as if I''m not a Nightlord.¡±

    She banged her fist against the ground which rippled beneath our feet depositing us into the air. We hovered briefly in the low-gravity before returning to the ground.

    ¡°Um, what¡¯s a Nightlord?¡± I asked with a step forward.

    She tossed her head as if throwing a mane of thick hair behind her shoulder.

    ¡°Ugh, I¡¯m sorry. These rude secretaries just throw me from all decorum,¡± she said. ¡°Can one of you do proper introductions seeing as we lack a herald right now.¡±

    The secretaries finished laughing, and a different one than who called out to¡ªand named¡ª#404 stood up. They were composed in the sleek lines of a white faille suit. Whose sharpness matched the extremity of their cheekbones and the narrowed slit of their eyes.

    ¡°I can do the honors, unnie,¡± they said to her.

    ¡°You¡¯re always such a dear, #225.¡±

    #225 pulled a sorc-deck from their pocket. Slid their thumb across as they projected two screens. Then cleared their throat in a gently practiced manner.

    ¡°Welcoming the examinee-class probationary Lodgemember, Nadia Temple. Inheritor of no factional titles, but famed for her deeds that have won her epithets recognized by the Brightgate branch of the Summoner¡¯s Lodge. These include: The Starshine Beast, Slayer of Lurkers, and the Explodo-Bitch.¡±

    ¡°The Explodo-Bitch,¡± I whispered.

    #404 whispered back, ¡°You made a lot of paperwork for a lot of secretaries.¡±

    #225 continued, ¡°Her link is that of the soldiery, and her Court is declared as Revelation. Though that last bit goes unverified or recognized by the Lodge.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll recognize and verify it,¡± the Nightlord said. ¡°I¡¯d know a cousin anywhere. Speaking of she¡¯s being really rude right now.¡±

    The Nightlord crawled in the fashion of stalking predator toward me and #404. In truth, just me, as #404 hastily circled away from me toward their fellow secretaries without comment from the Nightlord. Who reached out with her hand, ignored my now native resistance to Sorcery, and violated the inner sanctity of my spirit. Sifting through its fibers in search of Sphinx, found her, and evicted her out from within myself. It only took moments, and then suddenly, dangled by the scruff of her neck, was Sphinx. Held up like a treasure found between couch cushions.

    ¡°Tsk tsk, really cousin you should know better than to try hiding anything in front of a Nightlord.¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s eyes were wide as she beat a rapid rhythm with her bowing head¡ªeager to not offend the power before her anymore than she¡¯d already done. I shot a glare toward #404, you couldn''t have said anything? Despite the anger wafting from me, their expression was innocent and mocking yet bright despite the circumstance. They shrugged as if to say, now why would I, little brute. Then took a sip of a newly claimed mimosa.

    ¡°Apologies my lady, but I was recuperating. My summoner, Nadia, died recently and I was forced into dormancy. I¡¯m still healing from it.¡±

    The admission was no surprise to the secretaries¡ªthey were all called into overtime due to the attack¡ªbut it did move one of them, #404. It was a nigh-imperceptible raising of the brow. A glance to Blotomisc as they no doubt shared with him some telepathic communique. Then a reassembling of their poise and laissez-faire regard to the world and its motions.

    On the Nightlord the news hit harder. Their energy was quiet and withdrawn as they returned Sphinx to the ground. I made no delay to pull her into my arms in a quick hug. A mental check-in shared between the two of us about how safe we actually felt in front of something that could violate me¡ªus¡ªwith as much effort as rooting about for change.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± the Nightlord said. ¡°That¡¯s like, such a perfectly fine reason. So, um, seeing that your summoner isn¡¯t dead¡­¡±

    I interjected, ¡°According to my friend it wasn¡¯t a true death. Only two out of three: heart and brain.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, ¡°then you¡¯re both very lucky. Now here¡¯s me breaking decorum. Finish her introduction #225, then mine, and after we can get Nadia here fitted for the ball.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll do it?¡± I asked.

    She shimmied, rallying the party energy from earlier. ¡°Of course,¡± she said. ¡°If I¡¯m going to stick my hand where the moon¡¯s light fails to land then I might as well apologize with my labor.¡±

    #225 looked up from their sorc-deck, ¡°Um, that¡¯s it for her I¡¯m pretty sure.¡±

    The Nightlord leaned back on her thighs as she shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, cousin,¡± she said to Sphinx, ¡°there¡¯s much humans fail to see.¡±

    Sphinx chuckled, ¡°Even when it stands before them barefaced.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°#225, you should write it down that Nadia here is a princess.¡±

    ¡°By blood?¡± #225 asked.

    ¡°Providence,¡± the Nightlord said.

    #225 asked, ¡°#404 why isn¡¯t this in her file?¡±

    ¡°Some things are better kept as secrets, right unnie?¡± I asked.

    The Nightlord giggled and pantomimed locking her non-existent lips with an imaginary key. #225 shook their head in disbelief, but #404¡¯s gaze that locked on me was just barely misty from that emotionless sensation of hurt. Their eyes flicked about in search of the feeling¡¯s source¡ªa surprise to even them I think¡ªbefore once more assuming their proper face.

    ¡°Well, then I guess it¡¯s just unnie¡¯s titles left.¡± #225 said, ¡°And with the welcome of princess Nadia, it is my honor to introduce you to this lovely hotel¡¯s pre-eminent guest, Ferilala Nu-zo, unbonded Earl of the 58th Lunar Palace, Black Herald of the Procellarum constellation, and noble blade of the Mottled Queen, Sovereign of Night and queen of the moon.¡±

    Another secretary chimes in this time, ¡°With other such glorious titles as: the Soap Opera Glutton.¡±

    A different secretary adds, ¡°Oh oh, the Celestial Layabout.¡±

    #404 finishes, ¡°And Patron Extraordinaire to secretaries everywhere.¡±

    ¡°The joke titles were so unnecessary,¡± Ferilala Nu-zo said. ¡°Now she¡¯ll think I¡¯m some loser.¡±

    The one who started the listing of joke titles said, ¡°And even if you were, we¡¯d all still love you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks #375.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but how are you unbonded?¡± I asked.

    Ferilala Nu-zo wobbled her head, ¡°It¡¯s not really an interesting story. My summoner, she¡¯d summoned me back when she was just a scribe for the constellation. Together we graduated to a position of true importance as we¡¯d finally gained the link of Earl. Unfortunately, once you¡¯re important then you¡¯re important. My summoner was sent here as an advance party¡ª¡±

    #225 said, ¡°The palaces were eyeing Brightgate for the possibility of invasion, again.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯ve told you it was a diplomatic mission,¡± Ferilala Nu-zo said, entirely uninterested in resurrecting an old debate. ¡°Either which way, we came down here and were betrayed. My summoner suffered a ¡®two-out-of-three¡¯ sort of death. Brain and spirit.¡±

    She continued, ¡°Luckily for us¡ªme, mainly¡ªshe was struck low here in our hotel suite. I¡¯d destroyed the assassin, and realized that I wasn¡¯t discorporating quite that fast. So I made this place into a territory for myself. Rather doable considering the entire hotel is just a series of stacked Conceptual spaces. Got the conditions just right that as long as I don¡¯t leave the room I¡¯ll stay in reality.¡±

    #404 said, ¡°Lodgemaster Khapoor didn¡¯t want to deal with the fallout between Brightgate and the palaces, so unnie gets to stay here for as long as she wants.¡±

    When I let out a breath I realized how tight I¡¯d gripped Sphinx. The story was a little close to home, and my own mind couldn¡¯t help but imagine what if my sort-of death was just a little different. Sphinx was just a soldier, not strong enough to make a territory on her own, and I wasn¡¯t important enough to justify letting her keep the place. She¡¯d discorporate despite any attempt to hold on. Then I imagined what if she could hold on, and that wrung my heart of its blood in the process. A life¡ªa generally immortal life¡ªstuck forever in one hotel suite. Unable to cross something as mundane as a door threshold without being shredded to pieces by reality and tossed back to whence she came. It made me pity the Nightlord.

    #225 added, ¡°With the only stipulation being that she helps out now and then. With the help mainly being keeping us looking good.¡±

    Ferilala Nu-zo shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t have much else I can do. Besides, you all are so cute that it makes it worth it. Now, no more introductions and no more sad talk.¡±

    The Nightlord stood, briefly towering above me and the rest of the secretaries, before leaping into the air and shrinking down to a more manageable five foot height¡ªif you counted the horn she was five-foot-six. Once she¡¯d floated back to the ground, she took my hand and guided me deeper into the glen. With a raise of one hand, the loamy earth surged upward forming smooth rounded steps of a dais not too dissimilar to the constructed one at the previous dress shop.

    She shoo¡¯d me with quick sweeps of her hands, and I climbed the steps leaving Sphinx at her ¡°cousin¡¯s¡± side. The secretaries walked over¡ªdrinks still well in hand, and apparently self-refilling. Under all the attention I couldn¡¯t help but fidget. Their expressions were bright with mirth, but still retained the sharpness necessary to be the eyes and ears of the Lodge.

    #375 yelled, ¡°Take your shirt off.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯ll come later,¡± Ferilala Nu-zo corrected to the cheer of the secretaries and #404¡¯s smirk. ¡°First, I want to know your intentions with your outfit. Is this just a fun night? Are we trying to like network? Or is tonight something a little more romantic date-y?¡±

    She tilted her head toward #404 with the last option. A gesture that caused the secretaries to snicker at their expense while they choked on a sip of their mimosa. Face already hot as they looked to me to set things right. Though I let the moment drag for at least two more seconds¡ªI¡¯d wanted #404 to taste some of the sweet agony they enjoyed plunging me into.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing between us, but work,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯ve made that very clear.¡±

    #404 nodded with only the faintest grimace from the blunt trauma of my statement.

    ¡°Though my goals tonight are still romantic,¡± I said. ¡°My ex and I had a fight¡ªmainly my fault¡ªand right now I don¡¯t want to let this distance between the two of us settle. I need an outfit that screams, ¡®You know you don¡¯t want to let this go,¡¯ with as much passion as how I don¡¯t want to let her go. Especially not to that short asshole, Ina.¡±

    I inhaled after my emotive ramble. The secretaries were silent, and Sphinx was placid as she gave the slightest tilt of her head as if to say, it¡¯ll only be us in the end, so why be jealous?

    #404 said, ¡°You¡¯re trying to ¡®get her back,¡¯ little brute? Your past actions made me think you¡¯d accepted you were on divergent trajectories.¡±

    Their words came out the side of their mouth. A quick jab of a knife I¡¯d not expected them of all people to pull. It was Ferilala Nu-zo who treated the proverbial wound #404 sought to make.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad she¡¯s not,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s so boring to make an outfit for someone that simply wants to look cute or sophisticated. The Night lives for drama, and a selfish motive is the soil that produces the most succulent fruit.¡±

    #404 scoffed, and caught the Nightlord¡¯s attention in the process. She turned to the secretary, and gave her a polite yet potent hip-check. Spilling the remnants of #404¡¯s drink.

    ¡°Oops, sorry about your mimosa, but like let¡¯s be happy it¡¯s not your tea. Though I¡¯m always willing to show my work if you don¡¯t trust me.¡±

    A chill swept through the glen as herald to a rushing tide of frigid darkness. The luminescence of the surrounding forest snuffed and buried deep below as a mere memory of light. Above was no painted nebula but instead the awful grandeur of a watching harvest moon. Red in the dried blood of some celestial murder. While its many craters opened to reveal legions upon legions of eyes¡ªcrescent slit and sly¡ªthat were hungry to see what #404 would say next.

    Secretary placed their glass on the ground. It melted down into translucent fluid that was swallowed by the earth. They straightened their clothes and held up both hands in surrender.

    ¡°No need, unnie, I misspoke. Can you bring back the stars? I¡¯d hate for you to work in a dour mood.¡±

    Their voice was loose and unbothered. How many times have they done this song and dance with this Nightlord, I wondered. Enough times that after their words it was only a blink and everything was as it was before #404¡¯s social gaffe.

    Ferilala Nu-zo said, ¡°Alls below, you¡¯re so right. We don¡¯t want you in some funeral gown do we?¡±

    ¡°No, unnie?¡± I asked intending it to be an answer. Though the way my body shook¡ªshivered¡ªI couldn¡¯t help it. Though it was apparently good enough for her.

    ¡°Lovely, so I¡¯m going to need you all to go try on your outfits while I get to work with Nadia here,¡± she said. ¡°This one strikes me as the type who needs some privacy.¡±

    Two rows of flowers crescendoed in brightness forming a walkway back through the trees to wherever the secretaries¡¯ outfits for the ball were stored. Those with drinks to carry placed their glasses down¡ªwhich guzzled down much like #404¡¯s was¡ªand ventured off between the trees.

    ¡°Not you, #404.¡±

    The Nightlord¡¯s finger pointed down at a position beside her opposite Sphinx. Though as much as it was a gesture toward where #404 was to be, it was a nail that pinned Secretary down with the reminder that where they stood, went, or even got to drink was entirely at her discretion. #404 followed the request expeditiously.

    I¡¯d seen Secretary wear many faces¡ªmost of them confident edging into cocky. Sometimes comedic, a harlequin laughing at the invisible joke which seemed to sit on my shoulders for how often it seemed like they were laughing at me. Yet I¡¯d never seen them look truly as nervous as they did now. Even Blotomisc looked resigned¡ªhe may have lacked a face at that moment, but with how his head compressed down to a plate, little more than a line, you¡¯d get the idea.

    ¡°Can I help you, unnie?¡± Secretary asked.

    Ferilala Nu-zo giggled, ¡°Little lesson cousin for when you graduate, that question right there is the only thing you want the help to ever say to their betters.¡±

    Sphinx bowed but said nothing choosing instead to swear within their mind. #404 scowled at the Nightlord¡¯s designation of them as ¡°the help.¡± Not that the idea of being helpful was bad, but rather Ferilala Nu-zo had stressed what she meant using an Old World expression¡ªalbeit in a lunar accent¡ªwhich roughly translated to, ¡°servile non-person.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say otherwise,¡± I declared.

    ¡°Really?¡± she asked. ¡°On what grounds?¡±

    ¡°That hierarchies like that don¡¯t belong in this world. My mother wouldn¡¯t stand for it and neither do I.¡±

    Mom had raised me on the right stories. Stories about the Au Pair Assassinations, where hundreds of young women slaughtered the political tyrants that tried to steal the future of the world for themselves by attempting to hide summoning. I¡¯d learned of the maids whose chemical knowledge birthed the bombs which shattered the gates of nearly every cthonic commune populated by more Old World monsters. It was the ¡°help¡± who were at the frontlines of the Changeover, and I wouldn¡¯t see them¡ªor #404¡ªbe besmirched.

    ¡°Your mother doesn''t run my Court and never graced the moon. My Sovereign saw to that.¡±

    ¡°Then maybe I¡¯ll finish her work.¡±

    I stared down from the dais into the reflective depths of the Nightlord¡¯s faceplate. It meant staring into myself¡ªmy eyes wide in fear but with an inviolable will to face my end. A daring smile taunting her to introduce me to it. It was a smile Mom practiced every day.

    #404 rushed between us and propped themselves on two steps. While Blotomisc stood beside me, their body at ninety degrees in a spine severing bow.

    ¡°All apologies, my lady, but the summoner is new,¡± he said.

    And #404 added, ¡°Besides, it¡¯d be improper for you both to not realize this as a moment of cultural exchange. Little brute, the Changeover was different for them. If hierarchy must exist, it¡¯s in the unforgiving reaches of space.¡±

    They turned to Ferilala Nu-zo and said, ¡°And might I remind you, that us grav-born take those more derogatory Old World terms very seriously. You know better, and she¡¯s sorry.¡±

    The Nightlord slowly nodded as she backed up.

    ¡°Look at you, a princess already acting like a king and the servant¡ªno, vizier¡ªthat¡¯d apologize for their every misstep. You guys have like got to tell me how you met up sometime,¡± she said, her voice mutating from its prior haughtiness. ¡°Sorry about that, cousin, I needed your emotional measurements.¡±

    I asked, ¡°My emotional measurements?¡±

    ¡°Yep, but sorry I had to get all ugly. Not every emotion arises from positive stimuli, and without a full picture I couldn¡¯t possibly do you justice.¡±

    ¡°Secretary, did you know she was doing that?¡±

    #404 muttered, ¡°I should have. She did it to me when I was fitted.¡±

    ¡°That I did,¡± she said before turning to me. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe the colors within this one right here. Looks like boring grayscale, but turn up the saturation and¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Are you done with me¡­.unnie?¡± #404 asked.

    She said, ¡°Yes, yes, go get fitted with the others. I was able to sneak in some last minute alterations just now.¡±

    #404¡¯s eyes narrowed at the Nightlord as they realized something about just now. They glanced up at me with a hesitance to something¡ªtheir expression not fully legible.

    ¡°Be good, little brute,¡± they said, before disappearing between the trees.

    I followed their every step with my eyes until even the echo of them in the darkness had faded.

    ¡°My emotional measure?¡± I asked, still skeptical.

    ¡°Oh cousin,¡± Ferilala Nu-zo directed to Sphinx, ¡°she¡¯s so inflexible.¡±

    ¡°Nadia abhors games. Nothing more.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s it. She¡¯s the biggest player here after all. I mean, wanting to win her fiancee back with one hand and clutching tight around her new treasure at the same time,¡± Ferilala Nu-zo said, before turning to address me. ¡°That¡¯s being a greedy player, princess.¡±

    ¡°What new treasure?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh you¡¯re so funny,¡± she said. ¡°Hmm, I do worry about you when the game is called and you see who you¡¯re playing against. It¡¯ll break you utterly if it doesn¡¯t kill you first.¡±

    She stared at me with the reflection of my own face stretched in the curvature of her helm. My mouth, just barely open, ripped into a yawning cry for help. I looked away¡ªunable to win the staring contest against the girl I saw in that reflection.

    ¡°What¡¯s the next step?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Show unnie, a spell.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with my outfit?¡±

    Ferilala Nu-zo no doubt rolled her eyes¡ªConceptual or otherwise¡ªbehind her helmet.

    ¡°Everything. Night is about the accentuation and obfuscation of things. Imagine, a lake at night with fireflies above it,¡± she instructed. ¡°Their light is only so strong, too organic and weak for proper illumination, but strong enough that they can dye the black. With enough of them it¡¯s like looking at the heat still lurking in a burnt piece of paper. You toss a rock, and then the world ripples. That¡¯s what I do.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so am I the firefly or the lake?¡±

    ¡°This is a tough marriage you¡¯ve struck, cousin,¡± she tossed to Sphinx. ¡°You¡¯re the memory, Nadia. And I¡¯m going to help you construct the perfect frame for it, but to do that I needed your intent, and¡ª.¡±

    ¡°My emotional measure,¡± I answered.

    ¡°Now you¡¯re catching up. Yes, a measure gained by making you face yourself. Finally, I take a measure of your spirit and the Court which threads through it.¡±

    ¡°And you can get that with one spell?¡±

    Ferilala Nu-zo chuckled behind their hand. ¡°Of course, unless you already have a thing for your lovely unnie, and want to bare even more of yourself for me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just have to trust you¡¯ll get everything you need in one go.¡±

    ¡°Then pick a good spell. In fact, show me the spell you consider to be¡­¡±

    Sphinx hurriedly said, ¡°Cousin, don¡¯t ask¡ª.¡±

    ¡°The cornerstone of your relationship to Revelation.¡±

    Her words had pushed my mind back in consideration. Tipping my consciousness down toward some place within myself¡ªa room I¡¯d not opened, but was always there since I¡¯d met Sphinx. By her final word, I couldn¡¯t hear Sphinx whine nor was I consciously aware of how the shadows stretched¡ªeven here in the Nightlord¡¯s territory¡ªto assume the silhouettes belonging to Sphinx¡¯s upChain forms who raced to fall across my body in thick umbral bands.

 Chapter 29

    My ego¡¯s plummet saw me hurtle through darkness. I forced myself to look down and witnessed a bright square ripping its way through the void. The speed of its expansion informed me of how fast I was falling, and when its searing white shattered back into distinct colors I wrapped my head with my arms to brace for landing¡ªI didn¡¯t expect to bounce.

    The bounce righted me, and¡ªfor the evanescent moment of any jump where you can believe you¡¯re floating¡ªI beheld the space. It was a four walled room. Wide enough to be some moderately sized cafe if it wasn¡¯t for all the pillows you¡¯d be afraid of staining with a spilled drink. As pillows coated the floor like a carpet of creeping kudzu that Dad had shown me pictures of.

    I fell back down into one the size of a giant¡¯s palm¡ªwell, maybe a small giant. It was plush, arrested my fall, and refused to let me bounce any longer. Through the impossible nature of my visit, I¡¯d broken no bones despite my speedy descent and my landing didn¡¯t even jostle the steaming hot chocolate set on the table in front of me.

    Following the twining steam as it climbed into the air, I noted that I was before a stage about half the size one might expect. Equidistant to each other were four folding screens depicting, in jewel tone color, scenes expressing some Sorcerous secret of Revelation. Behind them were silhouettes too indistinct to make out beneath the detail of their screen¡¯s painting.

    ¡°I already said I¡¯d take the trial later,¡± I protested. ¡°You can¡¯t force me to take it.¡±

    A puckish chortle flowed forth from behind the fourth screen¡ªfarthest to my right and depicting a faceless girl on fire while eating a bowl of noodles beneath a crescent moon reflected in water.

    ¡°Puppy, we can¡¯t push you through the door, but that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t ¡®force you,¡¯¡± said the childish voice behind the fourth screen.

    ¡°I hate to agree, but she¡¯s right,¡± said the voice whose screen was adjacent and depicted a girl¡ªstill faceless¡ªas she struggled against vines just barely keeping her from walking off a cliff. ¡°We can bribe you, trick you, or threaten¡ªsomehow¡ªsomething you care about. Free will is retained in all situations even if it¡¯s not under the most fun circumstances.¡±

    I said, ¡°Neither of you two are doing a good job of convincing me to pick you when I graduate.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing we aren¡¯t here for that then, huh, puppy?¡±

    ¡°Then what are you here for?¡± I asked.

    The silhouette behind the second screen raised a hand. Theirs was adjacent to the furthest left and depicted a tree from which five burning bodies swayed from its branches like fruit, their blood watering the field of swords that littered a hill like so many flowers.

    Beautifully somber, they said, ¡°That¡¯s the wrong question, I¡¯m sorry. Please don¡¯t be mad.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not mad. Just confused, and I wish you could give me a clear answer.¡± I exhaled, ¡°But you can¡¯t because that¡¯s not Revelation. So, if not about you then it¡¯s me. Why am I here?¡±

    From behind the screen to the farthest left which detailed a solitary figure pushing snow from the steps of a temple beneath a bright star, came a cold voice.

    ¡°Enlightenment, Nadia, you heard a question that stirred something in your mind about the trial you still delay to take. As such, you fell into a moment of Revelatory contemplation. Tipping ajar the door¡ªto use the fourth¡¯s metaphor¡ªjust enough for us to arrive and assist you.¡±

    I leaned back against the pillows until I could see all four screens at once. The Nightlord had asked me to demonstrate a spell that was the cornerstone of my relationship to Revelation. It shouldn¡¯t be hard because I only had four¡ªand then I understood.

    ¡°You¡¯re here to help me pick my spell,¡± I stated.

    None of them spoke as we were all in agreement on that.

    I leaned forward staring into my hot chocolate as a single large marshmallow melted out in a smooth pebble of white. It smelled exactly how Melissa¡¯s mother would make it for me. The last time I had it, I couldn¡¯t taste its flavor beneath the blood that ran from my mouth. I wanted to bring the drink to my lips, but the Baron¡¯s words about how they could still trick me ran about my mind like a maypole. New anxieties about everything in the room coloring my experience.

    I asked, ¡°Is the hot chocolate a trap?¡±

    ¡°Last I checked, chocolate kills dogs,¡± the fourth Baron said.

    With a tired sigh, I pushed the drink away from myself as if distance would weaken the temptation the cup offered. Then I glanced up toward the Barons, silent and waiting, and down at my hands which had formed the seals of my spells so many times now. Yet here my fingers felt stiff and easy to shatter.

    ¡°Why is this so hard?¡± I asked.

    The first Baron answered, ¡°You want a solution that doesn¡¯t feel wrong more than you¡¯re trying to pick one that is right.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°If you let it,¡± the second Baron said. ¡°You humans have a tendency to logic yourself away from understanding. If it helps, nothing about your choice will affect the trial.¡±

    ¡°Then why all of this?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯ll affect you,¡± the third voice said. ¡°Your way leads to us no matter what, but success or failure is hardly the design of the test. Rather, it¡¯s the dominion of the test taker.¡±

    ¡°Come on puppy, you¡¯ve already passed the first test of the Lodge exam,¡± the fourth Baron said. ¡°You know what it takes to pass, and what way leads to failure.¡±

    Was it really that simple? That some test designed by one of my parents¡¯ killers could hold the secret to the graduation trial, really? I remembered when Sphinx ran through my chart as I taught her the Principles, and how elegantly her paw print stamped the location of the Court. Revelation could be found in the smallest things, so why not look back to a success if I wanted to succeed going forward.

    ¡°I used all my spells,¡± I said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t one singular spell that carried me to victory.¡±

    My voice warbled at the end of my statement as my body felt so cold in my denial. The first Baron stood behind their screen and pointed at me.

    ¡°If so, then pick or cease lying,¡± they said.

    The second Baron said, ¡°Hey, stop bullying Nadia. I¡¯m so sorry, she gets like this¡ª¡±

    ¡°All the time,¡± the fourth Baron said. ¡°Though I agree with her. Be a good dog and only speak the truth. You know what you want to pick, so pick it.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s not just about the spell is it?¡± I asked. ¡°Ferilala Nu-zo said it had to be the cornerstone of my relationship to Revelation. And, I don¡¯t know what that is.¡±

    The second Baron crooned, ¡°But you do, Nadia. You struck an oath to slay the enemies of our Sovereign and yourself. There¡¯s a reason Atomic Glory is your first spell. To tear down and unmake them from the world. Our world.¡±

    ¡°Biasing the summoner,¡± the third Baron said. ¡°She¡¯d find nothing without the Omensight. Revelation is a way to discovery. About her foes, her mom, her dad, and were she to take the right step it could help her discover herself. All necessary to her quest.¡±

    The fourth Baron scoffed, ¡°The ¡®right step¡¯ which just so happens to be the next step. Obviously both spells are good, but what really gets her is the Godtime. It gives her a chance to stay ahead of the knife and delay it. Through Revelation she¡¯ll get to live.¡±

    As they spoke I noticed the way some of their words caused the hot chocolate to ripple. My fall hadn¡¯t spilled a drop, but their words made waves in the mug. I pulled it back toward myself as I ignored the Barons squabbling.

    ¡°Unmake, quest, live?¡± I asked, my statement lilting up into a question. The drink didn¡¯t stir.

    ¡°It won¡¯t work like that,¡± the first Baron said. ¡°Speak with your spirit not your mouth.¡±

    So I tried incanting, ¡°Unmake. Quest. Live.¡±

    Then I watched and felt the room flow away from me and back toward me. Tides of my spirit around which I was the center. For each word its Baron squeaked, groaned, and laughed as I pronounced their cardinal aspect.

    ¡°T-technically they should be pronounced in the present progressive if you want them to be truly strong,¡± the second Baron said.

    ¡°Gah, don¡¯t help the puppy slip her collar,¡± said the fourth.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you help her?¡± the third asked the first.

    ¡°She had no need of my help, but simply required an enabling of her own prowess, Revelation Questing.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s how you say them. Can I make you leave?¡± I asked.

    And the first answered, ¡°We¡¯re in your spirit. You¡¯ve always been in charge.¡±

    I rose to my knees with the mug held in my hands. Held it forth in an ironic oblation.

    ¡°Revelation Unmaking. Revelation Questing. Revelation Living,¡± I incanted, ¡°Begone.¡±

    The three Barons¡¯ silhouettes bowed as their screens and themselves sunk into the stage. Familiar with my spirit now, I gestured forward at the first¡ªand only¡ªBaron still present. I flexed and space contracted. Gone was the stage as now opposite me at my table was their screen.

    ¡°That felt good,¡± I said. ¡°Especially to not be called ¡®puppy¡¯ anymore.¡±

    ¡°Forgive them,¡± the first Baron said, ¡°but we only speak as we are and say what¡¯s present. If Revelation Living calls you a puppy then ask yourself whose collar you wear.¡±

    ¡°You say that like you don¡¯t want to collar me.¡±

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± the first Baron said. ¡°It¡¯d go against my cardinal aspect.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡± I asked.

    ¡°A surprise.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be much of one,¡± I said. ¡°If the second is Atomic Glory, the third is Omensight, and the fourth is Godtime. Then you have to be my Inviolate Star.¡±

    ¡°Am I?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yes. Show me,¡± I ordered.

    ¡°I love that side of you,¡± the first Baron said. ¡°No respect for anyone above you.¡±

    ¡°If five people can kill a god, why have respect for power at all.¡±

    ¡°When it¡¯s the right power,¡± the first Baron said. ¡°It¡¯ll let you kill a god. It¡¯ll let you cross time to feel the touch of the lost. It¡¯ll let you disregard fate, and delay death.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not defeating my theory,¡± I said.

    The first Baron laughed. It was the airy laugh of someone used to looking down on those below them with an icy regard only thawed by the burning rebel that sat before her. Then, the folding screen was slid aside by the Baron.

    ¡°It¡¯s hardly a theory if you already know.¡±

    In the frame composed by the closed screen, was me. A reflection of me that stood with shoulders rolled back and a head held high. Only her eyes were pointed at me¡ªand they glowed in the bounce light of a blazing halo composed of Inviolate Stars. The first Baron tilted her head¡ªmy head¡ªand followed me as I rose to face her.

    She held out a hand. I took it. Her eyes bore into me as she waited for me to answer.

    ¡°My way is to supersede all others. I need to come out on top every time, or else I¡¯m done.¡± I added, ¡°And the Inviolate Star lets me do just that and more. It¡¯s my way.¡±

    * * *

    ¡°It¡¯s very pretty,¡± Ferilala Nu-zo said.

    My eyes properly seeing, I stared at the Inviolate Star that hovered above my palm. It was the spell I didn¡¯t want to use, and the one that was always necessary. Despite everything feeling so wrong, it was the only thing that felt right.

    ¡°Sphinx, did you place the hot chocolate?¡± I asked.

    She shook her head, but before I could press said, ¡°We can speak of Court matters tomorrow. You have too many choices tonight to let far off things blind you in their brilliance.¡±

    I nodded and shook the spell from my hand. ¡°So, how long until my outfit¡¯s done?¡±

    The Nightlord giggled, ¡°I¡¯m already done, silly. You¡¯ve been standing like that for a while.¡±

    That was when I felt my body¡¯s ache that wormed through my muscles. I squatted and stretched to work them out. A process which encouraged cheering from the gaggle of tipsy secretaries.

    I whirled around to find them already wrapped in comfortable gowns and suits. They¡¯d splayed across a long chaise couch conjured in the shimmering glow of moonlight that only teased at the couch¡¯s curves and dips. Across from them were two chairs, one of which Ferilala Nu-zo had already curled up within.

    She used a hoof to spin the chair my way. I dropped down into it and spun back toward them all. Accepted the glass of sangria #375 offered me. It was refreshing and more alcoholic than fruity, as I could feel its burn hit my gut and unleash a heat wave through me. The drink couldn¡¯t match the Inviolate Star, but I finished the glass and had the secretary pour me another so I could dull my ache to feel flame in my veins again.

    #225 asked, ¡°Where¡¯d #404 find you?¡±

    ¡°Would you believe me if I said it was at a train station?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s like saying they found you on the side of the road in a box.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the truth,¡± I said. ¡°Take it or leave it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the report,¡± #375 countered. ¡°Give us the story. What was the moment you first saw each other?¡±

    #225 asked, ¡°Did you know they were going to pick you?¡±

    I let my thoughts rise as I filled my stomach on sangria. They were asking as if I was telling the story of how I fell in love with #404. Which reminded me of how I first saw them, bleeding and broken on my floor. Utterly beautiful.

    ¡°I saw them from my balcony, first. Blood pooling beneath them, and somehow they seemed soft. In need of someone to save them,¡± I said. ¡°But that was just a¡­¡±

    ¡°Honeypot,¡± #375 offered.

    ¡°Yeah, a honeypot. I mean, #404 doesn¡¯t have a soft bone in them, and once Amber called their bluff the disguise was off. After that came everything else. Like their promise to use me.¡±

    And their assertion that I lacked a conscience. A claim that at first had struck me, but from that chair on the other side of so many bodies I¡¯d made¡ªin such a short time too¡ªthere was an aspect of myself that creeped up behind my shoulder to rest its head saying, ¡°Yes. You don¡¯t.¡±

    The voice fragmented in my mind as Sphinx brushed against my leg. Shared a glance with me that was firm as a stake used to set a hunter¡¯s tent. I looked back up to find the patient aura of the secretaries waiting for me, and downed my second glass.

    #225 said, ¡°#404 loves misdirection, so I¡¯m not surprised there. I am surprised they¡¯d say they were using you without saying what for.¡±

    ¡°I mean, the first time was obvious, to help them finish their mission.¡±

    #375 shook their head laughing. ¡°There was no mission then. Secretaries of their rank and lower get free time to be taken as they search for any potential assets for the Lodge. That¡¯s what they were doing.¡±

    ¡°And it just happened to align with a missing team and a cult that attacked a research base?¡±

    ¡°Eh, it¡¯s convenient sure, but #404 is meticulous. They probably searched for a problem from recent reports¡ªor lack thereof in that case¡ªand referenced them next to specific travel points.¡±

    ¡°So their mission wasn¡¯t in fact a mission, but just a test to determine if I deserved a prelim exemption?¡±

    ¡°Oh, no,¡± #375 said, ¡°we can give out tons of those. #404 was looking for a Lodge asset, special people capable of unique or impossible things.¡±

    #225 said, ¡°If you noticed, we lack names but we have ranks. The only way to move up when you¡¯re a newbie secretary is to complete assignments. Complete enough of them and you enter the next tier and get a designation.¡±

    ¡°Like information protection and retrieval?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± they said. ¡°Now, this method can only get you so high up because assignments are reactive. A good secretary reacts impeccably, but a great secretary? They anticipate problems and have the solutions already lined up. Recruiting assets for the Lodge to deploy is a critical part of the process.¡±

    #375 sighed, ¡°And the only way to bring in an asset is to have them pass the exam.¡±

    A third secretary said, ¡°A thing #404 basically swore they¡¯d never¡ª¡±

    #225 hissed, ¡°Shut it, #322.¡±

    ¡°No, explain what they swore,¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not our file to open,¡± #225 said. ¡°They¡¯re your handler, and they¡¯ll tell you if you need to know¡­or if they¡¯re ready.¡±

    Their face¡ªsharp even at rest¡ªwas softened by the unspoken request in their reply, Give them time. I shrugged it off and the implications of what #322 had let slip out.

    ¡°Where¡¯s #404 anyways?¡± I asked as I stood.

    ¡°Right here, little brute,¡± #404 said.

    An arm slipped around my own as #404 clung to me in a gentle drama. Their mouth unbalanced as one side tugged their face in the opposite direction of their eyes. While mine ran down their body in appreciation of Ferilala Nu-zo¡¯s work.

    With every inch my gaze traveled #404¡¯s garment changed. It was a hanbok, a kimono, a cocktail dress, or something indulgent with heaps of fabric flowing in great arcs. The only commonality was the way it shimmered through each one like the colors in a lenticular painting. As well as the stars which winked in and out of existence¡ªvisible only when their garment was in transition.

    ¡°Little brute?¡± they asked.

    I¡¯d been staring. The Nightlord¡¯s work was that magnificent as it accentuated all the curves and planes of Secretary¡¯s body. It was my second time falling into aesthetic appreciation that Ferilala Nu-zo laughed and surged from their chair to be beside #404 in under a second.

    ¡°Come on, Nadia, how does #404 look?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Like nothing I¡¯ve seen before.¡±

    #404 preened, ¡°What an astute observation, little brute. But our lovely Nightlord never makes the same clothes twice.¡±

    #322 said, ¡°Okay, so go show the little brute¡¯s how it¡¯s done, #404. How does she look?¡±

    #404 glared at their fellow secretary before stepping back to take me in. Their face forcibly placid as they assessed me. Then I noticed a blush work across their face.

    ¡°Naked,¡± they said.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Sphinx grinned and slid along our telepathic connection, the image of myself as seen through their eyes. I wasn¡¯t quite naked as #404 put it, but it was more than well enough implied. No fabric hung from my body. Rather an expanse of the star filled heavens clung to me coating my chest, stomach, legs, all the way to my fingers tipped in opalescent claws. As revealing¡ªif not more so¡ªthan Lupe¡¯s conweave skinsuit. The only defense of my modesty was the small mantle of black iridescent feathers that fluttered along my collar bone and teasing up my neck like some corvidian gorget. It was those same feathers that fluttered up from the edge of my stomach down to the floor in a grand ballroom skirt.

    My face was where I stopped and marveled. Around my eyes was a smoky shadow that implied cosmic depths of mystery whose answers could only be found within the intensity of my eclipse-gold eyes. Above which the cool light of the starlight horn Ferilala Nu-zo had placed upon my brow did lighten and soften the imperious majesty I projected.

    I blinked away the image Sphinx had sent me, and gave a slight bow to the Nightlord in thanks. She gasped in mock surprise, but was quick to stop me when I pulled out the tokens Amber had given me.

    ¡°Let me pay you,¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯ve paid me in fun,¡± she said. ¡°I see the same faces again and again and again. It was fun to see someone new. Something new.¡±

    ¡°And what something is that?¡± I asked.

    She shook her head, ¡°That¡¯d be spoiling. Now, I¡¯ve already called you an alley-racer to get across the city back to the Lodge district. You¡¯d be underestimating if you tried to imagine how packed the cable cars get on nights like tonight.¡±

    I slipped the tokens back into the pocket of the pants I wore on the way here. Folded up my close and slipped beside #404, and¡ªafter asking so politely¡ªhad them send my clothes back to my room through that spell of theirs. From there the lot of us piled into the elevator to catch our waiting ride to the party.

    Until visiting Brightgate, I wasn¡¯t too familiar with alley-racers. No one back home bonded to the Court of Alleys, or if they did they didn¡¯t stay in town for too long. Home was a place of direct people who met things head on, and for whom travel was a matter of distance rather than speed. Two aspects which likely selected us away from the Court to instead see folks favor the Court of Wanderlust instead. At most, I knew the basic details of an alley-racer, it was a vehicle whose engine¡ªhowever it was constructed¡ªconnected into a shrine whose size scaled to the transport. That shrine was what let the whole thing punch in and out of Alleys without stressing the driver. There was where any of my expectations ended.

    Yet still I was surprised, as there on the curb was this nautiloid carriage of clear glass no doubt treated to withstand whatever weather was common in the Alleys. The side of the carriage was open and we all slid in. Three secretaries on one bench, and #404 and myself on the other facing theirs¡ªSphinx had returned to my spirit. Above their heads and back through the glass I saw the driver mount their seat, slot in a few tokens to kickstart and recharge the whole thing, and then he settled his feet against the base of the saddle. Gripped the handlebars and twisted.

    We hurtled forward into a rectangular cutaway that seemed to descend from the sky. Once through our driver whipped the handlebars to the side sending the whole carriage drifting along an invisible road. While all around us were the explosive pops of fireworks that sparked off within drifting clouds in place of lightning. Their color seeped into the glass shell that I¡¯d pressed my hands against to get a better look of things.

    In the faint reflection of the glass, I could see #404¡¯s face soften at the¡ªin retrospective¡ªblatant display of my own innocence. That something so mundane to them could still be¡­well, magic to me. Our eyes met in the glass, and they fluttered their fingers at me. Then it was over as soon as it began as we drifted through another rectangular cutout that led from this realm back to Realspace.

    The alley-racer slid to a stop in front of a cafe down the street from the ball¡¯s venue. At an outdoor table sat Amber who, upon sighting us through the glass of our carriage, drained the rest of their cup. Dropped two tokens inside, and descended down from the cafe¡¯s porch dining to the sidewalk where we¡¯d assembled.

    ¡°Temple, now where¡¯d you get this number?¡± Amber asked alongside an appreciatory whistle.

    Before I could answer, #404 leaned against my arm smirking up at Amber.

    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s a Lodge secret,¡± they said.

    ¡°If Temple can know why not me? We¡¯re both probationary members.¡±

    #322 muttered, ¡°In this episode, drama in the princess¡¯s harem.¡±

    Before Amber and #404 could turn to obliterate #322, I hurriedly wrapped both arms around one of theirs leading them onward toward the growing mass of Lodgemembers. Who had all taken the Lodgemaster¡¯s theme as a mandate; justifying their choice of fashion or lack thereof if the number of near nude summoners was anything to go off of. The sight of which stoked flames of excitement within myself that became a stellar burst as the crowd took notice of us¡ªof me¡ªand parted into a clear path to the door. Through which I could make out, clear as Amber whispering in my ear, the sonic assault of bass heavy music that lured your heart to beat faster, pump harder, so you might lose yourself in the orgiastic mass revel that only those who live so close to death might ever appreciate.

    ¡°Welcome to your new favorite holiday, little brute,¡± #404 said, as they led us inside.

 Chapter 30

    ¡°Does anyone see Melissa?¡± I asked my entourage.

    As one they called back, ¡°No.¡± Their tone flat and weary.

    We¡¯d posted ourselves on the second floor of the club the Lodge had commandeered for the night. From the balcony that ringed the room I could see everything. The surging mass of dancers on the first floor whose steps and motions flung water up into the air to clash against the conjured raindrops that poured from the ceiling in a column of ever falling rain. Around that column of water I could make out the other bars posted against each wall of the second floor, and the semi-circle couches that formed mini-cubbies along the inner rim of the balcony. They weren¡¯t perfectly private and so I could see the pairings off of Lodgemembers and secretaries conjoining in different erotic configurations. Both in how the body fit together, and how many bodies could be involved at once.

    All of this set to the highly saturated and cool color palette that shifted in surging leaps to the beat of the music. Though so constrained that it never found its way deeper than indigo or brighter than a dark illicit magenta. It was an ever flowing loop of blues and purples that painted the planes of the body, the face, and even memory.

    ¡°Temple, we¡¯re going to find her,¡± Amber reassured me. ¡°She told us she¡¯d be running late.¡±

    Amber waved her sorc-deck in my face¡ªslow enough I could reread Melissa¡¯s missive for the twentieth time¡ªbefore dropping it back into her storage-spell. It was well-intentioned of her, but my anxieties couldn¡¯t help but detail the heavy shadows that could be drawn from a message as brief as: We¡¯re running a bit behind, don¡¯t worry.

    Why were they running behind? What made it a bit? Was she busy being fed poison into her ears by Ina, or worse were they deciding to pre-game on the sexual festivities by linking together before arriving? Then there was the ¡®don¡¯t worry¡¯ which I could only weave through ideas of losing her. That we were well and truly done, and it¡¯d be someone else¡¯s job¡ªduty¡ªpleasure to worry about her.

    My thumbs pushed the glass of my tumbler inward inadvertently, sprinkling shards into the whiskey Amber had ordered for me. I set the glass back down, and let Amber guide me to her shoulder. She¡¯d decided to wear a jumpsuit that was reminiscent of a tux what with its central pleating. An aspect her designer had extended across the jumpsuit down to the slightly billowing pants leg that looked closer to the hakama Mom had us wear for training when she felt formal.  Over the jumpsuit, Amber wore a thick jacket across her shoulders like a cape. It was a heavy wool that felt softer than any sheet as I pressed my cheek against it feeling my skin press against the steel like muscle it turned out that Amber hid beneath her clothes.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°You didn¡¯t come out here to deal with me.¡±

    ¡°If I would be so upset at the idea of ¡®dealing with you¡¯ then I wouldn¡¯t be on this trip at all,¡± she said. ¡°Though I do think maybe we stop wasting the good japanese whiskey.¡±

    Amber removed a super-fine strainer from her storage-spell and poured the remains of my drink into her own before returning the strainer and sifted glass fragments into storage. #225 slid a new glass in front of me. It was a graduated cylinder filled with a fizzy liquid topped with about a half-inch of foam. They dropped a straw that wound itself into a celtic knot inside.

    ¡°Drink,¡± they ordered.

    I asked, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°A Bacchanalian Ballast.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s conceptual?¡±

    Amber stroked my head. ¡°Don¡¯t go accepting drinks from strangers, Temple. First rule of parties.¡±

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry,¡± #225 said, ¡°if I wanted to drug them I¡¯d use a method better than a laced drink. Though at this rate, drugs might be the only thing that¡¯ll make her relax and enjoy tonight.¡±

    I extricated myself from Amber, and shifted my gaze from drink to #225 who did look concerned. A bit of annoyance underneath but I¡¯d deserved it. No one felt comfortable leaving me at the bar on sentry duty, so for the past half-hour everyone was stuck looking out for one girl just for me. I bit down on the throat of guilt that roiled within me. Slipped the straw between my lips and drew up the drink and foam through its swirling loops.

    When the first drops hit my tongue it was pleasant and soothing¡ªtasted a smidge like lychee flavored cotton candy. Then came the conceptual flow as I drained the glass. It was a river amidst a storm that lifted up all my worries and feelings. Carted them off to some other moment downstream in time, and left only the stormy waters to press heavy on my spirit. Sinking me into the moment until most other concerns became astigmatized points of thought on the other side of an opaque window. So thick that it had its own color that just happened to match the shifting hues inside the club.

    The way in which my muscles unclenched and my spirit became so loose that it would sag if held between two hands, brought Amber rushing to the brink of concern.

    ¡°What was in that?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°A fun blend of Suppression and Indulgence,¡± #225 said. ¡°Suppress the worries until they¡¯re so light she won¡¯t worry about them until tomorrow. While pushing down hard with the guide to indulge so she might actually be in the moment.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that just what normal alcohol does?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Apparently not,¡± #225 said. ¡°You¡¯ve sipped and ruined enough imported whiskey that you should at least be buzzed by now.¡±

    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t heard,¡± I bragged, ¡°I have like really good spell resistance.¡±

    The room tilted itself for me so I didn¡¯t have to lean in much to inform #225. They were smirking up past me to Amber while nodding so attentively.

    ¡°Oh, really, that¡¯s amazing,¡± they said. ¡°Amber, why don¡¯t you order one.¡±

    They slid the menu past me and my now drained glass. Amber quickly scanned the sheet. It didn¡¯t take much time to find the cocktail #225 had plied me with¡ªfor the bartender¡¯s ease the Lodge had a pre-set menu of cocktails Real and conceptual.

    ¡°Alls below, this is a viscount-grade drink,¡± she said.

    ¡°I know, and I just heard from someone that she has a really good spell resistance,¡± #225 said.

    ¡°Can I have another one?¡± I called out to the bartender.

    ¡°You heard her,¡± #225 said, ¡°she wants another one. Hey, #404 do you want¡­¡±

    They trailed off as they sought out #404 at the other end of the bar. They sat perfectly poised on their stool while facing two people I¡¯d not seen before. Retreating from that end, #322 and #375 made the slow march back toward us¡ªthey¡¯d abandoned me to my worries earlier and slid down the bar to chat or gossip with #404.

    ¡°What are you doing leaving them with those two?¡± #225 asked.

    #375 said, ¡°#404 told us to leave. Said it¡¯d be more interesting over here than dealing with them.¡±

    ¡°You know them, they never want to seem weak.¡±

    ¡°Still, leaving them feels¡ªhey, Nadia come back,¡± #225 said.

    In the midst of their quick exchange I¡¯d gotten the gist. Those two were¡ªfor whatever reason¡ªbothering #404 which stoked an unrecognizable feeling in me. It rolled its heat in my gut bringing an extra sway to my hips as I stalked down the bar on stiletto heels.

    ¡°It¡¯s so early in the event that I¡¯m surprised they have you lower ranks on break already.¡±

    The words came from the mouth of a slight boyish figure that clung like ivy to the firm flesh-slab of a person that stood next to them. It was my sharp bark of laughter that announced my intrusion to what no one would call a conversation. The two strangers turned to regard me¡ªyou could see the formations being laid in their minds as they tried to figure out who I was. Taking the initiative they so easily gave me, I let my arms drape over #404 as I laid my head into the crook of their neck.

    ¡°#404, I was so worried you were held up I just had to check up on you. Make sure it wasn¡¯t anything serious,¡± I said. Then, with a glance of my eyes half-hidden beneath my heavy painted eyelids and a glimpse of fangs within a bemused smirk, I finally acknowledged them. ¡°Though I¡¯m glad to see it¡¯s nothing.¡±

    From how the small figure¡¯s mouth fell agape, my words, it seemed, had struck a blow against a fragile ego. The man next to them bristled and postured toward me. I blinked on the Omensight for a quick assessment that reeled up another laugh meant to lacerate the go.

    ¡°Oh back down,¡± I said.

    ¡°If anyone, it should be you,¡± the man declared in a dull voice fit for a brick. ¡°I¡¯m a Baron.¡±

    ¡°Barely.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t take much to put down a cocky little soldier like you.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯d be surprised how many people underestimated what it¡¯d take to put me down. I¡¯m¡ªoh wait a moment.¡±

    My drink had arrived. I forewent the addition of a straw and opted to chug the mixture in one long drag. Then blew out an invisible cloud of alcoholic vapor into the brick-voiced man¡¯s face.

    ¡°Where was I, oh, right. I¡¯m the type of summoner your secretary¡ªI¡¯m presuming the little twink¡¯s yours¡ªtells you you are when bouncing on your dick to make you feel better every time someone you know graduates. After which they try to coax you to attempt the trial yourself. You¡¯ve probably had that chat at least ten times?¡±

    The small secretary looked away then in frustration.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s more? Yeah, it¡¯s much more. Tell me when to stop. Was it twenty, thirty, forty¡ª¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, little brute,¡± #404 said. Their fingers gently laid against an arm.

    ¡°Who even are you?¡± the secretary asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re my little brute. An asset all my own, and already valued by the Lodge for her achievements. Of which she isn¡¯t lying when she says that too many people have already died thinking she was just a cocky little soldier.¡±

    At the admission of how I was connected to #404, the little secretary and their big meaty loser shared a pair of sickle-sharp grins. My brow furrowed at how their own ego seemed to revive at only a few words of truth despite being laid in the grave at mine.

    ¡°Okay, good luck with the exam then,¡± the talking brick said. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be the first time #404 here picked out a perfectly talented summoner just for them to choke at the finish line.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to choke,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s what the last guy thought,¡± the small secretary said.

    ¡°And then I passed and he didn¡¯t,¡± the other finished.

    Together the two of them swung away from the bar to take the stairs down to the first floor. I scowled at their receding backs. #404 shrugged me off of their shoulders.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t need your help,¡± they said.

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°So it was just your plan to let them berate you all night or something?¡± I asked.

    #404 swiveled their stool to face me. Their eyes thin with condensed anger at wrongs I¡¯d not committed, but for whom I was the only target they could vent it out on.

    ¡°Maybe it was,¡± they said. ¡°It¡¯d still beat you pining for some girl you don¡¯t even love. You just hate to see someone play with what you think is yours.¡±

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing. Okay, but I¡¯d rather pine than sit and let some utter losers walk all over me for what?¡±

    ¡°Diplomacy,¡± they said.

    ¡°Looked more like punishment to me.¡±

    Their expression twitched in the manner of someone keeping a lid on so much anger. Maybe it was the drink, but I wanted to see them let it all out.

    ¡°Who was the last person you brought to the exam?¡± I asked.

    #404 turned away from me to sip at their drink through a straight steel straw.

    ¡°Did you meet them at a train outpost like me? What kind of test did you give them? Did you also kiss¡ª¡±

    ¡°His name was Cedric. Bonded to Tranquility. He died in the last test before the exam ended.¡±

    They didn¡¯t breathe as they rattled off the facts about the ghost that seemed to haunt them even now amidst so much conspicuous living. I used my heel to swivel #404 back to face me. Leaned forward to bridge our gap.

    ¡°How are those two involved?¡± I asked.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°They killed him,¡± #404 said. ¡°The Lodgemaster had decided that the final test that year was about infiltration. Every group had a traitor that had to be found by the end of the test-mission the group was assigned.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d that lead to him dying¡ª¡±

    ¡°Murdered.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, murdered.¡±

    #404 sighed and shook their head in disbelief of a fact long made history.

    ¡°The Lodgemaster offered extra points. Every person the traitor took out was extra points. If the traitor was more permanently dealt with then everyone else got those points,¡± #404 answered. ¡°Cedric was the traitor, and #389¡¯s asset¡ªSigmund¡ªwanted those extra points so badly that he convinced everyone that it was worth it for Cedric to die. Better he permanently be removed than get free and foil things.¡±

    My own scowl deepened at another example of the incentives that Nemesis threw about the entire exam both past and present. Cedric died for points. I didn¡¯t know the man, but if ever there was a hollow reason to be murdered it¡¯d be that.

    ¡°It¡¯s a shame,¡± I said.

    ¡°No,¡± #404 argued, ¡°it¡¯s just how Lodgemaster Khapoor runs things.¡±

    I pushed myself off my seat. Held out my hand for #404 to take it.

    ¡°What are you doing, little brute?¡±

    ¡°Helping you down from your guilt so we can go dance.¡±

    ¡°My guilt?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°You feel guilty because you brought a beautiful but weak person into this place.¡±

    ¡°Cedric wasn¡¯t weak.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°He lost to Sigmund. Cedric was weak, but I¡¯m strong. You broke a four year streak of choosing nobody because you saw that in me.¡±

    ¡°So this is how you¡¯ll glorify yourself?¡±

    ¡°Alls below, #404, this is how I help you stick the knife in those assholes even if it¡¯s only a little bit,¡± I said. ¡°Now, you chose me because I¡¯m strong. Strong enough to use and use again. So take my hand, and use me.¡±

    They raised their hand¡ªit shook as they oscillated between doubt, worry, and that clinging guilt which had been with them for so long.

    ¡°You can¡¯t cry to me if your muscles burn and give out, little brute. If I do this, we dance until they¡¯re nothing.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have it any other way.¡±

    #404 placed their hand¡ªtheir rage¡ªin mine as I guided them down from their stool. They had always been shorter than me but it¡¯d been by a handful of inches. Only now, atop heels that others might describe as dizzying, did they seem truly small, fragile, and my lips drew back in sadistic grin at the idea of drawing blood¡ªeven proverbial¡ªin the name of their defense.

    I yelled over the music to Amber, ¡°Let me know when you spot Melissa.¡±

    She raised her tumbler in understanding. ¡°Go fuck ¡®em up, Temple.¡±

    The other secretaries roared in approval of us as I walked arm in arm with #404 down to the first floor and its churning horde. Of which our arrival was met by a shift in the music that brought the mass consciousness of dancing humanity to a standstill. Gone was the hooky bass heavy beat that guided everything, and in its place was something old that burned even now on the other side of the Changeover. The tune was full of popping syncopations and frantic guitar¡ªa love affair between swing and salsa if I had my Old World music correct.

    Dancers quickly paired off and took to the floor ready to compete in the language of muscle and motion that I doubt mankind could ever forget. Even #389 and Sigmund found their way to the open floor. I held #404 back from rushing out after them.

    ¡°Are we suddenly not dancing, little brute?¡±

    ¡°Oh we are, but we¡¯re not running,¡± I said.

    Instead, we waited as pair after pair hurried out. The guitar player reached an early furious crescendo before hanging the room onto a precarity of silence. That was when we entered. My heels¡ªeven muted by water¡ªclacked against the glass of the dance floor. Clack clack clack. All eyes turned to me as the stars with which Ferilala Nu-zo had clothed me in played tricks upon the air as each raindrop seemed to catch the shining glory of a star.

    I brought my heels in line and with a sharp twist of my waist as if snapping #389¡¯s neck, I turned hundred-eighty degrees. The speed of the motion made a wave that slapped against the dancers around me who lacked the gravitas for this fight. Wet and dripping they cleared way, but I paid them no more mind than I would a chair or any other prop.

    Elegantly I extended my arms out to the crowd as if I¡¯d embrace each and every one of them. My eyes catching on theirs teasing at the idea that they were the one¡­and then I landed on #404. I let my lips curl at the end in a feline sort of pleasure.

    ¡°Now, we enter,¡± I mouthed.

    #404 shook their head before charging toward me. Each step in time with the singer who¡¯d taken the stage and made her way to the mic. She grasped the stand by its skinny neck, brought it close to her lips, inhaled right as #404¡¯s hand found mine and my other found their waist while they found the back of my neck.

    ¡°I should lead,¡± they said. ¡°I am your handler.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but if I won¡¯t bow to an Earl,¡± I whispered into their ear. ¡°What makes you think I¡¯ll follow?¡±

    The singer shattered the silence with a powerful note that disemboweled the tension and unleashed the reins of us mad dancers. I twirled #404 in my arms, dipped them, and swung them low in display to the entire room of who I¡¯d chosen to share this moment. They popped back up and pressed forward in a coup to steal the lead from me.

    I let them for a few steps, before swiftly sidestepping their advance letting them carry forward¡ªour arms now parallel bars to each other. I spun again driving myself low to the ground to retrieve the lead position #404 thought was theirs. Caught off guard, they let me and their body became light as I swung them low before extending upwards. Momentum carrying them up across my back and over my shoulder.

    Their own smaller heels came down in a swift cutting arc that whistled in harmony with the crooning trumpet that joined in to the music. When they touched ground I wrapped them into my arms by crossing theirs atop their chest. We quickly moved back, I went right while they went left, before meeting in the middle. They kicked up into the air forcing me to let go though not before I set their leap into a tight spiral that drilled once, twice, three times before they descended, arms outstretched for me to catch them.

    I guided them back to earth right when the singer took a breath letting the instruments croon like some big band menagerie. Our fingers intertwined as I pulled them close to me, and in the other¡¯s eyes¡ªfor we were that close face-to-face¡ªwe saw ourselves. I lived in #404¡¯s eyes as something that couldn¡¯t possibly be Real. Too tall, too shining, and, from how I smiled with my fangs on display, altogether too confident. I could only hope that #404 saw themselves as I saw them in this moment, the only person for whom this, our competitive power stealing dance, could ever be possible. Their hair wet and skin glistening in the saturated light, I beheld the face of someone who I could see myself in a forever rivalry. We could argue, snipe, and joust until the sun melted into the sea never to rise again.

    ¡°I hope this never ends,¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯re drunk, little brute, and all things end.¡± They whispered into my ear, ¡°But only tonight, you can lead.¡±

    It was probably the drink, but that wrenched a moan from deep within my chest. That for the first time¡ªmaybe the only time¡ª#404 would cede power to me and be mine to move. When the singer swung the mic back to her face delivering a run of notes that crested like a wave crashing onto the dance floor the two of us¡ª#404 and myself¡ªwere already in motion. This time no longer fighting for control, but slowly melding with every twirl, pirouette, and dip until we could understand each other in that ancient language of muscle and motion.

    I¡¯m surprised, little brute. #404 disappeared behind my back, hand tracing my shoulder, but gone when I turned my head.

    Because I can dance? I quickly snapped my head to the other side as #404 tried to dance back the other way. Caught them by their hip and guided them through a no-hands cartwheel in the air.

    No, that you¡¯d dance with me. They landed and immediately leaned back. Their leg whipping up toward my face as if to cleave it in half.

    You make it sound like I hate you. I shifted my body. Their leg swung up past my face, the wind rushing behind to tousle my hair. I caught their back with a hand while the other grasped their thigh. My cheek grazing their inner flesh.

    You don¡¯t? They swung upward using every muscle hidden in their core, and caught my face between their hands as they searched my eyes for a lie.

    Maybe once, maybe tomorrow, but not right now. I lifted them from the ground and shrugged their thigh from my shoulder. Rotating them in the air.

    So gallant, little brute. Do you enjoy playing hero? #404¡¯s legs scissored back to wrap around my waist. In concern I took a wide stance so they might rest their weight upon my thighs. Instead, they arched their back so their face could be near mine.

    I¡¯m as much a hero as you¡¯re a damsel. I ran my hands down their body to guide the crowd to the slight curves and pleasing angles of #404¡¯s form. While my fangs teased at their skin.

    Such a sharp rejection. Do you cut Melissa with that tongue? They wound their arm about my head, and used me like a pole to swing around my body. Hiding behind my back. Fingers teasing my ribs.

    No. I took a sliding step forward away from their touch that suddenly felt so frigid. Whirled about to face them.

    Then why are you dancing with me and not her?

    We stood there, the two of us, for an interminable moment as our eyes met across the floor. The most recent mini wave of water caused by my step only now settling in the music¡¯s lull. If I had looked I¡¯d see the way the crowd had eyes for #404 and myself. On the edge of non-existent seats to discover the answer to #404¡¯s unspoken question.

    The drums rolled light and fast. Building up speed. No other instrument in their way as they advanced. As I advanced across a dance floor that felt empty but for me and my handler. Until suddenly, bang crash. Snare and hi-hat struck with the ferocity of a musician whose rhythm has overflowed beyond what one piece of kit could handle.

    Cause I swung too close to the skin. My head whipped one way, #404¡¯s the other, and when we whipped back I saw myself in their eyes. Sliding down their body to my knees.

    Oh, little brute, I retract what I said earlier. They tilted forward, and with both hands like one would a teacup they lifted my chin.

    About what? I swept my arms up and to the sides. Blasting their arms out from me and baring my chest for whatever blow was to come.

    That you don¡¯t love her. Only a lover can trace the knife¡¯s edge against your skin, and leave you still craving them. Their arms came back. Hands cradling my jaw, and with no strength at all they lifted me from my knees as I rose in time with their motion.

    I shouldn¡¯t have been swinging it around anyways. I embraced them, and ran my finger claws down their back as we moved together in a rocking one-two.

    You say that as if her marks aren¡¯t on you either. They rotated in my grip. Unafraid that my claws would scar them.

    What do you know about love? I noted the faint trace of blood that painted the hook of my claws. My hands splayed as I leaned my upper body backward.

    Enough. #404 leaned with me. Caught my arms by the wrist.

    Did you love Cedric? My hands held #404 by the shoulder and opposite hip, swaying them one way and the other.

    No. Just lucky enough to be loved by him. The fool. They lurched forward away from me. Curling up in frustration at the past.

    There¡¯s nothing foolish about loving someone. I let go, and traced my bloody claws across the air around them until I stood in front of them. One hand behind their head and the other at the chin. This time I raised them straight until they met my eyes and my conviction.

    In the normal world, maybe, but lovers don¡¯t live long in the Lodge. They rolled from my grip. Arms wide as they spun again and again. Looking like a windmill or a dervish¡ªconvinced of this truth.

    Is that why you chose me? That I didn¡¯t seem like a lover. My hand shot out to grab them. We¡¯re still.

    I never wanted to choose you. They looked away.

    Yet here I am. I twirled them into my grasp.

    And for that, I¡¯m sorry. They looked away again.

    Don¡¯t be, I¡¯m strong enough that I¡¯ll pass. I lifted their head up to meet me. Guided them into an elegant dip.

    If you do then you¡¯ll be nothing like what you were before it. They reached up and stroked my face.

    And what will I be after? I righted them. Held us at arms length away.

    Alone with no one to stand in your light. They twirled me, and I let them. Then they released me and I spun like a top across the water. Sliding away from them as the feathers of my skirt flew away according to some hidden design of Ferilala Nu-zo¡¯s.

    All around me the feathers exploded into stardust. Cloaking me in a nebula mist that the rain loved even more than the stars on my skin. I stood there in the glorious starlight clad now in just the cosmic skinsuit and my heels. The horn on my forehead scintillating from the water that ran in thin rivulets down its length to meet my face. Where it rolled down my cheeks to fall in place of tears.

    I couldn¡¯t help but search the crowd. They didn¡¯t seem to breathe nor to move. The rain had lost all motion becoming frozen gems in the air. Out within the crowd I saw my double weave before and behind onlookers. A crown of Inviolate Stars about her head. She turned just slightly to make sure I saw her¡ªthe Baron whose aspect I¡¯d yet to discern. I blinked. Sound returned in one rushing tide of rain, horn, drums, guitar, and more.

    I won¡¯t be alone. I threw my hands up and out in the direction of Amber and the secretaries watching from the second floor.

    You¡¯ll see your bonds as burdens and shed them. #404 spread their arms wide in gesture to the crowd which meant nothing to me.

    I¡¯m strong enough I¡¯ll carry them. I¡¯ll carry you. I pointed at them.

    You won¡¯t benefit by having me. They shimmied their body as they shook their head.

    It¡¯s cause of you that I¡¯m here. I rolled my body unfurling it for the step I knew would come.

    I¡¯m using you to climb the ranks. They threw their arms back, chest bare to me in truth¡ªor what they believed to be truth.

    And I¡¯m doing the same. I clapped. Then opened my arms again. Now, come to me.

    You¡¯re incorrigible, little brute. Don¡¯t you ever let go? They ran toward me.

    If I did, I wouldn¡¯t be strong. I laughed.

    Then you better catch me. They smiled. Skipped once. Twice. Preparing.

    Then leaped into my arms. My hands found their waist, and my body moved to meet them pushing them up higher and higher. All the while they turned forward on some invisible axle until they were upside down. Our faces met each other. Our noses kissed.

    ¡°You caught me,¡± they said, disbelieving.

    ¡°I don¡¯t make it a habit to let my people get hurt.¡±

    They smirked at that. ¡°So I¡¯m yours now?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re my handler,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve been mine and I¡¯ve been yours since you brought me that mask. Or have I disappointed you?¡±

    ¡°Maybe you will tomorrow,¡± they said, and elegantly fell back down without need of my strength for a stable landing. ¡°But for now, Nadia, you¡¯re adequate.¡±

    Our breath was heavy. The moment¡¯s exertion caught up to us. It had pounced on the band as well. Dragging them to a stillness as the final notes echoed in the air mixing with the pitter-patter of rain. Then the club exploded into a furious applause.

    I blushed as I looked around at everyone cheering. Grinned when I saw #389 and Sigmund had vacated the dance floor if not the club itself. Then I spotted Melissa at the standing bar with Ina and Amber on the other side of the crowd on this floor.

    ¡°Go talk to her, little brute,¡± #404 said. ¡°You¡¯ve waited long enough.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked as nerves slid up my back.

    ¡°Your use for tonight as my date is over.¡±

    I nodded¡ªthe word date going unnoticed by me as I gathered the strength to make amends. As I passed #404 they stopped me for a moment. Eyes looking down and away from me.

    ¡°Do it right, little brute,¡± they whispered. ¡°Longing is a horrible thing you never want to feel.¡±

    Then they let go of me, and disappeared into the crowd in the opposite direction. I took a deep breath to re-center. All thoughts on getting my ex back, and repairing what I¡¯d broken. Then with a clack of my heels I set off for the bar to do just that.

 Chapter 31

    As I pushed my way through the crowd it felt like every shoulder that bumped me was checking the firmity of my conviction. How much was I ready to apologize for? How much would I be willing to reveal? Could I handle it if¡­if it was over?

    The questions sliced through me faster than I could process. I don¡¯t think they were questions one could easily answer, or if they were then they hid behind the wisdom of more years and broken hearts than I or Melissa had dealt with. Yet despite it all I still walked. Clack. Clack. My head held high, shoulders rolled back, chest out, and confident that when I reached them I¡¯d have the words to answer those very questions.

    It took one interminable minute to arrive at the bar where the trio stood. Melissa nursing a drink of something blue and bright¡ªthough that could have easily been the lights¡ªwhile Amber swirled the marble-sized ball of ice in their tumbler. Ina didn¡¯t hold a drink, but her face was squished and tight like she¡¯d taken a hit of pure citric acid. It was a funny enough image that it brought a smile to my face which might as well have been an open door for the two Bacchanalian Ballasts I¡¯d drunk earlier to press me back down into the moment.

    I cocked my hip, and leaned forward just slightly¡ªdoing my best to present an image to Melissa that reminded her of what I had to offer, at least in part. An action which proved effective as she caught sight of me from the corner of her eye, but rotated her entire body to actually see me. Back to the bar, her mouth fell just slightly agape.

    ¡°Oh-oh,¡± she moaned.

    ¡°Hey, Melissa,¡± I said. ¡°I missed you.¡±

    Then I let my own gaze roam across her body to accentuate my words. She wore a dress made from a shifting slime mold whose contractions and expansions created brief evanescent gaps where you could see her soft flesh underneath.

    ¡°Your dress is amazing,¡± I said.

    ¡°This thing, oh no, it¡¯s more a project than an actual outfit. I mean, compared to yours¡ª¡± she said.

    ¡°It¡¯s actually clothes,¡± Ina sniped.

    ¡°Ina!¡±

    Melissa snapped her hand into Ina¡¯s stomach. It was a light blow with no malice behind it. Ina rolled her eyes at the half-heard reproach. From the blush that dusted Melissa¡¯s face, I figured it was a sentiment that she shared on some level¡ªthough from the smile which teased its way onto her face again and again it was sentiment that was hardly negative.

    ¡°We were just talking about you, Temple,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    Ina snorted, ¡°Narcissist.¡±

    ¡°Be good,¡± Melissa reminded Ina, ¡°or do you really not want your after party treat?¡±

    A dreamy look passed across Ina¡¯s face as she hurriedly nodded. Melissa, satisfied with that, pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. The sight of it all was sandpaper against my heart. My own mind swiftly erecting far too vivid ideas of what the ¡®treat¡¯ in question would be. It was Amber who pulled me back from the production before it started with a quick squeeze of my hand.

    ¡°So you were talking about me,¡± I said.

    Melissa whipped back to me. ¡°Right, right. We, um, well Amber was¡­telling us about what you¡¯ve been dealing with lately.¡±

    I glanced at Amber, unaware of what secrets she knew and had revealed. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Not much that¡¯s new, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°I only helped frame it with some context.¡±

    With her other hand she laid it across Melissa¡¯s arm. Gave her a small squeeze that seemed to still the nerves she¡¯d also brought to the party. The two of them shared their own look of understanding, and then returned their attention to me.

    ¡°I realized that we need to talk,¡± Melissa said. ¡°About everything. Even the stuff neither of us wants to say.¡±

    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll say anything.¡±

    ¡°I know you would, but right now I¡ªwe¡ªneed honesty.¡±

    A low breath just shy of a whistle escaped my lips. The pressure of the conversation warring with the Indulgent mood I¡¯d rather stay within. I nodded then offered my hand to her.

    ¡°Of course. Can that come with a dance?¡± I asked. Terminating the thought there before my anxieties made me voice the hanging worry that it¡¯d be our last.

    She handed her drink off to Ina. Then took my hand as I pulled us back toward the dance floor that had settled into a slow sensual groove at the direction of the music.

    ¡°Mel, I don¡¯t¡ª¡± Ina said.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. This has to happen, for me.¡±

    Ina swallowed and¡ªalls below, I hated the woman but I understood¡ªshe looked worried. Then eyed me down like I was a predator aiming to abscond with the life of her sheep. I¡¯d yet to know if my fangs were real or imagined, but if they were real then I understood. Unlike her, in a dress made from frills and fabric composed of stitched together talismans, I didn¡¯t look like anything human. Instead standing tall, cosmic in body, claws tipping my fingers, and a horn that stood prominent as any crown. Yeah, I think I understood how she could look so worried about me.

    It was hard, but I swallowed my pride to get what I wanted. ¡°Ina, I promise after we¡¯re done talking she¡¯s all yours. If, um, that¡¯s what you want, Melissa.¡±

    ¡°It is. Does that work for you?¡± Melissa asked Ina.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said.

    The bitter pride and protectiveness in her eyes deflated. If I was no threat then she had no reason to push and strike me like she did. Instead, she had to smile and nod. Wishing Melissa luck with the being who¡¯d held her heart before the two of them knew the other existed. Before I could abscond with her, Melissa latched her hand about Amber¡¯s wrist.

    ¡°Amber, you have to come with,¡± Melissa said. ¡°All of this involves you too.¡±

    Amber glanced up at me. Is it okay?

    My answer was me grasping Amber¡¯s other hand and pulling her with us alongside Melissa. If she needed Amber¡ªand alls below, I often needed Amber¡ªthen she¡¯d be there.

    The three of us changed in arrangement from a vague triangle to something closer to a sandwich as the dance floor was too congested with pressed together couples. There was me on the outside, hands on Melissa¡¯s hips pulling her close to me. My thigh pressed between her legs as hers was to mine. Behind her, also pushing her in, was Amber who loomed over the two of us and wrapped her hands around my waist. As a triad we danced to the syrup thick voice of the singer currently on stage. It was a song that dripped slow with desire in all its messy and mechanical beauty.

    ¡°So how do we start?¡± I asked.

    Melissa thought for a moment, then answered, ¡°Finish what you were saying back at the room.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? I thought it was making you mad.¡±

    She blushed and stuttered, ¡°Mad, n-no. I was a little overstimulated. Not in the right mindset for everything.¡±

    ¡°And this isn¡¯t overstimulating?¡± I asked. A roll of hips grinding my thigh against her.

    She let out a squeak that dragged into a chuckling moan. ¡°No.¡±

    Amber crooned, ¡°It¡¯s a bit more fair in this context than only one person being naked.¡±

    She pulled on me while giving a solid thrust of her own hips behind Melissa. Pressing the both of us onto the other¡¯s thigh unleashing a harmonious moan that wound up toward her.

    ¡°Point taken,¡± I muttered. ¡°Okay, so I said I was sorry¡­¡±

    Melissa and Amber nodded.

    ¡°And, well, I was feeling so much when I woke up. I¡¯d just found out I was a Baron¡ªwell a pseudo one¡ªand even though I played it off, I basically died. So when you said to stop using the spell that way, I felt scared. At the time it seemed like they¡¯d already killed you, Amber, and I worried about what Ina and her team would¡¯ve done to you, Melissa.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t kill her though,¡± Melissa said. ¡°We were fine.¡±

    ¡°This time. You were fine this time, and I want to be strong enough that you¡¯ll always be fine. Not cause of luck, but because I kept you safe. When I saw their illusion I thought I¡¯d already failed one of you.¡±

    ¡°No one can be safe forever, Temple,¡± Amber said.

    Melissa added, ¡°The safest thing we could do is go back home.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s not even that safe,¡± I said. ¡°They killed Mom and Dad there after all.¡±

    ¡°They did, and so it means you want the impossible. Unless you¡¯re willing to put me in a box and shove it into Amber¡¯s storage-spell, you can¡¯t guarantee anything, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°I know. I know. We¡¯d said that I couldn¡¯t make decisions for you any more¡­¡±

    ¡°When?¡± she asked.

    ¡°At the outpost. You said it when you and Amber took out the cultists.¡±

    ¡°Nadia, I was just mad and¡­¡±

    Amber whispered, ¡°Within your right. The two of you needed¡ªand still need¡ªto find terms you can live with when it comes to the other. Not talking and just imposing won¡¯t make the hurt stop.¡±

    I asked, ¡°When¡¯d you become the master of love?¡±

    ¡°Never. This is just how I helped settle issues between me and my siblings. Boundaries are a universal concern. Anyways, continue, Temple.¡±

    So I did. ¡°Right, so since I couldn¡¯t tell you or keep you from doing something dangerous I decided to take on the danger myself. If I burned then you didn¡¯t have to.¡±

    Melissa laid her head against my chest. Wrapped her arms around my neck.

    ¡°If you burned, I¡¯d never forgive myself. It¡¯s why I wanted you to stop using it.¡± She said, ¡°Which puts us on the same problem, I suppose.¡±

    Amber said, ¡°You both want the other to be safe.¡±

    I pressed my chin against the top of her head. She smelled of Amber, myself, her surprisingly fruity drink, and she smelled of home. Not the geography of my ruin of a house, but the very security I¡¯d felt so adrift in lacking.

    ¡°Melissa, I¡¯m sorry for everything. I shouldn¡¯t have lashed out. I should¡¯ve told you about the spell when I first developed it with Sphinx¡ªlet alone using it that way¡ªbut above all I¡¯m sorry for changing. We had something really good, and we didn¡¯t really talk about how to keep it before I tossed it aside. It¡¯s all my fault.¡±

    It felt good to cry then. I mumbled quiet apologies into Melissa¡¯s hair as my tears moistened her curly ash tresses. Amber raised a hand to stroke my hair as I let it out. How much I just wanted to go home.

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    ¡°No,¡± she said. I leaned back in shock, but her eyes were soft and glistening. Tears of her own on the edge of flowing.

    ¡°I mean, I do accept your apology, but it¡¯s not all your fault. People change Nadia, for good reasons and sad reasons and bad reasons. I¡¯m just sorry I couldn¡¯t handle that,¡± she said.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Her voice stopped as she choked up her next words. Amber guided us back together. Her voice low and swirling around us like the nebula mist that surrounded me and by extension them.

    Amber said, ¡°Princess, this is where you tell the truth. Like you said, honesty, even if it¡¯s the stuff you don¡¯t want to say.¡±

    Melissa groaned, ¡°I did say that.¡±

    ¡°You did, and I can handle it,¡± I said.

    She buried her face back into my chest. As Amber swayed us from side to side along with the bobbing tide of the music.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t handle you changing because I was seeing you become something other than the girl I fell in love with back home.¡±

    The words sunk into my gut. A long metal weight within me causing my own motion to stall.

    She continued, ¡°I just hoped that that Nadia was still in there. The one before you know¡­¡±

    I dragged myself back in step with them. Though my hands rose from Melissa¡¯s hips to cling to Amber¡¯s back. We were in the rapids now and I needed something to be my support.

    ¡°She might be, but I don¡¯t know,¡± I admitted. ¡°I feel so divided all the time. Leaning one way one moment and another way the next. Maybe that¡¯s her just trying to come back¡­¡± or maybe that¡¯s her dying gasp I continued in my head.

    I asked, ¡°What was she¡ªme¡ªI like¡­what was I like before everything?¡±

    Melissa smiled as she glanced away from me to a happier past.

    ¡°She¡ªyou¡ªwere like the sun in the sky. Energetic, boisterous, brilliant especially when forced to think on your feet. Though you¡¯d drag those same feet when you didn¡¯t want to do something.¡± The adoration was a light through her words as she spoke. ¡°You were pretty lewd most of the time, but you had a great heart. Sometimes a little black and white in your thinking. Though not so bad that it ever caused trouble. It solved trouble more times than not. There was even this time¡­¡±

    She continued on to describe a story I don¡¯t remember. It involved me rather intensely, and it landed like words read on a page versus the resurrection of some recollection. It moved me so little I briefly imagined that it was just a story Melissa had confused with history. Though, the bright energetic person she described sounded wonderful. Nothing like the crying mass murderer who she clung to in the moment.

    ¡°...so yeah. You maybe did sort people into friends or foes. If the latter they got the full brunt of a righteous Nadia, and if the former they¡ªI¡ªhad a source of pure love.¡± She took a moment, then said, ¡°I¡¯d worried for a while now that you¡¯d moved me from the former to the latter.¡±

    ¡°Melissa, I still need you,¡± I said.

    She smirked and flicked my nose in recrimination. ¡°I said, love, Nadia. Not need. The old you could love someone no matter their position to you. It was a perpetual love found whether I was absent or present, needed or wanted or there if I just saw you passing in the hall.¡±

    ¡°Melissa, I¡­¡± I trailed off. My gaze skipped around at all the micro expressions I needed to track to stay present. She had a smile, but her eyes were wet, and her face was blushed, yet there was no light in her eyes, and¡­I closed my own. Laid my head down into her neck. Kissed and sucked and teased the flesh to a bright coloration of a newly birthed hickey. My fangs begging me to bite down with the full force of what I felt. Consuming her piece by piece so she could know without a doubt that I loved her in her entirety.

    Through the dialect of sentence distorting sobs, I said, ¡°I love you. I¡¯ll never stop loving you. It is there, it is perpetual, I promise you.¡±

    ¡°Then why not tell me that your mom was a Sovereign? The old Nadia never kept secrets. You were in and knew or out and did not matter. I was in. I¡¯ve always been in.¡±

    Behind my shut eyes, I saw the answer. It was in the moment I first knew what I was¡ªeven if I denied it and still do.

    ¡°It was that night when you looked at me like I was a monster¡ª¡±

    She hurried out, ¡°I told you, I was just scared that night and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Melissa,¡± Amber said, ¡°let her finish.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± she said.

    ¡°Melissa, I don¡¯t blame you for being scared. I just felt ashamed that you were right. Whatever this Nadia is, and all the things she¡ªI¡ªhave already done in my brief time existing was a reason, after a reason, after a reason for you to see me that way,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d only said I was going to kill some people and I got that look. It became easy to imagine that if I said, ¡®Hey, Melissa, babe, I¡¯m the child of an entity¡ªwhatever that means.¡¯ And you¡¯d just look at me like I was something inhuman.¡±

    ¡°Nadia, most of my family pushes the boundary of the human form already. I have four pupils. I can handle you being adopted. Even by something as wild as a Sovereign.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked. ¡°Cause that¡¯s not a thought you had to consider about the old Nadia. She gets to be normal forever, and I¡¯m¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re what?¡± she asked. ¡°Who is this Nadia?¡±

    I raised my head from her shoulder. Smiled with fangs on full display. Her eyes widened in fixation of their sharp flesh rending point¡ªso they were real, to some extent¡ªthen swallowed.

    ¡°I¡¯m a killer¡ªI think¡ªI¡¯ve at least killed enough people to feel like I am.¡±

    ¡°It was in self¡ª¡± she tried to argue. Amber pressed a kiss to the other side of Melissa¡¯s neck silencing her.

    ¡°My first were in question. When I was off with Secretary, I landed into such a problem that the only way out was the one I could cut through. So I cut through them. Burned them with my spell, and watched as their very fate snapped away from them. No one will remember them because I made it so they can¡¯t. Then there was our first night here, I¡¯d gotten picked for an opportunity to gain more points for us, and so joined this thing they called a wild hunt. I stabbed a man, decapitated a woman, slaughtered most of the summoners from a few nights ago who got denied to take the test. One of them I crushed beneath my feet. I let their blood coat me. Then there was Ina and her team who I tried to kill. Then of course all of the Lurkers who I¡¯d slain since I met Secretary to even the test yesterday. Melissa, I don¡¯t even know my proper body count at this point.¡±

    Melissa looked away from me as I admitted to the fullest extent of what I¡¯d done. I leaned in toward her ear to make sure she heard me.

    ¡°Melissa,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m likely City Killer¡¯s daughter, and I have the body count you¡¯d expect. I know you wanted to keep me from crossing that line, but if there¡¯s any line between us it¡¯s that one. It¡¯s not how much I love¡ªthat is immense¡ªand it¡¯s not how much I¡¯d sacrifice for you¡ªthat¡¯s everything¡ªbut it all comes at the understanding that I¡¯m¡ªthis Nadia¡ªis very very good at two things. Not truly dying and making sure everyone who attempted to put me down finds themselves slain by my glaive or my spells.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you just be a normal grieving person?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Unfortunately, this Nadia¡ªme¡ªis likely a monster that can¡¯t do that. Why grieve when I can act. Especially when it seems to be my talent,¡± I said. ¡°So, tell me, can you love this Nadia?¡±

    Melissa was silent.

    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t want to say it,¡± I reminded her.

    She glanced up at me¡ªit was the only way she could meet my eyes¡ªand shook her head.

    ¡°No. Maybe. I don¡¯t know and I¡­¡± she lost her words. Then found new ones, ¡°If my Nadia isn¡¯t coming back can you let me go?¡±

    Her hands slid over my body like I was too hot to hold. I caught her wrists, and pressed her forward into Amber. Then let my lips hover just above her mouth.

    ¡°No,¡± I said.

    She cried at the denial of her freedom by me. I wanted to say yes, but I wasn¡¯t ready to lose my home in her heart. Watching her describe someone with my face and name with the kind of love and affection this me wasn¡¯t born to¡­it made me hungry for it. I¡¯d become sated on death, but I needed so much more love if I was to ever be brought to something akin to a balance. Sphinx¡¯s love for me wasn¡¯t enough. Amber¡¯s love for me wasn¡¯t enough. In the dark part of my spirit I knew, Melissa¡¯s love wouldn¡¯t be enough. Yet I would feel the lack of them all if I lost any.

    I kissed away her tears as if it was something I hadn¡¯t caused. Watched Amber from that strange angle as she maintained an egalitarian expression. There was care for Melissa in it. She¡¯d even had care for me within it. Yet wrapping all of that up was an acceptance of what was playing out as if it was a story she¡¯d seen before. I only took pleasure in knowing that Amber didn¡¯t see me as something lesser for it all.

    ¡°Melissa,¡± I asked, ¡°can you give me¡ªthis me¡ªa chance? By the exam¡¯s end if you still don¡¯t love me then yes, I¡¯ll let you go. Just don¡¯t abandon me beforehand.¡±

    She released a shuddering breath. ¡°Okay, but we¡¯re doing this differently and intentionally because you¡¯re someone else.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°So first, no more secrets. If you keep a single one and I discover it, then we¡¯re done.¡±

    ¡°I can agree to that.¡±

    ¡°Second, you have to be nice to Ina.¡±

    I groaned. Melissa frowned and fixed me with her eyes that retained a sort of stalwart defiance.

    ¡°I am not yours alone anymore,¡± she said. ¡°I belonged to my Nadia, not you, and especially not after our engagement was broken. If you love me and want me, then you¡¯re one of my suitors on equal footing as everyone else.¡±

    ¡°So you and Ina?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± she said, ¡°and per our agreement to no more secrets, I¡¯ll tell you if you want to know all the details.¡±

    I pouted. Alls below, I didn¡¯t need the details about her with her, ugh.

    She said, ¡°Don¡¯t pout. Not like I haven¡¯t noticed you have your eye on others. That¡¯s one thing you and my Nadia have in common, you both like to look around.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t done much beyond looking,¡± I said.

    ¡°So what have you done?¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to demonstrate?¡± I asked. My eyes fixed on her lips.

    She pressed against me, but glanced up toward Amber. Then smirked.

    ¡°No, but I do want to see. Show me who it was with.¡±

    I chuckled, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be polite if I summoned Sphinx out here just for a makeout.¡±

    Amber laughed as she rolled her hips into Melissa sliding her up on my thigh. While bringing me closer to her in the space above Melissa¡¯s head.

    ¡°Knew it,¡± she said.

    Melissa tilted my head from below until I locked eyes with Amber. It was like staring into an open furnace as the flames attacked their confines with a primal indignation. Amber was trying to be on her best behavior as our mediator, but couldn¡¯t help but want me. I groaned as Melissa¡¯s thigh ground against me loosing all the feelings I kept inside.

    She said, ¡°No lies, Nadia, show me what you did with Amber.¡±

    ¡°Okay, any chance you have whiskey in that storage-spell?¡± I asked Amber.

    She reached into it and pulled out a glass bottle blown to look like an Old World Japanese temple.

    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t get to have the imported stuff?¡± I asked.

    She winked. ¡°I have to make this stuff last, so I can have it for moments like these.¡±

    Then she tilted the bottle forward trusting I¡¯d catch it with my mouth. I did, and let the deep amber liquor pool into my mouth until it had become an ocean. Drops of it escaped the side of mouth before finding its way to my throat where Amber¡ªstanding on her tiptoes¡ªcaught it with her own kisses.

    When Amber felt I¡¯d had enough, she removed the bottle, dropping it back into storage. Then snaked her fingers through my hair. Grabbed at the root and used it to lead my mouth to hers. We kissed. Not as the explorative promise of more were one of us to cross the line, but an abandonment of any line between us at all. Her tongue snaking about mine to tease and taste me. My teeth nipping at her bottom lip stretching it before letting it snap back so no drops were spilled. We kissed like there was no more whiskey between the earth and the moon. There was only now, this taste, and our desire to have more of it. Amber tried to pull back¡ªshe always wanted to pull back first¡ªso I reached past Melissa to capture her by the lapels of her coat and pulled her forward.

    I growled in victory at keeping her close. Ground my hips forward as if I could do it hard enough that Amber would feel it through Melissa. Amber, to her credit, met my lust with her own as I loosened her reins to know what she felt when wild. It felt like a bucking as she thrust again and again using Melissa as the vector by which she¡¯d rip pleasure through me. Moans that saw me swallow some of the drink.

    ¡°I want some,¡± Melissa said.

    We opened our eyes, and Amber looked like I¡¯d found her about to steal away the last slice of cake. She whimpered¡ªoh she whimpered¡ªbut wouldn¡¯t move without my go ahead. So I took Melissa¡¯s head and tilted it back as she opened wide. Then met Amber¡¯s gaze and winked. Only if I¡¯m around. Then together we pulled apart and let the whiskey that still remained waterfall into the waiting mouth between us.

    It was messy, and I was happy for it. As Amber lifted Melissa up so we could both kiss and lick away the alcohol that hadn''t perfectly landed in her mouth. Whatever this was was good, I thought¡ªand still think. As our mouths found each other in a three-way kiss I realized how much was happening beyond my vision. Amber was a comfort for Melissa in a way I wasn¡¯t¡ªcouldn¡¯t be. While for me she was the hand that kept me from staying in the mud when I fell. In this moment I realized that, maybe this could work, and Melissa could find a way to love me again. Especially if I had Amber to be the catalyst.

    It was a perfect moment, and then the lights changed. Blues and purples banished in favor of an all consuming red that made the club out to be some charnel venue. The ever falling rain becoming fat droplets of some unseen giant¡¯s heartsblood. Which completely killed the mood myself, Amber, and Melissa had finally found.

    It only got worse when a voice that oozed like a slit throat sang, ¡°Do you want it?¡±

    Amber¡¯s head shot up as her eyes dilated in the light. Her head on a swivel in search of the voice¡¯s origin.

    ¡°Do you want it?¡± the voice sang again. This time the crowd of Lodgemembers and secretaries joining in.

    Amber backed away from us. She looked actually scared.

    The voice screamed, ¡°Do you want it!¡±

    ¡°Fuck no,¡± Amber said before retreating.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯ll find out.¡±

    Then I chased after her. Pushing past people in rapt attention awaiting the arrival of whatever made Amber run. As I slid and juked around other party goers I caught up to her. My hand snagging her coat. She slipped free of it.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked.

    The band had started playing. It was the opening notes of a song that my dad was always surprised survived the Changeover. The song was about the world¡¯s end, about being fringe-standing fuck-ups, and the twisting serpent of truth across time. It was as they played that a crimson miasma snaked across the floor and swam through the air before coalescing on stage. Spinning together like twine about a spindle, before blossoming into an open spider lily. Within which stood¡ªclad in a cocktail dress that flowed with the viscosity of blood, and might¡¯ve been made from blood¡ªwas the Lodgemaster Nemesis Khapoor, my enemy and the source of Amber¡¯s abject terror.

 Chapter 32

    Nemesis Khapoor¡ªone of the five who ruined my life¡ªhad through presence alone stolen the breath of everyone in the room. There on that stage she shimmied and swayed through the song¡¯s relatively few verses. Belted with abandon its chorus out to a crowd that sang with her. Returning ten-fold every iota of energy she tossed out as crumbs to the cult of adoration that had revealed its face. She may have only been a regional Lodgemaster, but here in this moment she was a queen, their saint, the idol of which all Lodgemembers sought to emulate.

    It took all my effort to look away. An effort that was rewarded by getting to glimpse the despair and loathing that stewed in Amber¡¯s face. Every muscle tensed in anticipation of Nemesis deciding to strike just then. A possibility that Amber no doubt saw as a surety.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said, squeezing her wrist so she¡¯d look at me and not her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Her eyes drifted downward, hesitant to look away from the monster in our midst.

    ¡°I can¡¯t be here.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°Help me understand.¡±

    ¡°She¡ªwe¡ªfuck.¡± She wrenched her arm free from my hold. ¡°Just trust me, Temple. I¡¯m doing this for you. Always for you.¡±

    I was a summoner, an adult in the eyes of society, but I wasn¡¯t so old as to resist the urge to physically express my displeasure¡ªmy rejection of this. My hand whipped across her face.

    ¡°You don¡¯t get to say that,¡± I said. ¡°I do trust you. I¡¯ve stayed trusting you, but you can¡¯t tell me why you have to run? Why you look so afraid? Trust me, Amber, trust me for once with the weight of you.¡±

    I steadied myself by clinging to her face. My heart was treading water as I sought to rediscover the connection that had been between us only moments before Nemesis killed it. Amber closed her eyes rather than look at me.

    I pleaded, ¡°I can carry it.¡±

    ¡°We have history, her and I.¡± She said, ¡°And my feelings are¡­they¡¯ll give me away.¡±

    ¡°Then be here with me. We had a plan, but maybe we make a new one. We stand together, support each other, and¡ª¡±

    ¡°And what, Temple?¡± she asked. ¡°And what?¡±

    I whispered, ¡°We¡ª¡±

    ¡°Kill her? Temple, that¡¯s impossible. It¡­¡±

    I stopped listening. Why listen to a traitor? A liar. Instead, I shoved her. She looked surprised, and so wasn¡¯t ready when I threw her jacket at her nor when I grabbed an unattended drink from the bar to launch as a projectile. The glass shattered against her upraised arm. Shards falling off into darkness.

    It was a blessing that Nemesis proved so arresting that no one spared a glance at my argument with Amber. Not even to witness the way my hand rose, shaking with an Atomic Glory pointed at her face. She knew how dangerous my spell was, but even at this point blank range her eyes could only flick back to watch Nemesis fucking Khapoor.

    ¡°Run then,¡± I said. ¡°Better I know you won¡¯t stand with me now than when it¡¯ll actually matter.¡±

    Amber said, ¡°There¡¯s no point standing now if it doesn¡¯t matter. That¡¯s just throwing away your life. You can come with me. We could¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I refuse to be a coward even if it¡¯s with you. Everything about what we¡¯ve done was to get me in the room with her. Well here I am and here she is. In the same room.¡±

    I shook the spell from my hand. Despite her abandoning me, there underneath the Suppression of my higher reason and the cloying muck of Indulgence pulling me toward impulse was the line I refused to cross. The oath I¡¯d sworn to her and to Melissa. Even if they betrayed me, I couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t harm them.

    Though even with this commitment, if I¡¯d counted emotional harm then in that moment I¡¯d already proven that the oath was something ephemeral rather than ironclad. The slow nod of acknowledgment Amber gave me¡ªsomething that belonged on the face of a soldier speaking to a superior, rather than one lover to another¡ªwas the only action that could restrain the pain which would otherwise overwhelm her words. Then she left. Disappearing as she always did.

    Abandoned and reeling, I looked towards my home¡ªMelissa¡ªonly to discover Ina had reclaimed her. The two were peeling off toward the club¡¯s exit. Ina no doubt her mind on whatever reward was waiting for her, and Melissa not even sparing a glance in search of me or Amber. She was free, and ultimately unburdened by the weight of purpose that I carried.

    It was a weight that I realized I¡¯d forgotten. Beneath the exam, the party, and the stirring of my heart I had stopped hearing the wailing moan for justice that spoke in the voice of Dad and Mom. I could hear their condemnation of the world for abandoning them. The sorrow and hurt at my betrayal of them. Yet there was a path to forgiveness if I was strong enough to take it. First, I had to find a piece of glass.

    I dropped to my knees, hands roaming the ground, as my eyes adjusted to the bloody shadow beneath the bar. As I turned my head I saw it¡ªa crimson glint¡ªand grasped it. The shard refused to budge. Pinned by something immovable.

    ¡°What¡¯s a cute puppy like you doing on your knees?¡± a voice asked. The same voice that had stopped singing at some point earlier.

    My eyes finished adjusting. The glass was pinned beneath the toebox of Nemesis¡¯s heels. I tilted my head. Tracing a path along her ankle, her leg, across her finely sculpted abs, to her rather modest bust hidden within well developed pectoral muscles. Until I arrived at her bemused handsome expression that she balanced atop a single finger attached to an arm corded in noticeable muscle.

    ¡°Picking up some broken glass,¡± I said. Attempting to remove all malice from the statement.

    She beamed, ¡°How responsible.¡±

    Then lifted her foot allowing me to claim the shard¡ªits point was sharp and its edge malicious. I rose slowly under her gaze until she was forced to look up at me. This close I realized how small she was. Well below me and Secretary, and only a step or so above Melissa.

    We stood there silently for a moment. The shard of glass becoming slick in my palm. I looked away from her to see the rest of the club having returned to its hedonistic business from earlier. Though it was obvious everyone was conspicuously going through the motions in a way that still allowed them to spy on us.

    ¡°You¡¯re making a scene,¡± I said.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°I always do,¡± she chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s rare for one of my dogs to be shy. Normally your sort beam when praised. I mean, it¡¯s not every examinee that I give my attention to.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you tell everyone that.¡±

    ¡°Oh, they wish I did, but I find a hungry hound works so much harder.¡±

    I looked away from her. ¡°I¡¯m not hungry for anything. Just trying to pass.¡±

    ¡°Yet here you are, having achieved so much in such a short time with no backing,¡± she said. ¡°If that¡¯s you without hunger then I can¡¯t wait to see what you¡¯d do when you have it.¡±

    She took a step toward me. Then another. The crowd leaned in without moving from their position. My own heart beat in time to her footsteps. Everything hung on the second by second motions of this woman. The passage of which drove the vengeance¡ªthe Bloodlust¡ªto a mad froth. My thoughts screamed in unison, take one more step! In one more step I could swipe out, Bisect the Sun, and make a slit hose of her throat so I might dance, joyous as a child in her raining blood.

    Nemesis took a half-step. My heart briefly syncopated as my thoughts came skidding to a halt. This wasn¡¯t close enough, but if I really tried then maybe I¡¯d make it? No, it wasn¡¯t worth it, not unless it was guaranteed. Yet what was guaranteed in this life? Those five took a chance to kill a god and their tender, so why couldn¡¯t I take a chance to kill one Lodgemaster?

    ¡°Look at me,¡± she ordered.

    My eyes moved and my head followed in an elegant glide down to her fingers held out for my chin to perch upon. The Bacchanalian Ballast prevented me from realizing how instinctually I¡¯d obeyed. An instinct that should¡¯ve had me do anything else but put my head in her hand. Though the idea of resisting repulsed something in me that I couldn¡¯t pin down.

    ¡°Listen closely,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s annoying when a dog of mine is too humble. Makes people question my taste in hounds. So when I tell you you¡¯re special, I promise I don¡¯t say it lightly. Especially a hound with such pretty eyes, that remind me of mine.¡±

    Before, I¡¯d thought her eyes were a trick of the light. It was so red in here that it¡¯d drowned out every color in the room. At a distance you¡¯d struggle to make out the true hue of anything. However, at this distance¡ªmy head in her hand¡ªI knew that what I was seeing was true. Nemesis¡¯s eyes were red. So red that the lights of the room seemed like a poor attempt at rendering the color whose origin could be found in her gaze.

    Locked like this, I felt myself fall into the black void of her pupil while surrounded by waterfalls of sanguine carmine that fell and fell in a never ending flow from some distant eternal battlefield. If the bloody flows pooled anywhere, I couldn¡¯t tell. There was a bottomlessness that I saw in her which would never be filled and she wasn¡¯t bothered by it in the slightest. In fact, the sense I had was that she was elated. Who the fuck could be happy at that?

    Then her hand fell away from my chin. My wits returned to me, I stumbled backward. There was no moving forward. Not toward that thing in its blood dress which chuckled at my newly discovered fear. Everything about Nemesis¡ªeven her teeth, bright and shark-like¡ªwas all in service of an existence that saw poetry in slaughter.

    She took a step toward me. Then another. Another. Each one increasing an undetectable weight on my spirit and my body. Oh, she was in range but¡ªI dropped the shard of glass. It tinked demurely as it disappeared off into darkness again. My body wanted to crumple. My blood wanted to flow backward. Here before me was a power that ran deeper than the charisma and social clout she¡¯d wielded on stage. It was the source of Amber¡¯s fear. The originator of my own. Standing in front of Nemesis Khapoor I had a better idea of what could kill a god; right now, so close to me that she tranced a cartoon heart against my chest, I felt like one tilt of her head could crumple my spirit that¡ªcompared to the cosmic density of hers¡ªwas but paper.

    ¡°You should drink more, Nadia,¡± she said, ¡°you were so close to making a very interesting decision. Everyone else here is too boring and respectful. Though a word of advice¡­¡±

    She pointed down with her finger and I felt as if my legs were severed below the knee. So quick had I fallen. She loomed above me. The physical difference in our heights now in proper alignment to our ranks within the Chain. Then she whispered into my ear.

    ¡°We can be more creative than using a shard of glass. We¡¯re summoners after all.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± I said.

    ¡°Good. Maybe I don¡¯t either,¡± she said.

    Whatever force she¡¯d exerted on me¡ªit was something stranger than a field-spell¡ªwas retracted back into herself. With a blink her eyes were no longer the origin of all red, but some unknown color masked by the chroma rich lighting of the club. In a moment she¡¯d re-assumed her mask of being a person rather than a monster. She turned away from me¡ªI was no longer worth her time¡ªand took in the party. I had the sense she was searching for someone. Though not too hard, as she soon shrugged.

    ¡°Guess I was feeling nostalgic,¡± she muttered.

    When she walked away, I didn¡¯t get up. When her voice was a whisper in the distance, I didn¡¯t get up. I only rose when the lights shifted from red back to blues and purples¡ªthe sign that she¡¯d left the building. As I pulled myself up, my body proved a bit too sluggish and weak for the rather minor action when it was also expected to balance atop the thin heels I wore. All of which combined to send me tumbling backward to the floor and away from the bartop that¡¯d been the raft I¡¯d intended to cling to in the aftermath of Nemesis¡¯s visit.

    I fell in tottering steps backwards until only the edge of my heel caught the floor, slipped, and deposited me into the air. I¡¯d expected to feel the unyielding ground crack against my skull. Instead, the small of my back landed into a hand. Wide, firm, and strong as it halted my momentum leaving me in a dip most dramatic. A face drifted into view¡ªhandsome and square with a scar some girls would call roguish as it cut through lips curled into a smirk. Eyes half-lidded made an examination of me, my body, and rose back to my face.

    ¡°Drop me or stand me back up,¡± I said. ¡°Either way, let me go.¡±

    ¡°Why would I let you go when I just found you, Orchard?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Piggy?¡±

    He tossed me into the air, corkscrewing up and then down to land in a bridal carry within his arms. From my new vantage, I could better appreciate the light playing across Piggy¡¯s face and dying his mane of hair that looked unwilling to be tamed. As well as sinking into the small crystal tusk earrings that swayed with every tilt of his head. There was a humor that sparkled in his eyes and reminded me of the irreverence that he carried the night we¡¯d met.

    ¡°Unless you have a different butch who calls you Orchard,¡± he said. ¡°Though I think I¡¯d prefer to tell you my actual name.¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°What makes you think I want to know it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d bring us closer,¡± he said.

    A growl erupted from within my chest as I flashed my fangs at him and the idea of becoming closer to anything. I had enough attachments that¡¯d abandon me when I needed them, and attempt to seduce me from the purpose the dead crooned from within me. The offer of more of that was a poison pill I wanted no more of. Piggy flashed his own fangs in a grin.

    ¡°What¡¯s your angle?¡± I asked.

    He shrugged, his earrings dancing, ¡°To not be strangers anymore?¡±

    ¡°Sure, and then what? We become friends, allies in the exam, and over time we start to grow attached to one another. Only to realize our bond is something so much deeper than we gave it credit. Then, unable to deny it any longer, we admit our love to each other and have sex.¡±

    Piggy said, ¡°If that¡¯s the way you see it going then I¡¯m willing to follow.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s skip to the end and get to the bit where you fuck me,¡± I said.

    He rapidly blinked as my statement sunk in. Then furrowed his brow.

    ¡°Is this a test?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Only yes or no,¡± I said. ¡°Which is it?¡±

    He nodded and smiled that same lazy lopsided grin. ¡°Yes, if that¡¯s how it¡¯ll go. I never was that patient. We can head back to my place, and¡ª¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll do it in the bathroom,¡± I said.

    I didn¡¯t want to know his actual name, or see how he kept his room. Anything that would¡¯ve made him into more of a person¡ªanother vector to compromise my commitment¡ªwas to be steered away from. If it took giving him some meaningless sex to have him leave me alone then so be it. Those were my terms. They were unyielding, and I could tell Piggy wanted to argue. Push and prod to see where they were weak. Unfortunately, his ¡®Orchard,¡¯ wasn¡¯t weak and he¡¯d get nothing from me.

 Chapter 33

    It was to the dull thud of a glass meeting a table that I¡¯d woken up. The world was upside down as I watched dancers slide and grind atop the ceiling. I lifted my head up¡ªrighting the world¡ªto find in front of me a tall glass of something clear and devoid of bubbles. Then my eyes rose in search of its source to find in front of me on the opposite side of the club¡¯s circular cubbies was Piggy. One of his arms thrown over the back of the seat as he watched the dancers below.

    ¡°What is this?¡± I asked.

    He turned to me, smiled, and gestured at the glass. ¡°I think we call it water, Orchard. Figured you could use some in case you were dehydrated.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°A good sentiment, but I¡¯m pretty sure I told you to leave me alone after we were done.¡±

    Piggy¡¯s head bobbed like a buoy in moderate agreement. ¡°You did, but¡­¡±

    ¡°But what?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t feel right leaving you in all that mess. So I¡ª¡±

    I cut him off, ¡°Ignored my clear request to instead clean me up and drag me to one of these fuck cubbies. You were good Piggy, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m up for a second round.¡±

    A blush dyed his pale face at the compliment and intimation of lascivious intent.

    ¡°No! No,¡± he said, ¡°I just needed a place to put you and it was easier to bring you here than try to balance you on a barstool.¡±

    I watched him squirm to explain himself. It wasn¡¯t like I thought he actually had nefarious intentions, but there was a pleasure I felt at seeing him so otherwise calm and collected be on the back foot for once. To be honest, Piggy rebuked and backed away from my points in the fashion of a good person that couldn¡¯t imagine themselves doing anything selfish. My eyes lowered to the water¡ªmy throat was dry¡ªthen rose back to Piggy. Holding his gaze beneath my attention as I slid my hand slowly to grasp the glass. Raised it to my lips and tilted it back. Throwing aside any sense of ¡®cuteness¡¯ as I gulped it down in three big drags.

    ¡°Unless you secretly drugged this,¡± I said, ¡°then it seems you really are a good person, Piggy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he said. ¡°As a Lodge examinee, I question if any of us are actually ¡®good¡¯ or what that ultimately means.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, take the compliment,¡± I said.

    He nodded in agreement, but the hand that laid atop the table was drumming a quiet nervous beat. His eyes had turned back to the dancers yet flicked to me at moments.

    ¡°Just ask,¡± I said.

    ¡°Are you going to be okay?¡± he asked.

    I rolled my shoulders letting myself lean forward against the table. Flashed a fangy smile.

    ¡°I feel great,¡± I said, and for the first time it wasn¡¯t a lie. The feelings that had wiggled throughout my mind since my parents¡¯ death were silent. That curse of caring, shame, and guilt was gone. Even when I rolled my shoulders I didn¡¯t feel the tension or weight of my purpose. I felt alive. Though, in some part of myself, I knew that what had been removed from me was the final ghost of the Nadia that Melissa loved.

    My smile died as I comprehended the depths of what I¡¯d done¡ªfinalizing the murder of the girl who lived in this body and wore this face before me. Her demise didn¡¯t make me feel happy as much as I felt the dread of what would come to pass when my people realized she was gone. In fact I felt a scowl form when I realized that there might not be anyone who¡¯d feel joy at the ¡®house cleaning¡¯ I¡¯d done of my ego.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Piggy asked.

    I said, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    The caring bastard leveled those patient eyes at me. He actually looked like he cared. In truth, he might have been the only person to care for this Nadia without reservation. He¡¯d met me at one of the steps in my growth, and, despite first meeting me drenched in blood howling in pleasure, had considered me someone worth growing closer to.

    ¡°Orchard, you destroyed the entire mirror in the bathroom. That¡¯s not normal.¡±

    ¡°Neither is the way you fucked me.¡± I said, ¡°So let¡¯s call it even and just say you gave me one hell of an orgasm. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not the first time you¡¯ve destroyed a room with a girl.¡±

    Piggy was silent, but the crimson embarrassment on his face was loud enough for him.

    ¡°Was I your first?¡± I asked.

    He coughed. ¡°Um, not completely. Just to that extent.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but lick my lips at how delicious this was. His embarrassment, the fact that I was his first, and that despite all my prickliness he sat with me until I¡¯d woken up and drank that glass of water. It tasted different than the success of taking a life. The feelings weren¡¯t salty in their bittersweetness like Melissa¡¯s tears of her own divisive feeling about me. There wasn¡¯t the hungry heat of Amber who would¡¯ve devoured me¡ªand I her¡ªin some ouroboran loop. Nor the subtle hints that lurked behind every word and step of my dance with Secretary. At best this tasted like Sphinx¡¯s feelings for me albeit with more trepidation. Love, perhaps if nurtured, the stuttery blushing steps of love was what this was.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said, smirking. ¡°What happens next?¡±

    Piggy answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Besides waiting to make sure you¡¯d be okay, I had an invitation to an afterparty a circle is throwing.¡±

    ¡°A circle?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re one of the sub-groups within the Lodge. Some of them are more like informal interest clubs like the Lodge choir, and others are like the four major research orgs¡ªbig enough to be basically their own thing but formally connected to the Lodge¡¯s larger structure and benefits.¡±

    ¡°Which one is this circle?¡±

    He said, ¡°It¡¯s more informal with the goal of eventually being formal.¡±

    I stretched my arms out like a cat with a low groan. Then slid from the cubby only to turn back when I noticed Piggy hadn¡¯t gotten up yet.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯re coming with?¡± he asked.

    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t like turning down invitations¡ªor at least I think I don¡¯t¡ªthough I suppose it matters if you were inviting me. You were inviting me, right?¡±

    ¡°What happened to having me ¡®fuck off¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m often of two minds about things. You¡¯ll have to be adaptable if you¡¯re going to keep up.¡±

    He shook his head in slight disbelief, but the smile he wore washed away any notion of displeasure. Rather, when he looked at me, I could tell that he could only imagine the fun we¡¯d have¡ªthinking back, I wish we could¡¯ve had more than we got. Piggy slipped from the cubby and followed after me, the big lug, and we slipped out from the venue into the slightly chilly streets of a summer night in Brightgate.

    We¡¯d fallen into the kind of polite quiet of two people who¡¯d skipped past the normal progression of talking, getting to know each other, and opening up before sex. We were doing this all backwards, but there was still something of a peace between us that prevented it from being more awkward than it was.

    ¡°So,¡± I started, ¡°don¡¯t you think you might need a jacket or do you just like showing off what you have up top?¡±

    Piggy chuckled in that low chest-heavy way of his. ¡°It¡¯s not that cold,¡± he said. ¡°Compared to back home this is still pretty warm. What about yourself?¡±

    ¡°The outfit, I imagine. Lets the air in so it¡¯s breathable and I¡¯m not too sweaty, but doesn¡¯t let me get cold. Which, probably for the best. I mean, imagine if I had to walk through this night crotch out to the cold summer wind.¡±

    I stopped and spread my legs so I could better examine the seamless repair on my skinsuit¡¯s crotch area. Not a single hint that a half-hour ago it¡¯d been torn apart by someone¡¯s teeth. I glanced up and saw Piggy blushing again then realized I was all but showing off my crotch to him. Which caused me to blush in turn and quickly close my legs and get back to walking.

    The silence fell between us again though this time more awkward courtesy of myself. I quickly realized how little I¡¯d actually navigated the infinite mundanities of being a person. That other Nadia had memories and practice and knew the right feelings to have, generally, and I used those. Me, this me, had been in charge when we¡ªI?¡ªneeded to kill a lot of people. A task that had very little overlap with polite conversation involving someone who maybe had a crush on you.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re a Baron,¡± I said. ¡°What was your graduation trial like?¡±

    Piggy rubbed the back of his head. ¡°You refused to learn my name, but now you¡¯re asking about my trial? That¡¯s pretty personal, Orchard.¡±

    ¡°With how much you came inside of me, I think I¡¯m allowed some personal questions at this point,¡± I said, then got slightly distracted by that fact. ¡°Oh, I should probably go see a doctor about that shouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    Piggy froze mid-step then quickly pivoted to face me. ¡°Please, let me scribe the tokens for you to cover things. It¡¯s my fault and I should¡¯ve¡ª¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s fine. We had a good time, and besides I¡¯m sure the medical community wouldn¡¯t mind any data that¡¯d come from getting me checked out to make sure nothing took.¡±

    He raised a brow. ¡°You let them have your information?¡±

    ¡°Why not,¡± I said, ¡°it beats writing out the tokens for covering my treatment. After the first test things were pretty touch and go for me. Apparently, they needed like three Viscounts just to keep me going.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± he said, ¡°that¡¯d for sure be a lot of tokens. Didn¡¯t realize you were so high maintenance.¡±

    He chuckled as he continued on and I chased after him.

    ¡°I¡¯m a delicate instrument,¡± I said. ¡°They should be honored to get a chance to see what I have going on.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they were,¡± he said, ¡°and I am too. I mean, from the noises you made, you really are a ¡®delicate instrument.¡¯¡±

    My elbow collided into his side¡ªPiggy was solid as a wall¡ªand he entertained my blow by groaning dramatically before popping back up. I giggled, and then stilled at the novelty of the action. The first and only time I¡¯d ¡®giggled¡¯ at something not violence related. Piggy grinned with all the smugness he felt was well-deserved from excavating such feelings from me.

    ¡°For that sound, I¡¯ll tell you.¡± He said, ¡°I had to confront what I wanted from my Court.¡±

    I nodded in the lack of my understanding. Allowed the quiet of the night to take its place between us. The streets were relatively empty with the party and afterparties corralling the Lodge¡¯s members, examinees, and even those who¡¯d already failed but wanted to enjoy the sendoff. It made the night feel like it belonged to Piggy and myself.

    ¡°Is that what the trial¡¯s about?¡± I asked.

    Piggy wobbled his hand in the air. ¡°Every Court¡¯s exact trial is different¡ª¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°But there are themes that connect them. My grandpa put it like this, ¡®the journey up the Chain is a bit like a physical one. As a soldier, you¡¯re all about expectation and preconceived ideas about the Court and your time with it. You get what you think you deserve or expect.¡±

    That was a lot like what Sphinx had said. I¡¯d wanted a gatekeeper, expected one perhaps, and so I got her. A smile formed as I thought about her curled up within my spirit¡ªthe other of a small number who loved me, this me.

    ¡°And Barons,¡± I prodded.

    ¡°Barons,¡± Piggy said, ¡°are the part of the journey where you¡¯re starting to reflect on your experience so far and consider your direction. What¡¯s been your defining relationship with your Court in your life? Do you want to keep going in that direction? However a Court does it, that¡¯s the general vibe of the trial. Then at Viscount you do it again, but this time it¡¯s a bit of a broader question about the relationship between your Court and others. Still rather subjective, but those are the big beats really.¡±

    ¡°What happens after?¡± I asked.

    Piggy shrugged and tilted his head up toward the yawning dark of the night and moon glittering with its palaces. It made me a bit wistful on behalf of Ferilala Nu-zo, stuck as she was in her room unable to experience the moon beyond memory and conjuration.

    ¡°Grandpa didn¡¯t tell me,¡± he said. ¡°He only told me about Viscount after I hit Baron. Doesn¡¯t want me to get ahead of myself. I don¡¯t think he wants me to get ahead at all if it¡¯d mean getting away from him.¡±

    ¡°Your grandpa can get bent,¡± I said. ¡°Once we pass the exam we¡¯ll have nearly full access to all the Lodge¡¯s information. No drip-feeding necessary.¡±

    Piggy wrapped an arm around me pulling me in close. I squeaked in surprise.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hurt you did I?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m way more durable than that,¡± I said. ¡°Just, caught me off guard. It¡¯s fine though.¡±

    To accentuate my point I lean into him. Piggy slowly settled his arm back around my shoulder. We walked like that the both of us neither looking at the other¡¯s face to see the secret smile we held for how this simple touch made us feel warmer than the night air.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Are you planning on taking the trial soon?¡± Piggy asked.

    ¡°What happened to that being a personal question?¡± I asked back.

    He waved it away. ¡°I think a wise woman said something about sex and it meaning we could ask each other something personal.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, she does sound pretty wise,¡± I said, smirking. ¡°I¡¯m not planning on taking the trial soon. Maybe after the exam. I want to be able to pass with Sphinx before she changes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± he said. ¡°The longer her ego can develop the less personality drift when she graduates gaining whatever personality belongs to her upChain form¡¯s gestalt ego.¡±

    ¡°Another piece of grandpa¡¯s advice?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Nah, got that from a grimoire I read when I was younger that got me into this life.¡±

    I joked, ¡°Why ask if I¡¯m going to take the trial, scoping out if you¡¯ll be able to take me?¡±

    ¡°Oh, hardly, a wild girl like you who can fight up a link is too unpredictable,¡± he said.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said. ¡°Most people would say the person who has the link advantage would always win.¡±

    Piggy scoffed, ¡°If both people are idiots maybe. Fights between summoners should never be a fair fight in the first place. I learned that by hand and my grandpa hammered it in even further. Would say that with the right planning you could beat anyone.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you could beat me?¡± I asked.

    Piggy grew quiet. Thought for a moment. Then with absolute seriousness said, ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I could. You¡¯re craftier than me. Than I¡¯m willing to be, beyond what¡¯s necessary of course.¡±

    ¡°You say that like you have a limit,¡± I said.

    Piggy sighed, ¡°Maybe I do. There¡¯s an honesty I crave that isn¡¯t really possible in this life. Better to just face someone head on and see how it all plays out.¡±

    ¡°Even if you lose?¡± I asked.

    He winked, ¡°If I did¡ªespecially to someone like you¡ªI think it''d be a good way to go out.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t any hesitation as he said it. No quiver of the lip, his eyes stayed trained on me with a solid determination, and his smile didn¡¯t falter. Piggy was tired of something, but when he spoke about his own end he¡¯d found a beauty in it.

    ¡°I really lucked out meeting you,¡± I said.

    Piggy asked, ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re good and gallant. A very, ¡®I¡¯ll go down with the ship,¡¯ kind of person,¡± I said.

    I didn¡¯t tell him that on some level I don¡¯t think I deserved him. A butch like him was a gift better shared with the world than held in my clutches. Though I wasn¡¯t going to let go of him now. Piggy was mine and I didn¡¯t want to share this gallant maybe-lover of mine with anyone.

    ¡°This is the place,¡± Piggy said.

    We¡¯d arrived at what looked like a small pub. Two big curtains hung in front of the entrance, but did nothing to stop the fragrant smell of charcoal and grilling meat from wafting out into the street. Piggy, the gallant woman he was, parted the curtain directing me inside first. I paid him in a nod as I entered with him not too far behind me.

    The interior of the pub was filled with about six tables that could fit six people each. At the center of the tables was a metal mesh for the express purpose of grilling meat, vegetables, and the other curious items that I saw waiters rush about the pub delivering in large wicker baskets placed at the table¡¯s end. While other waitstaff changed out empty pitchers of beer and water with filled ones.

    ¡°Yooo!¡± the waiters yelled in unison when they heard Piggy and I enter. In fact, you could hear the distant, ¡°yo,¡± of the chefs in the back of the house preparing items to be brought out. The patrons brought up a refrain of the pub¡¯s greeting when they noticed it was Piggy who¡¯d arrived.

    ¡°I saved you a seat,¡± a woman said.

    She had shot up from her seat quick to flag Piggy down. Her outfit was simple, a capelet over a jacket atop a skirt and stockings leading into dark-black boots. While her hair was shaved down at the sides beneath the asymmetrical bob of shockingly white hair. All in all, she was cute, but looked less cute when she noticed Piggy had brought a plus-one to the event.

    Piggy led us over to the table she¡¯d stood at, but stopped once he noticed there was only one seat still open¡ªsaved and guarded fiercely by her, no doubt. He mulled it over to himself for a few moments before clapping a hand on her shoulder in apology.

    ¡°Sorry Apogee,¡± he said, ¡°but it¡¯d be rude of me if I just left Orchard by herself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure she can handle it,¡± Apogee said.

    I have no idea how I ended up being Piggy¡¯s first when this woman seemed desperate just to have him near her. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t born to mercy, so I gently pouted and shifted where I stood my gaze sliding down to the floor.

    ¡°Oh, Piggy, it¡¯s okay I just invited myself. I¡¯m sure you have other people here you¡¯d love to spend time with.¡±

    ¡°Orchard, I see a lot of these guys constantly, it¡¯ll be okay if I¡¯m not with them for one night,¡± he said. ¡°Apogee, this is on me for not messaging ahead. I¡¯d gotten into some stuff and lost track of things.¡±

    I did my best not to laugh at the way Apogee¡¯s fantasy of the night had fallen apart. Piggy turned around in search of some other spot in the pub. As he walked off I couldn¡¯t resist twisting the knife just a little bit, so I sidled up to Apogee and gave her a nudge.

    ¡°Want to know a secret about what happened with him?¡± I asked.

    She gnawed on her lip, briefly at war with even talking to me and her own fixation on Piggy, before it all gave one as she nodded.

    ¡°What?¡± she asked.

    I leaned in and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m stuff.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± she asked, her voice soft and fragile. She stared into my face hoping to find comedy, but if there was any it was saved for myself as I saw her dawning realization of my answer.

    ¡°Orchard, there¡¯s two spots over here,¡± Piggy called from the other side of the pub.

    I yelled back, ¡°Great, I¡¯m feeling Voracious right now.¡±

    ¡°Apogee, you should eat more meat. You¡¯re looking so pale,¡± I said, before leaving her.

    When I settled next to Piggy, he handed me a menu. Though when I grabbed it he didn¡¯t immediately let go instead using it as leverage to lean in toward me.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to tease her,¡± he said.

    I grinned, ¡°It was only possible because you keep giving her hope to hang herself with.¡±

    ¡°Apogee has expectations of things,¡± he said. ¡°She¡¯s been with me since Grandpa took me in for teaching.¡±

    ¡°Childhood crush kind of thing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°More like a childish fantasy,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m my grandpa¡¯s successor¡ªif he¡¯d ever step down, which is doubtful. So she¡ª¡±

    ¡°Thinks it¡¯ll be you and her, the happy couple, taking up his research or something?¡±

    ¡°Or something,¡± Piggy said. ¡°It¡¯d be different if she liked me for me.¡±

    I snatched the menu from his hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy it¡¯s not different then,¡± I said.

    He rested his head in his hand smiling. ¡°So me waiting around with the glass of water wasn¡¯t that bad of an idea after all?¡±

    ¡°It was okay,¡± I said. ¡°Now, what are we getting?¡±

    I leaned against him as he helped me pick. The place¡¯s owner was bonded to Cultivation apparently, and had enjoyed growing a number of interesting new trees. It was only when he¡¯d met his husband¡ªa food-goods merchant bonded to Collection¡ªthat they decided to open up this place. Those special trees became the cornerstone of the restaurant as each one became one of their signature charcoals whose smoke gave unique flavors to the food items the husband had traded for in his travels. It was a sweet story even if I imagined the true ups and downs of the narrative would otherwise struggle to be contained within the simple paragraph that filled out the back of the menu.

    Piggy, who¡¯d been here before, I quickly gathered, selected a number of unique charcoals and rather fatty cuts of beef as well as simple skewers of chicken heart and alligator strips. I let him handle things, enjoying the performance of his hands and tongs at work making sure each piece of meat was properly scored from the grill and suffused in smoky deliciousness. After which he gave me the first of anything finished though not without stealing a bite first.

    ¡°I take it back,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re hardly the gallant gentlebutch I thought you were.¡±

    ¡°I promise I am,¡± he said, ¡°but consider it my final taste before I deem it good enough for you.¡±

    We chuckled at our performance to one another. The pub¡ªand Apogee, who I imagined was stewing at our display of flirtatious affection¡ªhad fallen away. There was just the two of us shoulder to shoulder getting drenched in the flavorful smoke. Some of it was citrussy, others slightly bitter like chocolate, and the one that was my favorite was so spicy it had made Piggy¡¯s nose run. A reaction that led to Piggy revealing that he wasn¡¯t that good with spice. As the night ticked on and the skewers stacked on our plate, it proved time for the main event behind the afterparty to be revealed.

    Apogee rose from her table and crossed to the middle of her side of the room. Clapped her hands once casting all sound down below her voice as if it was underwater. All eyes, mine included, turned toward her in explanation.

    ¡°Apologies for the spell, but the night¡¯s winding on and I¡¯d rather get this out of the way so we can return to celebrating all of you who passed the first test,¡± she explained. ¡°Tomorrow they¡¯ll officially announce the test, but for all of you lucky chosen you¡¯ll get to learn it ahead of time. The test will be on Execution and Capture.¡±

    Even if it wasn¡¯t for Apogee¡¯s spell, the chatter would¡¯ve still died to nothing right then. No one was a stranger to knowing that the Lodge frequently went after dangerous summoners too powerful to be held accountable by any individual community. Capturing them when possible, but otherwise simply removing them from the table entirely.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be given official targets for the test with the option to either execute them or capture them. With more points bestowed for extra examinees you take care of,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s that last bit which is where you all come in. Across the district, circles are giving the same deal to all you examinees: go after a few special targets of ours and in return you¡¯ll be given guaranteed admission to our circle and all the benefits that entails.¡±

    She pulled out her sorc-deck, made a few swipes, and immediately every deck in the room belonging to an examinee let out the unique alarm of a notification¡ªincluding Piggy¡¯s.

    ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± someone asked.

    Apogee said, ¡°When you accepted the invitation it added your address to our internal records.¡±

    As one body, everyone exhaled fitful sighs post Apogee¡¯s explanation. The thought that her, and by extension the circle she spoke for, could hack everyone¡¯s sorc-deck had seen them briefly abnegate reason and embrace terror. From there everyone turned their eyes to their decks as Apogee continued. Piggy held his between the two of us so I could see the list.

    ¡°As you¡¯ll see,¡± Apogee said, ¡°the list is filled with the names and faces of notable examinees connected to a number of influential collectives, families, and noteworthy industries. None of them are necessarily bad people, but this circle of ours sees the risk inherent in them entering the Lodge and becoming beholden to Lodgemaster Khapoor.¡±

    She continued, ¡°The Lodge was founded on the principles of curbing power becoming too centralized and hoarded. A bulwark against individual summoners being able to run rampant. Now, whether you see the Lodgemaster as a villain or not, it is our belief that we¡¯d be best off preventing that possibility from occurring. So please, familiarize yourself with the list and happy hunting tomorrow. Hopefully, I¡¯ll be seeing all of you at the next gathering of the circle.¡±

    Apogee sat back down and withdrew her spell. Sound returned to clarity as chatter rose between examinees comparing entries on the list. Piggy returned his attention back to cooking, giving me his sorc-deck so I could swipe through. It was a pretty bland list all things considered. Plenty of divas and prodigies¡ªa fact that made me wish Ina had passed so I¡¯d have an excuse to jump her again¡ªas well as the children of famous researchers and traders that made Brightgate their home if not a notable stop in their work.

    I wasn¡¯t that convinced of the pitch, to be honest, but I hated Nemesis in every fiber of my spirit. She was something that should¡¯ve never gained access to the power of a Lodgemaster. So anything that disrupted her potential plans was good enough for me¡­until I scrolled far enough to see Melissa¡¯s name on the list.

    My smile fell and all thoughts of putting the screws to Nemesis¡¯ potential desires were put aside. Why was she on the list? The Knitcrofts weren¡¯t that big of a name¡ªat least I didn¡¯t think they were. Sure, they traded raw goods North and South as well as more finished fabrics, but the family was kind. A cornerstone of the town without being domineering. The whole affair was really a co-op of multiple founding families that was perfectly fine giving true access to anyone that decided to join and help build it up. They made sure everyone had clothes to wear whether it involved just providing the materials, or sitting down with someone like my Mom so someone like me could have the perfect garment to enjoy a festival.

    I shot up and blurted my question, ¡°Do we have to kill them?¡±

    Everyone looked from me back to Apogee¡ªI was the first who¡¯d asked the question in so blunt of terms. She smiled without allowing light into her eyes as she half-stood from her table.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°This test usually has some means by which it manages the lethality of summoners fighting one another. If you think you¡¯re that good, you can even capture them. All we need is for the people on that list to fail. However, after last test, I¡¯m sure we¡¯re all aware that sometimes accidents happen and some summoners are more stubborn than others.¡±

    Piggy looked up at me in concern whispering, ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    I didn¡¯t hear him. Instead, I committed to memory every face in the room. Whatever the contents of their hearts, they were all potential killers who I refused to let get near Melissa. Before Apogee could sit back down, I asked another question.

    ¡°Is this the entire circle?¡±

    Apogee rose again¡ªI was straining her patience, but I didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°you all are going to be working in more discrete cells for this one. A bit of a consequence of this venue not having space for the entire circle. Why do you ask?¡±

    Eyes flicked back to me. Hungry to discern the meaning behind my question. I could smell the echo of tomorrow¡¯s Bloodlust filter into the room¡ªthough maybe it was just the smell of blood searing on the grill and merging with all the smoke that lingered in the air alongside the impatience of my own answer. In the face of that room, I dug into my mind for some excuse or clever way out, but I¡ªthis Nadia¡ªwas hardly that socially adept. I was a killer and it was to that realization, somehow forgotten amidst the flirting and the food of the night, that I found the mental weight of my mask lingering in the dark part of my mind. In facing all of those would-be killers, I let myself assume the persona of a hungry dog and flashed my bright fangs to them all.

    ¡°Oh, you know,¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to get in trouble for killing the wrong people just because they¡¯re not in the room with us right now.¡±

    Apogee furrowed her brow while her top lip rose in disgust at my blatant bloodthirst.

    ¡°Ugh, no one within the circle will hold it against you, but¡ª¡±

    I cut her off, ¡°Accidents happen. Though I know we¡¯ll all do our best to minimize them.¡±

    Someone at a table yelled out, ¡°Ah, sit down, stop acting higher than your link.¡±

    He was drunk and I was grateful for it as his outburst cut through the tension. Dressed up my questions and statement as a soldier¡¯s bravado. The room turned back to their meal, but Apogee kept her eyes on me, not ready to dismiss me as a potential concern. I kept mine on her long enough to memorize her face and the angle of her horrible bob. If necessary¡ªas I didn¡¯t want to make Piggy¡¯s list of friends shorter than it had to be¡ªI accepted that if I took her head it¡¯d be best if I could bring her haircut to something with more symmetry.

    I leaned down to Piggy, whispered in his ear, ¡°I think it¡¯s time I went home.¡±

    It caught him off-guard¡ªhe¡¯d just ordered more skewers for us¡ªbut my hunger for something material like meat was more than sated. Instead, I had begun the process of making room for more lives I¡¯d need to take, and that was never easy when you were sitting at the same table as those who¡¯d have to die.

    When I pushed past the curtain to the street outside, I wasn¡¯t surprised when Piggy had rushed out after me. His legs being longer than mine it didn¡¯t take him long to catch up to me. He caught my wrist, preventing me from continuing on my way.

    ¡°Orchard, what¡¯s wrong?¡± he asked. ¡°Was it someone on the list?¡±

    I turned back to regard him, my eyes peeking up at his concerned expression. He was my gallant Piggy for sure, but I¡¯d forgotten that while he¡¯d met me drenched in blood I¡¯d met him wearing a mask of his own. He was a killer as much as anyone in that room. As much as me.

    ¡°And if it was?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Then, we ask them to drop out of this year¡¯s exam.¡±

    I considered my agreement with Melissa¡ªshe¡¯d give us a chance at seeing if she could love me, but only to the end of the exam. Her dropping out now was a non-starter. Let alone for the fact that she had plans for what to do with her membership were she to pass. I couldn¡¯t make her drop out and I doubt she would.

    ¡°Not possible,¡± I said.

    He offered, ¡°Then I talk with the circle. We¡¯ll have their entry removed.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s just wishful thinking,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve already put the word out across however many cells. The odds that everyone will check a second memo that contradicts tonight¡¯s information is low. Just takes one person with a bad memory.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said. His voice was quiet enough that the breeze could¡¯ve silenced it.

    ¡°You did nothing wrong,¡± I said. ¡°Not like you knew the girl of your dreams had a friend on your hit list. Besides, something tells me this whole plan isn¡¯t your style. Grandpa?¡±

    Piggy nodded sullenly. He was so large, but when despondent looked like such a child.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s him I blame,¡± I said. ¡°If you want, after the exam, I¡¯ll help you kill him.¡±

    A wry smile crossed his face. ¡°I¡¯d prefer you say that you¡¯d let me take you on a date after all this. The circle isn¡¯t worth losing the¡­girl of my dreams. Not even a bit.¡±

    I pressed close to him, and rose onto my tiptoes so our faces were closer than they¡¯d ever been.

    ¡°I don¡¯t go on dates with pigs. Fuck, yes, but no dates. So tell me, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    Piggy whispered his name into my mouth as we pressed in for our first and last kiss.

    ¡°Sinaya,¡± he answered.

    After the kiss¡ªbrief and rather chaste for someone who¡¯d been deep in my guts that very night¡ªwe parted ways, and with every step my thoughts turned tomorrow, to protecting Melissa, and to hoping I wouldn¡¯t see Sinaya again until the exam¡¯s end so we could have that date free from the shadows of our respective burdens.

 Chapter 34

    The night, which had felt perfectly crafted for Sinaya and myself, had become intolerable. It was still quiet, the streets were devoid of others, and the moon glittered in its lofty place in the sky all the same. Nothing had changed. Everything had changed. I couldn¡¯t place what.

    ¡°You¡¯re lonely,¡± Sphinx said.

    I dropped my gaze down to where she¡¯d fallen into step beside me having smoothly exited my spirit. Her face flush and gait wobbly like a table with a leg just a hair¡¯s breadth too short. I let my hand¡ªwhich before I¡¯d been rubbing with the other, perhaps to combat the ¡®loneliness¡¯ Sphinx had called attention to¡ªdrift to a familiar place atop her head. Fingers dipping into the black flow of her hair to scratch her scalp.

    ¡°Why would I be lonely?¡± I asked. ¡°I have you.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, drawing out the sibilant. ¡°Though the bite of absence is all the harsher when the memory of presence is fresh.¡±

    ¡°Gross,¡± I said.

    ¡°Existence, in its fullness, often is. You¡¯ll not find the clarity of a glaive¡¯s edge when your heart¡¯s drumming is introduced to the pace of others as opposed to the tyranny of adrenaline that you¡¯re more acquainted with.¡±

    We arrived at a square where a fountain stood in stony silence. In the daytime, water passed from its successive bowls in lazy waterfalls, but by night each bowl was a world in isolation. I sat on the fountain¡¯s edge¡ªthe lowest and largest bowl¡ªand offered a smile to Sphinx. Who returned my expression with a tilt of her head.

    ¡°Hmm, you really are a fast learner, Nadia,¡± she said. ¡°To taste a new feeling¡ªthis time untainted¡ªand incorporate it so adeptly. This speed will do you well if hiding is your aim.¡±

    My smile dimmed at her phrasing. I wasn¡¯t trying to ¡®hide¡¯ anything. The framing that I was made it seem as if I knew this was wrong or something when it wasn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t wrong. I was free from that dreadful specter of feeling which tore me in two¡­but again there lurked the anxiety that it¡¯d be only myself who saw it that way.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°What for?¡± Sphinx asked.

    ¡°For trying to mask the fact that I¡¯m not the summoner you fell in love with anymore,¡± I said. ¡°That divided Nadia is gone. It just wasn¡¯t tenable even if it was more desirable to everyone.¡±

    Sphinx snuffed the distance between us. Climbed atop the wide lip of the fountain and laid her head in my lap. She rolled over to catch my downcast gaze with her knowing smile.

    ¡°Are you happy?¡± she asked.

    I nodded, wordless.

    ¡°Then that is the end of the matter.¡± She said, ¡°My love for you is not contingent upon one presentation of your nature. While I see them as glittering facets they are just that. Facets upon the gem that is my summoner.¡±

    She wrapped her paws around my neck and used them to pull our faces close into a kiss. It was light, a greeting for the new me¡ªthe free me. There was no worry or shame that marred the taste of Sphinx¡¯s love. When we parted her face was firm and eyes steady.

    ¡°You need not mask yourself to me, Nadia,¡± she said, ¡°nor to anyone else. Especially when your eyes are no longer clouded by inherited shadows, and your smile is so bright. My words weren¡¯t meant to wound you. Rather, I only sought to compliment because I presumed to understand your intention when you met me as you did. A consequence of the night¡¯s drinking I say.¡±

    I pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. ¡°I¡¯m the one who drank.¡±

    ¡°Conceptual drinks, Nadia, hit the spirit not the gut.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I said.

    Sphinx hiccuped, releasing a pink bubble from her mouth.

    ¡°And ours are entwined. What coats the strands of your spirit drips down into my own. While your intoxication passes on,¡± she said. ¡°I begin to inherit.¡±

    Sphinx was drunk. I couldn¡¯t help but snicker at the realization of it. Her flush face and stumbling gait made all the more sense. Of course, I felt minor hints of responsibility¡ªnot so heavy as to be guilt¡ªand decided to pepper her brow with kisses to chip away at her intoxication. Then I leaned back up to watch the slow flight of bubbles through the air. The way they rusted over before falling fast as marbles and shattering against the ground to melt into nothing¡ªtoo weak to uphold reality¡¯s rules.

    ¡°What do I do about Melissa and Amber?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx yawned, ¡°Why do anything for the maiden or mummer? Their happiness is their happiness and their displeasure is their displeasure. If they love you as I do, they¡¯ll embrace the broadness of your smile.¡±

    ¡°Is my smile really that different?¡±

    She closed one eye and widened the other to examine me. ¡°Oh, Nadia, this you has been a lonely sort whose company had been but corpses. So you claimed the moniker of monster, but a monster is only such because they¡¯re allowed to have little else. Perhaps it was to keep you sharp and cruel¡ªthe last will of an elder self that needed such for a world it found cold.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying I was what, deprived?¡± I asked.

    She reflected my question with another, ¡°You tell me, are you hungry?¡±

    My breath came out as a heavy hiss. The word echoed in the unadorned chambers of my spirit becoming a choir of agreement. That other Nadia¡ªwhat was me perhaps¡ªhad greeded fiendishly for every scrap of feeling that had come our way to repair something broken. She stole our first kiss with Amber, pulled us out when the living had to be ushered into death, and denied us even the chance at worry when Melissa was struck low. I¡¯d lost my first time with Sinaya to something that was dead within me yet continued to eat never sated.

    ¡°For now,¡± I said, ¡°but not forever.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll find it¡¯ll be more than your smile that changes. Every experience a color, every feeling a shade, and memories the tints by which you¡¯ll paint the diptych that is you.¡±

    ¡°If Sinaya¡¯s grandpa is right, I¡¯ll be painting both of us,¡± I said. ¡°Choosing the relationship between me and Revelation. Do you have a preference?¡±

    Sphinx shook her head tossing ebon waves this way and that.

    ¡°I¡¯m not allowed to advise on such decisions,¡± she said. ¡°Nor should you feel so pressured as to make a decision at this moment unless you wish to take the trial.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°But right now that seems like an easier conversation than going back to the residence and dealing with Amber.¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°The cost of being is the taste of sour moments.¡±

    ¡°I might as well learn to enjoy the flavor.¡±

    ¡°That you should,¡± Sphinx said.

    She rolled toward me¡ªinto me¡ªflowing down into my spirit to settle in that space I¡¯d seen when being fitted by the Nightlord. I raised the hand which had swam within her hair to my face savoring Sphinx¡¯s aroma. It was bright as a cold star with floral notes of lotus. Then I rose from my seat and continued my trek through the night, though this time I smiled when loneliness set in as it was only the reminder of what I had even if it wasn¡¯t present.

    * * *

    The lights were off when I made it back to our residence, but it wasn¡¯t quiet. I could vaguely make out the short rapid breaths that accompanied the heavy flow of tears. In a quick glance, I noted that Melissa¡¯s door was shut¡ªshe was probably with Ina, which meant I¡¯d have more time to figure out how to break the news to her that she¡¯d be hunted tomorrow. Amber¡¯s door was also shut. Mine, however, was ajar.

    With careful steps I picked my way across the common room of our suite. Pressed myself against the door. Then surreptitiously leaned just enough that I could spy into my own room. My mouth fell open as I discovered that there in my bed was Amber, the source of the crying.

    Illuminated by a shaft of moonlight cutting through the window, she was wearing nothing but a large t-shirt. Her legs and arms were wrapped around my pillow as her tears caused her makeup to bleed into the pillowcase. Clustered near the bed was a small mob of empty liquor bottles¡ªmaybe ten in number¡ªwhich oversaw this complete breakdown in her normally cool exterior. Though from how we¡¯d parted, I could trace an easy line between her exit and the display before me.

    If I¡¯d seen this before killing that old Nadia, I probably would¡¯ve felt guilt, or maybe some vindictive pleasure at this collapse. Thinking something like, that¡¯s what you get you traitor, or some other venomous line. Now, it just felt uncomfortable. I¡ªthis me¡ªcouldn¡¯t marshall up the heat in my chest to take joy in any of this. The feelings of betrayal that I had felt when we parted were like words on a page to me now rather than something I lived. At the same time, per Sphinx, Amber¡¯s feelings were her own to manage, so any sense of guilt on my part failed to form. Yet despite it all, she was crying in my room, and if there was any continuity between this me, my prior muddled self, and the Nadia before it all it was that I hated to see my people cry.

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    I pushed the door open with my foot, and entered without announcing myself beyond the soft tik, tik, tik of my heels against the floor. Amber¡¯s sobs died. She lifted her head from the pillow, eyes widening at the sight of me, and following my every step with complete attention. Up close, she was reminiscent of some prey animal; weak and fixed on me like I¡¯d pounce on her the instant she blinked. It was the recognition of the power she saw in me that aroused my hunger. Intriguing it with the idea of taking this vulnerable Baron and pushing her even further beneath me. Letting my fangs tease her skin as I gave her some new reason to sob.

    The intensity of this sudden train of thought took me by surprise, and it was with the entirety of my will that I forced myself into the chair opposite the bed. Unable to trust myself to not try and angle things into a more carnal light¡ªdespite it being without a doubt a tastier one¡ªI kept silent. Allowing the quiet to stretch between Amber and myself.

    ¡°I¡¯ll clean up the bottles, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°You can also have my pillow. It¡¯s clean.¡±

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± I hummed in agreement.

    ¡°What happened after I left?¡± she asked.

    The memory of that void in Nemesis and the ever flowing falls of blood from an indeterminable amount of corpses came to mind. My memories before my affair with Sinaya were distant¡ª¡°words on a page¡±¡ªbut the sight of what lurked within Nemesis was a jagged knife to my psyche. An indelible mark that would haunt me forever.

    ¡°I saw Nemesis up close,¡± I said.

    ¡°Temple,¡± Amber said, ¡°please tell me you didn¡¯t do anything stupid.¡±

    ¡°I tried,¡± I said, ¡°but I couldn¡¯t move. Even if I could, she already knew somehow.¡±

    ¡°Of course she did, Nemesis is bonded to Bloodlust. The scent of even the smallest murderous impulse can¡¯t go beyond her notice in a space that small,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s why I had to leave, Temple, not because I was scared of her, but because there¡¯s a small number of people in this world who want to kill her more than I do.¡±

    ¡°If you do, then why say it was impossible?¡± I asked.

    Amber¡¯s hands balled the pillowcase up into her fists in an act of rage without outlet.

    ¡°The stage isn¡¯t set properly,¡± Amber said. ¡°Against Nemesis, we can¡¯t miss. I didn¡¯t want you to act prematurely, and I didn¡¯t want my presence to put her on notice.¡±

    A bitter laugh escaped my lips. Amber¡¯s eyes flicked up in concern that she¡¯d done something worth my derision, but I shook my head in an attempt to assuage her worry.

    ¡°From how we talked, I don¡¯t think she¡¯d ever be concerned about losing her life. In fact she told me to ¡®be more creative.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Temple, did you say you and Nemesis talked?¡±

    I nodded.

    Amber¡¯s breath quickened as she crawled to the edge of the bed.

    ¡°What did you talk about?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Nothing really,¡± I said. ¡°She complimented me on my performance over the exam. Said I had eyes like hers¡ª¡±

    I didn¡¯t finish my statement before Amber had flowed from the bed to straddling my lap in the span of a single blink. Her face was distorted in manic desperation as she searched my eyes.

    ¡°No, no, no,¡± she ranted. ¡°Fuck!¡±

    She rose from my lap. Kicked the bottles off into the common room where they shattered. I leaned back in the chair as if that would let me avoid Amber¡¯s erratic wrath.

    ¡°Temple,¡± she said, her head whipping back to me, ¡°you tell me right now when this happened.¡±

    ¡°When what happened?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Your eyes,¡± she hissed. ¡°They¡¯re flecked with carmine. Her color.¡±

    I thumbed through my memories¡ªI¡¯d been very busy today. ¡°After my shower when I got back from the hospital. I noticed the red and I¡¯d grown fangs.¡±

    ¡°Shit!¡±

    Amber paced back and forth muttering vengeful curses.

    ¡°I had Sphinx check me out,¡± I said. ¡°She didn¡¯t see anything. You didn¡¯t when we danced.¡±

    ¡°Well something changed,¡± she said. ¡°Nemesis, despite everything about her, isn¡¯t a stranger to subtlety. That¡¯s how she infects you. It slips into your spirit slowly staining you in her own madness and Bloodlust. Twists your spiritual musculature to take on fitting mutations until they take such deep root that they manifest on your physical body. All while you fall deeper into murderous depravity without any self-control.¡±

    She charged over toward me, finger aloft like a sword before leveling it at my heart.

    ¡°Something changed in you,¡± she said. ¡°A shift in your spirit maybe, oh I don¡¯t know. If it¡¯s just flecks in the eyes and your teeth then maybe there¡¯s still time¡­¡±

    Amber trailed off again into her mind. Pacing and pacing and muttering and muttering about things I could barely follow. I¡¯d had enough, so I rose from my seat catching her by the wrist to stop her. She tried to pull away and I yanked her in the opposite direction with more force than I could account for while in heels. Together we tumbled into the bed. I scrambled on top of her. Pinned her arms above her head so she couldn¡¯t throw me off.

    ¡°Talk to me,¡± I yelled. ¡°Just talk to me, Amber, please. How do you know any of this?¡±

    ¡°Because she did it to me,¡± she screamed back.

    Softer this time, she said, ¡°Nemesis did it to me and all my siblings. Twisted us up until every horrible thing we did felt like drinking the most perfect whiskey in the world. Temple, it¡¯s because of her that I know the taste of a human heart.¡±

    My grip slackened, and Amber threw me to the side. Rolled over to take her position between my legs. Above me, in the light, everything about Amber came into clarity.

    ¡°Your eyes,¡± I said.

    ¡°No one just has rose colored eyes, Temple.¡±

    ¡°Your hair?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Dyed in a number of massacres.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re not¡­¡±

    ¡°Crazy?¡± she asked. ¡°No, I found a way to twist what Nemesis had done to me. Shift the color from hers to what you see now. However, it¡¯s still in me. I could only sublimate it.¡±

    ¡°To love the fight rather than killing,¡± I said.

    Amber smiled, ¡°You¡¯re so smart, Temple. Exactly.¡±

    ¡°Can you remove it from me?¡± I asked.

    Tears welled in her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll have to discern the vector¡ª¡±

    ¡°The mask,¡± I said. ¡°When I went on the wild hunt, I was given a mask as one of¡­of her dogs.¡±

    The memory of Revelation Living came to mind. She¡¯d called me a puppy, and the other Baron had said that they only say what¡¯s present. In retrospect, it was obvious what my collar was.

    Amber slid back allowing me to get up. I fished the mask out from its place in my room next to the skinsuit I¡¯d worn the night of the hunt. She was silent at the sight of it. I couldn¡¯t bear to look at it. When Amber tried to take it from me, I growled at her.

    ¡°Please, Temple, drop it,¡± she said, ¡°for me.¡±

    I took a long inhale, and on the exhale I forced myself to let go. Amber quickly placed the mask into her storage-spell. She then dropped onto the bed. I crawled in after, leaning against her for support.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I called you a coward,¡± I said.

    Amber sighed, ¡°No, I am. Maybe not to the idea of fighting Nemesis, but acknowledging everything that¡¯d happened? Yeah, I¡¯m pretty cowardly in that respect. I could¡¯ve¡ª¡±

    I tilted her head down toward mine into a kiss before she could blame herself any further. It wasn¡¯t like any of our hungry kisses. There was no game to be had. We were just in need of more quiet. When we broke apart¡ªa thin line of saliva connecting us¡ªAmber brought her forehead against mine.

    ¡°Nemesis will die,¡± she said.

    ¡°Not just for killing my parents, but for what she¡¯s done to you and your siblings.¡±

    In one voice we said, ¡°We¡¯ll make her pay.¡±

    Our promise echoed in the quiet until only the shadows still heard it. We parted, and Amber rose from the bed making her way to the door.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes?¡± she asked.

    I couldn¡¯t help but be a bit embarrassed by the question. ¡°Could you help me take my clothes off? I¡¯m really tired and don¡¯t actually know how.¡±

    Amber rotated her expressions through surprise, lust, and incredulity.

    ¡°You somehow received some of the fanciest clothes possible, but you don¡¯t know how to take them off?¡± she asked. ¡°Temple, you¡¯re perfect.¡±

    She walked back to me, settled on her knees in front of my spot on the bed, and patted her lap.

    ¡°Shoes first,¡± she said.

    I raised my leg, settling the point of my heel into her thigh. With deft fingers, she undid the straps and placed the shoe beside her. We repeated the process with the next shoe. Once both had been removed she had me roll onto my stomach. Then she crawled onto the bed straddling me.

    ¡°Conceptual clothing is pretty simple,¡± she explained. ¡°Generally, you engage it like you would your own spirit. Feel for a point on the clothing where you¡¯d like to begin taking it off.¡±

    ¡°And if I want someone else to do it?¡± I asked.

    She leaned over me, whispered in my ear, ¡°Then you do the same, but imagine the person you want to undress you. It¡¯ll make it so only you and them can find that point.¡±

    I closed my eyes, and it took little work to imagine Amber there, in that big t-shirt, straddling my waist from behind. Her breath in my ear. Then I imagined a zipper¡ªdainty, the color of starlight. It wasn¡¯t my imagination when I heard the thin zip of my cosmic catsuit coming undone.

    Amber slid back as she helped me up, guided my arms free, and then peeled the suit from my chest. From there we rose to our feet, and I stood while Amber lowered herself to continue removing the garment from my body. Eventually, it was just a puddle of space and stars at my feet. I stepped out of it and turned to find Amber fixed on my body.

    ¡°We¡¯re not having sex,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°I already did that tonight, and I¡¯m still worn out.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± she repeated but lower this time.

    ¡°But if it¡¯s okay, I don¡¯t want to sleep alone tonight. I feel like I¡¯m going to have nightmares of Nemesis or something,¡± I said. ¡°Can we sleep in your room?¡±

    Amber chuckled and nodded. ¡°C¡¯mon Temple, I have a clean pillow in mine.¡±

    Then I let Amber guide me by the hand from my room to hers. We settled into bed, and I got to be the small spoon. As we curled up together on the edge of sleep, I couldn¡¯t help but ask one last question of Amber.

    ¡°How¡¯d Nemesis get close enough to infect you? You¡¯re kind of paranoid about things.¡±

    ¡°Paranoia comes after the betrayal, Temple. No one¡¯s ever paranoid when they need to be,¡± she said. ¡°I especially wasn¡¯t when I thought I¡¯d found love.¡±

    ¡°You and Nemesis dated?¡±

    ¡°She was my first.¡±

    ¡°If you loved her, can you really kill her?¡±

    ¡°Temple, the easiest life you¡¯ll take is the one that belongs to someone you once loved.¡±

 Chapter 35

    When I heard the soft coo of Amber¡¯s voice, I remembered where I was. Her bed, her room, but where was she? The arms that¡¯d held me through the night weren¡¯t present nor was there the soft comfort of her chest against my back. My eyes fluttered open in search of her before screwing shut as the morning dawn jabbed its bright fingers into my retina. I let my eyes adjust.  First to the darkness behind my eyelids, and then crack by crack allowing in more light until they were open and I found my absent bedmate.

    Amber was at her desk, having swapped her billowy oversized sleep shirt for a compact bra and boxers. Backlit by the sun, she looked like a painter¡¯s dream subject¡ªfocused, beautiful, and unaware of anyone watching her. As it was all her attention was angled down at the object she labored over drawing and replacing all manner of tools from a rolled out belt that hung off the desk¡¯s edge.

    It¡¯s ridiculous to say, but I felt a bit jealous of whatever inanimate thing had lured her away from me. Had gotten her to tie up her raspberry locs and use those long strong fingers to twist and pinch the tools needed for whatever purpose. I wished I was on that desk so strongly that I couldn¡¯t suppress the slight moan that¡¯d escaped from me; betraying my conscious state.

    ¡°Temple, you¡¯re up?¡± Amber asked.

    I threw the blanket off myself and made a show of stretching and yawning.

    ¡°Only just,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not much of a morning person.¡±

    ¡°Most wouldn¡¯t be after the partying you did last night.¡±

    I laughed, ¡°Sure, but you¡¯re up early. I drank conceptual cocktails you had Real booze. Shouldn¡¯t this be the other way around?¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she hummed, ¡°it would be if I wasn¡¯t as experienced as I am. Besides, I have an actual reason to be up early.¡±

    ¡°I take it it¡¯s whatever is on that desk?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You can see it easier beside me than from the bed.¡±

    I blushed at the implication¡ªif it was a real implication at all and not just my embarrassment¡ªthat she¡¯d known I was watching, but I pushed it aside and sprung from the bed to take point behind Amber. Allowed myself the luxury of touch as I slung my arms around her neck laying my head on her shoulder.

    The object atop her desk was my mask now in two pieces. Though calling it an object at this point felt improper. There was the part of the mask I was familiar with, the faceplate as it were, and it sat politely to the side, its expression mellowed in some way. While the other half of the mask was what captured Amber¡¯s attention and demanded reclassification. It was a mess of muscles cabled across the mask¡¯s other half. While splayed out beneath itself were eight long chitinous legs that made the entire visual remind me of meals involving crab that Dad sometimes acquired from passing traders. The top part of the mask being just another piece of shell to support and protect the dense muscle within.

    ¡°Alls below, what is that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Your little mask,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s actually a pretty interesting piece of sorcerous technology, and¡ªunfortunately for you and your ilk¡ªas sure a sign as any that Nemesis hasn¡¯t let time dull her cruel inventiveness.¡±

    I blinked on the Omensight to better examine the ¡°mask¡± as it was. Threads of an unknown Court ran throughout its muscles carrying countless signals. Amber, noticing my now active sorcerous sight, took that as her cue to begin her demonstration. She pulled forth a long metal tool that was L-shaped and topped with a weight. Slid it beneath the mask and tilted it up to apply pressure from the inside. The legs immediately shivered and clacked against the desk like impatient fingers. Spiked purple-black threads surged through the mask¡¯s muscles.

    ¡°Parasitism,¡± she lovingly named it. ¡°Not a Court you¡¯d commonly find summoners of outside specific branches of medicine dealing with curses. That being by more socially appropriate channels of course. There¡¯s plenty of Parasitism summoners at the veiled markets.¡±

    I shifted my gaze to her in surprise at the confirmation of innumerable high school horror stories that would be bandied about around holiday bonfires. They¡¯d involve hunters trying to sell restricted entities, assassin summoners contracted for a killing only to extort the client through the Ghost of the slain, and even stories involving a student discovering a strange site on the NewNet that would trap their mind in an infinite mental Labyrinth only to have their now ego-less body kidnapped and sold. They were terrifying tales to share, but they¡¯d only been stories.

    ¡°The veiled markets are real?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah, very,¡± Amber said. ¡°Temple, it¡¯s not like every bad person died in the Changeover. See Nemesis as exhibit A for that.¡±

    She directed my attention back to the mask and continued her demonstration. She traded the L-shaped tool for a scalpel which she used to prick the pad of her index finger. Carefully, she squeezed out three ruby beads of blood that made my mouth water as I craved to learn what Amber tasted like. However, I restrained myself and watched as they hit the mask. The carmine hue of Bloodlust surged through every muscle causing the mask¡¯s legs to quiver in ecstasy.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure by now you recognize this one,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Bloodlust.¡±

    ¡°Good, now the last one I can¡¯t really activate the same as the others.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s function is to impede function. I¡¯d have to put this through conditions to send it into overdrive or use some kind of code phrase. However, if you observe¡­¡±

    Amber exchanged the scalpel for a pair of tweezers and a flat metal pick similar to a file. She snagged a bundle of muscles near the ¡°forehead¡± of the mask and pulled back while using the flattened tool to press down-and-away the muscle cluster right beneath. Revealing a node of sharp red that reminded me of the phonemes that¡¯d failed to capture the lindwurm.

    ¡°Bondage,¡± I said. ¡°It has Parasitism, Bloodlust, and Bondage?¡±

    ¡°Masks as well,¡± Amber added.

    ¡°Why does Nemesis need four Courts to curse someone?¡±

    Amber placed her tools down and I dropped the Omensight.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t,¡± Amber said, ¡°or at least she didn¡¯t when it came to me and my siblings. Back then it was more like dosing us, and she wasn¡¯t interested in puppeting us at the time. This is evidence to her desires changing. It¡¯s not enough to ruin someone¡¯s life and make them do the unthinkable. She wants control of every little monster she¡¯s making.¡±

    ¡°Thus the Bondage?¡± I asked.

    ¡°So you can¡¯t slip the leash. Whether by frenzy or self-restraint.¡±

    I traced my fingers against my jaw¡ªwhen I¡¯d ripped the mask off back at the ERO facility I¡¯d felt a resistance to it releasing my skin.

    ¡°Bloodlust is for the obvious reason. It¡¯s the curse itself, and apparently when you engage with it it floods the mask and thus yourself with even more of it.¡±

    ¡°So it snowballs out of control.¡±

    ¡°An exponential progression rather than the linear one I went through.¡±

    ¡°And the Parasitism, is that just to be creepy?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, well, knowing Nemesis that might have been a beneficial feature. The Parasitism is how it hooks into your spirit to pump the curse into you without your body otherwise noticing. That, and it seems to release an enzyme intended to dissolve your face.¡±

    ¡°I thought it just helped hide my identity,¡± I said, as I clutched my face in a possessive reflex.

    Amber grabbed the faceplate and pressed it into place until the mask came together with a click.

    ¡°It still does. The portion of the mask using Masks hides your identity and the nature of your Court. A beneficial side-effect while it covers the other ¡®features.¡¯¡±

    I moved to the windowsill and leaned it against it¡ªthe mask wasn¡¯t on me but I wanted to keep my distance. I¡¯d had enough moments of feeling it bleed in my mind to tempt me into wearing it. My lips pulled back into a snarl as my fingers crossed into the seal for Atomic Glory, winding potential futures around and between them as would be kindling for the spell.

    ¡°So what next, we destroy it?¡± I asked, hoping hard that¡¯d be the solution.

    Instead, Amber shocked me as she grabbed the mask and clutched it against her chest. She looked at me and my suggestion with disappointment.

    ¡°No, Temple, we¡¯re not going to destroy it. It¡¯s not some evil ring,¡± she said.

    I scoffed, ¡°It¡¯s a parasitic mask that cursed me. Alls below, on principle it should be destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Cause it scares you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s an abomination.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± Amber said, ¡°it didn¡¯t ask to be made. Just like you didn¡¯t ask to be born. We can blame and hate Nemesis. She¡¯ll die for this, but this little guy is just doing what it¡¯s made for.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a ¡®little guy¡¯ now?¡±

    ¡°I suppose it is,¡± she said.

    Amber shrugged and smiled gently at the mask in her arms like Mom would do when I¡¯d rush home holding up some elementary school art piece. I shook the spell from my hand.

    ¡°You like it that much?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she answered. ¡°Its purpose is horrific and reminds me of horrible dark times, but that doesn¡¯t mean it can¡¯t have a little love and sympathy. There¡¯ll be no one to applaud it or praise how well it executes its deeply disturbing functions. But maybe there should be¡­someone who can show a little love to the abominations of the world. Those beautiful monsters, innocent in their creation and purpose.¡±

    Amber wasn¡¯t looking at the mask when she said this. Her attention was fixed elsewhere¡ªtechnically at the wall in front of her, but functionally at some higher ideal. Some deep memory that found its way into our shared present moment. The potency of which made me feel ashamed for my haste in the same way I¡¯d felt when Sphinx had made her case about the White Wombs back at the facility.

    ¡°Even if they have a tie to your enemy, it doesn¡¯t make them your enemy,¡± I whispered. ¡°Fine, just keep that thing in storage. I don''t want to look at it even if it is innocent in some respect.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Temple,¡± Amber said, before slipping the mask into her storage-spell.

    Anxious for reasons besides the mask and my curse, I paced back to Amber¡¯s bed dropping down into it with a groan as my thoughts turned to Melissa and what I¡¯d still yet to tell her.

    ¡°Did Melissa get home yet?¡± I asked.

    Amber swiveled in her chair to look at me. Her legs crossed glowing in the morning light.

    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°is there something you need to tell her?¡±

    ¡°Less of a need, more of a requirement,¡± I said, thinking of my promise to Melissa.

    ¡°Now isn¡¯t that growth,¡± Amber cooed, ¡°but you¡¯re teasing me, Temple. What¡¯s the big news?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to wait. I don¡¯t want to tell the same information¡­four separate times.¡±

    ¡°Four?¡± Amber asked. ¡°Isn¡¯t this just about Melissa?¡±

    I waved my hand in the air noncommittally. Technically, it was about Melissa as she was a target, but as I lay there thinking it didn¡¯t take the Omensight for me to see the grander web of what was happening. As well as how it affected all of my people whose concerns and safety pressed down on my chest as an insistent reminder.

    ¡°She¡¯s the center, but it¡¯s bigger than just her. It touches every¡ª,¡± I said before my growling stomach cut me off.

    Amber stifled a laugh, ¡°Let¡¯s get some food in you before your grand reveal, hmm Temple? We can hash this all out over breakfast.¡±

    My stomach growled again at the mention of hash and breakfast. Amber broke, laughter pouring from her like a tipped cup. While a blush spread across my face fast as ink on paper.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting dressed,¡± I tossed out as I fled her room.

    * * *

    The place we¡¯d found ourselves was the balcony of an upscale brunch location down near the wharf. Spread out across our table were great plates of pancakes and waffles, bowls of eggs and baskets of fruit, paper-lined tins filled with bacon and slices of ham, while large pitchers of juice stood sentry. All of which was set on a series of concentric wheels to be spun about so no one would be forced to reach across the other.

    It was an extravagant spread that I was grateful Amber was paying for, but as we waited I couldn¡¯t help but turn toward the horizon. It¡¯d been so long since I¡¯d looked there¡ªwhere I¡¯d placed my vengeance¡ªand I considered the feeling that the sight aroused. Bitterness, emptiness, and the sorrowful rage of an abandoned child.

    The old self that had haunted me had an anger that burned hot as it immolated itself in an attempt to melt away every concern other than revenge. It wounded me to think this, but I didn¡¯t burn for the loss of Mom and Dad¡ªI¡¯d not had the pleasure to know them. Yet, I felt a pain all the same because I¡¯d never get to know them. There¡¯d be no answer as to if they¡¯d love me¡ªI liked to think they would, because aren¡¯t parents supposed to love their children? The only answer that came was the salt-seasoned breeze of the sea as it rolled past the balcony.

    ¡°Temple!¡± Amber barked.

    ¡°Huh, yeah?¡± I asked.

    I turned my head from the horizon to her. She was forking bites of waffle with one hand while reading a text on Parasitism in the other on her sorc-deck. Well, she was, but now she¡¯d fixed herself on me. Anyone could read the concern in her face.

    ¡°Anything interesting out there?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯ve been standing here for five minutes waiting for you to notice,¡± Lupe said.

    I spun around to find Lupe leaning over the back of the chair nearest me in her tight conweave¡ªmost likely for today¡¯s test. Her hair rode the breeze in a lazy fashion that matched the lackadaisical unrolling of her smile. Spreading my arms to embrace her, she circled the table and pulled me into a hug in turn¡ªmy face pressed into her soft yet firm stomach.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see you at the party last night,¡± I said, pulling back to see her face, only to find my reflection in the shaded glass of her spectacles.

    She tilted her head laughing to a joke I never said. ¡°Didn¡¯t know I was on your mind like that.¡±

    Blushing, I stammered out, ¡°I mean, everyone¡¯s on my mind all the time, ya know? Besides, I figured it was an event no one was planning on missing.¡± Alls below, not even Piggy¡ªSinaya¡ªmissed it, I thought to myself rather than say out loud.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°Eh, not really accessible to me,¡± she said. ¡°That many people across that many links, all the special effects run on Sorcery¡ªalls below, even the drinks¡ªit¡¯s too much for me. Would mess with my bracelet and just give me back a jumbled glob of silhouettes with functionally no depth.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t think about it like that,¡± I said.

    She shrugged it off before tousling my head and claiming the chair closest to me.

    ¡°You have no reason to,¡± she said, ¡°but I wouldn¡¯t be opposed to something more private. Speaking of, you were different just now. I mean, you feel different now, but there looking at the horizon¡­Amber, does she do that a lot?¡±

    Amber raised a brow, ¡°I think so. Yeah, Temple does now that you point it out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a small town girl,¡± I said, ¡°the horizon¡¯s pretty.¡±

    Lupe looked at me¡ªreally, looked at me¡ªher glasses angled down so her clouded could meet my direction and take in my entirety.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not how someone who thinks the horizon¡¯s pretty behaves,¡± she said. ¡°You had the posture and shift in your spirit like someone pulling out an old knife for sharpening. You know you need it, you¡¯ll use it, but you don¡¯t love it. The process has become a pain and still you just can¡¯t toss the thing.¡±

    Amber and I turned to find Lupe crossing the interior of the restaurant to our balcony. A smile broke across my face at the sight of her¡ªit didn¡¯t hurt she was wearing her conweave for today¡¯s test. She laid her ax in its case against the table and took a seat beside me.

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty poetic,¡± Amber said, ¡°and rather accurate. It¡¯s like you¡¯re more assured, Temple, and this old knife¡ªto use Lupe¡¯s words¡ªmight be bringing you down. What changed?¡±

    ¡°Well, I did get laid last night,¡± I said.

    Lupe cracked a smile at the news, and Amber tried to hide her wince. It was a good enough answer for them while being close enough to the truth for me. I¡¯d tell them the full story at some point, but there was enough for me to deal with already let alone the chance that they¡¯d¡­that things would play out differently with them compared to Sphinx.

    ¡°So, is that the big reason you called me out here?¡± Lupe asked. ¡°I¡¯m not the jealous type.¡±

    It was technically Amber who¡¯d called her. Apparently, while I was unconscious in the hospital everyone had traded addresses to contact the others to let them know when I¡¯d woken up. A necessity as they¡¯d decided to take shifts so everyone could get some amount of sleep, and so I wouldn¡¯t wake up alone.

    ¡°Nah,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s a bigger deal than that.¡±

    I spun the table over my way so I could refill my glass with lemonade. Lupe took that moment to steal a few pieces of bacon for herself. She tore off the strips of fat dropping them into a bowl of congee she¡¯d ladled for herself. While the crispy meat bits she tossed into her mouth.

    Behind her, I spotted #404 slipping out onto the balcony to join us. They held a finger to their lips, don¡¯t say a word. I chuckled into my drink as I accepted my role as co-conspirator in what ultimately was as much a prank as a chance to spy on people. Taking my laugh as acceptance, #404 took the chair to my left.

    Lupe asked, ¡°Is the person you slept with going to be at this little get together?¡±

    #404¡¯s eyes widened at the news I¡¯d slept with someone. Their attention drilled down onto me craving answers to probably a hundred small questions. However, I only had eyes for the empty chair next to Lupe that I knew wasn¡¯t going to be filled.

    Last night with Sinaya had been good, so good that we had been too enamored with each other to remember to trade addresses. My gallant butch was out there somewhere in the district, I knew that for sure, but they wouldn¡¯t be here. I only hoped they were thinking about me as well.

    ¡°That¡¯s not likely,¡± I answered. ¡°But again, this meeting is not about someone shoving their dick into me. It¡¯s about serious news.¡±

    ¡°You had a dick in you.¡± Amber leaned forward in concern, ¡°Temple, did you use protection?¡±

    ¡°Fair point, some girls are pretty nasty,¡± Lupe said, smirking. ¡°Do you like it nasty, Nadia?¡±

    I rolled my eyes, ¡°He was a virgin. It was probably fine, and I don¡¯t know.¡±

    #404 fell back in their chair in disbelief. Snapped their fingers so that Amber and Lupe could Remember they¡¯d been there the entire time.

    Secretary said, ¡°Are you that naive as to just believe some random person saying they were a virgin?¡±

    Lupe laughed, ¡°Oooh, was it pity sex?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t pity sex,¡± I said in a bid to defend myself. ¡°He admitted it after. Even got me water and stuff for when I woke up.¡±

    ¡°Woke up?¡± Amber asked. ¡°It was that good?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said.

    The table went silent at that detail. They all shared a look as they performed a quick mental calculus of how to judge the situation. #404 and Amber looked to Lupe to ask one last question.

    ¡°Where did you two do it?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°Inabathroom,¡± I mumbled.

    Amber said, ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Inabathroom,¡± I muttered a hair louder.

    #404 scowled, ¡°Speak up, little brute.¡±

    ¡°It was in a bathroom, okay!¡±

    They all leaned away from the news like I¡¯d shit on the breakfast spread.

    ¡°Temple¡­¡±

    ¡°A brute indeed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s classically nasty.¡±

    ¡°It was my choice,¡± I pleaded.

    Amber said, ¡°You could¡¯ve taken their first time anywhere, but a bathroom?¡±

    I buried my head in my hands. This couldn¡¯t get worse.

    ¡°What was in a bathroom?¡± Melissa asked.

    I dropped my head against the table. It¡¯d gotten worse. When I looked up I was taken aback, as there standing on open air was Melissa sitting astride a strange combination of a moose with the head of an amoeba and antlers made of undulating neurons. Behind her was Ina whose arms were wrapped tight around Melissa¡¯s waist.

    The two of them slid from the strange entity¡¯s back onto the balcony. While the beast narrowed down to needle-width and injected itself into Melissa¡¯s arm before disappearing¡ªit was her entity. My mouth stretched in surprise and glee, and Amber broke into soft applause.

    ¡°You graduated,¡± I said.

    Melissa beamed at my statement¡ªagreement if there was any¡ªand quickly took her seat at the table between Amber and #404. Ina took the still-empty seat, the one I¡¯d rather have filled with Sinaya, and I did my best to stomach the displeasure. Treating her was one of the deals I¡¯d made with Melissa, after all.

    ¡°How¡¯d it happen?¡± Amber asked.

    Ina snorted, ¡°Go on Mel, it¡¯s your graduate tale.¡±

    Melissa poured herself a glass of orange juice, guzzled half of it, and then shut her eyes so as not to see her audience as she recounted it.

    ¡°So, I¡¯d gotten kind of drunk last night,¡± Melissa said, ¡°and after getting into some stuff with Ina¡ª¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m stuff,¡± Ina gloated, and I resisted the urge to throttle her.

    ¡°After that, I was kind of feeling myself and decided to graduate right then,¡± she said. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to get the entity I did¡ªit¡¯s very atypical for Knitcrofts¡ªbut I think it was for the best. Most of my family aren¡¯t out here fighting like we are, and I wanted a way to keep up so everyone doesn¡¯t have to worry about me as much.¡±

    She opened her eyes, looking at me first, before glancing back to her drink in embarrassment.

    ¡°Damn, princess, I¡¯ve heard about people graduating in battle, on their deathbed, but drunk that¡¯s a special one,¡± Amber said. ¡°Any chance we can hear what your pal¡¯s name is?¡±

    ¡°Vind¡¯fulla, He Whose Steps Twist the Familiar,¡± she said. ¡°Enough about me, what¡¯s this about something in a bathroom?¡±

    Immediately #404, Lupe, and Amber realized they all were just so thirsty that their mouths were too occupied to provide an answer. Traitors the lot of them. I returned to find Melissa staring at me¡ªall four pupils trained on my person. Her brow furrowed in the early stage of annoyance.

    ¡°Nadia, we have a deal don¡¯t we?¡± she asked.

    No secrets. I chugged my lemonade for strength and slammed the empty glass on the table.

    ¡°I fucked a virgin in the bathroom last night,¡± I admitted.

    Ina bent over laughing as she prepared some barb to skewer me with only for Melissa to speak first, and end me worse than any insult.

    ¡°Huh,¡± she said, ¡°wasn¡¯t our first time in a bathroom?¡±

    ¡°Temple!¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ve always been a brute.¡±

    ¡°Oh shit, you¡¯re the nasty girl!¡±

    Ina¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. ¡°Mel, really?¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°It was my bathroom.¡±

    I shot up and grappled the reins of the conversation the best I could. ¡°Melissa¡¯s being targeted by assassins.¡±

    It was about as smooth a transition as the gravel that covered sections of my home¡¯s courtyard, but effective was effective. Everyone¡¯s back straightened as they focused on me and the news I¡¯d tossed down before them. I allowed the quiet to stretch into a canvas for me to detail the picture of the conspiracy I¡¯d become privy to.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about everyone else, but yesterday I was brought to an event a circle was throwing,¡± I said. ¡°They told me about today¡¯s test. How we¡¯d be hunting each other directly as targets for ¡®execution¡¯ or capture. But, besides being given specific targets for the test, circles like this one were invested in examinees turning their eyes toward people they¡¯d marked.¡±

    ¡°Why her?¡± Ina asked. ¡°She hasn¡¯t done anything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing, it¡¯s not about Melissa,¡± I said, as I turned to her. ¡°It¡¯s about your last name. This circle is worried about the Lodge, specifically Nemesis, getting her hands on new members from influential families, collectives, businesses, etc. They want to curtail her power.¡±

    ¡°The Knitcrofts don¡¯t have any power,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s a co-op.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know, but¡ª¡± I said.

    Amber cut in, ¡°You¡¯re the only one taking the exam. If they have a hit list so scattered as to target you then they don¡¯t actually care about stopping Nemesis. Instead they¡¯re just trying to see whose death sticks to the wall.¡±

    #404 said, ¡°Everyone knows the test is dangerous.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s dangerous,¡± I said, ¡°and then there¡¯s Nemesis. You¡¯re the one who said she ¡®incentivized¡¯ examinees to take more final solutions. If they pin all of this on her¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that fine for us?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°Not if it¡¯d mean a bunch of innocent people are killed,¡± Melissa argued.

    ¡°It¡¯d be chaos,¡± #404 said. ¡°Lodgemaster Khapoor being ousted would jeopardize the entire region. Alls below, for Brightgate she is the Lodge. She¡¯s been running it since the New World began. There¡¯s no one qualified enough to keep it together.¡±

    ¡°Which is our problem because¡­?¡± Amber asked.

    Lupe groaned, ¡°Khapoor built a Lodge full of people dancing on the edge of madness and civility. If she¡¯s not there to keep them on that edge¡­¡±

    The silence flowed like a slit wrist as all our imaginations did their best to conjure up the amount of chaos that could engulf not only the district but Brightgate in its peaceful entirety. It was only Amber, myself, and technically #404 who could imagine the true depths of the slaughter that was possible. Amber because of her own familiarity with the curse that Nemesis had implanted in people. While #404 and myself had been privy to a small taste of the madness possible during the wild hunt.

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan then?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a really good one,¡± I admitted.

    Ina said, ¡°Probably not, but your last plan did get us back safely, so lay it on us.¡±

    ¡°Was that a compliment?¡± I asked.

    Melissa patted Ina¡¯s arm, ¡°Aww, you really are trying to be nice.¡±

    I said, ¡°Melissa, you¡¯re going to have to be bait.¡±

    Ina crushed her glass in her fist. ¡°I take it back, your plan does suck!¡± she screamed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t love it,¡± I said, ¡°but I only got to do a once-over of the list. It¡¯s pretty long, but knowing Melissa is on it means we know who they¡¯ll go for inevitably. They collapse on Melissa and we trigger our trap. We¡¯ll kill who we have to and capture the rest.¡±

    Amber used a napkin to sweep the shards of glass into her storage-spell. She dropped the napkin inside as well, and removed a new glass to hand to Ina. After which, Amber looked up toward me with a pitying expression.

    ¡°Temple, your plan has a problem,¡± she said.

    Lupe asked, ¡°What? It makes perfect sense to me.¡±

    ¡°It would, if she wasn¡¯t cursed,¡± Amber said.

    Melissa gasped, ¡°What curse? Shouldn¡¯t her spell resistance melt any before they slip inside?¡±

    ¡°Any curse by normal means, yes,¡± Amber said, ¡°but this one was pretty special. Wasn¡¯t it, Secretary?¡±

    #404 didn¡¯t look like someone who¡¯d been caught in a scheme. Their eyes narrowed¡ªsharp and gray as the cutlery on the table¡ªin their attempt to discern what Amber was intimating. I laid my hand on their shoulder, felt them stiffen beneath my touch, surprised at how gentle it was. They turned to me for assistance in solving the mystery.

    ¡°It was the mask, #404.¡± I said, ¡°The masks Nemesis gives us dogs are cursed so we develop a fixation¡ª¡±

    ¡°An obsession. A fetish. A compulsion, if you will,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Compulsion, toward Bloodlust and the violence that feeds into it,¡± I said.

    #404¡¯s face froze as they processed my words. Their throat tensed around the beginning of swiftly aborted sentences, and they swung their eyes away from me so fast that their shoulder bucked my hand. I tried to reach for them, but they shirked my touch sure as a magnet might flee its kindred self. My heart broke as I knew they didn¡¯t know. Just as I knew that they¡ªthe same secretary who¡¯d grieve for a death that wasn¡¯t by their hand¡ªhad just added a new weight onto the already skewed scales of their conscience.

    Melissa said, ¡°That explains everything. You¡¯ve never been the violent type, but a curse that¡ªthat¡¯d do it. It¡¯d change anyone. We just have to cure it and you¡¯ll be fixed.¡±

    I resisted the urge to cringe at her hope as it was. The timelines¡ªif she really knew them¡ªdidn¡¯t line up like that. It was true that after the mask, the wild hunt, things changed but¡­I was already changing. When I met her wide hopeful eyes I couldn¡¯t hold her gaze. She yearned for a me that I¡¯d already killed, and was quick to chalk me up to being the product of a curse. A bastard personality to be scoured clean from her beloved Nadia.

    ¡°Princess,¡± Amber said, ¡°we can talk cures later, if there are any. What¡¯s important right now is considering our options regarding Nadia¡¯s condition.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°What¡¯s there to talk about? Nadia drops out, we protect Melissa, and bust the plot wide open.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Not for me,¡± I argued. ¡°I¡¯m not dropping out. Not when you need me. Alls below, I¡¯m one of our best fighters. I¡¯m useful.¡±

    Melissa rose from her chair and walked around the table toward me. She touched my arm in a way she hadn¡¯t since my parents died¡ªgentle, her thumb rubbing circles in my bicep, as she flashed those beautiful eyes of hers.

    ¡°Nadia, it¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m a Baron now, and I don¡¯t need you to set yourself on fire to keep me safe.¡±

    ¡°Temple, let''s be serious right now. If you take this test you¡¯ll be surrounded by so much Bloodlust it¡¯ll only be a matter of time before you succumb to the curse.¡± Amber said, ¡°As you said last night, you¡¯re really good at killing people. If you succumb and your curse advances then this whole plot doesn¡¯t matter. You would be the only thing needed to cause a big enough bloodbath to destabilize everything.¡±

    ¡°Amber¡ª,¡± I tried to speak, but Lupe cut me off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be selfish, Nadia,¡± Lupe said, ¡°there¡¯s more than you at stake.¡±

    I looked around the table¡ªthey were all in agreement that I should step back, step down. Melissa didn¡¯t want to lose a Nadia who was already gone. Lupe saw the big picture I¡¯d painted, and so I couldn¡¯t blame her for wanting to prevent the worst from happening. Amber¡­she knew what the curse could push someone to do, and I could tell in her eyes and her voice how badly she wanted me to never go through what she¡¯d experienced. They all cared about me, and that made it hurt even more.

    ¡°The little brute might be selfish,¡± #404 said, ¡°but so are the rest of you!¡±

    The table turned as one to regard the Secretary that we¡¯d forgotten. #404 rose from their chair and pried Melissa off of my arm. Put theirs out in front of me as a bulwark to the group¡¯s demands. They raised their chin and looked down on all of them.

    ¡°You see an easy way out of this. Toss her to the sidelines as if she¡¯s a liability¡ª.¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°She is.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± #404 spat, ¡°she¡¯s your friend. She carries the lot of you as burdens on her shoulder, and the one time she has a burden of her own you abandon her rather than share the weight. The least you could do is believe in the brute¡¯s strength.¡±

    Amber rose like a serpent from the water, eyes narrowed down on #404 like they were a blemish to be wiped from the world.

    ¡°I have seen many fall prey to your Lodgemaster¡¯s curse.¡±

    #404 laughed, ¡°Then they were weak, and they were not my brute.¡±

    They tossed a question over my shoulder, ¡°Nadia, are you strong enough to resist the curse?¡±

    Ironic as it was, I smiled and bared my fangs to the table, to my fears, and answered.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, ¡°but it¡¯d be easier if I had help. Please, I can¡¯t drop out of the exam. You¡¯ve all been with me long enough to know I don¡¯t go down without a fight. Just, don¡¯t make me fight alone.¡±

    Lupe groaned, ¡°Alls below, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m much of a fighter by myself. Long as you can tell enemies and allies apart, we can make it work.¡±

    I rushed around to Lupe, nearly pouncing on her in a hug. We tumbled from her chair, but I stabilized us enough that we only fell in slow motion. I pressed thankful kisses against her face feeling the warm touch of the Morning sun cause her face to blush.

    ¡°L-let go,¡± she stammered. ¡°I¡¯m helping you with a curse, not joining your damn polycule.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but grin at the statement. ¡°I know, but I didn¡¯t know you had your mind on it. I can bring you the paperwork if you want.¡±

    She flipped me off with a bright smile and climbed back into her chair. I stood and looked over the rest of the table to see who else would fight beside me against my curse.

    #404 said, ¡°We¡¯re in this together, little brute. Don¡¯t make it look like I picked wrong.¡±

    Melissa¡¯s tongue peeked between her lips as she thought¡ªher hands operating unseen needs of thought as she knit a solution from the yarn of this problem.

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of being a Baron if I just give up,¡± she said. ¡°I haven¡¯t abandoned you yet, and I refuse to let someone like them imply that I ever would. Let¡¯s do this.¡±

    She shared with me a smile that I knew was for someone else, but alls below it¡¯d be one I¡¯d cherish. The steel with which I¡¯d wrap chains of conviction around Nemesis¡¯s stupid curse.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said.

    ¡°What?¡± she asked.

    I circled the table. She circled the other way.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I repeated.

    ¡°Temple,¡± she said, ¡°the curse is very serious. I¡¯m telling you¡ª.¡±

    I leaped onto the table. Skipped over the food and drinks, and launched myself at Amber. Her back was against the railing. If she dodged in either way I¡¯d go sailing over¡ªshe never considered dodging at all. Instead, her arms flung open to catch me, and with all her strength she spun the both of us away from the edge and back toward my chair. Amber fell into my seat while I made a cushion of her lap.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I whispered into her ear, ¡°if I fall you¡¯ll catch me.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t a question in my statement. From the beginning she¡¯d been catching me, against the lindwurm, when the wild hunt had come for Melissa, when I¡¯d fucked up my own relationship, and now with this curse. I knew Amber would always catch me.

    ¡°Every time,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll catch you every time.¡±

    I twisted back to look at everyone and felt the moment still as if a Godtime was cast. Around the table were all the people I¡¯d assembled across this weird quest of mine. In all of their expressions were unique shades of love that let them put their trust in me. Lupe called all of us a polycule, but that wasn¡¯t accurate. They were the one thing I never thought I¡¯d have again after Nemesis and her allies killed my parents¡ªa family and a second chance.

    ¡°Ready to be tested, little brute?¡± #404 asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready to win.¡±

 Chapter 36

    While I¡¯d left breakfast with my head held high, it took only a few hours and a boat for me to be brought low as the shifting ocean churned my guts to rebellion. It wasn¡¯t that I was bad on the water¡ªonly days earlier I¡¯d taken a ferry without incident¡ªI was just untested when it came to enduring the faux-stillness of a boat. As every whim of the ocean rolled through the bones of the barge that the Lodge had assembled all us examinees on only hours prior.

    I slid down the glass barrier meant to keep deck furniture from going overboard, and leaned into the soothing touch of Melissa''s hand as she stroked my hair. Beside me, Amber had pulled over a reclining deck chair on which she was sprawled. While Lupe made herself comfortable in a chair beside Melissa.

    Whining, I asked, ¡°Melissa, do you have anything for this?¡±

    She clicked her tongue. ¡°Not right now,¡± she said. ¡°I could expedite an internal mutation, but since it¡¯d have to be tailored to your body it wouldn¡¯t be done before we¡¯re off the boat.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just directly affect her spirit?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°I could if a little sick somebody hadn¡¯t pumped her resistance to Sorcery so high. It¡¯ll be purely biological vectors at this point that¡¯d have any effect.¡±

    ¡°Ah, my mistake,¡± Lupe said with a smirk you could hear.

    We¡¯d been parked for about two hours at that point. Halfway between Brightgate Bay and an island about four miles off the coast. According to the pamphlet Amber read when we boarded, it used to be only one-and-a-half miles away. Yet, Old World climate change had eaten away at the coast, and events in Brightgate during the Changeover¡ªor what would become Brightgate¡ªhad led to a short-lived exodus to the island and its relocation. There was more to the story, but I¡¯d made it only the first page before I was forced into my current position vomiting up an expensive meal into the sea. The most recent was the loss of very thick fluffy pancakes which had soaked up the lavender syrup perfectly.

    I shifted my head so I could take in the competition that milled about the deck. At a quick eyeballing, there looked to be only two hundred of us remaining¡ªthere¡¯d been five hundred before the first test. Of the two hundred, I spotted a few faces from dinner last night that I¡¯d set within my memory. They were the would-be-assassins who I knew had Melissa on their list, but Apogee had said we were one cell of many. Making every other unknown person a threat.

    It was while I oversaw potential targets that I spotted a familiar furry entity on the head of an armless woman of little height sporting a navy eyepatch. One of the entity¡¯s six arms held a pipe between its claws. Beside them walked a secretary narrow and sharp as an icepick. They took position in front of a microphone set-up on the upper deck.

    ¡°Oi,¡± they barked, their voice ashen and rough thus very attention grabbing.

    ¡°Good, now some of you who have minds sharp as those canines I bet you¡¯re feeling right now, might know me as the Kennelmaster,¡± they said. ¡°For the rest of you who have something akin to morals, and you less-than-sharp pups, you¡¯ll be getting to meet me in the unenviable position of your Proctor. I will be the god watching over you and your little dramas¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Time, Proctor,¡± their secretary¡ªwho I realized was likely their handler¡ªinterjected. ¡°We¡¯re behind enough as is because of your high standards around mai tais.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, they can wait or they¡¯re fools who¡¯re rushing to their doom. Besides, a mai tai is an art not just a common cocktail¡ªit survived the Changeover for a reason damn it, have some respect.¡± They turned back to addressing us, ¡°Now, because some people have no standards nor patience, I¡¯ll explain your test¡ªeven though I know most of you were likely informed by some circle or other.¡±

    Their secretary said, ¡°I heard that.¡±

    ¡°Your test is Execution and Capture, a simulated game of a common Lodge request many of you will be using to fill out your quota of mandated actions. Often we¡¯re called in or invite ourselves, to reap the lives of those summoners deemed unhandleable by all communities impacted from their actions. In most cases execution is not needed and thus, Capture. While infinitely harder, it is the more humane course of action as every summoner like every life may still prove capable of some benefit to the world.¡±

    The secretary tapped at a sorc-deck they held, conjuring from a drawn together mist a recreation of the island in the distance albeit upside down so we could have a better look at where some of us would likely die. Above me, was a blocky castle covered in large pipes that wove in and out of its body like silver serpents winding through a corpse.

    The Kennelmaster continued, ¡°To facilitate this simulation we¡¯ve re-sculpted the island and Fort Tomb¡ªthis year the Lodgemaster wanted an ¡®enchanted forest¡¯ theme. All of you will be teleported there to random locations where you will find a scroll detailing your target. You will decide whether to execute or capture them. The latter of which will require bringing them to the capture location also detailed in the scroll.¡±

    Some yelled out, ¡°Are we really supposed to just kill each other?¡±

    ¡°Supposed to¡ªno¡ªbut I hope someone kills you for interrupting,¡± they said. ¡°When you boarded, you all had a somnambulant cicada planted at the base of your neck which has likely burrowed into your body to take up space at your brainstem. Devised by some of the best gu-scholars on this side of the world, it will have constructed a Dream Shell for you. Making it so that whatever you experience happens to you, but does not affect your true Real body. If you would suffer bodily harm that could conceivably kill you, the Dream Shell will pop, dropping you into a brief period of slumber as the cicada burns itself from your body and you reawaken.¡±

    I felt for the back of my neck even though I knew the Kennelmaster was right¡ªthe cicada had already burrowed into my body. While most of the people on deck were astonished or disgusted by the admission, I actually breathed a sigh of relief. Melissa had said that biological agents were the only things that could work on me now¡ªViscount and above sorcery not being accounted for of course¡ªas my spirit was too hot to accept anything lesser.

    The secretary said, ¡°If executed, you may continue the test, but will do so without this safeguard. While all those captured will be detained until it becomes mathematically impossible to pass or are released by another summoner. Some of you will find your targets to be a poor match for yourself. In accounting for this scenario, Lodgemaster Khapoor has decided that you may still pass this test if you can execute or capture three people in lieu of your singular target.¡±

    ¡°And with that, good luck and fuck off,¡± the Kennelmaster said.

    Instantly a person disappeared in a brief flash as photons warped to account for the spatial vacancy. I used Mother¡¯s Last Smile to hoist myself up. We all looked at each other with our own unique flavor of anxiety as seconds and people dwindled before we too would be moved.

    ¡°How are we meeting up?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°We converge on you,¡± I said.

    ¡°Random starts, not good enough,¡± Lupe said.

    Amber said, ¡°We all meet up at Fort Tomb. One site. No chance to get lost.¡±

    ¡°Got it,¡± we stated.

    Lupe asked, ¡°What about Nadia?¡±

    ¡°We just¡ª,¡± Amber was cut off by her teleportation.

    ¡°Ah,¡± Melissa yelled.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine; the cicada means no one''s dying,¡± I said.

    Lupe argued, ¡°But what if they¡ª.¡±

    Teleported. Melissa grabbed my arms¡ªlike that would¡¯ve stopped anything, but I appreciated it all the same. We stared at each other as if any last questions or answers would be found in the other. Only to come to the conclusion that there were no more words, so I didn¡¯t speak. Instead, planting a kiss against Melissa¡¯s cheek. She opened her mouth to speak¡ªteleported.

    I clutched my glaive and pressed the shaft to my forehead in prayer to my Sovereign¡ªand cause why not¡ªa prayer to you, Mom. That my target would be a true enemy rather than one of my new family. Maybe I had more faith in that possibility happening than I¡¯d had regarding any prayer being effective at mitigating my curse. A consequence of how much I¡¯d hung my prior confidence on the belief I wouldn¡¯t be facing it alone¡ªhow naive of me.

    * * *

    My mind didn¡¯t register my own teleportation instead opting to cut away the interstitial moment of being at one place and now another. I shook my body out¡ªyou couldn¡¯t tell that what moved was a sleepwalking body protected by a Dream Shell¡ªand assessed my new location. They¡¯d dropped me on a beach, white as powdered bone, that sloped up a hill leading into the depths of the forest Lodgemaster Khapoor had designed.

    In front of me, nestled in the sand like a washed ashore bottle, was the scroll. A black tube six inches in length with a recessed button at its top. Technically they were sorc-decks in all but shape, but the shape had proved critical to designing a more secure one even if it also meant the device retained less information.

    I freed the scroll from its dune and activated the button at the top. From a slit in its side it projected a cool sheet of air creating a thin mist that coalesced to become its screen. The first slide was my target and I knew my earlier prayers had gone unanswered. Swiping past, I read the second which detailed that the capture site for the test would be the same Fort Tomb that Amber, Lupe, Melissa, and myself had decided on making our rendezvous point.

    ¡°I guess I jump anyone on their way to make a capture?¡± I asked.

    Stepping from my spirit, Sphinx said, ¡°It¡¯d be the prudent decision. Far easier to catch fish when others help hold the net after all.¡±

    She stretched then spread her wings, so I could take my place between them. In a short loping step she hammered her wings against the air taking off for the sky. It was the quickest way to reach Fort Tomb¡ªa place I could see above Nemesis¡¯s ¡®enchanted forest¡¯ whose trees rivaled many of Brightgate¡¯s towering apartment buildings in height.

    When we¡¯d cleared the canopy to reach the forest¡¯s emergent layer, Sphinx swooped low, her paws skimming the leaves. I activated my Omensight to scan the area, but was quickly stunned. The forest was a multi-colored riot of Courts woven together to create something so unnatural yet seemingly Real. It almost hurt my eyes to look at as any one point I fixed my gaze on became a psychedelic static¡ªonly the forest as a whole was beautiful.

    That was until the sharp spikes of Bloodlust appeared skewering the sky as they snaked out from the phalanx of the forest canopy. Examinees were making contact. It was then I smelled the aromatic copper scent of Bloodlust¡ªthere was a tie of murderous sympathy already attached to Sphinx. Signaling with my knees we veered off course diving down below the canopy as an ember flew wide before exploding into a rose of fiery death.

    Sphinx bounded from tree branch to tree branch in a bid to bleed off momentum before we touched ground. When we landed, we circled to face the direction my fated tie pointed in.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Ehhh,¡± our attacker groaned, ¡°why¡¯d you have to dodge? It¡¯s not easy Cultivating embers.¡±

    A hunched over man with dark eyes and darker bags exited the thick shadow that clung between the trees. He turned over a pill bottle rolling out three glowing embers into his hand.

    ¡°Am I your target?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, just an opportunity. I¡¯d rather collect points while its easy versus banking on the luck I meet my target. You understand, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± I said, crossing my fingers around our connection. ¡°I was unlucky and got my friend as a target. Executing you helps me make a dent in the three I need to pass. No hard feelings?¡±

    ¡°None at all.¡±

    He wound back his arm to throw the embers¡ªat this range I could tell how he did it, Cultivating their heat and destructive potential over years until they¡¯d become dangerous explosives. Before he could release his toss I uncrossed my fingers splitting infinity and igniting the fated tie of our mutual combat. He was halfway through his throw when he combusted¡ªchalcedony fire crawling across his body like blazing ivy.

    The embers fell from his hands exploding the instant they touched the ground. Three explosions that fought to consume each other swallowed up any vision on him. However, they did nothing to disturb the clutching darkness nor marr the trees of the forest as both were constructions of much grander Sorcery than either of us were capable of. When the flames cleared I heard the crack-pop of breaking ice. Where there¡¯d been the ash sculpture of a dead man was replaced by the snoring body of one very much alive.

    I saluted him and set off on Sphinx in the direction of Fort Tomb this time on foot. As the trees blurred into smeared walls of color, my tongue traced my curse-given fangs. There¡¯d been no temptation to properly finish the man off. The only scent of Bloodlust was what preceded his attack meant to kill me.

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll be fine,¡± I said.

    Sphinx said, ¡°Now is as good a test as any.¡±

    Her words were prophetic as our path soon intersected a current of heavy Bloodlust winding between the trees. It fell upon my mind like a snake waiting, constricting all thoughts, as I had to know more, so I inspected the current. Using the Omensight, my vision carried back to the source¡ªa small clearing, two Summoners wounded and curled beneath the skirt of a giant mushroom the size of a cable car stop, and two more eager to finish what they¡¯d started.

    ¡°Do we press on?¡± Sphinx asked.

    I pulled myself free from the vision to find Sphinx¡¯s head twisted back to observe me. My tongue slid across my lips as I considered. We didn¡¯t gain anything from rescuing people¡ªthey knew the risks¡­but I did need two more executions. It¡¯d be on the way.

    ¡°Detour,¡± I said. ¡°It won¡¯t be a large one, and if those four wound each other it¡¯ll be brief.¡±

    Sphinx hummed, ¡°If you trust your reasoning.¡±

    She ran toward the source of the current, drenching my thoughts wet in the psychic gore that floated in the Bloodlust that dusted my mind. I formed a fist tight around Mother¡¯s Last Smile, fixed myself on the woman I wanted to be that deserved Mom¡¯s grace. She wasn¡¯t a woman who grew giddy on slaughter or smiled as she killed. No, she was sober.

    I raised my thoughts up onto this image making it an anchor. A rock on which my rationality could find respite from the surging sweetness of Bloodlust that we ran within. I checked my reasoning¡ªit was still sound. I needed the kills nothing more.

    Sphinx vaulted us up onto a tree branch that overlooked the place where the wounded summoners had curled up. We¡¯d arrived only seconds in advance of the two who¡¯d wounded them in the first place. They were of slight builds, differing in gender but obviously twins, and flanked on both sides by matching entities reminiscent of hunting dogs with faces made of churning blades like a woodchipper.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make us keep following you,¡± the male twin said.

    His sister said, ¡°You¡¯re dying either way. A Voracious bite doesn¡¯t end until someone¡¯s dead.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re doing you a kindness, finishing you off properly,¡± they said together.

    One of the wounded summoners, a boy about my age, yelled back, ¡°A kindness would be executing us and moving on. Your way would destroy everything about us.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± the female twin said, ¡°but we want to be thorough about making sure you don¡¯t pass.¡±

    The male said, ¡°It¡¯d be pretty bad if the scions of two merchant families like you and your love there were to join the Lodge.¡±

    If it wouldn¡¯t have disturbed my hiding spot I would¡¯ve hollered right then. I didn¡¯t come this way to save these two¡ªI only needed the kills¡ªyet here I lucked out on premium targets. Would-be-assassins that might come after Melissa after finishing off these two.

    When they strike we do, I said to Sphinx telepathically.

    She replied, Then prepare now.

    The wounded summoner raised a pistol. Squeezed the trigger belting out a brief flurry of bullets that were swallowed by a shield of yawning black and rotten teeth that materialized before them. Both twins cackled in unison at the ultimately futile attempt. I noted, however, that the spell, while quick, still took time to form.

    ¡°Shame,¡± the male said. ¡°We worried your Luck would prove annoying to circumvent.¡±

    The female nodded, ¡°Stray bullets are so unpredictable, but who¡¯d have thought Luck might prove so delectable. We¡¯ll remember this meal won¡¯t we brother?¡±

    ¡°At least until the next,¡± he said.

    The both of them pointed at the summoners wounded and immobile siccing their entities on them. At the same time Sphinx leaped from the branch, her wings wide catching the air so we¡¯d glide down toward the twins. I formed the requisite seal and glanced at the summoner whose gun still smoked, dragging him into a Godtime with me.

    Both twins'' faces froze in complementary sadistic expressions while their entities hung poised in the air ready to gorge themselves on the wounded. Sphinx landed atop one while I leaped from her back spearing the other to the ground. The Godtime prevented their autonomic spell-shields from forming. We decapitated their Dream Shells which popped not long after.

    ¡°Woah,¡± the wounded summoner said, in the time it took for me to save him.

    He hefted his gun pointing it at Sphinx and myself¡ªto be more accurate, he nervously changed targets between the both of us. I couldn¡¯t help but drool a bit at how much the boy screamed, ¡®prey¡¯ with his body language. The Bloodlust wet the anchor of my reasonable thought¡ªwe¡¯d be doing him a favor taking him out. He had a gun trained on us anyways. It¡¯d be self-defense. Sphinx crossed in front of me¡ªI¡¯d taken a step toward the boy. When?

    ¡°Lower your arm,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°we come not for you.¡±

    The boy argued, ¡°No, no, they approached us talking about forming a team. Then tried to kill us. I¡¯m not lowering my gun just because you saved our lives.¡±

    Sphinx sighed, ¡°Your weapon is but a comfort, and will smother your own life if you continue to threaten ours.¡±

    I shook my head jostling the Bloodlust-born thoughts off balance. Turned around and threw my glaive like a javelin away from me. Raised my now empty hands.

    ¡°Seriously, put the gun down. I don¡¯t want to risk advancing my curse on the two of you,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, you have a curse of your own. You heard those two, either you die or they do, and they¡¯re only sleeping. So how about it, you put down the gun and handle them how you want while we continue on our way, deal?¡±

    The boy hesitated¡ªsome point of me wished he pulled the trigger so I could see how well he burned¡ªand then his love laid a hand missing three fingers on his shoulder. The bite marks of its edge slowly consuming more the extremity in a conquest of inches.

    ¡°Put it down,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ll need the bullets for them.¡±

    ¡°You will,¡± I said.

    The boy lowered his arm. I breathed a sigh of relief as the Bloodlust which had become thick as fog soon dissipated. As the summoners made their way over I heard the faint beep of a sorc-deck notification. Looting one of the twin¡¯s sorc-decks from their pocket, I opened the device using a sleeping twin¡¯s thumb bringing up a map that had updated.

    Across the map were triangles representing agents of the circle¡ªsuch as the twins¡ªand stars denoting targets on their list like the two wounded summoners. I groaned on my walk back to my glaive. Of course the circle had found a way to hack into whatever system the examiners were using to keep track of us. It even updated every ten minutes.

    I swiped across the map until I found Melissa¡¯s star. She was making her way to Fort Tomb¡ªin good time as well¡ªthough between her location and mine there was a pack of hunters en route to intercept her path. Even more packs followed directly behind her. It¡¯d be a race.

    The sound of thunder muffled by a human skull clapped twice. I turned to the two summoners that had claimed the twins¡¯ lives. They only had eyes for each other as they examined every bitemark to make sure none continued to consume their flesh. Lovers after all.

    ¡°Here¡¯s a tip for you,¡± I said, ¡°take the other twin¡¯s sorc-deck. Apparently they and others like them are using some map capable of tracking targets like the two of you. Should help you avoid situations like this one.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± the boy said, ¡°and I''m sorry for pointing my gun at you.¡±

    I climbed astride Sphinx¡ªwe knew our destination¡ªand tossed my reply over my shoulder.

    ¡°None needed,¡± I said. ¡°If you somehow beat them¡ªunlikely but possible¡ªI¡¯d have executed both of you myself. Not for their reasons, just the test. Try not to die, okay.¡±

    I left them with a smile. One that I tended to use when Dad and Mom made my favorite food for dinner. It was what came naturally when I saw those wounded boys that needed the other just so they could stand. The both of them scurried back in terror at the sight of it.

    Sphinx ran hard blurring the trees again, and I turned all my thoughts¡ªeven the Bloodlust ones¡ªtoward my new targets. According to the map we were gaining on them. In seconds we¡¯d reach them. Five. Four. Three. Two.

    One. We broke past the tree line into another small grove where a bundle of five killers decided to make their stand. None of them had Sorcery to enhance their perception¡ªit might¡¯ve saved them. Alas, Sphinx and I were a blur of death that entered the center of their group. I whirled my glaive in a wide killing arc of bright metal.

    Even without an Inviolate Star burning in my chest, Mother¡¯s Last Smile was a conceptual weapon few could hope to match. It cleaved through necks and bodies with the smoothness of a knife spreading a thick jam across toast. Mom¡¯s favorite was apricot.

    A chorus of four cracking pops sprouted around me¡­four? I ran my eyes over each snoozing body to discover one was missing. It was the one furthest from me. I tilted my head in surprise as I saw the Ripples of a defensive spell in his wake. If I had to guess he had some shield or other that harnessed the conceptual power of an action and let him ride the Ripples of causality away from the danger. I giggled¡ªhe¡¯d be fun to hunt down, I thought.

    Then the map updated. All of their sorc-decks chirped bringing me back to the present issue. They¡¯d wake back up eventually¡ªI wasn¡¯t going to kill them kill them after all¡ªbut I didn¡¯t want to worry about potential threats at my back. So, despite the time it took, I made sure to find their decks and one by one set them on fire using Atomic Glory. If they were going to hunt they¡¯d do it properly this time.

    When that was done I urged Sphinx on after our straggler who the map showed as being just ahead of us moving still toward Melissa¡¯s location. We raced through the trees, Sphinx kicking off of tree trunks and weaving in flaps of her wings to find any extra momentum possible. The lone survivor had maybe five minutes on us¡ªhis spell having launched him quite far¡ªbut we crossed the distance to him in only three.

    We¡¯d caught up to him in a field of bioluminescent flowers glowing in bright acid colors normally only visible under a blacklight. Fitting as stretching over the glade was a dome of Night freckled in pink stars. The survivor sprinted through the field without thought to its beauty in the direction of a short-haired woman meditating on a rock at the glade¡¯s center.

    ¡°Stop,¡± I yelled, voice echoing through the glade.

    He raised a hatchet ready to cut down the woman before she¡¯d proven herself a danger to him. Something whistled through the air as it sliced into him. Pop went his Dream Shell. He stumbled, a now sleeping body. The woman opened her eyes looking through him and at me as he fell apart in two pieces severed lengthwise by a second whistle of an unseen stroke. Sphinx and I stopped, but it was too late.

    Surrounding us and obscuring the treeline was a folding screen two men tall that circled the glade¡¯s perimeter. On the screen were shimmering illustrations of sword wielding women dancing through the clouds and bisecting heavenly bodies with abandon. All of which glowed bright in the color of a Court whose name I felt on the tip of my tongue, but couldn¡¯t verbalize.

    ¡°Am I your target?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Is your name, Nadia Temple?¡±

    ¡°Are you planning on executing me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s up to you. Is capture on the table?¡±

    I hefted my glaive, ¡°Someone needs me right now.¡±

    ¡°Then you have your answer and I have mine,¡± she said. ¡°I promise to be merciful.¡±

    While her tone was clipped her voice was soft, breezy, as if she truly had no stake in any choice that led to this moment. To be honest, I don¡¯t think she was lying. Though I couldn¡¯t help but snarl at her offer. While she had no stake at all, I had everything at risk because those killers were closing on Melissa with every second that passed. Mercy, for me, was a luxury I tossed aside as Sphinx and I charged my test-assigned killer.

 Chapter 37

    We made it two steps¡ªthen came that malevolent whistle. Sphinx reacted before me. Atomic Glories used as thrusters to push us a few feet to the right. Dirt and stones showered us like wedding rice. Where we once were was now a gash in the earth at least four feet deep. The terrestrial wound terminating just before touching the stone my would-be executioner still sat on. She dismissed the stroke with a flick of her wrist and the folded-up fan she held.

    The drumbeat of my heart swallowed any words or pithy phrases I could¡¯ve made. I knew my spirit burned hot, capable of besting most sorcery of my link and higher, but resistance wasn¡¯t immunity, and whatever this was had already proved its killing power on my stolen prey whose corpse was dyed in the acid color of the glade¡¯s flowers. Sphinx conjured an Inviolate Star above us while I slid from her back to take stance¡ªand there came the whistle again.

    I¡¯d just assumed the correct grip and directed a thought¡ªthe smallest idea¡ªof violence toward the woman. It was enough. The whistle approached from our two o¡¯clock allowing Sphinx and myself to face it head on. That baleful sound which heralded death was the accompaniment to a phantom that peeled itself from its illustration on the folding screens that enclosed the glade. She¡ªas all the figures on the screen were feminine¡ªdanced and twirled with her blade held behind her, rending stroke following in her wake like a duckling.

    With a cartwheel, the phantom woman brought her sword down on the outer edge of the Inviolate Star¡¯s light. My nerves hung on the moment of that collision. She didn¡¯t immediately disperse. Would the star fail? Then, with a wink, she exploded into an aurora mist of Dreams and War. The combination felt familiar to me; a song whose words I could feel but not repeat.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± the woman said. ¡°You think fast.¡±

    As my heart rate fell, I assembled what information I could easily parse. First, she hadn¡¯t formed a single hand-spell as far as I saw. Second, the attacks targeted my exact location. More of a two-A point, if evaded the attacks carried on in a straight line even if it would hit her. Finally, each attack happened without the familiar scent of Bloodlust that normally preceded an act of lethal violence.

    I loosened my grip on Mother¡¯s Last Smile. Propped a hand against my hip and took my time to assess the woman. She wore heeled boots whose tips were capped in gold depicting a snarling ogre. Wrinkleless slacks the dark blue of a stormy night and a black thigh pouch that matched her boots. Topped with a white button-down whose sleeves she wore rolled up and the first of four buttons undone. Leaving bare the tattoo of abstracted storm clouds that rolled across her body¡ªhalf conquered by ink and the other blank flesh. Her aesthetic bisection even showed up in her hair, brown and undercut, with the uncut portion arching down in a nutty wave to her jaw.

    ¡°Why¡¯re you smiling?¡± she asked.

    I admitted, ¡°My luck¡¯s pretty bad usually, but at least my executioner is hot.¡±

    She lay supine on the rock¡ªa predator sunning itself beneath a sunless sky. Pulled free a sucker from her pocket, tapped it twice against her tongue stud, then closed her mouth.

    ¡°You know I¡¯m like, ten years older than you, right?¡±

    I said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t make you less hot, or more dangerous.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hot but not dangerous, explain.¡±

    Gesturing with my glaive at the partition, I said, ¡°This is dangerous, any trap is at least the first time. You made the mistake of letting me see it three¡ªscratch that¡ªfour times. Sort of loses its touch after a bit.¡±

    She smirked around her candy. Closed her eyes and with her empty hand pulled free four shuriken from her thigh pouch that glowed the bluish-white of Catharsis. Whipping her hand, the shuriken hung in the air before zipping toward Sphinx and I¡ªspinning stars of Cathartic lightning. When they struck the light of the Inviolate Star the lightning peeled off in energetic petals of Storms and Stars. The metal shuriken themselves continued on, but it took only a lazy Atomic Glory to reduce all four into nothingness. The woman opened her eyes to find me leaning against my glaive.

    ¡°That was a bad idea,¡± I said. ¡°You gave the game away.¡±

    She shrugged, ¡°What¡¯s the game?¡±

    ¡°Intent. You covered your eyes so that you showed no intent to hit me. If I moved or didn¡¯t that was my choice. While you remained divested from the actual result,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s why you didn¡¯t attack me first. This trap¡¯s rules affect you as much as me.¡±

    ¡°You sure about that?¡± she asked. ¡°It could be a field-spell. Maybe I¡¯m switching things up to lull you into a false sense of security.¡±

    ¡°Sphinx, could you drop the star?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Easily,¡± Sphinx said, doing just that.

    With the star down, I threw my arms out in embrace and challenge. Breathing deep the cool air.

    ¡°If it¡¯s a field-spell,¡± I said, ¡°then cut me.¡±

    We locked wills, neither moving, but as the seconds stretched into a minute¡ªwe¡¯d been fighting for only a minute¡ªmy executioner fell back onto her rock with an exasperated sigh.

    ¡°Ugh, your file is wrong,¡± she said.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s wrong. Alls below, it said you have a short fuse, a lust for violence, and an animalistic desire to prove your superiority against anyone.¡±

    ¡°That,¡± I said, ¡°feels inaccurate.¡±

    Sphinx quietly chuffed.

    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s not all inaccurate?¡± the woman asked.

    ¡°Sphinx, don¡¯t be a traitor,¡± I said.

    Sphinx tipped their head in a sarcastic apology. ¡°My apologies for mistaking crimson and maroon, Nadia. Whilst the same color family their hue and saturation do differ.¡±

    I didn¡¯t quite follow the metaphor, but it felt at my own expense.

    ¡°Anyways, sorry your formation didn¡¯t prove as effective as you expected,¡± I said. ¡°Now which screen gets me out of here?¡±

    The woman answered, ¡°None of them. The Lunar Enclosure formation, segments local space away from each other. Everything on the other side of those screens may as well be in the Underside. No one gets in or out until it falls, and I¡¯m not budging.¡±

    I groaned realizing the stalemate we¡¯d arrived at. Any violent action I took would be met by the formation responding in kind. Sphinx could block, but attempting to counter would only cause more attacks to come our way until our defenses ran out. The trap might have not been dangerous but it was undoubtedly canny.

    Noting that I¡¯d come to the conclusion she began at, the woman said, ¡°Summoner on summoner combat is all about deception and cheating. I won the moment you let your guard down chasing this guy. You must think of yourself as quite the killer, huh?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a talent,¡± I admitted. ¡°Any chance I can get your name?¡±

    She considered the request, but her entity answered for her. Emerging from within her spirit, it took the shape of a woman with four floppy bunny ears that covered her ears and eyes bound down with an embroidered band. While her body was wrapped in voluminous robes that banded over her form in a manner that reminded me of the ribbons Dad would stick onto presents.

    ¡°My bondmate¡¯s name is Tsumugi. I am but a mere swordbearer and you may call me thus,¡± she said, pressing her head to the ground in a kneeling bow.

    Tsumugi snapped, ¡°Woman, you don¡¯t have to reveal all that.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± Swordbearer huffed, ¡°you are my bondmate, not my mistress. I shall reveal what I wish when I wish. Especially when in the presence of royalty.¡±

    ¡°Equal bond?¡± I asked.

    Tsumugi nodded. ¡°I wanted a partner, not a slave. I don¡¯t regret it¡­¡±

    ¡°But some moments are easier than others?¡±

    ¡°Yup, the cost of free will cuts in both directions,¡± she said. ¡°So, what¡¯s Swordbearer talking about calling you royalty when you¡¯re a soldier like me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a weird story,¡± I said.

    Swordbearer hopped to her feet¡ªwhich weren¡¯t really feet, but rather flat nubs of some lacquered material. She crossed her arms over her chest.

    ¡°Apologies, but it¡¯s not a weird story,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s a marvelous one. Tsumugi, it¡¯s a Canonical Path and we¡¯re a step on it!¡±

    Swordbearer squealed in glee.

    ¡°Cease your prattle unless you mean to cross ancient treaties,¡± Sphinx said.

    While Swordbearer blew raspberries at Sphinx, Tsumugi and I shared a moment of confusion.

    ¡°This make any sense to you?¡± Tsumugi asked.

    ¡°None,¡± I said. ¡°Sphinx, what¡¯s Swordbearer talking about?¡±

    ¡°Things that are to remain beyond mortal ken until the Sovereigns deem otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, Tsumugi, I did say too much,¡± Swordbearer stated.

    ¡°Moving on from that,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to need you to drop the formation, Tsumugi. Right now there¡¯s a circle hunting down well-connected examinees and they¡¯re¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Planning to kill them all and pin it on Lodgemaster Khapoor,¡± Tsumugi said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty obvious.¡±

    ¡°If it is then let me go. Melissa, my¡­um, ex-fiancee is being targeted.¡±

    Tsumugi whistled, ¡°A bit young to have already annulled an engagement, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Fuck,¡± Swordbearer swore, ¡°the beleaguered path?¡±

    Sphinx nodded.

    ¡°Yes, I know, but I might be able to fix it,¡± I said, ignoring the entities'' commentary. ¡°That is, if she¡¯s not dead.¡±

    ¡°I love a good romance, Nadia¡ªcan I call you Nadia?¡± Tsumugi asked

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Great. Now, I love a good romance in books, but in real life I have higher concerns.¡±

    I slammed the butt of my glaive into the dirt. Teeth bare I hissed, ¡°Then do it so the entire region doesn¡¯t go up in flames. If Nemesis is ousted it¡¯ll be chaos!¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± Tsumugi said, ¡°but that¡¯s not my problem.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t care then why are you testing here?¡± I asked.

    Tsumugi leaned forward resting her arms on her knees. She removed the sucker from her mouth¡ªit¡¯d shrunk to the size of a pea but hadn¡¯t fallen off the stick¡ªthen pointed it upward.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°The Tenken-bumon,¡± she said.

    The heat of anger I felt was perforated by the curiosity the name inspired.

    ¡°And they are?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Normally, not your concern,¡± she said. ¡°Our name translates to ¡®Heaven Sword Division,¡¯ and that¡¯s what we are. The sword of the heavens, of the Godtenders and their incarnate deities. Through us, they see to problems across the world. My division handles those which a sword is the best tool for.¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°You¡¯re telling me the Godtenders have a secret force of summoners to what, destroy problems? They don¡¯t need soldiers like us.¡±

    ¡°Everyone needs soldiers like us,¡± Tsumugi said.

    ¡°Right, so you just came all the way from Tokyo¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Shin-Tokyo,¡± she enunciated with a voice heavy as a sunken stone. ¡°We don¡¯t shorten it.¡±

    I held up my hands in surrender. The last thing I wanted was to destroy the diplomatic bridge I¡¯d build between us¡ªeven if at the time it was largely rapport.

    ¡°Sorry, a friend had told me otherwise,¡± I said.

    Swordbearer rubbed Tsumugi¡¯s thigh in support while the Tenken-bumon agent exhaled the frustration my gaffe had injected into her. She squeezed Swordbearer¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Must have been an old friend. It¡¯s been Shin-Tokyo for two generations,¡± Tsumugi said. ¡°Anyways, I wasn¡¯t set for something as minor as a plot against a regional lodgemaster.¡±

    ¡°What were you sent for?¡± I asked, fighting down my own frustrations.

    ¡°Hybridae,¡± Tsumugi said. ¡°Human-entity blends, forbidden under the heavens. My superiors tell me that wherever you find hybridae the apocalypse is sure to follow. See? Higher concerns.¡±

    My mouth went dry. She was looking for the White Wombs¡ªthe Godtenders knew about them, but only sent a soldier? If they knew beyond rumor they¡¯d have sent someone else higher up the Chain, and not have them bogged down with an exam. I looked up from my own thoughts to meet Tsumugi¡¯s uncovered eye¡ªblue as the azure sky on a summer day¡ªunflinching and all-encompassing in what it saw.

    ¡°Do you know something?¡± she asked.

    About the White Wombs or my own strange heritage? The thought skipped across my mind sprouting images of the White Wombs, hybridae, floating inside their tanks in that hidden facility. Then came the thoughts about myself and my relationship to Mom. I drew my foot back, angling my body in a calm yet martial stance. I didn¡¯t know how accepting of mysterious curiosities, like myself, the Tenken-bumon was. Did I have to be born a blend, or was it enough that a Sovereign let me speak her coronation name and granted me access to her Court through Mother¡¯s Last Smile¡ªthose techniques I used were Mom¡¯s no matter what Amber said.

    Amber, she said people just called it Tokyo, but they hadn¡¯t for two generations apparently. How long was a generation? The thoughts poured from me in a flood that threatened to knock me from the perch of calmness that I¡¯d found inside Tsumugi¡¯s trap.

    Tsumugi said, ¡°There exists a line, Nadia. You don¡¯t see it normally, but it¡¯s there if you know where to look. The horizon. Those moments we decide to lie or tell the truth. When someone offers you a way out if you¡¯d only take their hand and accept their terms. Alls below, it¡¯s there every time we decide whether to kill someone or not.¡±

    ¡°The partition between Is and Is Not,¡± Swordbearer said. ¡°That which determines one from zero, and makes two from one.¡±

    ¡°A sacred severance made mundane for how little we consider it,¡± Tsumugi said.

    Swordbearer intoned with pride, ¡°The Court which is first and last. Whose Sovereign is twin-faced awake yet sleeping.¡±

    ¡°Make the right choice, Nadia,¡± Tsumugi said.

    I looked up¡ªTsumugi¡¯s face was devoid of her prior calm yet not committed to a new stance. If I was on the line of choice then so was she. A smile crossed my face as copper teased my nose¡ªa memory, a premonition perhaps? I shrugged it off and sat my focus in the moment.

    ¡°Or what, you¡¯ll kill me?¡± I asked.

    Tsumugi stood, ¡°If the heavens demand¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Tsumugi,¡± Swordbearer screamed.

    There it was, Bloodlust, that faint scent which came from Tsumugi¡¯s own determination to do right by the Godtenders too lazy to solve this problem themselves. It was paired with the whistle of a scything blow trailing behind a sword-wielding dancer.

    Tsumugi leaped from the rock¡ªbelow where she¡¯d sat was the control circle for the formation, I was right. Wielding the enclosed fan she parried her own trap. At the same time, I circle strafed with Sphinx conjuring an Inviolate Star above my fingers.

    ¡°We need not defenses, Nadia,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°The Inviolate Star is a defense, but its purpose isn¡¯t to block.¡±

    I tossed my glaive to Sphinx, and with my other hand grasped the Inviolate Star between my fingers. Stealing a page from Tsumugi¡¯s grimoire, I slid to a stop, wound back my arm, and whipped it forward releasing the Inviolate Star as a shuriken.

    ¡°It¡¯s to unspool sorcery and defy fate,¡± I explained. ¡°Sometimes that¡¯s better than any defense.¡±

    Swordbearer swung her head away from Tsumugi and over to us, but she was too slow. It plunged into the stone seat that served as the formation''s control point. The Underink that Tsumugi used went up in the chalcedony flames of Revelation. Sorcery unspooling as if a spell had struck its light or tried to sink into my body.

    Fwoosh. In one beautiful sweep, all the folding screens combusted burning down into skeletal remnants and then not even that. Only through Omensight did I see the aurora smoke of Dreams and War twinning through the air to merge back into the general tapestry of the world.

    ¡°Ahhhh, Nadia,¡± Tsumugi said. ¡°Your file didn¡¯t mention you loved bad decisions.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m starting to think the examiners have it out for me,¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯d deserve it. Swordbearer,¡± Tsumugi said, ¡°to me.¡±

    Swordbearer raced to Tsumugi. I formed the seal for Atomic Glory, wrapping the tie of Bloodlust that hung dripping with promised violence between Tsumugi and myself around my fingers. Fate is faster than physics¡ªI split infinity content with my victory.

    Tsumugi raised two fingers miming scissors¡ªa hand-spell¡ªand brought them together severing our tie of fate. She turned to me sporting a smug grin. A wind blew lifting the brown curtain of hair and unveiling her hidden eye. A scar ran over it¡ªthin and well-healed¡ªbut the pupil was split into two hovering halves set within the same iris made of two colors: gold and azure.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Nadia,¡± Tsumugi asked, ¡°didn¡¯t someone teach you scissors beats string?¡±

    Swordbearer reached Tsumugi¡¯s side in a kneeling powerslide. Back arched, the arcing robes that covered her flesh blossomed. Breasts bare she graced me with an upside-down smile, and the perfect view of why she was termed, ¡®Swordbearer.¡¯ Up her chest, from crotch to sternum, were the intertwined fingers of two hands which composed her torso. They clutched tight around a sword sheath which curved graceful as a woman¡¯s eyebrow.

    ¡°In the name of our Twin-Face Sovereign¡ªdraw,¡± Swordbearer declared.

    The thumbs of the two hands lifted from the guard no longer imprisoning the sword in its sheath. Tsumugi drew and cut with the curved saber in one motion. She was across the glade from me having raised neither a hand-spell nor uttered an incantation. Yet Bloodlust flooded my nose, dilating my eyes and tuning my ears to catch the angle from which violence would find me.

    My spirit told me it was already there as something¡ªa sense, a memory, knowledge that hid where I¡¯d made the cut between me and what lurked in the mirror¡ªpassed through me. Horizon Severs Sea From Sky. The name vibrated through the fibers of my spirit as it passed cleanly through the pre-existing cut in my spirit. With it came a memory too fast to recall.

    ¡°You two are annoying,¡± Tsumugi said, bringing my attention back to the glade.

    I inhaled a breath to remind myself I was alive. Sphinx had interposed herself between me and Tsumugi just in time. The bright metal head of Mother¡¯s Last Smile, the bulwark that defied what had happened to trees at my side and behind me. All of them were cleaved in two perfect halves. Their stumps smooth as tabletops.

    ¡°The forest is stronger than soldier Sorcery,¡± I stated.

    Tsumugi pointed the saber at me. ¡°If you want to destroy them then yes, but what happened to them is natural. A possibility that can¡¯t be denied if they¡¯re to be Real.¡±

    ¡°Fate?¡±

    Tsumugi mimed zipping her lips. I hefted my glaive¡ªit wasn¡¯t like I needed an answer that badly. We charged. Behind us, our entities threw spells down in great volleys at the other¡¯s summoner alternating between offensive and defensive in smooth transitions.

    Sphinx released an arcing cascade of Atomic Glories. Swordbearer swept her arms conjuring a sliding door that caught them all before burning away. She lifted her arms releasing scything waves promising bisection. Sphinx conjured and kicked an Inviolate Star intercepting it.

    Below them, Tsumugi and I traded blows of our own. She snaked around the head of my glaive twisting like a reed. Step-by-step gaining ground where she could before leaping forward in a swipe meant to take my head. I bent back like a willow in a storm letting the entity conjured weapon taste air instead of flesh. Then pushed the end of the glaive¡¯s shaft down kicking the head up toward Tsumugi¡¯s heart. Only for her to leap and barrel roll through the air returning to the range I wanted her to stay at.

    In physique and Sorcery we were even. She was cunning and I was quick. Hers were ten years of hardened skill at fighting within this link. Mine came from¡ªwell, not to brag, but talent¡ªand a taste for killing that I sought to sate in every exchange. Yet, somewhere in our dance where every step felt known and right and we could chase each other through the glade until the sun rose¡ªI¡¯d forgotten that this was a fight and not a dance. I¡¯d allowed her to gain my measure, and so she did what I¡¯d not entertained in twenty moves.

    ¡°Solar Severance,¡± Tsumugi incanted, while raising the seal for the same hand-spell.

    Instinctively, I raised my glaive to defend myself¡­then I followed her eyes. It was for Sphinx! A horizontal wave of gold cut through the air. I formed the hand-spell for an Inviolate Star tossing it to Sphinx. It spun fast and flew hard arriving just in time for the wave to strike it. Reacting, she flapped her wings shooting herself backwards just in time for the star which had saved my life so many times prior was cut.

    Revelation fell to pieces. The wave severed the tips of Sphinx¡¯s wings. I tried to run over.

    ¡°No cheating on your dance partner,¡± Swordbearer said, as she spun conjuring partitions that segmented local space¡ªsplitting the glade in half.

    I yelled, ¡°Sphinx!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hurt,¡± Tsumugi said.

    I whirled to face her. My glaive raised high in one hand. Mouth opened, ready to rip out her throat with fangs that craved blood¡ªher face was so close. Close enough to kiss. Why? Something dripped onto the ground between us.

    Looking down I found my answer¡ªshe¡¯d stabbed me. In the moment I cared for Sphinx she¡¯d found my end. Mother¡¯s Last Smile fell from my hands hitting the ground with a thud.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± I said.

    Tsumugi tilted her head, ¡°Life usually isn¡¯t. You should be happy you¡¯re tasting failure now rather than when you can¡¯t come back from it.¡±

    I stumbled forward. Wrapped my hand around the back of her neck. Laid my head against her¡ªTsumugi was nice enough to let me. Nice enough to hear the final words I whispered.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not fair for you.¡±

    ¡°What are¡ª?¡± Tsumugi didn¡¯t finish her question.

    Swordbearer¡¯s scream had clipped the end off. The partition she¡¯d conjured fell into the ground discorporating into nothing in a grand reveal to display Sphinx¡ªtriumphant, as I knew she would be¡ªwith her fangs sunk into Swordbearer¡¯s neck.

    ¡°No,¡± Tsumugi said. ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Take a peek,¡± I said.

    Tsumugi looked down to find her answer. What had dripped onto the flowers wasn¡¯t the blood of my Dream Shell. It was the melted remnants of the sword which had come from Swordbearer.

    ¡°¡®Summoner on summoner combat is deception and cheating,¡¯ you said, and I never showed my full hand,¡± I said. ¡°Wanted to see what you knew about me. Which, from how you kept throwing spells my way like they¡¯d work, wasn¡¯t much. See, it¡¯s new but my spirit burns so hot that it melts entities and sorcery alike.¡±

    Swordbearer howled in pain as the weapon pulled from her body¡ªof her body¡ªmelted to the guard. Tsumugi shook her head in disbelief before raising up a pleading expression.

    ¡°Nadia, the hybridae¡ª,¡± she said.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t my highest concern,¡± I stated. ¡°That¡¯s taken by my vengeance and my people, and all things in between those two concerns¡ªwell¡ªI¡¯ll enjoy killing them.¡±

    I split infinity with my other hand, cupping an Atomic Glory gentle as an egg. Then pressed it against Tsumugi¡¯s chest, grinning as it ate greedily of her body. Wreathing her in beautiful chalcedony until you couldn¡¯t make out a single discerning feature. I watched her burn and let her final sight be my broad fang-filled smile of ecstasy as I drank in the unique scent of our paired Bloodlust wrapping about one another. It wasn¡¯t a real kill¡ªno more than reading a smutty novel was real sex¡ªbut after what she put me through¡­it still hit the spot.

    Her Dream Shell popped banishing away the flames of my Atomic Glory. As well as washing away the half-pleasure I¡¯d found in her ¡®death¡¯. As I stared at her slumbering body there in the flowers, I felt the red rivers of Bloodlust erode the stone of sanity I¡¯d constructed in my mind. A dreamer¡¯s death wouldn¡¯t sate me. It wouldn¡¯t make me less hungry.

    ¡°Princess, please spare my summoner,¡± Swordbearer called out.

    I rolled my eyes, lying, ¡°Oh, of course I was. No point in killing her killing her.¡±

    ¡°Apologies,¡± she said, ¡°your mien said otherwise.¡±

    Sphinx unhinged her jaw allowing Swordbearer to scurry to Tsumugi¡¯s side. As if she¡¯d change her mind about what I presumed was a withdrawal from our fight, I hurried toward Sphinx. Burning droplets of chalcedony blood dripped from her wounds reminding me of her tears. I stroked Sphinx¡¯s face once, twice, three times.

    The ritual of my fingers sliding through her hair pushed back the tide of Bloodlust. With my mind returned to me I called out to Swordbearer, ¡°What Court are you anyways?¡±

    She twisted her head to face me and answered in the language of entities¡ªthat mystical vibration of the spirit known as conceptual speech. Somehow still a wind stole her answer cleaving off portions of the tune.

    ¡°Divi****,¡± she answered. ¡°It¡¯s not my place, but may I ask a question?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.

    ¡°How did you evade Tsumugi¡¯s horizon which cuts the world?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe it was because Sphinx blocked with this?¡±

    I raised my glaive up. Swordbearer shook her head.

    ¡°She was too slow. Please, for me, think harder.¡±

    I swam upstream through the memories of my duel with Tsumugi. Trying to return to that place when I felt the horizon pass through me. It passed through me as if I was what it already sought to do. Swordbearer awarded me a tiny applause.

    ¡°Take the lesson to heart,¡± she said. ¡°What already is struggles to be acted upon. Good luck with your path, Princess.¡±

    Sphinx nudged my leg¡ªwe had to hurry. I climbed astride her back, and we left Tsumugi and Swordbearer behind in the glade.

 Chapter 38

    ¡°Help us,¡± moaned one of Melissa¡¯s would-be killers. ¡°Please.¡±

    Despite the rush I was in, I did consider it; Stylistically, I trended toward the direct when it came to killing¡ªcutting a man down, setting him on fire, or a thrust through the soft palate to sever the brainstem¡ªdirect, quick, debatably merciful. Melissa, as I realized racing down the path toward Fort Tomb, was the opposite in all aspects. She was creative.

    In running away from the idea of killing a single man she¡¯d Mutated the forest into a gauntlet of biohorror torment. The man who¡¯d groaned out the request was suspended in the deceptively dainty fingers of the tree¡¯s branches which squirmed beneath his skin. Sewing around nerve clusters as the tree drugged him with a potent sorcerous variant of dopamine that hoisted your spirit to the highest heights of ecstasy. The rest of his comrades were so far gone that any attempt at language was rendered down into arpeggiated moans.

    It was on the cusp of granting him mercy that I saw what he clutched in his fist¡­a lock of her hair. I raised my glaive and with it the light of hope in his eyes. Swish. One swipe, his hand fell like an overripe fruit. Fingers uncurled from the shock¡ªtheir last command¡ªreleasing the lock of Melissa¡¯s hair into my custody. The hand I left in the dirt as Sphinx and I continued on.

    ¡°We all make choices,¡± I said. ¡°Some, better than others.¡±

    ¡°Wait don¡¯t goooo,¡± he yelled before it became a dragged out moan.

    We sped through the psychedelic scenery of bodily transmogrification that Melissa left behind like breadcrumbs. I¡¯d stopped relying on the map at that point; my love¡¯s creations became the signpost for navigating every turn or bend. As Fort Tomb¡¯s grandeur dominated more and more of the sky, the clues that Melissa was being run ragged were increasingly apparent.

    Her creative means to avoid taking a life were replaced by methods both simple and effective. Grass twisted to be sharp as a mosquito¡¯s proboscis skewered trackers through their limbs, slime mold nets melted flesh into earth, and vines swung as killers kicked at the air struggling against their vegetative noose. It was in one of the traps that I passed a summoner whose claws had impaled and tore away a fat leg¡ªMelissa¡¯s leg.

    Then came the sign that she had pushed herself too hard. Plants scattered the path broken, burned, wilted, hacked through, and melted in their futile attempts to stop or even stall those who¡¯d kept the chase going. Amidst their remains was her arm. Stomped into the dirt by a hundred feet until it had become more mush than limb. It was here that I¡¯d caught the scent of Bloodlust on the wind¡ªno longer smothered beneath Mutation¡¯s twisty aroma and Melissa¡¯s flagrant abuse of her new power as a Baron.

    Sphinx and I broke past the treeline arriving at the base of the hill Fort Tomb claimed as its own. In the dipping sun, the shadows of the mob stretched to the trees in an umbral carpet. Slowly shifting as they made their bitter ascent toward my love who stood silhouetted in the dying ruby sun ready for this to be her last stand.

    She was magnificent, the scene, however, was a torment¡ªalongside the limbs I¡¯d passed she had been stripped of an eye, missing a chunk of her torso, and the birch hair she maintained as if a religion was torn and bloodied. Despite it all, there wasn¡¯t a trace of melancholy on her face. Instead, I only saw conviction¡ªto grant them no pleasure, to grant them no easy win, and to hold faith that her friends would arrive. That I would arrive.  She didn¡¯t need me to be sad on her account. She needed me to be sharp. A knife that would cut a path between the obstacle that was everybody which stood between her and me.

    Under the Omensight, the crowd¡¯s Bloodlust speared the air in the form of carmine war standards dancing along to the fluctuations of the mob¡¯s murderous impulse. It was on those carmine standards I fixed my sight and inhaled. Flooding every gap of my spirit with Bloodlust¡¯s sticky savagery until my eyes dilated and time dripped slow as a blood nose.

    I wove my hands into the seal of a Fivefold Atomic Glory. Took aim at one of the knots in the crowd¡ªa figure whose commitment to Bloodlust had ensnared those around him. Infinities upon infinities spun a wreath of possibility around my fingers¡ªnone of them mattered if Melissa wasn¡¯t in them¡ªso I split it all and watched as these killers'' futures burned.

    A baleful star screamed itself into the world banishing shadow in its passage. Its life short-lived as a half-thought later it collided with the earth. Exploded in four directions. So many Dream Shells popped that the sound was a thunderclap. Fire dispersed. In its wake was a scar in the hill shaped in the image of a four-pointed star¡ªRevelation¡¯s calling card.

    The mob halted their advance, turning back to see who¡¯d struck them. Melissa raised her head to see if salvation had arrived. Sphinx conjured an Inviolate Star above us¡ªsecurity and light so every would-be killer could see the face of their doom. I leveled Mother¡¯s Last Smile and drank in the silence. In one act, I¡¯d made this my battlefield, and none dared to move.

    ¡°Let it be known right now,¡± I bellowed, ¡°you are all dead! What I offer is not mercy, but your last and only chance at Resurrection. Leave now and embrace life, or make ready as I send you to whatever Afterlife shall receive your pitiful spirit.¡±

    The leaves rustled in an arboreal furor as a summer storm rolled in. Clouds disemboweled themselves unleashing a hateful downpour. I looked to Melissa.

    ¡°Baby, momma¡¯s coming.¡±

    Lightning severed the tension. Thunder set the beat. The mob roared in challenge¡ªtheir reason, a chilled corpse on the altar of Bloodlust¡ªand they descended upon me, a tide of death. I charged forth silent, focused, and smiling. They needed a mob; I only needed Sphinx.

    Collision. My glaive swam through bodies carving channels of passage for my inexorable advance. The Sorcery of soldiers broke against the light of the Inviolate Star in bursts of color and Principle. Spells from Barons drilled past the shield only to melt at the touch of my body. All around me limbs and heads climbed into the sky as Dream Shells popped. I was sharp. I was a knife. I was the cutting line between here and there, and I never stopped watching Melissa¡¯s face. Not even when she gasped.

    Bang. My body snapped backward. Bang bang. I was cast to the ground. Three molten fingers had jabbed into my torso. On shaky legs I rose and beheld a mousy woman holding a gun whose barrel steamed in the rain. Not fingers, bullets. I coughed, blood stained my teeth as it waterfalled from my mouth¡ªshe¡¯d gotten a lung.

    Sphinx whirled around, her wings wide in a threat display as she tried to stare down the summoners that encircled us. None of them moved¡ªthey probably hoped I¡¯d pop here, drop into a slumber, and allow them to go without fear of my reprisal. The woman looked around in disbelief at the unanimous trepidation.

    ¡°Come on,¡± she screamed, ¡°she¡¯s just a soldier. She¡ª.¡±

    ¡°You talk too much,¡± I said.

    I had wound the tie of bloody fate that stretched from me to her between my fingers; Atomic Glory. Her words evaporated becoming hoarse screams as chalcedony flames consumed all that she was¡ªuntil her Dream Shell popped. Then she fell to her knees sleeping. I spit a glob of blood into the dirt.

    ¡°Do you want a fucking invitation?¡± I asked the crowd.

    When no one answered I tossed Mother¡¯s Last Smile into the air, reversed my grip on it, and threw it like a javelin. The metal gleamed brighter than lightning. Pierced through one man¡¯s heart. Pop. Gored a second man¡¯s intestines. Pop. Impaled a woman through the lower vertebrae, the only thing keeping her standing. As the men before her fell to the ground dreaming she met my eyes. I have no idea what she saw in them, but I wanted to have a little fun so I jerked forward¡ªignoring the pain that caused¡ªchomping at the air. She clutched her chest and¡­pop. Falling free from her impalement as if it were just a horrid dream.

    I laughed, ¡°I¡¯ll come to you.¡±

    The crowd edged forward belching sacrifices my way as I stumbled forward. One carried a spinning flail that gathered Cycles of kinetic force¡ªSphinx tore his head off before he swung. His hand released the weapon launching it into the distance where it exploded with unfocused power. Bodies ragdolled through the air from that.

    A second was prodded forward at the same time as the first fell. He wore the crown of Kings, his entity. Sphinx¡¯s head spun to catch him racing toward my back. Noting her shift in attention I fell forward turning around before his outstretched hand could touch me. I gifted him two Atomic Glories; one through the head and a second through the heart. His crown rolled from his head unfurling into a small bejeweled lizard that snarled in disapproval of me.

    My back struck the mud. I grunted in pain¡ªa break in the illusion of invulnerability I¡¯d maintained until then. The crowd surged at once. I tried to form the seal for Godtime, but a boot found my head a hair quicker than my hand could contort. Sphinx rushed over goring through the woman¡¯s spine in punishment. I crawled up her tumbling body using it as cover to block a bolt of Voracity fired by a different summoner in the distance. My attention swiveled to them¡ªanother wrong decision¡ªas an uproar of skeletal limbs surged from the dirt pummeling me into the sky. The Ghostly musculature that enabled their motion melted on contact, but the bones were real enough.

    ¡°It has to be Real,¡± a summoner said, I assume the one who¡¯d launched me.

    Arrayed below me was a mob¡ªdepleted but not removed¡ªwho latched onto the advice. Spears of lightning, bullets, gouts of fire, materialized swords, chakrams of ice, and boulders¡ªnot sorcerous someone just found a rock¡ªsoared up after me. Adrift between heaven and earth, I looked to Melissa. In the brief respite I¡¯d carved out for her she¡¯d grown a new leg, an arm, and an eye. I should¡¯ve been happy, but the only thing I really cared about in that moment was that she was crying. I hated to see my people cry.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Godtime,¡± I incanted, plunging the both of us into a state of temporal stillness.

    Well, it was relatively still. There were too many summoners pushing against the constraints of my Godtime even if most were only soldiers. I could¡¯ve loosened the spell¡¯s reins accepting a sluggish procession of events, but I¡¯d die then. Instead I allowed myself ten unpassing seconds.

    One. I assessed the violence that sought my demise. A panoply of weapons frozen like stairs up to the sky. I could work with that.

    Two. My body fell. I grasped both spears of lightning¡ªthey were the closest to me¡ªand threw them back to the earth at different trajectories.

    Three. The throw had taken my full body causing me to flip forward. I rolled over the tip of a sword, reached up to clasp its hilt just in time, and parried the seven that would¡¯ve otherwise skewered every important organ.

    Four. I threw the sword behind me¡ªit¡¯d come back later. Crossed my arms to steal the chakrams from the sky and released them just as soon. They skimmed the air on their way to take some other poor fool¡¯s head.

    Five. I rotated myself the best I could¡ªthere¡¯d be no way around the bullets. They perforated my sides leaving trails of blood behind me.

    Six. The gout of flame washed over me, but Real fire prefers a concentrated stream if it''s to be lethal. It still fucking hurt though.

    Seven. I winked at Melissa. She couldn¡¯t hold back the laugh of disbelief and hope at my antics. It felt good to make her laugh again.

    Eight. The boulder and I made our acquaintance. My bones shivered from the force, but I crawled¡ªNine¡ªleaped from it to clear the circle of foes I would¡¯ve fallen back into. Ten.

    Godtime ended, and the projectiles that had refrozen once they¡¯d left my hands went to work. Lightning struck its target, skewering them through the skull and frying their nerves. The parried swords fell with the rain severing limbs and nicking arteries which fountained blood into the faces of those nearby. Two heads¡ªdecapitated courtesy of frozen chakram¡ªrocketed from their proper bodies. Then after came the comforting chorus of popped Dream Shells.

    I soared toward the location of Mother¡¯s Last Smile. I¡¯d land close to it. A few steps and I¡¯d have my weapon again. A perfect plan. An obvious plan. As a woman in silk robes that snapped in the wind proved when she¡¯d leaped into the air beside my glaive. Her eyes wide and attentive so she¡¯d miss nothing. With the Omensight I could see the Court which hung tight to her body in a crystalline lattice¡ªMastery, but a Master of what?

    The answer came when her shin, hardened from decades of training, snapped my ribs in a kick that returned me to the circle I¡¯d tried to leave. She was a Master of martial arts¡ªfuck me.

    I crashed to the ground¡ªprobably snapped my ankle¡ªthen scrambled to my feet. My body could scream in disapproval of how I treated it, but I wasn¡¯t lying down until I reached Melissa. Sphinx ran to me¡ªthe bastards had stabbed her while we were parted. A summoner of Bondage intercepted her with his entity, a chitinous knight with the face of a sleeping maiden. The damn thing opened along seven seams snapping out with seven black barbed tongues that coiled around Sphinx¡¯s legs, her neck, her wings.

    ¡°Sphinx, forget about me,¡± I said. ¡°Drop the star. Fight back. Fight!¡±

    ¡°Always, Nadia,¡± she yelled back.

    The Inviolate Star fell¡ªdarkness rushed in around us¡ªthis was the wrong move. The fucking jackals that these summoners were shaped their spells ready to pummel Sphinx. It didn¡¯t take Godtime for me to see how everything slowed. Regrets slid into my mind. Why didn¡¯t I graduate? Why not try harder to have Melissa drop out? Why not use Godtime earlier? Then, when no answers came, I shaped the seal to return Sphinx into my spirit. In the darkness she was incandescent. Something somewhat Real returned to burning glorious concept flowing free from the entity¡¯s clutches, snaking between legs and dodging spells, before shooting into my chest. Returning to the depths of my spirit.

    ¡°No, no, Nadia don¡¯t do this,¡± she pleaded from inside of me.

    I said, ¡°It¡¯ll be okay. We¡¯ll get through this.¡±

    Then a kick took me in the back. I stumbled. Shifted my spirit to make use of Sphinx¡¯s paw, and whirled on my attacker eviscerating his throat. Bang. I fell to a knee¡ªthough it was more accurate to say I lost a knee. Someone had recovered the sleeping woman¡¯s gun.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± I said, before a knee crunched into my face toppling me into the mud.

    That proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was gassed¡ªI wasn¡¯t, but I had been shot like eight times by then. Only so much adrenaline and love can do. The mob pushed and shoved at itself for each person to have the privilege to kick me while I was down. Granted it was more like they stomped me. My thigh, my ribs, and some tried my head, though I had the good sense to cover it the best I could¡ªmore training courtesy of Mom.

    There was only darkness. I was so covered by attackers and blinded by my own pitiful attempt at defense that not even the sharp fangs of lightning could grant me illumination. There was only mu; up my nose, in my mouth mixing with blood. I wondered if you could drown in mud. The Dream Shell would let me find out.

    Then I pondered on how alone I was. My family from breakfast wasn¡¯t here beside me. I fought and was about to die alone. Sphinx had said it¡¯d be only us in the end. This was a taste of that. Loneliness was dark. It was cold. It was¡ª

    ¡°Isolating,¡± a voice said.

    Then, raising her head from the pool of darkness was the face of the unnamed Baron who wore stars as a crown. She smiled wide and pleased with herself.

    ¡°That¡¯s your name, Revelation Isolating?¡± I asked.

    Revelation Isolating nodded. ¡°I knew you¡¯d figure it out once you had a taste. Though apologies at how bitter this must be¡ªto learn and accept that in the end it¡¯d be just you and me.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯d be me and Sphinx.¡±

    Revelation Isolating laughed at me. Her laugh reverberated in my dark isolation. I hated how bright her laugh was. How I wanted hear it again, so at least I wouldn¡¯t be faced with nothing.

    ¡°You have to stop being a child, Nadia,¡± Revelation Isolating said. ¡°I am Sphinx, or rather Sphinx is me. The path you¡¯re on leads to me Nadia, it¡¯s inevitable, and when you graduate my younger sister, that lesser self of mine, I¡¯ll emerge. Replete with all that love she holds for you¡ªit really is so heartwarming to know that I¡¯d be joining a real lover girl like yourself.¡±

    She retreated into the darkness. I couldn''t help it but reach out for her¡ªmy hands fell on a door knob. We were inside of my spirit in that place I¡¯d fallen into due to Ferilala Nu-zo¡¯s questioning. I looked behind myself to see Sphinx battered and curled up on a pillow. She raised her head with eyes unfocused and lip busted.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let her make you¡ª,¡± she groaned, before Revelation Isolating emerged from behind her screen, took her by the hair, and bashed her head into the small table at the center of the room.

    Revelation Isolating whispered, ¡°Quiet, little sister. The adults are talking¡ªthat is, if you¡¯re ready to be one Nadia.¡±

    Her hand redirected my head to the door¡ªunadorned but hot. I hadn¡¯t seen her move, but in my spirit I imagine that was unnecessary. She laid her chin on my shoulder.

    ¡°You know,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯m one of the more popular Barons historically speaking. If you need someone to love you Nadia, then pick me. I¡¯ll love you forever. I¡¯ll love you completely. So much so that you¡¯ll be full and sated with no need for anyone else.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be alone,¡± I said.

    She rolled her eyes, ¡°Yes, dear, but that¡¯s getting older. Ascending until you¡¯re at the peak and there¡¯s no one else who can join you. The isolation that comes natural to those who crave power. It is why you started on this path in the first place after all.¡±

    Tears welled in my eyes. Maybe she was right. I mean, it was my birthday when they killed Mom and Dad. I got a little older and more alone. If it was natural then¡­then¡­

    ¡°You¡¯ll always have me,¡± she said. ¡°No need for anyone else. No need for any more pain.¡±

    Revelation Isolating pressed a kiss to my cheek stealing a tear.

    ¡°Now open the door, and we can step into¡ª.¡±

    The roar of a beast ripped through the air drowning the thunder. It was a bellow that vibrated in my bones and made me a bit aroused¡­Melissa. I let go of the door knob.

    ¡°No, come back, she won¡¯t make it,¡± Revelation Isolating said¡ªno, she was pleading.

    Then I heard the screams that came from human voices. She was fighting? I turned my head freeing myself from Revelation Isolating¡¯s grip.

    Revelation Isolating screamed, ¡°She¡¯s Crystalline you fucking moron. Once she sees you really sees you free from the scales of your pitiful love¡ªshe¡¯ll toss you aside.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s coming for me though,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe she won¡¯t always, but she is now. Which means¡­¡±

    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t mean anything. Not in the grand scheme¡ª.¡±

    ¡°...I¡¯m not alone. I¡¯m not isolated. So, Revelation Isolating,¡± I declared, ¡°Fuck off.¡±

    My spirit shuddered as it expelled her. She flew into her silk screen disappearing into the scene within before it went up in flames so bright that they banished the darkness behind my eyes. I felt my body again, bruised and broken and bleeding, but it was my body. It was being lifted from the cold sucking mud that had nearly drowned me.

    I cracked an eye open¡ªthe other one was swollen shut and caked closed with mud and blood. There above me was the towering chimeric form of my ex-fiancee. The bodies of two summoners hung from her jaws as she shook them back and forth until her teeth had severed them. Their Dream Shells popped forcing Melissa to spit out their sleeping bodies. Hearing my groan of consciousness she looked down at me with her two pupil eyes blinking with her three eyelids so she could behold me with the greatest clarity.

    ¡°Y-you killed them,¡± I said.

    Melissa smiled¡ªwell, her chimeric form didn¡¯t have the muscles to smile but she did flash her silver teeth the length of sabers, ¡°Of course, they touched my baby girl. For that, I¡¯d kill anyone.¡±

    She then looked sad as her eyes roamed across my body cataloging every wound.

    ¡°Nadia, why didn¡¯t you try eating the star?¡± she asked.

    I coughed a puddle of blood into her scaled hand that cradled me.

    ¡°You all didn¡¯t want me to anymore. So I didn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°Wanted you to know I was serious. About us. Everything.¡±

    ¡°You idiot,¡± she said. ¡°You big idiot, I know. But it isn¡¯t about the spell, it¡¯s about how much I hate to see you like this, broken.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you think,¡± I coughed, ¡°I felt seeing you missing a leg and arm?¡±

    ¡°Not great. Though you know what?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You really know how to fall with style.¡±

    I laughed, and then groaned as I felt a rib slice deeper into some organ I knew was important. Using her thumb as a support, I pulled myself to a sitting position. Glanced to the side to see that the mob was diminished further but still had just enough people to put up a fight if Melissa planned to take them on herself.

    ¡°Hey, so it might be a weird time to ask this,¡± I said, ¡°but since it¡¯s just us against them right now, think this could be a date?¡±

    Melissa¡¯s laugh boomed like thirty ceremonial drums hammered at once.

    ¡°That¡¯s this Nadia¡¯s taste in dates?¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Who doesn¡¯t want to look cool in front of a girl.¡±

    ¡°Well, until that one lady kicked you out the sky you did look pretty cool,¡± she said. ¡°But you should probably eat up, I can¡¯t go on a date with you if you¡¯re asleep.¡±

    ¡°Eat up?¡± I asked, then I understood. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± she said, ¡°let me see you at your best.¡±

    ¡°Fuck yeah.¡±

    I conjured an Inviolate Star, winked at Melissa¡ªwhich admittedly just looked like I closed my eyes, and then swallowed the star whole. It burned going down. I relished the burn because it pushed away the cold. Pushed away the isolation. Incinerated the pain and the weakness in my body. Then, limbs and organs held together in Revelatory fire, I opened my other eye and took in the fearful faces of those about to die.

    ¡°I told you fucks, you¡¯re already dead,¡± I said, jumping down from Melissa¡¯s hands for round two and my first ever battlefield date.

 Chapter 39

    To the mob¡¯s credit, they waited until I¡¯d finished my sentence before attacking me, unloading a hodgepodge of Real weapons and materialized projectiles capable of exploiting the gap in my defenses. It was how they¡¯d nearly put me down once already; the difference, however, between that distant then of three minutes ago and the cutting edge of now was the star burning in my chest that made every wound feel as real as a distant memory.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Melissa said, ¡°you need to take this seriously.¡±

    With a speed that belied her bulk, Melissa dove down, coiling her gargantuan serpentine body around me forming a sinuous barrier of scales and muscle against their assault¡ªshe was the other reason things would be different. A fact proven when I heard the ineffective pings and dings of bullets, spears, and shattered bone weaponry.

    ¡°I promise I am,¡± I said. ¡°Right now, there¡¯s nothing I¡¯m taking more seriously.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t; I didn¡¯t know if I¡¯d get another chance as perfect as this to show her who this me¡ªI¡ªwas and had to offer. She¡¯d seen my devotion and commitment to not cross the line that she¡¯d established alongside everyone else. Now it was time for her to see me in my glory. As something beautiful and worthy of love.

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± Melissa hummed in disbelief.

    I watched myself in her eye¡ªemerald and enormous¡ªas I pressed a hand to my chest as flames snapped at the air whilst crawling over my body keeping my perforated form standing. My face was bloody, bruised, and honest. An open book if she¡¯d be willing to read it.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me then make me a promise.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± she asked.

    ¡°That I¡¯ll take this so seriously, and that you¡ªuntil this fight¡¯s over¡ªwon¡¯t take your eyes off me.¡±

    She said, ¡°Give me something worth watching.¡±

    It was as good as a yes, and slingshot my hopes beyond the lunar palaces Ferilala Nu-zo spoke of. With a whoop, I ran forward, used an Atomic Glory as a thruster, and vaulted over Melissa¡¯s chimeric body and into the sky. Shooting up higher and higher like some Old World rocket.

    I looked back¡ªupside down¡ªto see that Melissa had Mutated her scales into titanium blades. Her lower body coiled faster than it had would-be killers to shred to pieces. While her head, framed by clouds pregnant with lightning, was looking in my direction. Her eyes were on me. She was living up to her promise, and though I had already been in the air¡ªmy heart was soaring.

    Watch me, I thought. Letting the plea echo in the chambers of my mind. Watch me until you see me. Until you see how I smile, how I laugh, how I soar through the sky light as autumn leaves. When you see me¡­won¡¯t you love me?

    At the apex of my arc, I flipped. Aimed my thrust at the sky, directing my body to the earth. I was a missile. A spear cast by a vengeful god. A knife that wanted to be held and coveted. To the unfortunate man who I landed on; the awful nightmare of having your head crushed, driven into your chest cavity, followed by a crown to groin bisection. His Dream Shell popped shooting his fitful sleeping body back into the crowd.

    I spun around to view Melissa, throwing my hands in the air accentuating how I¡¯d stuck the landing. Melissa blinked, slow as a cat. Tilted her head.

    Bemused, she asked, ¡°Is that everything?¡±

    ¡°Hardly, I¡¯m¡ª.¡±

    The summoners surrounding me had put aside their tact, opting to try catching me mid-sentence with a concerted thrust of their swords. A tactic that saw their blades slip deep into empty air¡ªI¡¯d already jumped. A backflip that carried me up and over the swipe of Melissa¡¯s black claws which made parts and pieces of the summoners they passed through. Followed by the anxiety-quelling pop of Dream Shells.

    Melissa¡¯s tail stabbed the air in a rush to provide me a perch to land on. She carried me back toward her face which tripled the size of my body. I blew my beloved giantess a kiss.

    ¡°As I was saying, hardly, I¡¯m going to use every inch of this battlefield to show you who I am.¡±

    She scoffed a train rumble that carried through her body. ¡°So you¡¯ll just be talking about yourself?¡±

    ¡°Is my serpent fishing for compliments?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Alls below,¡± she laughed. ¡°Rather those than puns.¡±

    A sine wave rolled down her tail, flicking me off and back into the sky. Arcing me across the battlefield. She¡¯d launched me but she laughed. I made her laugh. My smile was so wide it would¡¯ve taken two fingers and no effort to rip the top of my head off.

    ¡°Then I will,¡± I said, ¡°starting with your tail. I love it. You should keep it all the time.¡±

    I formed the seal for Atomic Glory and fired a beam of chalcedony flame that made a donut of some unimportant would-be killer¡¯s head. Pop.

    ¡°My tail. Is that all you have eyes for?¡± she asked, before using that same tail¡¯s halberd tip to decapitate a small cluster of killers to a chorus of pops.

    ¡°Of course not. I have my eyes on you all the time. Like how cute you look when you¡¯re focused, and your tongue peeks out past your lips.¡±

    Another Atomic Glory. Another Dream Shell popped by Revelatory fire through the brain.

    ¡°Wait, I do?¡± she asked.

    ¡°All the time,¡± I said, ¡°and it¡¯s the cutest. Brings attention to those lips of yours, so soft and so full, that it takes everything not to kiss them each time you walk into a room.¡±

    Atomic Glory. Pop!

    ¡°Okay, Nadia, that¡¯s enough¡ª.¡±

    I disagreed, ¡°It¡¯s not. It¡¯ll never be because there¡¯re so many parts of you to love. Your creativity that''d give a child nightmares. The beautifully designed chimera form that you never stop tweaking to get even an ounce more of performance out of it. That heart of yours which endures everything the world¡ªme¡ªhas thrown at it, and still has room to care for others.¡±

    Atomic Glory. Atomic Glory. Atomic Glory. Pop! Pop! Pop!

    The summoners below chased my fleeting form across the sky with any weapon they could get their hands on. They could no more pierce my body than shoot my love from the sky. For their troubles¡ªand misplaced attention¡ªMelissa¡¯s slithering form crushed the slow ones. Her blade-scales sliced the quicker ones. All while she chased after me¡ªnever looking away.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Melissa whined, ¡°you¡¯re embarrassing me in front of the assassins.¡±

    I was, oh I was, but how could I stop praising her when she was blushing so hard it looked like she¡¯d Mutated her body to run hot as a furnace the way her scales lightened to an orange that rivaled a sunrise. So I didn¡¯t stop. I landed right beside Mother¡¯s Last Smile. Shot my hand out to grasp the shaft, and freed it from the mud. The metal head blazing from dull gray to a burning white found only when you risked blindness to stare into the sun.

    ¡°Then let me sweep them away,¡± I said.

    With light steps I torqued my body. Shifted my hands to the end of the glaive¡ªthis was my big swing and none could escape. Set my eyes on the few stragglers still standing and released. Bisect the Sun. A horizontal wave of white mixed with chalcedony chased away shadows in a mad pursuit of those I¡¯d marked to die.

    I turned back to Melissa¡ªher face briefly illuminated by my light that made her scales radiant¡ªand crossed the quiet battlefield with a hand outstretched.

    ¡°Because these words are for you alone. I don¡¯t love you in pieces. Everything I said is a love derived from you; all those aspects lead back to you,¡± I said. ¡°My eye may roam, but whenever it falls on you you¡¯re the only person I see.¡±

    A half dozen Dream Shells popped; the strike of a giant¡¯s cymbal punctuating my declaration. My heart pounded loud enough that I wonder if Sphinx could even hear what I¡¯d decided to leave unspoken. A question. Do you see me?

    Across the quiet battlefield Melissa slithered, shrunk, reformed her legs, and stopped within arms reach of me. She kept some of her scales, her tail, and traced those karambit claws of hers down her arm¡ªnerves? I didn¡¯t want to risk toppling everything I thought I¡¯d built. She¡¯d flirted with me, laughed with me, and alls below I hoped she¡¯d heard me. Not the words if they sucked, but the feeling behind them at least.

    I wanted to have her again. Hold her again. Maybe sandwich her between Amber and myself forming a sleepy little formation with our bodies letting every emotion run from one of us to all of us. There was so much I wanted to do again and do for the first time, and it all hung on that single unspoken question. Did she?

    ¡°I¡ª,¡± she started.

    ¡°Yes?¡± I asked. Fuck, I asked too quickly, she wasn¡¯t done. Alls below, I hoped she didn¡¯t hold that against me.

    She chuckled. Let the quiet and the rain fill the space again¡ªthough it was only the audible kind. As she stepped forward, gobbling down the gap between us. Resting her clawed hand against my face¡ªI¡¯d never felt anything softer.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you smile like that in so long¡ªtoo long,¡± she said. ¡°But I¡¯m glad I got to see it. You were like the sun in the sky.¡±

    What?

    She said, ¡°And so boisterous as you leaped and soared.¡±

    No.

    ¡°Even when they cornered you¡ªwhich had me so worried¡ªyou were brilliant until you went down and just as brilliant as when you got back up.¡±

    No. No. NO!

    ¡°I missed you,¡± she said, ¡°but I knew you were still there.¡±

    Fuck! I looked around for someone anyone I could cut down in a way that didn¡¯t fucking remind her of someone who was gone. Of some ghost I couldn¡¯t compete with yet claimed my every success. That Nadia didn¡¯t combat a curse while racing across an island to rescue her. That Nadia didn¡¯t fight her way up a hill to reach her. That Nadia didn¡¯t¡ªthen my eyes landed on someone.

    There, a few feet away, was that summoner bonded to Mastery¡ªthe martial artist¡ªwho¡¯d kicked from the sky. She was perfect! Sure she was wobbling and her eyes were unfocused, but why wouldn¡¯t they be when she¡¯d somehow dodged everything we¡¯d thrown at the mob.

    Stolen story; please report.

    I pulled away from Melissa¡¯s touch. She yelled something to me¡ªprobably more words of praise and love for that fucking empty space in my spirit¡ªso I ignored it. Kept my eyes on the summoner who to her credit did her best to re-establish the spells she¡¯d dropped for some reason.

    She threw a kick. It was so slow, too slow. I danced around it, spinning atop the loose mud, and arrived at her back. Plunged Mother¡¯s Last Smile into the dirt. Wove a rear-naked chokehold around the summoner¡¯s head and flexed my spirit releasing Sphinx¡¯s wings. My intention rode the fibers of my spirit down to Sphinx who activated an Atomic Glory shooting us heavensward.

    ¡°Would your Nadia ever think to do this?¡± I asked.

    I went up so fast that I tore the little martial artist¡¯s head from her body. Her spine wiggled behind it like some gore-dipped caterpillar. Gore? I held out my hands and turned the head to face me¡ªits eyes were half-lidded. You could almost describe them as sleepy.

    My breath became shallow and hard. I had been upside down so many times today, but only this time it felt like the world was spinning. Clouds became the earth, trees became the fingers of a stormy sky. Everything blending until it was all caaaaarmine.

    I finally heard Melissa. She¡¯d been yelling, ¡°Nadia, no, she woke up.¡±

    A syncopated laugh danced up the steps of my throat. Of course, the Kennelmaster had said that you could wake up. If you did, you could keep taking the test. It was a way for you to mitigate your own risk. Decide how far you¡¯d go.

    I lifted her head up higher like it was some chalice. Blood dribbled from her lips to splatter against mine¡ªI couldn¡¯t resist having a taste. Then I got hit with a rush of feeling like fingers tracing my spine. Stars exploding into a constellation across every nerve.

    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°guess this is as far as you go.¡±

    The two of us lowered back to the ground. Took the head by the spine and whirled it around until it became a blur¡ªthen released. It flew quite far. Farther than she¡¯d go now.

    ¡°Nadia, you have to stop,¡± Melissa said. ¡°You know this is the curse!¡±

    It was¡ªI knew it was¡ªand that changed nothing because that red river I¡¯d been wading in all day had risen past my head.  The Bloodlust was drowning me. Rushing down my throat, my nostrils, staining my eyes. If I wanted to stop I didn¡¯t know how. All Amber had said was killing progressed things. She never said how to manage it when you were in it. So I didn¡¯t, and the curse ran its course.

    The first target were all the lovely little bodies scattered around me. A buffet of lives that in my curse-addled mind had been threats hiding and waiting to unveil themselves. I couldn¡¯t let them do that; what if they hurt Melissa? No, never that, so I took my glaive and thrust into a sleeping body¡ªa head rolling off down the hill.

    ¡°Nadia!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, the address you¡¯re trying to reach isn¡¯t home right now. Hasn¡¯t been in a while.¡±

    Slice¡ªthat body split in half at their cinched waist. Stab¡ªthat one went through the heart, and the person flopped like a fish making one bold gasp before dying. With each kill everything became red and redder as Bloodlust rose around me like a fog, and every breath cycled that same Bloodlust into my body feeding the curse.

    I pounced on another body only to be shoulder checked out of the air by someone dense and scaled. My feet dug into the mud as I slid to a stop. I turned my head without moving my body to see Melissa standing in front of the slumbering would-be killer that would¡¯ve had no mercy for her if I hadn¡¯t put them down earlier.

    ¡°You¡¯re protecting them,¡± I said.

    She said, ¡°We already beat them.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I argued, ¡°they¡¯re asleep. If they wake up they¡¯ll just keep trying to take your beautiful head from your shoulders.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡±

    I pointed the hand-spell for Atomic Glory at a nearby sleeping summoner¡ªthe girl who¡¯d shot me¡ªand split infinity. Chalcedony flew faster than Melissa could move. The body was a beautiful bonfire that soon became nothing. Melissa looked around unable to properly remember the person who¡¯d existed and now didn¡¯t.

    I said, ¡°Alls below, Melissa, they ripped off your leg, your arm, stole an eye from you¡ª.¡±

    ¡°And I healed it all back. Nadia, none of that matters.¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°Well it matters to me. You¡¯re mine and they wanted to take you from me. Like those masked assholes who took¡­¡±

    Tears rolled down my cheeks mixing with the mud and blood that¡¯d splattered my face already. Everything an impressionistic jumble made incomprehensible. The only thing I could follow was Melissa slowly walking toward me as if I was a predatory beast. My tongue traced my fangs enjoying the comedy and truth of the comparison.

    ¡°Maybe they are, maybe they¡¯re not, but they¡¯re no threat right now,¡± she pleaded. ¡°Nadia, you saved me.¡±

    ¡°I did, didn''t I?¡± I asked, shoving tears and blood out of my eyes.

    ¡°You did.¡±

    ¡°So why won¡¯t you let me keep you safe?¡± I asked. ¡°It won¡¯t take long and then there won¡¯t be anyone to threaten you.¡±

    Melissa stopped advancing toward me. Shook her head with a bitter look on her face like I¡¯d made her try the worst fruit in the world.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do that, Nadia,¡± she said. ¡°You asked me at breakfast to help you fight this curse, so I will even if it means I have to fight you. Please, don¡¯t make me fight you.¡±

    A wind rolled across my battlefield teasing my hair until it fluttered behind me.

    ¡°A headwind,¡± I said. ¡°How ominous.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    I threw my glaive at her. Melissa¡¯s scales were sturdy, but Mother¡¯s Last Smile was sharper than anything Real¡ªat least they usually were. The bright metal head dimmed from its previously blazing white hue. When it struck Melissa it didn¡¯t even score her scales. It just bounced off of them into the air spinning wildly.

    Using Sphinx¡¯s wings I took to the air to catch the glaive. Melissa was still in shock that I¡¯d thrown my weapon at her¡ªprobably also in shock that it hadn¡¯t pierced her big empathetic heart. I furled the wings falling into a sharp plummet with the glaive cutting the air behind me with a whine normally heard from nails on chalkboard.

    It was a good idea, impaling Melissa had failed so why not try slashing I thought. Only for the metal to dim even more¡ªduller than when I¡¯d plucked it from the mud¡ªcausing it to slide off the scales of Melissa¡¯s forearms she¡¯d held above her head for defense. The glaive should¡¯ve cut her in two, but instead the force had only pushed her back cutting nothing.

    I held the glaive to my eyes with disbelief. The metal tip looked less like some potent conceptual weapon left behind by a Sovereign; rather, it was duller and dimmer than the butter knife I¡¯d used at breakfast. Then, whilst staring into the depths of the weapon¡¯s head, I felt a pulse of feeling vibrate across every fiber of my spirit¡ªdisappointment, sorrow, a low-broil anger¡ªall of it rippling and rippling and rippling. Driving me down to my knees.

    It felt like I was being ripped in half under the weight of it all, but the carmine in my eyes clouding my mind was falling away. The vibrations tossed it off of me even as it tried to stick and dye itself on my spirit. The two forces warred in my body and I¡¯m sorry, but it was all so much¡­too much. In my weakness, I threw Mother¡¯s Last Smile from my hand.

    As it sailed away¡ªand with it that palpable displeasure¡ªI rose again on unsteady legs. Reaching out for something to help hold me up, and finding the sword I¡¯d tossed behind when I was falling from the sky. I gripped its hilt so tight that you¡¯d think I¡¯d grabbed the blade itself from how blood ran from my hand trickling down the grip.

    ¡°Nadia, whatever¡¯s happening you have to fight it,¡± Melissa said. ¡°Come back to me, please, you can still come back home.¡±

    ¡°You keep pleading to someone who¡¯s not here,¡± I said. ¡°How come you have a heart for everyone but me? Do I have to carve it from your chest to have a shred of your love?¡±

    I unsheathed the sword from the earth¡ªit was a rapier that meandered in a serpentine fashion¡ªdeciding that it¡¯d be an adequate murder weapon. Then with a great beating of Sphinx¡¯s wings which I used my spirit to keep unfurled, I raced across the earth to try and wound Melissa again. Whether it was the fact I never learned to fight with a sword, let alone one of the more elegant sort, or the heavy-handed touch of the curse I failed to strike a wound on Melissa even once.

    Her body was a Mutant thing that bent at sharp right angles no spine should, armored by scales which deflected every thrust and manic swing. It was infuriating trying to make her bleed and barely being able to even touch her. I snarled in fury thrusting forward with all my might; she only had to Mutate her skin and organs around the thrust creating a perfect gap for it to slide through¡ªit was wide enough that there was at least an inch on all sides away from any metal.

    Then just as fast as it opened it closed before I could recover the weapon trapping it inside of her without actually being inside of her. Melissa twisted her hips, ripping the sword from my hand. She took a step backwards, pulled it free, and then broke it over her scaled knee with a snap that I wished was her bones crunching in my hands.

    ¡°Nadia, this is over,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re done.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think we are,¡± I said.

    I ran my hands through my blood-soaked mud-covered hair pushing it away from my face. Shook my head in disagreement at the claim. Flexed the muscles in my jaw as I paced around her assessing every inch of flesh I¡¯d once covered with kisses in what felt like a lifetime ago. All so that I could find the point that would let me peel her apart and taste again the sweetness I knew existed in her body.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want this. I mean, you haven¡¯t cast a single spell at me. You¡¯re fighting this and you don¡¯t even know you¡¯re fighting it!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes, really¡­¡±

    I stopped listening after she said yes. I¡¯d used the glaive, the sword I¡¯d recovered, but no spells¡ªit forced me to a standstill. My mouth had uttered no incantations. My hands hadn¡¯t shaped a single spell aimed at her direction. Then again, who said I needed to make a hand-spell to wield my Sorcery when I was already covered in it?

    ¡°Melissa,¡± I said, ¡°do you remember when you were shot?¡±

    ¡°I do. I also remember how scared you were for me.¡±

    ¡°How I searched for the bullet in your body?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°I want to know if this feels similar.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Melissa was so good at solving problems, but sometimes a little slow on the uptake. Again I¡¯d caught her trying to catch up to my own intimations. In a few steps I¡¯d pounced on her, deciding to live up to the beast she thought I was, and taking us both down into the mud together. She tried to scrabble to stop me, but I was the better wrestler. A three-time champion at knowing just how to pin my love¡¯s arms above her leaving that beautiful soft neck of hers open for attack.

    ¡°Now isn¡¯t this familiar? Doesn¡¯t this bring you back?¡± I asked.

    Melissa said, ¡°Nadia, please, you don¡¯t have to do this.¡±

    I ignored her¡ªshe wasn¡¯t talking to me after all.

    ¡°See, Melissa, I know your body so well. I¡¯ve kissed every inch of it. Loved every curve and fold and stretch mark. It¡¯s a territory I¡¯m very familiar with, and even with all your Mutations there are some things you just can¡¯t change,¡± I said, leaning in to whisper into her ear. ¡°Like how sensitive your neck is.¡±

    ¡°Nadia, no¡ª.¡±

    I silenced her voice as my fangs¡ªaided by the flames of the Inviolate Star¡ªpierced her scales releasing that sweet taste of her blood in my mouth. It was an explosion of flavor I struggled to guzzle down. A consequence of whatever she¡¯d done to her arteries and heart to pump even more blood through that delicious body of hers.

    Then I bit down further, harder, and realized that blood wasn¡¯t enough. I had to shove what I could of her into me so that it went to me and not the ghost she kept trying to summon up. With a yank I tore out her throat, swallowed everything but a scale¡ªthat got spit out, and leaned back to behold my work.

    She¡¯d clasped her hands together in a failed attempt of some hand-spell. While her hair splayed around her head in a gorgeous ashen birch crown that played off the rain-darkened mud around her. While her blood¡ªher gorgeous sharp red blood¡ªfractaled like the branches of a tree that rose from the crimson pool that slowly grew with every continued heartbeat.

    ¡°See Melissa, my fingers tore away at your chimeric body back at the ERO facility, but who knew my teeth were better. Fangs really are a great addition,¡± I said. ¡°But you probably can¡¯t hear right now can you. All that blood draining out of your neck¡ªmaking such a mess of the place¡ªit¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    Melissa smiled and calmly said, ¡°I¡¯m glad you think so. Did that help?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Did it help? I want to make sure I got the experience right for you.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t understand how she was so calm. She was pleading only moments ago. I didn¡¯t know what trick or scheme she was planning, so I released her arms and used Sphinx¡¯s wings to beat a hasty retreat. Yet when my feet touched the ground they felt numb, disorderly, causing me to stumble in my landing. The only reason I didn¡¯t hit the ground was because I landed in someone¡¯s arms¡ªsomeone¡¯s arms?

    Reflexively, I tried to pull away but the arms held me fast even as I squirmed and fought. The more I moved the more numb I felt as whatever Melissa did to me spread through my body. If I wanted to cast even a single hand-spell that train had left the station and was on the other side of the world by now. I couldn¡¯t feel my fingers. My heart slowed to a crawl.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°We got you.¡±

    I tilted my head up to see that my captor was Amber. Her face slowly spun with the rest of her body and the rest of the world down an unseen drain. My eyes slid back to Melissa feeling like the world was too slow and my body too fast.

    ¡°What¡¯d you do?¡± I asked.

    Melissa formed a quick hand-spell that regrew her torn artery, muscle, skin, and plated it back over with scales. She walked over to where Amber held my numbing body. Pushed a few locks of hair from my face tucking them behind an ear.

    ¡°What you wanted us to do¡ªhelp you fight the curse,¡± she said. ¡°Now, you¡¯re going to feel a little sleepy, and once you wake up we¡¯ll explain everything.¡±

    Her voice deepened as time dragged on in one long drip. I swallowed¡ªwhen did my mouth become so dry? Melissa kissed my cheek. Amber kissed the top of my head. Then, twice-kissed, it all went dark.

 Chapter 40

    Waking up after an impromptu sleep was a lot like opening your eyes after a river has ferried you down a hill and a few bends. Your surroundings don¡¯t line up with your last memory, and then there¡¯s that vexing gap preventing you from tracing the line between where you came from and where you are. Leaving your mind to grasp for anything it can use to hold on while you figure out what¡¯s happening and what you¡¯ll do next.

    ¡°Nadia¡¯s up,¡± Lupe said, her voice distant as if on the other side of a room.

    Melissa asked, ¡°Nadia, are you feeling okay?¡±

    The room I was in rippled into irregular focus as I floated up into consciousness. When it all stilled, I kind of wished it hadn¡¯t. The walls and ceiling were a freshly painted beige that inspired nothing to the mind. They didn¡¯t even have the grace to be white enough for you to imagine they were a canvas you could paint over with daydreams and idle fantasies.

    ¡°Where am I?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Somewhere calm, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°Don¡¯t move too much.¡±

    I ignored her advice and pushed myself up slowly, but not slow enough as my head swung like a weight was dangled from the tip of my nose. A groan eased its way out of me as the sudden movement caused the light headache I had to rake its nails across the folds of my brain. I whined and shook my head only to feel that weight swing me past my intended range of motion in both directions.

    ¡°Alls below, what¡¯s on me?¡± I growled.

    My hands swatted the front of my face trying to catch the weight only to land against cold metal. Both hands explored its shape¡ªboxy, square gaps between metal rods, all bent at an angle just barely beyond a right one¡ªthen I tried to yank it off. The leather strap that crossed the back of my head bit into my scalp.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± I snarled.

    The pain sobered me up as everything popped into perfect clarity. I was on a cot. Opposite me sat Sphinx, her body leaning against the wall next to Mother¡¯s Last Smile as she watched me. While the boxy metal thing on my face suddenly had a very simple name¡ªa muzzle. They¡¯d put a muzzle on me. I looked one way¡ªwall¡ªthen the other to find a set of vertical bars segmenting the world within my little box from the broader one outside where Lupe, Amber, and Melissa looked to have been waiting. As they leaned against the metal railings of a catwalk that overlooked the ground level of Fort Tomb¡¯s interior¡ªcells lining the walls opposite and below us.

    Melissa said, ¡°Nadia, I need you to try and stay calm¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Why am I wearing a muzzle?¡± I asked, my voice quivering.

    ¡°Three guesses and the first two don¡¯t count,¡± Lupe said. ¡°It has to do with the same reason you had your nap.¡±

    I swam past the gap of memory to find everything hazy and glazed over in¡­carmine. The curse. Fuck! My face fell, my body wanted to collapse with it, but I gripped the cot and tried to keep it together. Focused on sifting through memories, placing them side-by-side until they fit together like a window of stained glass.

    There were the two summoners I¡¯d rescued¡ªI didn¡¯t kill them even though I felt the temptation. My fight against Tsumugi¡ªI¡¯d relished in beating her but it was the false death of a Dream Shell. Then I recalled in pieces my battle against the mob that¡¯d hunted Melissa. First by myself, then with her¡ªsuddenly a pain gripped my chest. A feeling impaling my heart like a stake and pounded in until I shattered. Melissa didn¡¯t see me.

    In recollection my heart broke all over again. The shards of it all beating out of sync as my breath became erratic. Sphinx rushed over to my side pushing her face in front of my eyes. Her mouth moving as she spoke words intended to pull me back into the present, but everything rushed in from too many angles for her to block, swallowing me in the throes of memory.

    I saw my prey groggy and unsteady. Her face¡ªher head¡ªin my hands; that sleepy expression that¡¯d never wake up. Mother¡¯s Last Smile, dull and disappointed¡ªMom, you stopped smiling on me, I¡¯m sorry. Melissa, below me, bleeding out, the taste of her on my tongue¡ªwhy did she taste so good? I wanted to retch, to vomit like they do in the stories, reject my act of cannibalism as something the curse made me do; nothing came out, no revulsion could inspire my bile to act, why wouldn¡¯t it come out!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry,¡± I rambled.

    My body rocked back-and-forth as it felt like the world spun. If I couldn¡¯t vomit it back up did that make me a monster? I earned this muzzle. This cell. I¡¯d earned this designation and when I looked to see my friends they were on the other side¡ªwe were all at the same table this morning and now they were¡­I pushed Sphinx aside and stumbled toward the bars reaching out with my hand for them¡ªthey all stepped back, afraid. A sharp wail tore from my throat.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± I said, my voice getting smaller.

    Amber stepped forward clasping my hand between both of hers. The expression on her face was one of contrition and empathy. Melissa came forward next, reaching into the cell to stroke my head. Why did she look so guilty? Lupe shook her head in disgust as she squeezed the neck of her guitar as if it was someone else¡¯s.

    ¡°The muzzle was too much,¡± Lupe said. ¡°I told you both it was.¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°You did, you did. And Nadia, you don¡¯t have to be sorry. Not at all.¡±

    I laughed, dripping with an acid loathing for myself. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. I¡ªI ate a part of you,¡± I said. ¡°I would¡¯ve kept eating you.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Melissa said, sheepishly. ¡°But that was the outcome we wanted.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Amber squeezed my hand as she said, ¡°Temple, we¡ªI, just I¡ªknew that the curse would run loose eventually. Take it from someone who¡¯s dealt with it. This thing is all but inevitable so long as you¡¯re getting into fights like you do.¡±

    ¡°When Amber realized what the mask was she messaged me immediately. Putting together a plan while you slept just in case we couldn¡¯t talk you out of abandoning the exam,¡± Melissa said. ¡°She advised me on what we¡¯d need if we had to create an Anti-Nadia plan to help keep you in check. So, rather than the normal graduation track in the Knitcroft family notes, I took the graduation trial and went for a different Baron. One less about Mutating only myself, and instead to help me Mutate my environment¡­and others.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a rather tough person to put down Temple, said that one yourself. Trying to constrain you in anything Real wouldn¡¯t be useful unless we were trying to kill you. Especially if you had that star effect of yours running. Which left only one avenue¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Biological vectors?¡± I asked.

    They all nodded. I pulled my hand back as the pieces fell into place. If biological vectors were the only avenue to affect me¡ªsuch as with the somnambulant cicada¡ªthen they were betting on me¡­on me trying to eat Melissa?

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have any faith in me?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx laid a paw on my shoulder. She said, ¡°Nadia, faith is a matter higher and harder than belief. It¡¯s loyalty.¡±

    ¡°They lied to me,¡± I said, shrugging her paw off of me.¡°You all bet on me failing!¡±

    ¡°Temple, we did what you asked us to¡ªhelp you fight the curse so you aren¡¯t fighting alone,¡± Amber said. ¡°Yeah we started in advance, but that doesn¡¯t change we did it for you.¡±

    Melissa reached between the bars for me¡ªI shuffled backwards. I don¡¯t know if I didn''t trust her or if I didn¡¯t trust myself. She curled her open hand into a trembling fist. Pounded her chest to punctuate her words.

    ¡°I chose this. I want to help you beat this curse with everything I can,¡± she said. ¡°Even if you have to eat me a hundred times I¡¯d rather that than see you stack on the pain of killing and consuming someone who can¡¯t just bounce back from it like I can. You¡¯re not the only one allowed to make sacrifices, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°Besides,¡± Lupe said, ¡°we had to lie to you. If you haven¡¯t noticed you¡¯re very good at Sorcery and finding weird ways to come out on top. The last thing we needed was you knowing exactly how we planned to stop you and then beating the plan.¡±

    I paced about my cell as I ran their plan through my mind¡ªit was a good one. Wait until I eat some of Melissa¡¯s flesh bringing it past my spell resistance. Then, as I recalled the hand-spell she¡¯d made that I thought was a failure, she had used it as a piece of sympathy to Mutate the flesh into myself to deliver a sorcerous effect knocking me out. Once again proving Sphinx right, resistance wasn¡¯t immunity, and I had more weaknesses than I thought.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    With their plan deduced, I ceased pacing. Clenched and unclenched my hands. Glanced at Mother¡¯s Last Smile and nearly broke again¡ªthis time from joy¡ªas I saw the blade glowing a soft white once more. I wasn¡¯t abandoned just yet; not by anyone.

    I asked, ¡°Can you let me out then?¡±

    Melissa hummed and hawed. Lupe nervously plucked strings unable to weave together any notes. Amber clutched one of my cell bars as she looked away.

    ¡°Temple¡­¡± the words failed to come to her.

    I tilted my head in confusion. They¡¯d said they made a plan to take care of things, so I wasn¡¯t a threat¡ªright? I looked between the three of them and none of them dared to meet my eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°You trust me, right, right?¡±

    Melissa hurried to clarify, ¡°Nadia, it¡¯s not that we don¡¯t trust you. It¡¯s just that we only really have the one plan. You know how it works now, so if¡ªand believe me, we really mean if¡ªthe curse runs loose again then we don¡¯t know what happens.¡±

    ¡°Temple, between the four of us you¡¯re probably the most dangerous and none of us are stand up fighters really like you.¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°Amber, I know you can fight. You have to have some kind of trick or toy inside that storage-spell of yours.¡±

    ¡°I have things, but Temple I¡ªI¡¯m better at deception. At catching people off-guard. Any ¡®tricks or toys¡¯ that could work in an upfront brawl are too lethal. If I killed you then, well, my curse would probably run loose right after.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, that makes sense,¡± I said, agreeing, ¡°but I have my Dream Shell¡ª.¡±

    ¡°You had your Dream Shell,¡± Lupe said. ¡°When your star ran out you succumbed to every wound you had¡ªand you had a lot. Technically, you died Nadia. Again.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    I dropped back onto my cot. Sphinx nudged her head beneath my hands. Reflexively, I stroked her hair, delivered scritches, and tried to let myself fall into the sensation of my bondmate¡¯s silken tresses. It was helpful, but not enough¡ªthe family I¡¯d made was scared of me, in losing my Dream Shell they were scared for me. Along two axes we were falling apart; them the human beings and me the beast who needed to be in a cage and muzzled.

    ¡°What happens next?¡± I asked, resolved to my fate.

    Amber said, ¡°We stay here with you. All of us passed.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Lupe chuckled, ¡°It¡¯d be pretty hard not to when between you and Melissa you took out that entire mob. You both got points for those ¡®executions¡¯, and Amber and I got the rest, shuffling them into cells to count as captures.¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°Now that they¡¯re in the cells there¡¯s no sorcery they can do that¡¯ll get them out short of Amber handing them the control tablet so they unlock the door.¡±

    ¡°So we just sit it out here, recover from any summoner¡¯s exhaustion, and wait until the test is called?¡± I asked.

    Despite my sarcasm, it was a pretty relaxing thought all things considered; a shame that my luck then¡ªas it is now¡ªwas atrocious. Right after I spoke, Fort Tomb was plunged into darkness. It didn¡¯t take much, its name was well-earned as like any tomb it was devoid of windows or skylights, so when the lights were cut there went any source of illumination either artificial or natural. Lupe immediately formed a hand-spell with the intent to rectify that, but Amber caught her hand before she could conjure even a thread of Morning light.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°I could ask you the same thing,¡± Amber hissed. ¡°If we make light or noise it¡¯ll give us away. So make neither.¡±

    She let go of Lupe¡¯s hand and directed them to join her against the bars of my cell. Pressing themselves as tight against them as possible to avoid being seen from below. A wise call considering that a moment later the emergency lights flicked on coating the interior of the fort in slaughterhouse red.

    I grabbed my glaive and pressed myself up against the bars as well. Whispering into Amber¡¯s ear, ¡°Let me out.¡±

    ¡°Temple, now¡¯s not the time.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s an enemy you¡¯ll need me.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s an enemy that¡¯s all the better reason to keep you in there,¡± Amber said.

    My voice couldn¡¯t help but rise in indignation, ¡°I refuse to be stuck in here when godtenders know what¡ª.¡±

    Anything I could¡¯ve said was drowned out in a noise that had been recorded into my body, my memories, my nightmares. A birthing mother¡¯s scream played backwards. Melissa squashed her hands against her ears¡ªthey were too sensitive to handle the noise. She bit back any potential sound of pain by literally biting down into her lip. Amber¡¯s face turned away from mine with an expression I can¡¯t imagine. Though I didn¡¯t give much thought to her expressions as my own were busy trying to deduce why they were here; it had to be them after all, the ones who¡¯d killed my parents and hid from my righteous vengeance.

    Our hearing adjusted back from the sudden sharp assault of the axis mundi¡¯s activation. Silence settled in revealing that things were hardly silent. There was the whine of energy powering old lights that ran on electricity of all things. You could hear the air flowing through the ducts recycling bad air from good. If you really listened, I¡¯d argue you could hear the heartbeat of every person captured during this exam as well as my own, Amber¡¯s, Lupe¡¯s, and Melissa¡¯s as we waited for the answer of who did this and why.

    The who came in the answer of a metal boot¡¯s heavy thud. Clank. The why came in the answer of metal grinding against stone skipping between gaps in the flooring. Skkkk-tip, skkkk-tip. Both sounds intertwining to stretch taut our nerves. Clank, skkk-tip, clank, skkk-tip, clank, skkk-tip. CLANK!  From around the corner on the first floor, I saw his hand¡ªa metal glove like an old diver¡¯s suit albeit the non-metal portions were, as I now knew, conweave. Then came the head, a bulbous helm with lights inset that brightened the deep red of the tomb into a fresher crimson hue belonging to a new wound. Ironic really, a new wound for an old enemy, as I recognized him then standing in full view¡ªThe Angler Knight.

    ¡°It¡¯s him,¡± Lupe whispered.

    Amber asked, ¡°What do you mean ¡®him¡¯?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the right hand of Marduk,¡± Lupe said.

    ¡°Marduk,¡± Amber repeated, as if in soft disbelief of the name attached to Lupe¡¯s hated foe.

    Despite the recognition, Lupe didn¡¯t move or leap down to try and challenge him to some kind of fight. She was better than me in that respect, lacking in the impulsivity I trended toward. Instead, we all watched as the Angler Knight moved from cell to cell peeking inside for targets. He found one at the third cell he stopped at. Raised a black table that soaked in the red light and pressed it against the slot for control tablets. When he removed it the panel flashed red, then green, then held on green as the cell door clicked and swung open.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± the now-freed prisoner said, albeit with hesitation.

    The Angler Knight slid his body to the side and gestured with the hand not holding the massive greatsword, after you. It was enough for the prisoner¡ªwhy stay in a cell after all when you could have your freedom¡ªand so he walked out. Once he passed the threshold he raised his hand in a goodbye, but before he could speak¡ªthe power of Abyss crashed down onto him turning him from a man, in one moment, to a smear against the stone in another.

    Every prisoner that had been woken up by the sound of the axis mundi became a chorus of screams and pleading. Even those that had worked for the circle were screaming. The poor bastards had no idea¡ªif they cared at all¡ªthat this was the nature of those they¡¯d aided. None of it seemed to bother the Angler Knight though as he continued searching.

    No, no, no, yes. He opened another cell with his illicit control tablet. This prisoner, a woman, tried to fight back using Tyrant spells to command the Angler Knight to step back and let her go. He stepped back and thinking she¡¯d won she sprinted out of the cell. In true cruelty, he allowed her to make it five steps before reducing her to a smear. Then searched for the next one. Then the next one. Then the next one. Four targets he found and reduced to nothing. Two still had their Dream Shells. That saved them from his usual method of killing and won them the luxury of dying in slumber as he plunged his sword through their hearts.

    After the sixth, he snapped his fingers and from around the corner hurried a woman carrying the shrine that I knew was the axis mundi. She wore a simple outfit of matte black armor¡ªsimilar to the kind my parents¡¯ killers wore, though she lacked their presence¡ªand a glossy spherical black helmet. The woman produced a sorc-deck from her pocket.

    ¡°How many are supposed to be here?¡± he asked.

    Reading the information on its screen, she said, ¡°Seven. Why?¡±

    ¡°That was six,¡± he sighed, as if this was some grand burden. ¡°When does the map update?¡±

    ¡°In a minute,¡± she said.

    My heart fell as I realized what they were looking at. It was the same map that helped me find Melissa. That let every would-be killer find Melissa. I couldn¡¯t speak. It¡¯d give us away. The map would do that anyways. They could try to run, but I knew the Angler Knight was adept at using field-spells. They¡¯d have to fight and I¡¯d be forced to watch.

    ¡°Amber, please, you need to¡ª.¡±

    Beep. Their sorc-deck and my looted one harmonized. Echoing across the ancient skeleton of Fort Tomb. The woman looked at the sorc-deck and tapped it approvingly.

    ¡°There, still says seven if you count the bodies.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± he hummed.

    He looked left. Not there. He looked right. Not there. Then he looked up. The beams of light projecting from his helm spotlighting my girls. Melissa. He crooked a finger and metal whined, screamed, before roaring as bolts shot free from the wall and the catwalk ripped away into open air. The Angler Knight was a master at using his field-spell, and without a single seal or incant he¡¯d parted from the girls. Rotated the catwalk in the air so they¡¯d be facing him dead-on before lowering it to the ground with a gentleness that belied the fact that he¡¯d come to kill Melissa.

    ¡°Only one of you has to die,¡± he said, weary at the whole act.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lupe snarled. ¡°You!¡±

    She hopped the railing of the catwalk rushing him. Amber and Melissa not far behind. While I clutched the bars of my cell, forced to bear witness.

 Chapter 41

    Lupe had said she wasn¡¯t a fighter, but whatever she lacked in martial talent she compensated for with an intergenerational rage. From above, the side, below, she spun and twirled the dawnaxe around her body transforming every missed attack into a new opportunity for its edge to taste the Angler Knight¡¯s blood. The Angler Knight, however, looked at every opportunity she made and shut them all down with minimal effort. Letting the tip of his greatsword guide Lupe¡¯s dawnaxe like an older sibling helping the younger on the way to school. All with one hand.

    ¡°Rage is a poor substitute for practice,¡± he said, punctuating his point with a flick of his blade throwing Lupe¡¯s attempt at an attack beyond her ability to recover. ¡°It¡¯ll only lead you astray.¡±

    Unable to recover, Lupe was forced to follow the redirected momentum of her attack. Pirouetting across the floor of the fort to avoid having it fly from her hands. I released the breath I¡¯d held since Lupe initiated her charge; terrified that the moment she stepped within his field-spell he¡¯d crush her into a paste beyond recognition. Though my attention shifted from the moment she was safe back onto the Angler Knight as he advanced toward Melissa. Clank, clank, clank.

    With Lupe no longer blocking Amber¡¯s line of sight, she removed dozens of knives from her storage-spell. Throwing them back-to-back at such speeds it was as if she¡¯d released a flock of steel. It failed to halt his advance¡ªclank, clank, clank¡ªas he caught each one inside his field-spell only to instantly redirect them with a wave of his right arm.

    I had to step back as the knives clattered against the door of my cell. Rushing forward just in time to see Amber remove the matte black gun from her storage-spell. That made the Angler Knight pause. He shoved his sword into the stone floor next to him.

    ¡°Is that really necessary?¡± he asked.

    Amber shrugged. ¡°Maybe not,¡± she said, ¡°but better to be safe than sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t miss.¡±

    Electricity sparked down the gun. A turquoise glow with it. Then a clap of thunder as a rod shot down the length of Fort Tomb faster than the eye could comprehend. Boom. A black cloud erupted around him. Silence echoed.

    Lupe screamed, ¡°He¡¯s still up!¡±

    If Amber¡¯s strange gun made a clap of thunder when fired, the Angler Knight raised a chorus in return. The cloud parted like a donut as his own projectile slammed into Amber. I say, ¡°into,¡± because the minute Lupe screamed Amber had already formed the seal to some unknown hand-spell that allowed her to evade life as a donut herself. It wasn¡¯t a perfect defense as the projectile carried her up and over Melissa to the tune of ribs shattering.

    When she landed, the projectile the Angler Knight had sent became visible. It was smaller than the rod Amber had fired, more of a puck really, but still the same metal. He¡¯d caught it. That black cloud was the metal of the rod disintegrating against the sheer pressure and density of his field-spell. While the puck was what remained.

    ¡°A bit anticlimactic,¡± he remarked.

    Amber flipped him off as she struggled back to her feet. ¡°Hardly anticlimactic when it isn¡¯t the climax, yet,¡± she groaned.

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯d be you,¡± he said, his attention shifted back to Melissa.

    In the brief pause of Amber¡¯s attack, she¡¯d Mutated herself into her chimeric form though this time modified to be a thing of sheer bulk and muscle. Six limbs, scuta tipped to spear-like points plated her body, and tusks that may have well been lances. The Angler Knight unsheathed his sword from the floor. Let it fall against his shoulder as he gestured at his body with his empty hand.

    ¡°Come on then,¡± he said. ¡°You may as well try.¡±

    Melissa roared, the timbre of her voice rattling the bars of every cell door. I felt it travel from the bars of mine down into my limbs, and knew she¡¯d fail before she did. Animals roar the loudest when they¡¯re cornered after all.

    She charged the Angler Knight ready to meet him head-on. He had other plans; jumping into the air using a pressure wave for assistance he released another to propel himself back down with hammer-like force right when Melissa was below him. The floor beneath them cratered. Melissa tried to stand even as you could hear her reinforced bones shatter.

    He stomped his foot releasing a third wave that forced Melissa to the floor. The Angler Knight shrugged the greatsword from his shoulder. Tapped it against one of Melissa¡¯s scutum as he no doubt considered how he¡¯d butcher her. I gripped the bars of my cell with all the force I could and tried to shake them. Rattle them so I could be something¡ªa distraction¡ªanything more than the bystander I was. My door didn¡¯t so much as twitch. It takes a loose door to rattle after all, and these cells were freshly made courtesy of Nemesis¡¯s design team.

    The woman the Angler Knight came with yelled, ¡°Stop playing with them.¡±

    He turned back to her, this time speaking in a warbly voice that implied a sadistic level of whimsy. ¡°I only followed the Young Master¡¯s orders. He wanted to play, so we played.¡±

    My jaw dropped alongside my hopes. It¡¯d been so long since I fought him I forgot a key detail about the Angler Knight; he could use his entity to mimic himself. The girls hadn¡¯t been fighting him, but a facsimile of him. One that wasn¡¯t even trying to kill them.

    Sharing in my shock yet exceeding my rage, Lupe struck a power chord that swelled with the fury of the Morning dawn. A beam¡ªa laser¡ªof distilled golden light brought day to the interior of Fort Tomb and was doom writ large for the Angler Knight¡¯s double. Emerging as if surfacing from water the Angler Knight¡ªthe real one¡ªwrapped an arm around his entity and leaped off of Melissa carrying the two of them to safety beside his human assistant.

    She asked, ¡°Why play with them?¡±

    In a low smoky timbre I was familiar with, the real Angler Knight said, ¡°To give them a chance to learn.¡±

    His entity shifted back into the angler fish-meets-eel that I was familiar with and swam through the air around him¡ªsinuous and taunting with its swiveling eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to win this,¡± he said, addressing the girls. ¡°Your best shot was then, and now I know how you fight. I have your measure, and it is wanting. So for my schedule and your health, don¡¯t do this.¡±

    Lupe picked herself off the ground. Amber shuffled forward. Both of them taking the opposite side of Melissa who¡¯d Mutated back to her human form and was already repairing her bones. They were battered, but in no way did they project an air of defeat.

    ¡°You talk like we didn¡¯t learn anything about you,¡± Amber said.

    The Angler Knight tapped his sword against the ground¡ªwas he annoyed?

    ¡°Let¡¯s say you did learn something,¡± he said. ¡°Do you think you¡¯re strong enough to act on it?¡±

    Lupe plucked the strings of her dawnaxe, raising a resurgent melody that coated the three of them in Morning dew that cleaned dust from their clothes, erased bruises, and let them stand just a little taller. She breathed and I could tell that the rage from earlier was gone¡ªit had to be if she wanted to win this fight. The three of them fell into their respective combat stances.

    ¡°So this¡¯ll be your answer: camaraderie and death?¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s better than¡ª.¡±

    The Angler Knight was next to the woman. Then he was next to Melissa, his foot still in the air after kicking Lupe away. Wordlessly, he swept his sword through the space that should have had Melissa¡¯s neck, but in the snap-instant of Lupe being kicked and him swinging the sword she¡¯d already grabbed Melissa. Pulling the both of them past the curtains of the world and reappearing up on the catwalk opposite to my cell.

    He examined the empty space, looked up, and shook his head. Then looked back to Lupe who¡¯d lucked out as the kick landed against the flat of the dawnaxe. He took another pressure-wave-propelled step arriving just in front of her.

    ¡°This is what you call better?¡± he asked, a heat edging into his voice.

    Lupe screamed into his face¡ªhe punched square into hers.

    ¡°This is the product of so much sacrifice?¡±

    Blood poured from her shattered nose. Painted her teeth. She swung the dawnaxe, and like before he parried the attack with his own sword one-handedly. Her strike went wide. He wound back with his fist and swung up into her stomach. She lifted off the ground.

    ¡°Some adept strumming and manic swings?¡± he asked. ¡°The Seven Families fought with such pride, such hope, and far more skill than you have right now.¡±

    Lupe landed with stumbling steps. Bowled over but not fallen. Her hair, wet and stuck to her scalp. She hefted the dawnaxe and shook¡ªfrom fear, rage, or some blended third thing?

    ¡°You fought them?¡± she asked.

    He looked up and away to a battlefield in distant memory.

    ¡°No. They fought. The engagement was a slaughter. Yet to the last one, they all swore the dawn would rise and with it bring aid to the Sunken Valley,¡± he said. ¡°Hope¡ªworthless unless we speak of the Court. A shame that they spoke of you.¡±

    Tears poured from her eyes, frothing the blood. She charged forward. The Angler Knight looked away from her and dismissed her with a single stroke that would¡¯ve cleaved her head in half. I didn¡¯t know why, but he turned the blade at the last second so the flat of the sword struck her. It still whipped her head to the side. Her body went with it all the way to the floor. She was out.

    ¡°Shame indeed,¡± he said.

    ¡°Melissa, we¡¯re running,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°But Lupe¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Now!¡±

    Amber grabbed Melissa and the two of them sprinted down the catwalk. Amber froze as she realized they¡¯d not stepped beyond the curtains of the world. The Angler Knight¡¯s entity rippled with glee at Amber and Melissa¡¯s expression of horror.

    ¡°No running this time,¡± it sang.

    Amber vaulted onto the catwalk and leaped into the air. She reached out into empty space to access her storage-spell¡­only to fail at that as well. The Angler Knight caught her in mid-air with his field-spell. Slammed her into the ground. Lifted her back into the air.

    ¡°You¡¯re the most dangerous one of you three,¡± he said. ¡°That is, when you¡¯re able to come and go as you want. When you can access your box of tricks.¡±

    He slammed her into the ground again¡ªshattering her arm. Lifted her back up.

    ¡°Take that away, and what are you?¡± he asked.

    Amber said, ¡°Beautiful and oh so clever.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± he hummed. ¡°Cunning is impressive, but meaningless in the face of both cunning and strength. I had the cunning to tune my field-spell to the cloying grip of Abyss, where nothing just comes and goes. Where there¡¯s no aid to be found. No treasures to pluck. Just a darkness that you¡¯ll soon become acquainted with.¡±

    Amber¡¯s body rotated in the air. He¡¯d been slamming her side first, but now she was upside down. Her arms splayed out in an inverted crucifixion. I couldn¡¯t breathe. I couldn¡¯t look away. I couldn¡¯t even hate him for what he said¡ªit was the same weakness Amber recognized in herself. I just never thought someone would catch it as well.

    ¡°Which, I suppose, is where strength comes in,¡± he said.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Melissa called out.

    He turned his head toward her. ¡°Yes?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Can I still give myself up?¡± she asked.

    I screamed, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare, don¡¯t you fucking dare!¡±

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    ¡°Princess, no, we¡¯ll think of something. We¡¯ll¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Die otherwise!¡± she yelled. ¡°We all die otherwise. This way, it¡¯s just me. It will be, right?¡±

    The Angler Knight set Amber back on the ground. She tried to stand but could at most rise to her knees and watch. As I could only watch. The Angler Knight held open his hand and caused Melissa to shoot through air into it. Her head lost in the enormity of his grip.

    ¡°You¡¯re braver than I gave you credit for,¡± he said. ¡°A pity then that this is a world which belongs to cowards and the cruel.¡±

    ¡°Which do you think you are?¡± Amber asked, spitting out blood. ¡°Cruel or a coward?¡±

    The Angler Knight sighed, ¡°Shameful though it is, I¡¯m both.¡±

    Then, faster than Melissa could possibly Mutate, he crushed her skull. It didn¡¯t take the Omensight to see how pressure compounded with pressure to levels of atmosphere that could never be Real. All for the purpose of reducing Melissa¡¯s skull to a memory. He turned back to his assistant, sword over his shoulder, and walked away.

    ¡°Raise the Staircase, we¡¯re¡ª,¡± he said, cut off by the pop of a Dream Shell.

    He spun around to find Amber already crawling toward Melissa¡¯s snoring body. Over so many sleepovers I¡¯d complained about that snoring, but right then it was a song I¡¯d be glad to hear over and over again.

    Sphinx said, ¡°The maiden¡¯s a clever Baron.¡±

    The Angler Knight saw it differently. He marched toward Melissa¡¯s body that Amber clutched against her breast. His sword traced a gouge into the stone. While his disgusting entity snaked behind him, its dangling lures trailing behind with deceptive beauty.

    ¡°Oh, this won¡¯t do young master,¡± it said. ¡°For them to take your kindness and bend it, disgraceful.¡±

    ¡°Your master¡¯s kindness can get shoved up your ass,¡± Amber said.

    Lifting a piece of rubble she lobbed it at him. He deflected it with his right arm up toward my cell where it pinged off the bars of the door.

    ¡°A rock, pitiful,¡± the Angler Knight said.

    He took a half-step forward when Amber threw another projectile at him. A knife she pulled a knife free from her pocket¡ªone last weapon I supposed¡ªand threw it at him. He deflected it with his right arm again. The knife spun end over end through the air where it¡¯d thread right between the bars.

    Sphinx hissed, ¡°Catch it!¡±

    ¡°Really, this is what your cleverness amounts to?¡± he asked. ¡°An attempt to wound me using a method you already know is pointless?¡±

    Amber flashed bloody teeth. ¡°No, my cleverness comes from noticing that¡ªlike your entity¡ªyou deflect projectiles with your right arm. Only your right arm. Each time at exactly, oh, a fifty-degree angle. They kept pinging off the cell door.¡±

    The Angler Knight asked, ¡°They¡¯re going to get out using a knife you threw?¡±

    ¡°See, that¡¯s where I¡¯m clever twice over,¡± Amber said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t take strength to make a control tablet look like a knife. Especially when the target¡¯s so strong, they wouldn¡¯t think twice about it.¡±

    As the knife completed its most recent revolution¡ªthe game now up¡ªits disguise fell away to reveal the control tablet to my cell. I thrust my hand out ready to pluck it from the air; felt the curse rise tuning my senses to detect the smallest shifts in its motion. Though that wasn¡¯t all necessary, Amber had done good math, and it landed directly into my hand.

    I bent my arm slamming it into the access panel. Listened for the click of the door. Click. Mother¡¯s Last Smile in one hand, I kicked the door open and let the carmine run through my spirit, but this time not as a victim to its power¡ªno, I plunged myself into its depths of my own will and fury. The curse made me into a beast, sure, but if it meant saving my girls then who needed frail humanity!

    As I fell I made no sound; beasts only roar when cornered and it was hunting time. The Angler Knight looked up as I fell into the range of his field-spell. Bubbles sizzled in my passage as I ran too hot for him to even think of using it against me. He raised his sword to meet my glaive, but his entity was smarter than that as it wrapped a lure around his body, whipping him away from the descending stroke which would¡¯ve cleaved him in half.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Amber said. ¡°We outnumbered him and¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. No one died, at least not for real, and at least not yet,¡± I said.

    The Angler Knight lowered his sword and took me in. He was quiet when before he was quick to rattle off his poeticisms and judgements. I leveled my glaive at him, held it in that firm-yet-loose grip, and bared my fangs at him.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for round two,¡± I said.

    ¡°Two?¡± he asked. ¡°We haven¡¯t even had round one.¡±

    ¡°Ahhh, my bad,¡± I said. ¡°When we fought last time it was at that AoSI lab where you got a hold of the axis mundi in the first place. You were kidnapping examinees at the time. Funny enough, it was where I killed someone for the first time. Felt horrible. Then I killed another thirty¡ªmaybe forty¡ªof you little Lurker fucks. Stopped feeling bad after that.¡±

    His voice quivered, as he said, ¡°I would remember that, and you, if it happened. We only lost half that number on the mission.¡±

    I laughed, ¡°Well, you couldn¡¯t remember things perfectly. Hit a few of your cult buddies with an Atomic Glory, and well, would be hard to remember them afterwards. Burnt them right out of reality¡¯s pattern. All their attachments with them. While you, yeah Secretary lobbed the memory of us from your head when we made our escape.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± he said. ¡°I forced you into retreating.¡±

    ¡°It was a draw, you son of a bitch.¡±

    ¡°Says the woman in a muzzle,¡± he stated. ¡°This is childish, take the girl and go. You all don¡¯t have to die today.¡±

    His assistant said, ¡°But Marduk¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Leaves me in charge of mission conduct. It doesn¡¯t matter if one person gets away if we can escape without discovery,¡± he said, then turned back to me. ¡°So, how about we part ways.¡±

    I said, ¡°That¡¯d be a good deal, but I have a question first. When you crushed Melissa¡¯s skull, did you know she still had her Dream Shell?¡±

    ¡°She was on the map, so maybe on some¡ª.¡±

    ¡°No maybes,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re not firm answers. Did you crush her head thinking she¡¯d die¡ªproperly die.¡±

    The Angler Knight was silent. I shrugged.

    ¡°There¡¯s your answer,¡± I said. ¡°Some things just can¡¯t go unanswered.¡±

    He tilted his sword back up¡ªthis time grasping it in both hands. I had the Angler Knight¡¯s respect¡­and his ire.

    ¡°Then forgive me,¡± he said, ¡°as I hold you accountable for the lives you¡¯ve slain and placed beyond the limits of memory.¡±

    We stood there for five moments. Weapons at the ready. Entities prepared to cast spells. Each of us assessed the other, discovering how mirrored we were in our fighting styles. In the fact that I could feel his Bloodlust, recognizing it as something akin to my own. Why?

    My mind wavered toward the question¡ªwith it the tip of my glaive¡ªand so he struck. Catapulted by a wave of pressure he descended on me with a sword stroke that blurred back to where he once stood. He wanted to end this in one blow¡ªthat was naive.

    ¡°Godtime,¡± I said, my eyes set on his weak little assistant.

    Unlike our last fight, when I¡¯d tried to pull a Baron into my Godtime and still a Baron¡ªthe Angler Knight¡ªoutside it, I had a perfect target. His movements dropped to a quarter of his proper speed, but I¡¯d cut it close as his blade was near to kissing my neck. So I leaned back, bent my knees, and let the sword sail above me. Shearing off the tip of my muzzle.

    As he passed, I angled Mother¡¯s Last Smile in the path of his over-muscled thighs. Canceled Godtime. Shhhplurt! His momentum restored, he did all the work as he helped my glaive slide through his body like a fish parts water. I smirked. He laughed. Our backs to one another only a foot apart if that.

    ¡°I won¡¯t be trying this trick again,¡± he said.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty annoying,¡± I said.

    ¡°One could say being able to stand there ignoring a Baron¡¯s field-spell is annoying,¡± he argued.

    ¡°True,¡± I agreed, ¡°but when the Baron¡¯s a master with it. It¡¯s necessary.¡±

    I whirled around, glaive high, and ready to cut him down. I was going to end this in one blow¡ªand I thought he was naive.

    ¡°Abyssal Chill,¡± he incanted, reversing his sword into a backwards stab.

    At the same time, ice materialized over the blade. Extended beyond the blade. Rushing up toward my face in time with his thrust. I¡¯d positioned myself right where he¡¯d wanted me in my haste to cut him down. Removing a hand from my glaive I used Atomic Glory as a booster to propel me off the line of his attack¡ªit still sliced up my cheek severing a strap on the muzzle.

    I rolled to the side. Bounced back up, and loosed two scorching beams of chalcedony flame at the same time¡ªTwofold Atomic Glory. He used his field-spell to pull him out of the way causing the shots to go wide. Though in the process he left a thin trail of blood¡ªhe could move himself without moving, but friction still provided a frustrating resistance.

    ¡°Conceptual attacks do little I see,¡± he said, smearing my blood down his frozen blade with a finger. ¡°Glad to see the Real is still useful.¡±

    I flicked the glaive splattering an arc of his blood against the floor. Then removed the now dangling and busted muzzle from my face. Held it up to him in quiet thanks. He tilted his head in acknowledgment as I tossed it aside where it bounced off into some distant shadow or corner.

    ¡°Are you done testing me?¡± I asked.

    He tapped his foot against the ground¡ªtesting how much weight he could put on his weakened leg. Pushed until blood squirted out, though he didn¡¯t groan or hiss from it.

    ¡°I¡¯m good,¡± he said. ¡°You?¡±

    I shrugged blinking on the Omensight. Immediately noted all the ties of fate that ran between me and him. I couldn¡¯t name all of them¡ªit was a rapid assessment¡ªbut each was thick as a ship¡¯s rope. An Atomic Glory could travel along them but it wouldn¡¯t destroy it.

    Sphinx, we shoot him at the same time. You go through the real, I thought.

    While you make use of fate. A fair strategy. Shall we? Sphinx asked.

    She raised her wings firing a rapid volley of Atomic Glories. The Angler Knight¡¯s entity swooped in low to the ground in a barrel that arced around him. A sheet of ice like a frozen wave materialized shielding him from the chalcedony fire. At the same time I covertly split infinity sparking Revelatory fire to travel down one of the thick roped ties of fate between us foes.

    My smile spread as it raced for him only to freeze¡ªwhy was he looking at me? Sphinx should¡¯ve been seen as the real threat. He didn¡¯t move. Did he just trust his entity that much? No, his hand was raised forming the seal to a spell that seemed¡­familiar.

    He tossed his sword into the air, and the tie of fate I¡¯d used for my attack shifted from him to his sword. I kept my eyes trained on him while his sword burst into chalcedony flames that burned it out of reality. While the rope of fate fell back down like some serpentine behemoth where it latched onto him once more.

    ¡°Is our courtship over?¡± he asked, still so fucking confident.

    ¡°I¡¯d say it was a pleasure,¡± I began, ¡°but I¡¯ve wanted to kill you since I met you.¡±

    ¡°Shame,¡± he said. ¡°It strikes me that, were things different, maybe we could¡¯ve been friends. Push each other to the bounds of skill.¡±

    I conjured an Inviolate Star above my finger. Popped it into my mouth, and grinned around it as I swallowed. A corona of chalcedony fire blooming around me.

    ¡°I have enough friends,¡± I said, and then attacked.

    I was a shooting star racing across open ground in bounding leaps. When my foot touched the floor the Angler Knight stomped his heavy boot. A wave of force rippled out toward me.

    ¡°Only the Real works,¡± I reminded him.

    He called back, ¡°I know.¡±

    The pressure wave struck my ankle, tripping me. Using his field-spell he set a point just past me and pulled himself forward. Fist out and clenched ready to ram in¡ªand likely through¡ªmy body. I swung Mother¡¯s Last Smile at the ground as an impromptu pole vault that sent me flying above the Angler¡¯s Knight punch.

    ¡°The pressure of Abyss is only Conceptual when manifested from nothing,¡± he explained. ¡°If I spawn force with actual motion then it¡¯s as Real as you or me!¡±

    He pivoted. Launched a right straight that released a bolt of pressure. I formed the seal for Atomic Glory¡ªonce more using it as a thruster¡ªshooting myself up above the passing bolt. Skimming the top of the wave to right myself in mid-air.

    ¡°Note taken,¡± I said.

    His entity lunged through the air. Mouth wide and ready to gulp me down¡ªif Sphinx wasn¡¯t there first. Atomic Glories turned her into a rocket as she rammed into his entity, shutting its jaw. The both of them spiraled up toward the ceiling in their own fight. While the arc of my vault saw me land against the catwalk opposite my ¡®old¡¯ cell. I clung to the railing, dangling along with any options that¡¯d lead me to a win.

    The Angler Knight was adaptable. Technically stronger than me due to the extra link even if he was stuck using half his skillset. While I was only strong if I could get my glaive through his heart. A prospect he didn¡¯t seem too keen on allowing me to achieve.

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to hang out,¡± he said, ¡°I think I¡¯ll re-arm myself.¡±

    ¡°With what?¡±

    ¡°A sword of course.¡±

    He held out a hand and the broken piece of catwalk from earlier hurtled into his grip under the direction of his field-spell. Raising it into a vertical guard he shifted stance. Brought it down in a swift vertical cut.

    ¡°That¡¯s hardly a sword,¡± I yelled.

    He laughed, ¡°I make do!¡±

    I pushed off from the catwalk. Bisect the Sun. Mother¡¯s Last Smile sweeping across the weaponized debris in an incandescent slice smooth as scissors through paper. I slipped into the gap between the piece that landed on the catwalk I¡¯d been on, and the piece still in motion in his grasp. Caught the lip of the chunk he held¡ªarrested my fall¡ªthen flipped myself over and onto the grated walkway using it as a slide to carry me toward him.

    ¡°Appreciate the help,¡± I yelled, with manic glee.

    He yelled back, ¡°Never.¡±

    Shifted his grip and flipped the catwalk¡ªdepositing me to the ground. I landed in a four-point feline stance before transitioning into a low run. He dropped the catwalk. I rolled to the side. Punch, punch, punch. Pointed pressure waves exploded the ground beside me as I rolled free of each one. Rolling until I was perpendicular to him. He tried to shift with me, but I was on his wounded side¡ªhe couldn¡¯t keep up.

    I shot up. Raced forward already high on the scent of his blood. This would be a kill I¡¯d relish forever¡ªhe made me work for it after all. In one last ditch-attempt to stop me, he used his field-spell to rotate his body. Punch, punch, punch. The pressure bolts were weaker¡ªhe had less time to wind up and gather power. Which let me dance around each one.

    ¡°Abyssal Chill,¡± he incanted.

    A phalanx of ice spears materialized before me in a wave that traveled along the floor. I jumped¡ªBisect the Sun¡ªand landed on the now-beheaded spikes that were smooth and level as a Master-crafted table.

    ¡°It¡¯s time we end our dance,¡± I said.

    Launched myself forward. Blind the Stars¡ªit¡¯d be done in one thrust.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s end this.¡±

    In one smooth motion, he unclipped the gourd that¡¯d hung at his waist since I first saw him during my interrogation days earlier. Popped the stopper. Swung it in a defensive arc. Water from within the gourd traced a line in its passage. My glaive moments from impaling his helm, his head, as I delivered his death with expediency. Despite this, he was calm.

    ¡°Behold, Memories of the Diluvian World,¡± he said, and then all was water.

 Chapter 42

    I blinked. My back was against one of the supporting pillars in Fort Tomb. Everything around me was wet. Puddles had formed in the craters made by the Angler Knight¡¯s earlier attacks.

    ¡°You¡¯re a hard woman to kill,¡± a smoky voice said. ¡°I love the obstinate ones, it seems.¡±

    I tilted my head. Coughed up at least four cups worth of brackish water¡ªthe salt overly bitter on my tongue. My vision focused ahead of me where the Angler Knight stood in the center of the room. A gourd in his hand¡ªand that¡¯s when the memories came back.

    Water. Endless blinding bright water dripping in power far beyond that of a viscount. I blinked. Dark water, infinite gloom, a fraction of Abyss realized beyond the Underside. My body tumbling, battered, spun in chaotic shifting flows. I squeezed my eyes until they were narrow as a needle. There, at the center where water rippled in a shifting aquatic wall, was the Angler Knight, at home in the flood he¡¯d dumped into Fort Tomb. A flash of raspberry¡ªAmber. I tried to swim. Thrust out Mother¡¯s Last Smile. I didn¡¯t know if she caught it. The water flung me into a pillar. Pummeled me until all was dark.

    He said, ¡°Ah, the memories always come back.¡±

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said, my voice hoarse.

    I received a groan in acknowledgment, and¡ªrisking the possibility of further attack¡ªtook my eyes off the Angler Knight to seek out Amber. She wasn¡¯t to my right, which turned out to be where Sphinx was; her coat wet and bedraggled with one wing folded over on itself¡ªbroken¡ªand puncture marks dotting her side.

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I said, ¡°what happened to you?¡±

    ¡°She¡ªa soldier¡ªfought with a Baron,¡± the Angler Knight answered. ¡°A foregone conclusion really that she wasn¡¯t likely to win¡ª.¡±

    ¡°I asked her!¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°He speaks truth in fragments Nadia. I did not win my bout, but neither was I so horribly trounced. A difference between one who holds the gate¡ªsoldier though I am¡ªand one who swims in craven shallows.¡±

    ¡°A loss is a loss,¡± the Angler Knight said.

    I laid a hand against her side. Felt her wince even at my gentle touch, and despite how sodden we both were I could still feel the heat in her blood as it warmed my fingers. A burning sensation that aroused what amounted to nerves in my spirit where¡ªthough low and smoldering¡ªthe flame of the Inviolate Star still flickered and ate at the ties of fate that would¡¯ve lashed my broken body to the floor. Forbidding me from continuing a fight only my heart could maintain.

    ¡°It¡¯s only a loss when we¡¯re dead,¡± I shot back.

    Then I cast my eyes to the left where Amber lay. One hand clutching the shaft of Mother¡¯s Last Smile and the other wrapped around Melissa. Just past them was Lupe who¡¯d been swept into a cell door whose bars she¡¯d latched onto. Everyone was accounted for, and, judging by how their bodies still rose and fell in rhythmic fashion, they were all alive. We survived.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, my attention returned to the Angler Knight.

    ¡°If you need a moment for the tide to return your wits, I can wait,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯d be easier than making guesses as to your one-word question.¡±

    I flipped him off. ¡°Alls below, you talk too much,¡± I said. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you kill me, or them for that matter?¡±

    He leaned against the overturned catwalk he¡¯d attempted to beat me with earlier. Considered my question while swirling the flood that his gourd contained.

    ¡°Caution,¡± he answered.

    ¡°Now where did your wits go?¡± I asked. ¡°One-word answers are the worst.¡±

    ¡°You said I talked too much, so forgive me for my attempt at short, simple answers,¡± he said. ¡°When it¡¯s come to killing people, I haven¡¯t had the best luck this week. Everyone¡¯s just so tenacious in this city. I¡¯ll think I¡¯ve done in an opponent only for them to rise back up to continue in pointless struggle. You¡¯re the worst example of that.¡±

    ¡°Alright, but that doesn¡¯t explain why you didn¡¯t finish us off.¡±

    ¡°I wanted to confirm if I already did, but at a safe distance. Didn¡¯t want to take the chance that you were faking and would just pop up ready to skewer my heart.¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°So out of fear I¡¯d kill you because I was pretending to be dead. You decided to wait and give me the chance to rise up and still kill you? They don¡¯t teach math in that cult of yours?¡±

    ¡°They teach enough,¡± he said, and gestured at the distance between the two of us. ¡°From where I stand your glaive isn¡¯t long enough to reach me, but the Memories of the Diluvian World are very much capable of reaching you.¡±

    He was right¡ªand it pissed me off. Each time we¡¯d come to blows it always came back to this fundamental issue, distance. The first time we fought, I couldn¡¯t get near him because of that damn field-spell. Now when I finally solved that problem, he flipped the board on me revealing that he could finish me off at a distance. While for me the rules were still the same¡ªget in close and stab away.

    ¡°What even is that thing anyways?¡± I asked.

    He glanced at the gourd. ¡°Oh, this, a conceptual weapon¡ªlike your glaive¡ªthough one better suited for me than yours is to you. Mine is made from the tears of Marduk¡¯s entity of the time when all was water and everything drowned in the Abyss. Yours, by the look of it, is derived from Upheaval¡ªa poor fit seeing as your own Court is far from that.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s my Court have to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s everything,¡± he said. ¡°The power of a conceptual weapon is derived from the circumstances that made it¡ªoften from an entity. In this case, mine being formed by a Marquis puts it only two steps below the power of a Sovereign.¡±

    ¡°Answers or fuck off and kill me,¡± I groaned. ¡°Hearing you jerk off your boss is just inhumane.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, show some respect you¡ª,¡± his assistant yelled.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± he said. ¡°Suffice to say, while the power of a conceptual weapon is set by its creation. None of that matters if the wielder fails to resonate with it appropriately. Thus failing to draw out said power. A matching Court makes for an easy resonance. Even a matching Principle would help.¡±

    Mother¡¯s Last Smile rolled deeper into my grip as my fingers clenched around it¡ªI had neither. All the power of a Sovereign slept within the glaive and I¡¯d teased out barely any of it. My mood sank as air refused to flow into my lungs, the grip of something akin to terror pressing its fingers around them in an enforced stillness. He wasn¡¯t that far away from me, but when I looked up I could only see an Abyss between me and him.

    ¡°Now you get it,¡± he said.

    ¡°Yeah, that sounds like the kind of absolutist dreck, Marduk would say,¡± Amber said.

    Hauling Melissa¡¯s shivering¡ªand now very much conscious¡ªbody, she climbed up the glaive¡¯s shaft and propped herself up on her knees while leaning against the pillar that held my back up. She slid forward resting her chin on my shoulder. One of her eyes was swollen shut, but the other still burned with a bright resolve.

    ¡°You¡¯re a Baron,¡± he said. ¡°What could you possibly know?¡±

    ¡°I know enough that between here and the infinite mysteries of the Underside things are hardly so simple as matching a Court,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re a metaphor, Temple.¡±

    Lupe called out, ¡°They¡¯re a lesson, Nadia, to something deeper and richer than people like him could ever believe in. I don¡¯t match half the Courts that compose my song, but it¡¯s still strong.¡±

    Melissa laid a hand over mine, tightening my grip on Mother¡¯s Last Smile.

    She said, ¡°You were such a bitch about us asking you to not use the spell that, according to you, ¡®let you get close to her.¡¯ If you refused to let us put limits on you, why let him?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re all a horrible influence,¡± he said. ¡°Spitting on life each time it holds its hand out to you. There¡¯s no honor or award for rushing to fall beneath the shadow of Death.¡±

    He punctuated his words with a stomp of his foot shattering the floor beneath him¡ªwas he throwing a tantrum? Most likely he wasn¡¯t, but the thought of it pulled a laugh out of me. I tried to cover my mouth, but it was just too funny. He was stomping and proclaiming how I should just give up and yet there he stood so far away because¡­he was afraid.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± he asked.

    I said, ¡°You. Trying so hard to convince us to give up, give in, and just submit. Unfortunately, we only do that after establishing consent and a safeword.¡±

    ¡°Comedy won¡¯t kill me,¡± he growled.

    ¡°No, but I can,¡± I said. ¡°You said it yourself, you¡¯re cruel and a coward. This must be the coward in you¡ªtrying so hard to get me to give in, and coming pretty close to be honest, because you know that I can maybe do it.¡±

    Gently, I pushed Amber¡¯s head from my shoulder and shifted my hand out from beneath Melissa¡¯s. Sphinx shuffled over and helped prop me back to my feet¡ªI needed her and the glaive just to stand. Though as I found my footing, both literal and emotional, the star in my heart flared as if struck by the hammer of a lighter. Fwoosh. Chalcedony flame surged across my skin like I was coated in oil.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°I can maybe do it.¡±

    ¡°Really, where two Barons and a soldier failed, you¡ªa singular soldier¡ªthink you¡¯ll make a difference?¡± he asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be surprised what a single soldier can do,¡± I said, as memories shoved logs to the flame in my spirit. ¡°As a single soldier with only three spells, I killed forty Lurkers.¡±

    Sure, I was on the run, scrabbling, and afraid out of my mind the entire time, but I did it.

    I said, ¡°As a single soldier I forced an entire team in the first test to expend nearly everything they had just to try and put me down.¡±

    It was one of the worst fights I¡¯d ever taken. The curse was probably in me by then, and Ina¡¯s team did put me down in the end. Though, with help, I got back up and sent them running.

    ¡°Alls below, if you look at most of the people in these cells¡ªI, a single soldier¡ªwas the one who put them down so these girls could capture them,¡± I said. ¡°All because they¡ªlike you¡ªdared to harm one of the people I love in this world.¡±

    With each memory, my flames grew and I took a step forward. The first was heavy and pained¡ªmore of a shuffle really. My second one was lighter, but I still needed to lean on the glaive and Sphinx. It was the third that saw my spine straighten out, my chin lift, and saw my body burn. He may have shoved my hopes into an Abyss, but right now I was going to bring to him a Revelation.

    His voice was cold and low, ¡°Those are quite the accomplishments.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. ¡°You want to know how I did them all?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll tell me.¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    I slammed the butt of Mother¡¯s Last Smile into the floor. The white metal of its blade blazed with a luminescence that rivaled¡ªno, not rivaled¡ªit outshone my own fire. On this point, a point my Mom had raised me with my entire life, I was in tune with my glaive.

    ¡°The trick,¡± I said, ¡°is to always move forward. No matter the cuts, the bruises, or the beatings. Keep moving forward. Shatter every constraint anyone tries to place upon you. Until you flip the impossible into possible.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it then?¡± he asked. ¡°Forward, always forward? That¡¯s the philosophy of a lunatic. You leave no room for compromise. You inspire¡ªno, you infect¡ªeveryone around you with this confidence in something baseless.¡±

    He looked past me, and yelled, ¡°You¡¯ll all die on the altar of her madness. That¡¯s the only place this way of hers leads. For all that I might be a villain, a coward, I wouldn¡¯t risk all of you for the life of just one¡ªone, who I might say is still alive.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s still alive!¡± he yelled at me.

    Around him, the world was cold and heavy. His field-spell twisting the moisture in the air into the crystalline structure of snowflakes, flash-freezing the puddles, and entombing the walls and debris in ice. All while his own assistant buckled beneath the pressure that he imbued into his every word.

    He said, ¡°I see you now. A selfish woman whose obstinance is born from a disregard for everyone who¡¯ll burn to feed your fire. A dragon of a woman.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s the one whose power is hurting their ally, right now?¡± I asked.

    The Angler Knight glanced down to his kneeling assistant. Her head lifted and fell in jerky motions as she attempted to even meet his gaze.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she said.

    ¡°Sure you are,¡± I said, then looked back to him. ¡°That¡¯s the difference between you and I¡ªmaybe it¡¯s why you¡¯re so good at the pressure part of Abyss¡ªyou live as a knight bearing a burden that crushes you, and still you accept it with your ¡®compromises¡¯ despite getting nowhere. Rather than risk it all to gain it all, you risk nothing and lose everything.¡±

    I swept my arms out wide to gesture at myself, my friends, this battlefield even.

    Then said, ¡°It¡¯s why you¡¯re trying so hard to make us give up¡ªcause you already did. Not in this fight, but a long time ago you gave the fuck up. That¡¯s what compromising is after all. Now you just crave to have that decision validated for you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a dim view on compromise,¡± he said.

    I shrugged. ¡°It happens when you see five people kill a godtender. After that, is a soldier killing a Baron really that impossible?¡±

    ¡°I suppose it¡¯s not,¡± he said. ¡°Though their circumstances are different than yours. I must be insane to do the same thing and hope for a different result, but just take your girls and go.¡±

    I yelled back over my shoulder, ¡°If you all want to go, you can, but I¡¯m seeing this to the end.¡±

    Amber yelled, ¡°I¡¯m here if you¡¯ll have me, Temple.¡±

    ¡°For those still under the boot of Lurkers like him,¡± Lupe yelled, ¡°I¡¯m staying to witness his end!¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°I love you,¡± and that was all the answer I needed.

    ¡°I did try, for you,¡± I said, to the Angler Knight. ¡°Guess you really are insane.¡±

    Glaive in hand, the two of us burning bright, I took my stance. Sphinx walked within my spirit and shifted its fibers, unfurling her wings out my back. Her only thought being one spoken in unison with my own, forward, always forward.

    ¡°Even the best generals know when to retreat,¡± the Angler Knight said, hefting his conceptual weapon.

    ¡°Pity then that I¡¯m a mere soldier,¡± I said.

    We stood there on the precipice of violence. Hyper-aware of the other as the rest of the world muted itself. He stepped forward and forward again. An advance that froze all he passed and brought a pressure down upon anything in his vicinity. He only stopped when the tip of my glaive and his chest just barely kissed the other.

    ¡°Start up the shrine,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re leaving when this is done.¡±

    His assistant followed that order¡ªI didn¡¯t watch her, just heard the shuffling of her feet and the dull thud of the shrine against the floor.

    ¡°Girls, head to the second floor if you can,¡± I called out.

    ¡°On it,¡± Melissa yelled back.

    Then I heard them shuffle and groan as they moved their broken bodies to a nearby staircase. Metallic thuds of footsteps going upstairs to watch from the gallery.

    Ice crept around me, encircling me, but never capable of touching me. Darkness fell around me like I¡¯d been wrapped in the wings of a great bird¡ªhe couldn¡¯t blind me, but he could steal away any light that dared to try and enter¡­well, any light but my own. None of this shook me. I had eyes only for him, and this close I saw him better than ever.

    The Angler Knight¡¯s armor was scarred and blemished¡ªa veteran of so many fights. The tips of his fingers drummed¡ªnervously?¡ªagainst his thigh. While his attention remained on my face¡ªat least as far as I could tell. I wonder if he was reading me the way I was reading him. Did he see how my grip kept being adjusted? My palms, sweaty even as my body burned. Did he see how my chest didn¡¯t move? I was holding my breath like an idiot. Did he notice how my eyes kept flicking to that helm of his? Did he know how much calmer it would¡¯ve made me to know the face of my enemy?

    A fight was a conversation¡ªand no good conversation happens when someone is cloaked in anonymity. Though he had said he was a coward¡ªhe wore a mask after all. I was a coward when I¡¯d worn mine, and it led to my curse, my pain, and the condition I question I might ever be free of. Angler Knight, I wonder¡ªeven now¡ªwhat did your mask lead you to?

    The shrine activated, and that scream played backward of a mother bringing life into the world was the herald with which we¡¯d send the other from it.

    I thrust forward¡ªit would only take a slide of my foot and a few inches to pierce his chest. An agony¡¯s worth of time compared to the mercy needed to tip one¡¯s hand and spill a drop of water.

    It exploded releasing a flood that ruined my stance, pummeled my chest, and carried me back to my pillar slamming me against it like a student slamming a test on their teacher¡¯s desk¡ªso happy that they were done. When the water receded I fell back to the floor. The flood had pinned me a few feet from it.

    ¡°Retreat,¡± the Angler Knight said.

    I rose to my feet. He tilted his hand. Again the flood waters came to smash into me for my hubris. How dark the waters were. How lightless. Then they receded and I fell to the ground.

    ¡°Retreat.¡±

    I rose again. He tilted his hand. The flood waters were so cold, and lonely. Memories of a world without touch, without love, and nothing to appreciate the light. Then they receded and I fell to the ground.

    ¡°Re¡ª,¡± he started.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s not this fight.¡±

    I leaned back on my feet, kneeling, but my head unbowed.

    ¡°Why do you want me to kill you so badly?¡± he asked. ¡°Is living with one defeat that intolerable?¡±

    ¡°Maybe a little,¡± I said. ¡°Not because losing is bad¡ªthat¡¯s just life¡ªbut accepting defeat into your heart is a poison. It seeps into the muscles of your body and spirit. Saps away at any strength you could possibly produce.¡±

    ¡°And you need strength that badly?¡±

    ¡°I do. The road I walk is beyond you. Beyond this test. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible, but I¡¯m going to try. All I know is that it¡¯ll be impossible if I let someone like you seduce me into the fantasy of defeat,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s what this fight is: compromise or commitment. Either you make me compromise¡­¡±

    A bitter laugh came from him. ¡°Or you make me commit to taking your life.¡±

    ¡°See, you do get it,¡± I said. ¡°It should come easy for you. What knight doesn¡¯t want to slay a dragon?¡±

    ¡°Then we continue.¡±

    I rose to my feet, but as I did I gave Sphinx a new instruction.

    We¡¯re trying something new this time, I said. Ignite an Inviolate Star.

    ¡°You already have one,¡± she said within my spirit.

    Yeah, and you¡¯re going to light a second one. Let¡¯s see what a dualcast of it does.

    She was quiet, and for a brief moment, I thought she¡¯d disagree. Force me to find some other method. Yet, strangely and for some ineffable reason, she didn¡¯t. Instead, I felt her cry and ignite the second Inviolate Star without comment.

    It burst into its fullness though I didn¡¯t feel it burn within my body like I normally did. In fact, I didn¡¯t feel much of anything at all as its flames shot through my spirit toward some distant recess that I had lived my entire life barely aware of. It wasn¡¯t like I could visibly see this place, but if I was to try and describe it it was like the silk farms the Knitcrofts ran. A big barn¡ªthough this place was more like a void made of a million colors¡ªand at the center of it suspended by so many threads was a cocoon composed of those same threads.

    I felt my awareness glide along those threads and saw memories flash through them. A child me clutching yellowed sheets. Mom and Dad holding my hands as they spun me in a circle. Omensday nights on the temple steps watching as fireworks burst above the town. My mother squeezing my hand as she said, ¡°This is what it means to be a human being, sweetie. Never forget this,¡± before a pair of hands unseen pulled me away from them¡ªwhy was I screaming? All of these threads went up in flames. Yet from within the cocoon was a light that burned brighter than any of them¡ªa slumbering silhouette.

    Suddenly my sight Divi*** and I beheld two worlds. Through my right eye, I saw the Angler Knight as he tipped his hand. Spilling a droplet of water that, soon as it hit the floor, would release another flood to carry me away. Through my left eye, I saw something else¡ªa cabin, a bed, a form beneath a blanket slumbering.

    ¡°Hand it over,¡± I said.

    The thing beneath the blanket asked, ¡°Hand over what?¡±

    ¡°The power that¡¯s mine,¡± I answered. ¡°That stuff you gave me back at the ERO facility, I want all of it right now.¡±

    The thing beneath the blanket laughed, ¡°Hmm, okay, I suppose I¡¯ve slept long enough.¡±

    Then whatever lurked beneath the blanket threw off the comforter. Its face invisible to me, it walked around my body before slipping into place where I stood¡ªthough a bit offset of myself. All that we shared was my left eye which blazed with so much power it was truly aflame in the flickering hue of chalcedony and the bright gray¡ªnearly silver¡ªof a far off horizon.

    Both my eyes were focused back inside Fort Tomb right as the droplet of water hit the floor. A flood exploded, surged toward me with a vengeful froth, but I only had eyes on my glaive. Mother¡¯s Last Smile had never been so bright before¡ªyou couldn¡¯t even tell its tip was metal¡ªand though I¡¯d canceled the Omensight it seemed my left eye could still make out enough. The power coming from my glaive was such that the tapestry of the world¡ªwhose texture I could just barely perceive¡ªwarped around the smile of my Sovereign mother.

    I turned to the rushing flood, raised my glaive with two left hands¡ªone Real, whose fingers were tipped with claws, and the other Conceptual, with the addition of scales made of alternating metals. I rotated the glaive to a horizontal position and back to vertical as if a key to unlocking a way forward. Then I spoke in a register both Real and Conceptual¡ªa language I¡¯d only heard spoken by the White Womb.

    ¡°Crosscut Heaven.¡±

    The wall of water before me was Divi*** into four perfect quadrants. Where once there was a flood, a shard of some old diluvian world where the Abyss ruled, now there was just water that passed me by. In that aquatic corridor, I set my eyes on the Angler Knight, I¡¯m coming for you.

    My Conceptual limbs lifted their hands up bidding an army of sliding doors to arise from nothing¡ªthey resembled the shoji from the house¡ªtrapping the Angler Knight. He slammed his body against the doors, but they wouldn¡¯t budge any more than one could slam your shoulder against the Earth¡¯s curvature. We were in a Realspace that was Divi*** from the rest of Realspace.

    ¡°Go,¡± he hissed.

    His assistant tried to argue, ¡°I can¡¯t abandon you¡ª.¡±

    ¡°You can, you will, and damn it, do it for me. My final order.¡±

    She cried, but lifted up the shrine hustling down the Staircase it had created. The sight of her running made my tail swish with glee¡ªI had a tail?

    ¡°Focus, Nadia,¡± Sphinx chastised, from within myself.

    I nodded and exhaled a breath that spawned an evanescent cloud of chalcedony fire. There was so much new about this, and I committed to myself that I¡¯d take the time to figure it out after I saw to the Angler Knight.

    ¡°Well then, commitment or compromise,¡± he declared.

    Flames licked out the side of my mouth as I bared my fangs. My Conceptual hands swung through the air conducting a number of changes on myself. Divi**** my mass, the effect of friction on my body, and the density of the air between me and him. While with my Real hands I grasped my blazing glaive and bent my knees. A stance fit for a final charge. Mother¡¯s Last Smile aimed for him.

    Sphinx¡¯s wings released an Atomic Glory that burned hard and steady like the Old World rockets needed to enter space. Though I was better than a rocket. I was a shooting star, a blazing dragon, the cutting stroke of Divisi** realized if for only this moment. Mine was a crown of stars sharpened into swords, a bright horn curved from my temple, and as I flew forward those Conceptual hands steadied my grip ready to finally put an end to my old foe.

    It was a beautiful moment, and he fucked up! The Angler Knight who¡¯d stood with the point of my glaive to his chest, who¡¯d gone blow for blow with me, who¡¯d flipped the board and pushed me into a corner¡ªhe gave up! He gave up. His hands unclenched and he didn¡¯t even try to cause another flood. Didn¡¯t even try to put his power against mine. Instead, he compromised.

    The sight of it¡ªhim at peace and arms still¡ªconfused me. In the half-second that I crossed the distance between us, shoji burning away as I passed each one, my glaive¡¯s point tipped low away from his heart. I struck. The blade sliced through his armor. His conweave. His flesh. His organs. Out his back.

    We fell. He wasn¡¯t trying to stand strong and resist after all. Tipped back down the Staircase¡ªit was little more than a hole in the ground, if there were literal stairs I didn¡¯t feel them. In our fall it became an ascension up toward an Abyss of infinite watery darkness. The only light being the glittering towers that sat upon the back of a massive luminescent entity.

    ¡°Why?¡± I screamed in the White Womb¡¯s language.

    I pulled myself forward up the glaive. My Conceptual hands laid themselves on the Angler Knight¡¯s helm¡ªI¡¯d at least see his face! Like a flower, it bloomed. Metal petals unfurling, blonde hair verging white undulating in the water¡ªthe kind of hair that could be dyed in any color, but was so unwilling to be tamed. Perfectly framing a face that was handsome and square with a scar that cut through his lips in a manner some girls would call roguish.

    There was no smirk though, but instead an expression of sheer anguish. Eyes that were otherwise patient and broad as an ocean were red and beaded from crying. Those lips which I¡¯d only kissed once¡ªbrief and chaste¡ªpulled back into a somber grimace. Did he look like this the entire time we fought?

    ¡°You need to aim better, Orchard,¡± Sinaya said. ¡°Wounds like this are just agony.¡±

 Chapter 43

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you,¡± I said, speaking in the language of the White Wombs.

    Sinaya¡¯s face, still pained from my glaive in his gut, twisted past minor agonies to award me a comforting smile¡ªI didn¡¯t deserve his smile nor his comfort. Though both, I suppose, came by way of his own volition; the language of the White Womb we¡¯d faced before had gone undetected by anyone but me. Meaning, my mouth moved and his ears couldn¡¯t listen. A minor blessing, as my own words were senseless¡ªtruth and lie braided together.

    I wanted to hurt him¡­when, ¡°him,¡± was the Angler Knight. I¡¯d never want to hurt him¡­when, ¡°him,¡± was my gentlebutch, Sinaya. Two truths, two lies, and my heart unfurling like the wreckage of his helm, floating in the wake of this devastating revelation.

    He raised a gauntleted hand to my face¡ªthe same hand that¡¯d crushed Melissa¡¯s head. That had turned lives into bloody smears. The hand that had gripped my hair when we fucked. That fed me grilled meat. The hand that I pressed my head into, and hated myself for doing.

    Sinaya asked, ¡°Orchard, why do you look so sad?¡±

    ¡°Cause if I knew¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the rare dragon who got to slay a knight,¡± he joked. ¡°Though I suppose I should be calling you Nadia, huh?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°just keep calling me Orchard. Please.¡±

    Please, don¡¯t wed the halves of ourselves that hate each other. That was the thought which ran through my mind. A bitter irony that saw me come undone by how one love couldn¡¯t see me¡ªthis Nadia¡ªas Nadia, and in the other I would rather be anything else but Nadia. If I couldn¡¯t escape that name, that self, that history then how could Sinaya escape his own as the Angler Knight? The halves of ourselves which loathed the other, and stood in opposition to the halves of ourselves which loved one another¡ªOrchard and Sinaya.

    His eyes drifted from my face, his head turned, and he regarded the pitiful lights of the towers above us that we fell towards. A beautiful despair settled upon him like a veil.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you kill me?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Sinaya, you pigheaded idiot, I¡¯d never¡ª.¡±

    ¡°I would¡¯ve finally been free,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯d¡¯ve won and I would be free of my interminable compromises¡ªthat you got correct. Oh well, it seems¡ª.¡±

    ¡°What? What?¡± I asked, his words severed at the cusp of sorrow.

    I followed his gaze up into the dark where there, cutting through these umbral waters, was a school of Abyss entities en route toward us. Toward me, if I¡¯m being accurate. I was the intruder in their domain, the bright and sharp impossibility that disturbed the purity of this place. Sinaya gripped my chin, directing me back to his eyes that even then were patient with me.

    ¡°Nadia¡ª,¡± he started.

    ¡°Call me, Orchard,¡± I said, pointlessly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for everything,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve done too much and too little to ask anything of you, but please let me be selfish, just this once. Let me go¡ª.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°And leave Brightgate. You have to leave before the third test of the exam,¡± he said, unable to hear my refusal¡ªknowing him, that wouldn¡¯t have changed anything.

    ¡°Alls below you fucking coward, I¡¯m not running,¡± I yelled. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving you. Whatever is going to happen we can face it¡ª.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Nadia, but goodbye.¡±

    Then he pushed me back with a pressure wave strengthened by the advantage the Underside gave to Sorcery cast within a Court¡¯s domain. My glaive slipped from his body. Three of my arms¡ªone Real and two Conceptual¡ªgrasped uselessly at the rapidly expanding distance between us. I wanted to crawl back to him, wring his stupid thick neck, grasp his cheeks, promise him that I wouldn¡¯t listen. That I¡¯d come back for him. Instead, I fell down moving back up the Staircase the axis mundi had created. Slipped through the shrinking portal into Realspace where I found myself ascending up into the air.

    Sphinx¡¯s wings battered the air until my ascent and oncoming descent were under control. I hung in the still manner of an ornament, observing as the Staircase closed and my view of Sinaya was shuttered. I drifted to the ground in silence¡ªthere wasn¡¯t anything I could say or wanted to say. Sphinx¡ªmaybe because she could feel what I felt, at least somewhat¡ªremained silent in support of my mood.

    ¡°You did it, alls below you fucking did it!¡± Lupe yelled.

    I turned around just in time for her to slam into me. Her arms locked me in a vise of appreciation and disbelief, while she buried her head against my chest. An action which caused me to realize that I was taller than her. My mind was too focused during the fight to deduce how much taller I was earlier, but this served as a good enough benchmark. It was what I tried to focus on even as she complimented me on wounding the person who¡¯d slain her people and who I unknowingly had screwed.

    Her words tapered off into mirthful sobs as too many emotions struggled to flow at once. With three arms¡ªtwo Real and one Conceptual¡ªI held her close, and with the fourth, I stroked her hair. If anyone deserved comfort, it was her. Though I lifted my head to spy Amber and Melissa standing at a remove as they held each other up. As a team they inched forward¡ªAmber was enraptured, Melissa was¡­wary.

    Melissa asked, ¡°Nadia, is that you?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I said, doing my best to scrounge up any shreds of confidence to put her at ease. Only to remember that she couldn¡¯t hear me. Melissa tilted her head in confusion, but Amber¡¯s smile grew wider.

    ¡°Princess, who else would it be?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said, ¡°the curse?¡±

    ¡°Nothing this beautiful could ever come from that curse.¡±

    I blushed and looked away in joyful shame¡ªat least I was beautiful in some capacity¡ªonly to catch a glimpse of myself in a puddle, the remnant of my battle. In the still and clear water, I saw what my transformation had done to me. Scales that matched my spiritual musculature¡¯s Metallic nature crept up my neck, teased my cheeks, and framed my eyes. Eyes whose pupils had become white four-pointed stars. Two of which, one I shared with my second face that overlapped my own like some spectral reprint, had left behind the illusion of being a physical organ to instead become barely constrained pools of chalcedony fire that flickered like torches. The light of which competed¡ªyet failed to outshine¡ªthe silver sickle of a horn that curved from my brow forming the center point of a halo of four-pointed stars that made subtle connections to one another while jutting outward to pierce the air.

    My reflection grinned¡ªmy fangs had gotten longer as well¡ªand I allowed myself the escape of self-appreciation. A mantle of feathers made of fire bundled at my neck like a gorget, and within them swam a score of eyes. Metallic scales, the hue of cooling steel, speckled across my breasts, stomach, and thighs. Whereupon they coated my calves in their entirety like greaves before my feet terminated in the form of talons that would belong to some raptor. The sight of that departure from the human shape I was acquainted with, incited my tail to whip back and forth in anxious indecision as I didn¡¯t know how to feel. My tail itself was scaled at the base before giving way to an explosion of catlike hairs at its midsection that too looked like fire itself.

    Lupe tapped at my side¡ªa sign she was ready to extricate herself from my embrace. I let her go and allowed her to lead me by a claw to where Amber and Melissa stood. I rubbed my free hands against myself to remove the nonexistent sweat that had built up. Licked my lips¡ªwhich revealed my tongue had forked.

    ¡°Temple, how do you feel?¡± Amber asked.

    ¡°Fine, just fine,¡± I answered, then realized there was no point in answering. ¡°Not like you can hear me, or help.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we hear her?¡± Melissa asked.

    Lupe asked, ¡°Is she talking?¡±

    ¡°Her mouth is moving.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just in a range we can¡¯t hear.¡±

    Melissa shook her head. ¡°Trust me, if she was I¡¯d have noticed. I have a hearing range that goes up hundreds of kilohertz.¡±

    I rolled my eyes¡ªit didn¡¯t matter what they did, they wouldn¡¯t hear me.

    Amber said, ¡°Nadia, you look upset. What happened down there?¡±

    Lupe scoffed, ¡°Why would she look upset? She won. You did win, right?¡±

    Did I win? A bitter laugh escaped my lips. I closed my mouth, thought to myself, keep it down Nadia, just keep this feeling down¡ªand failed.

    ¡°Sure, sure, I won,¡± I said.

    I stepped back from them all. Threw my arms out wide as if to embrace the glory that should be awaiting me for my cursed victory.

    ¡°I stabbed the Angler Knight in the fucking gut. Unmasked the bastard, and discovered he¡­¡± I struggled, ¡°...discovered he was my bathroom hookup. Alls below, could anyone win more than me? Anyone? I didn¡¯t even kill him. For everything he did¡ªI saw and heard him do¡ªI failed to kill him. I won and I lost, and you all can¡¯t even hear me.¡±

    Amber said, ¡°Nadia, it¡¯ll be okay. You just have to calm down¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me to calm down!¡± I screeched, wings unfurling, flaming feathers and fur standing at attention, and my claws ready to rend all in the perfect threat display.

    They stumbled back, and I saw the ghost of their fear return to their faces, the expressions they held when I woke up, muzzled and in a cell. Though now I was out of my cell, and I looked ever more the monster. A thought that doused my rage, but failed to keep my heart from spinning my emotions into a pyroclastic flood of tears. Each of which sizzled as they burned against the stone floor of Fort Tomb.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said to no one, myself, but really no one.

    If anyone could understand me it was the White Womb I¡¯d killed or the ones that were yet to be decanted¡ªif ever they would be. I threw my glaive head first into the stone floor where it sunk in to its base. It was clear of the girls, but they still jumped in fright¡ªthe action was rather sudden after all. Then I grasped at my halo¡ªmy crown¡ªwith all four hands like it was the bars of a cell. Which, in some respect, it was. Whatever dreadful inheritance this was, however useful in a fight it was, I didn¡¯t want it. Not if it meant the only ones who could understand me would be monsters. Abominations that would never experience love¡ªI wonder, was the reveal of the Angler Knight¡¯s identity a punishment by some unknown Sovereign for the crime of existing?

    So with all my strength, I wrenched at the stars that circled my head. Pulled and pulled to be free of this barrier between me and my human loves. My muscles burned in the strain of tearing apart Sorcery by brute force, but I¡¯d done it before and I knew I¡¯d do it again if it meant being able to put the girls¡¯ fears to rest. If it¡¯d let me tell Sinaya that I wouldn¡¯t leave him and I¡¯d make sure we¡¯d both be free of our cells one way or another.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Then, the halo broke. Stars scattered like beads on a broken friendship bracelet, winking away in the air. My Conceptual limbs and face went up in flames before disappearing. Scales and feathers fell from my body only to discorporate before ever touching the ground. Gone went my tail and talons. While my sickle-horn melted back into my forehead as if it was never there. The fangs remained though¡ªthey¡¯d been there before the change after all.

    I blinked rapidly as I reoriented myself to my original height. Glanced up from beneath my brow to the girls, and offered them a weak smile as compensation.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you handle all the shapeshifting, Melissa,¡± I said.

    She released a sigh of relief¡ªshe could hear me again. ¡°It helps to do some Mutations on your brain first, to trick it into treating the changes as smoother and more natural than they are.¡±

    Amber asked, ¡°Temple, what happened?¡±

    ¡°Down there?¡± I asked, trepidation quivering in my voice.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to talk about that bit if it¡¯d help,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m more interested in how you turned into that.¡±

    Lupe and Melissa both nodded in agreement. I stretched my back and shrugged¡ªit wasn¡¯t like I actually knew how it happened. Let alone how to tell them without sounding a little ¡°out there¡± considering part of the process was me talking to something in a cabin inside myself. It didn¡¯t make much sense to me then to be honest.

    ¡°I¡­don¡¯t actually know,¡± I said. ¡°I dualcast my Inviolate Star, and it kind of went from there. Happened really fast too. I promise, I don¡¯t really know.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the fact you used that spell,¡± Melissa said. ¡°I get it was necessary, but who knows how hot you¡¯re burning now.¡±

    ¡°Once we get off this island we can head straight to a hospital,¡± I said. ¡°This whole condition of mine is probably so weird they¡¯ll pay me, but we should be fine for now. I canceled the¡ª.¡±

    My words died as I choked against what felt like fingers from inside my throat. Nails raking at my esophagus like how Melissa¡¯s cats would claw at their scratching posts. Melissa gasped and Amber¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    ¡°Alls below, what did your spell do?¡± Melissa asked.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I asked.

    Lupe said, ¡°Nadia, it looks like there¡¯s a person inside of you.¡±

    Before I could say anything more my voice was cut off again by those fingers. They didn¡¯t scratch at the inside of my throat¡ªno, whatever those fingers belonged to had already learned that wouldn¡¯t work. So this time they pushed. Tenting my skin as it stretched taut beneath their administrations. I clapped my hands at my throat to fight from the outside against what was struggling to pierce my flesh.

    In its own countermove, the thing within me began a rapid assault of jabs against my skin from the inside. Tenting the flesh of my arms, my legs, my stomach, everything in search of a weak point where my body would just give. I tried in vain to clamp down where it pushed, but it was like trying to stall the assault of a thousand mosquitoes with only two hands.

    Amber ran over to help me¡ªhow she would, I don¡¯t know, and wouldn¡¯t find out. The instant she laid a hand against me she withdrew it just as fast, her skin¡¯s outer layers already burnt away, the fat inside popping like lard in a pan. She kept her composure though, and threw a question to Lupe right after.

    ¡°What¡¯s Nadia looking like right now?¡± she asked.

    Lupe said, ¡°Bright? The thing in her is brighter even than that, and climbing really fast. So fucking fast. Nadia, I thought you turned the spell off?¡±

    ¡°I did,¡± I said.

    Sphinx, I turned the spell off right? I said telepathically.

    From within my spirit, Sphinx replied, ¡°You did, technically, but Nadia just because you douse the lighter doesn¡¯t mean you kill the blaze.¡±

    Well, help me kill it then.

    She whispered, ¡°By treaties more ancient than Time, I am not allowed to interfere with a Canonical Path, Nadia.¡±

    Sphinx, what are you talking about? Sphinx? Sphinx!

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I pleaded, ¡°what¡¯s happening to me?¡±

    Then the thing within me jabbed out at my temple. Stretched my skin to its limits, and sensing the weakness it sought decided to add a small twist of its finger. A puff of air. The skin of my temple sundered. With the roar of a conflagration now freed, chalcedony flame shot forth like a geyser from my forehead.

    In the language of entities, we all heard in the crackle of fire the command, ¡°Name me!¡±

    Soon it became a chorus as more fingers of flame punctured my flesh, each gout repeating the same demand to name it? I didn¡¯t know what it meant, and before I could hear anyone¡¯s advice I had flame shooting from my ears. It coated my head¡ªa curtain of Revelatory fire blinding me to anything beyond itself. Consumed my body in a rapid unification of burning borders until there wasn¡¯t a half-inch of flesh in sight.

    I stumbled about unable to see or hear. There was just the unending chorus of, ¡°Name me,¡± being demanded over and over again. My unsteady steps became much steadier when I decided to run. I couldn¡¯t flee from my incendiary coating, but I remembered that it was raining outside. With fragile hope guiding me, I pumped my arms and slapped my feet against the floor in search of the doors that¡¯d lead me from the belly of Fort Tomb back outside.

    There was no way for me to tell how long it took, but eventually, I felt my body slam against a door that was left ajar. It sent me spinning out into the pouring rain. Off-balance, I slipped in the mud. Collapsed and slid partially down the hill, Fort Tomb dominated. Rolled and rolled until all my momentum was exhausted, and I found myself on my hands and knees.

    ¡°Oh, you just look so sad,¡± a voice said. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, that¡¯s probably a weird statement.¡±

    I looked around in worry¡ªI couldn¡¯t fight another enemy like this.

    ¡°Oh gosh, Nadia, sweetie we¡¯ve already been over this. You don¡¯t need eyes to see.¡±

    Not an enemy then, but¡­no, I¡¯d dismissed them all? I blinked on the Omensight¡ªit still worked even then¡ªand through my sheath of flame found myself looking up into a variation of myself. Albeit one with hair that flowed all the way to the mud. That burned like a carpet of fire. Whose expression was sad, aroused, and a bit shameful altogether.

    ¡°You¡­¡± I groaned. ¡°I dismissed all of you.¡±

    She bobbed her head side-to-side. ¡°Technically, you dismissed us during that meeting from the immediate space of your spirit. We¡¯re still of Revelation, Nadia, there¡¯s not really a way to permanently say goodbye to us until you graduate. Besides, you¡¯re the one who came to me.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I asked.

    She crossed her index fingers against her thumbs forming small hearts in an Old World fashion. Gifted me a grand smile of serrated triangular teeth. Her eyes thinning in rapturous joy.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡ªbut also very touched¡ªyou¡¯re being unmade, Nadia,¡± Revelation Unmaking said.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not, I¡­¡± I tried to argue, but I was literally on fire.

    Revelation Unmaking settled into a primal squat before me.

    ¡°You are, but it was bound to happen eventually,¡± she said. ¡°I mean, you knew your spirit was heating up after every use of the Inviolate Star.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t that spell connected to Revelation Isolating?¡± I asked.

    Revelation Unmaking wobbled her hand in the air. ¡°Sorry, but again only technically. Nadia, we¡¯re all of Revelation. Which means every spell is all of us at once,¡± Revelation Unmaking said. ¡°That little game, Ferilala Nu-zo played, was just the first step for you to consider how you feel about us¡ªabout Revelation. Though it is fair to say that the Inviolate Star has more of Revelation Isolating in it than me. In the same way that Atomic Glory has more of me in it than her. It¡¯s all about proportions and emphasis.¡±

    Slamming my blazing fists into the mud, I sputtered, ¡°What about the spell resistance!¡±

    She leaned back in a subtle cower. ¡°Eeep. Don¡¯t yell at me,¡± she whined. ¡°You kind of did get it, but that was mainly to protect what was going on inside of you. Honestly, it was a byproduct of the Inviolate Star feeding the entity within you, Nadia. It couldn¡¯t consume all that energy at once, so some of it lingered to help incubate it naturally and keep it from being potentially harmed before it woke back up.¡±

    The flames roared, ¡°Name me!¡±

    In a sudden flare-up, they rocketed me down into the mud before relenting ever so slightly. I struggled back to my knees amidst the applause of raindrops sizzling into steam. Confusion bloomed across my face¡ªif you could see it beneath all the fire.

    ¡°What do you mean, ¡®woke back up?¡¯¡± I asked.

    Revelation Unmaking said, ¡°Sorry, Nadia, it¡¯d be against Revelation¡ª.¡±

    ¡°To just fucking tell me, I know,¡± I grumbled. ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to me?¡±

    ¡°Well, what I imagine should¡¯ve happened a long time ago. This mortal sheath will be discarded having out-served its purpose, and changed to better handle the power of an entity. At least, I think so.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s my first time observing the beginning of a Canonical Path.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s what? Becoming an entity?¡±

    ¡°Yes and no. It¡¯s something grander than that. Though I hate to invoke my sister, it¡¯s a bit like a quest,¡± she said. ¡°An undertaking necessary to reaffirm a Court¡¯s existence.¡±

    ¡°And the first step is to name the Court?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, beaming.

    ¡°Then I¡¯m not going to do it,¡± I said.

    The flames flared again, screaming, ¡°Name me!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not and I won¡¯t!¡± I screamed back.

    Revelation Unmaking pouted, ¡°Nadia, please do it, for me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I grunted. ¡°I¡¯m not taking that step, fuck the Canonical Path. Fuck losing my humanity.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re holding on to delusions, love.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me love.¡±

    She whined and wiggled her toes in the mud. Twisted the tips of her index fingers against one another.

    ¡°But, I do love you.¡±

    ¡°Sphinx loves me.¡±

    ¡°And she¡¯s like, partially me,¡± Revelation Unmaking said. ¡°Don¡¯t break up with me. It¡¯s not my fault.¡±

    My ears must have acclimated to the endless screaming of the flames because for the first time, I heard Amber and the others call out my name.

    ¡°Temple, don¡¯t give up!¡± Amber yelled.

    ¡°Nadia, you can fight this!¡± Melissa called out.

    ¡°Nadia, you stubborn girl you better not give in!¡± Lupe screamed.

    They hadn¡¯t given up on me. Which was hardly a surprise¡ªeven when I¡¯d ripped out Melissa¡¯s throat they hadn¡¯t given up on me. It was because of them I clung so hard to the humanity that Revelation Unmaking had termed, ¡°a delusion.¡±

    A smirk crossed my pained face. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m not going to break up with you,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, thank you¡ª.¡±

    ¡°On one condition,¡± I said. ¡°Help me hold this back.¡±

    Revelation Unmaking¡¯s nascent cheer fell once again.

    ¡°Nadia, we¡¯re past that. If you had graduated sooner maybe you¡¯d have the spiritual density to wield and force this down, but¡ª.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re Sphinx, then you know how much it means to me to not be cut away from everyone.¡±

    I reached out with a burning limb to grasp Revelation Unmaking¡¯s hand¡ªor at least I think I did. A blush crossed her face as she looked down at our clasped hands then away from them, her eyes flicking back and forth as surreptitiously as possible.

    I pleaded, ¡°There has to be another way.¡±

    Revelation Unmaking squirmed in place. Sucked in her lips as if it¡¯d help to keep her from spilling some sort of secret. Then whipped her head back to me.

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said, ¡°technically this shouldn¡¯t break any rules. The Sorcery of entities can¡¯t interfere in Canonical Paths. It¡¯s the oldest rule we all follow to make everything, well, exist. So, do with that what you will and maybe you¡¯ll figure it out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it? Can¡¯t I get more of a hint?¡± I asked.

    She pouted, ¡°Sorry, but anything more and Revelation might get sanctioned and we¡¯re already not doing very well. Anyways, good luck hon, because like if you don¡¯t figure this out fast you¡¯ll probably explode.¡±

    ¡°Wait what!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°It takes like a lot of energy for entities to be created,¡± she said. ¡°Though, it wouldn¡¯t be like a big explosion. Just enough to level this hill. Anyways, I really hope you solve this.¡±

    ¡°Cause you¡¯re invested in me not blowing up?¡±

    She turned toward the direction of Amber, Lupe, and Melissa. The trio were descending the hill in a mad dash that saw their clothes drenched and caked in mud. Her shark-like smile stretched beyond human limits, distorting my face. Chin in her palms she batted her eyes in loving appreciation.

    ¡°Well, that,¡± she said, ¡°and I just find the beleaguered path to be so romantic.¡±

    I blinked, and then she was gone. Her parting words tumbling in my ear¡ªthat somehow this, me preventing myself from blowing up, was the beleaguered path. Though before I could attempt to make sense of that, Amber, Melissa, and Lupe slid into view. Their faces, visible to me again through the work of the Omensight.

    Filling them in quickly I said, ¡°Good news, there should be a way to stop me from burning to nothing.¡±

    Amber asked, ¡°And the bad news?¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t I¡¯ll blow up and take this entire hill, all of you, and everyone in Fort Tomb with me.¡±

    ¡°Fuck,¡± they all said in unison.

    ¡°After this, totally,¡± I said. ¡°Now, let¡¯s find a way to keep me from blowing up.¡±

 Chapter 44

    ¡°Alls below, this is a problem caused by a spell, but we can¡¯t use spells to fix it?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°Technically, Temple said that ¡°the Sorcery of entities¡± is what¡¯s off limits,¡± Amber stated.

    ¡°Which doesn¡¯t leave us much in the way of solutions,¡± Melissa said. ¡°Every spell is derived from entities, meaning all of it is theirs. We just borrow it. Besides, if you have a magic problem then you need a magic solution!¡±

    After I¡¯d informed them of the ¡°hint¡± that Revelation Unmaking had given, they ran themselves into the same creative rut that I¡¯d fallen into myself. Magic problems did require magic solutions, and most of those were hidden inside of spells. Case-in-point, without the Omensight I couldn¡¯t look past the flames to see how my incendiary status had infected Amber, Melissa, and Lupe with no small amount of mania. Amber was pacing around us in a circle as if the answer hid behind one more left turn. Melissa¡¯s anxiety was apparent in how she kept spinning her left hand like it was a dreidel. While Lupe had her back turned to me as she stared up into the sky¡ªthough with how her bracelet worked I knew she was still watching, she didn¡¯t have a choice.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I groaned, immediately gaining everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°We can¡¯t do Sorcery, but that doesn¡¯t mean there aren¡¯t sorcerous solutions available. Lupe, your bracelet isn¡¯t a spell.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°Sure, but it¡¯s just mortal-tier¡­magic. Alls below, what you lack in emotional intelligence you must have pushed into sorcery, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°Temple, mortal tier magic gets us around the ban on entity Sorcery,¡± Amber said before she threw a stick between the spokes of our brainstorming, ¡°but there¡¯s too much energy here for a few spare phonemes to stop. It¡¯s called, ¡®mortal-tier¡¯ for a reason¡ªit won¡¯t be strong enough.¡±

    Melissa released her hand, speaking as it spun counterclockwise undoing her rotations. ¡°Maybe not a handful of phonemes,¡± Melissa said, ¡°but what if we use a lot of them? Circumvent strength by way of complexity. It¡¯s how shrines and temples work.¡±

    ¡°Princess, we don¡¯t have time to build a shrine let alone a temple,¡± Amber stated.

    ¡°Then we make a formation,¡± I said.

    Amber asked, ¡°What if we don¡¯t have the right phonemes?¡±

    Doubt trickled into Lupe¡¯s voice as asked, ¡°What if this is just a trick to make us waste time?¡±

    ¡°No, Revelation might speak obliquely or be confoundingly cryptic, but it doesn¡¯t lie or trick. It wants you to learn,¡± I said. ¡°If she gave me a hint then it means there is an answer, and likely one we¡¯re capable of finding. These flames are of Revelation, so the answer has to be in my spells¡¯ phonemes somewhere.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of faith you¡¯re asking us to put into an entity, Temple,¡± Amber said.

    She was right¡ªAmber always had a frustrating capacity to be right. I wasn¡¯t just asking them to risk my life on this gamble, but their own. My failure would take all of us with me. An outcome that spawned horrific images in my mind of their flesh melting from their bones before being removed from all existence¡ªunmade alongside me. I shut my eyes, blocking off these false visions, and opened them again to find Amber meeting my gaze. Reading me for the first time in a while, searching for the glimpse of whatever made her follow me in the first place.

    I didn¡¯t have any hard evidence for her that everything would work out. All I had was the belief in the field of sorcerous knowledge that my dad gave his entire life to. That, in some other life, I would¡¯ve given my all to. If all these entities wanted to force me down a path that¡¯d mean parting from my humanity and the humans that made it worth living, then what better way to deny them than using the tools mankind had created ourselves?

    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m asking you to put your faith in me. I¡¯ll need it way more than her.¡±

    A smile broke across Amber¡¯s face and warred with the fear that cast shadows in her eyes. She nodded in assent and settled in front of me. Melissa and Lupe, trusting in Amber¡¯s decision, flanked her. The Angler Knight¡¯s words¡ªSinaya¡¯s, in truth, if he actually felt that way¡ªdripped worry down my spine. I know I needed their help, these three, but was I really infecting them?

    ¡°Name me!¡± the flames roared, propelling me face down into the mud, and away from those more cerebral concerns. I almost wanted to thank them, but they¡ªlike those thoughts¡ªwere an enemy I had to overcome if everyone was going to survive.

    ¡°Okay, so how do we design a formation?¡± Melissa asked.

    Lupe said, ¡°The same way I built my bracelet. We isolate the problem, figure out what spells can best interact with it, and then bust them open for parts. Slap the whole thing together and run it.¡±

    ¡°The problem is obvious,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m on fire.¡±

    Amber disagreed, ¡°No, you¡¯re on fire with¡ªwell¡ªRevelatory fire. That¡¯s the specific problem, so how does that work?¡±

    ¡°Um, it depends,¡± I said. ¡°If my flames travel along fate¡ª,¡±

    ¡°Sympathy lines,¡± Amber translated to Melissa and Lupe.

    ¡°Alls below, don¡¯t be pedantic while I burn to death,¡± I groaned. ¡°When they travel along them it moves through this tapestry of reality where everything¡¯s Conceptual. Then when it touches you it burns you away for Real.¡±

    ¡°And the other way?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°I make fire and shoot it at someone usually. It destroys the Real thing, but then burns out into the tapestry removing every Conceptual line of sympathy that¡¯d root you in the world.¡±

    Melissa said, ¡°So either your flames move from the Conceptual to affect the Real, or the Real to affect the Conceptual. Which are these?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡ª,¡± I began, before the flames consumed something and exploded.

    Amber wrapped her arms around Melissa and Lupe, pulling them back in time before the chalcedony corona that coated me could consume them in its expansion. My vision¡ªnow sideways¡ª revealed that I¡¯d been pounded into a crater. Instinctually, I tried to push myself up into at least the groveling position I was in moments earlier, but I couldn¡¯t. Which was when I realized what the flames had stolen from me¡ªmy right arm. Under the Omensight, I could still see it, the spiritual musculature remained, but the Real thing was gone.

    I squirmed into the dirt and mud until I flopped on my back. The flames had settled into a¡ªat least temporarily¡ªstable pillar of fire. It was a clue at least. If what was lost was my Real arm, then providing this was like an Atomic Glory, it meant that whatever these flames were consuming was something Conceptual about me that led to my Real body.

    This made for two clues, but I wanted answers. So there, with my eyes toward the heavens, I flexed my spirit to pull back my vision until I saw only fire again. Then, fixing my Omensight on the flames, I pushed inside of them to find the threads they were burning. They were thick, cold, reminiscent of Sleep, and heavy as a blanket. A cocoon. A memory.

    * * *

    First, there was a burning sensation. No smoke tickled my nose because there was no fire. It was just my muscles crying out for a reprieve. Though my cheeks were wet. Crying? I was crying. Then I stumbled, going end over end down a hill. Cuts ran down my legs and hands, bruises formed beneath my skin, but it all paled to the pain in my heart. I crawled forward until I found a puddle¡ªmy ten-year-old face stared back at me, followed by my mom¡¯s peeking over my shoulder.

    ¡°Go away,¡± I screamed, whirling around in fear.

    She said, ¡°Not gonna happen, sweetie. I¡¯d be a pretty bad mom if I just let you run away like this. A lot of people got together to help look for you.¡±

    Her voice was jokey as she spoke. Trying whatever she could to help me calm down, but I was ten and didn¡¯t want to calm down.

    ¡°You¡¯re already a bad mom!¡±

    ¡°And why¡¯s that?¡± she asked, her smile faltering.

    I explained, ¡°You don¡¯t believe me.¡±

    ¡°I always believe you.¡±

    ¡°Nuh-uh,¡± I whined. ¡°You yelled at me. Said I was lying when I told our guest about my trips downstairs, the pretty-glowing lady, and even my sister.¡±

    My mom¡¯s smile fell to pieces. Reached out to me with both her hands to pull me into a hug. I slapped them away, scurrying out of her reach.

    ¡°Nadia, sweetie, those were just nightmares. You have a very active imagination, hon, who knows maybe you¡¯ll bond to Imagination when you¡¯re older,¡± she said. ¡°However, it¡¯s important to separate truth from fiction, like saying you have a sister when you don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I protested.

    ¡°Nadia, you don¡¯t. You¡¯re my one and only child. I counted when I pushed you out.¡±

    ¡°Then maybe you counted wrong,¡± I argued. ¡°I do have a sister, and I¡¯m not lying!¡±

    ¡°Sweetie, it¡¯s for your own good¡ª.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I yelled. ¡°It¡¯s just what you want because you hate me. Saying I¡¯m lying when I¡¯m. Not. Lying!¡±

    I pounded my foot into the forest floor, punctuating my declaration of truth, and for a brief moment¡­

    One was two.

    It was stuttery, unstable, and when I snapped back together it released a wave not dissimilar from the Horizon Severs Sea From Sky. Though it was hardly as strong as Tsumugi¡¯s, leaving only deep gouges in the trees, the ground, and even the falling leaves.

    ¡°Alls below, you¡¯re sheltering it,¡± a different voice said.

    Mom whipped her head to the side tracking the voice. It belonged to our guest, an older man in an unadorned duck cloth jacket. On his back was a sarcophagus that he slung off his back before letting it drop to the ground in a thud. Mom slid in front of me¡ªat the time I didn¡¯t realize that unlike everything else around me, she was pristine and unblemished.

    ¡°She¡¯s a little girl,¡± Mom said.

    The man said, ¡°¡®Little girls¡¯ don¡¯t cast magic just by throwing a tantrum. You know what does?¡±

    Mom argued, ¡°Please, we¡¯re raising her right. She hasn¡¯t hurt anyone¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Yet,¡± he said. ¡°What if she threw a tantrum at school? Cut those children to pieces?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d fix it,¡± Mom said.

    ¡°You can¡¯t watch her forever,¡± he said. ¡°Sovereign, in the name of the Tenken-bumon¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Sweetie,¡± Mom said to me, ¡°close your eyes for me.¡±

    ¡°Mommy, what¡¯s going on?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Just, close them,¡± she said, using that motherly tone which meant her patience was spent.

    I closed them, and felt myself¡ªmy proper eighteen-year-old self¡ªdisconnect from the memory before falling into a different one.

    * * *

    My stomach hurt, but my tongue was pleased. I wiggled it about in glee that it was blue. Looked up into the face of Melissa¡ªten-year-old Melissa¡ªto see that hers was green. In our fists were cones that held aloft half-eaten clouds of cotton candy. Around us were stalls with games, treats, and little market goods present at every Declaration of Thunder festival. Which meant it was also my birthday.

    Trailing just a bit behind Melissa and myself, was my mom and dad, as well as a different guest. One they¡¯d said was a friend. She wore a shawl around her shoulders, had deep bags beneath her eyes, and a mouth prone to yawning.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be tough,¡± she said, yawning again. ¡°Sleeping Beauty shit¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Language,¡± my mom hissed, noting that I¡¯d turned my ear toward them. ¡°And you, don¡¯t eavesdrop on adults talking. It¡¯s rude.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mooooom,¡± I said, dragging out my agreement.

    Melissa grabbed my hand. ¡°C¡¯mon, let''s go to my family¡¯s cloth dyeing station. It¡¯ll be fun.¡±

    I let Melissa pull me away from my parents. Though not before I caught a few more words.

    The sleepy lady said, ¡°It¡¯ll come undone eventually. This magic always does.¡±

    ¡°How long would it last?¡± Mom asked.

    ¡°Depends,¡± she said. ¡°If you convince her that she wants this, maybe make her forget it¡¯s there altogether, it could coast along quietly for a good while.¡±

    ¡°Years?¡± Dad asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll at least get eight. After that, depends on what Court she bonds to.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± he said, ¡°she won¡¯t. Not while I¡¯m around.¡±

    Then I was beyond their words, and let myself disconnect from this memory as well.

    * * *

    Up burning strands of memory, my consciousness climbed back toward my body. Ascending beyond skinned knees, sore throats, stuffy noses, the sun on my skin, juice in my mouth, fingers in my hair, and more. The sensory anchors to memories that spanned the life I thought I knew.

    Echoing about was my mom¡¯s voice reminding me, ¡°This is what it meant to be human.¡±

    To feel and experience the world through the body, and through the body make memory. Through memory build one¡¯s self. A self established in the tapestry of the world¡ªNadia Temple, human girl. Whose fate would¡¯ve been¡ªshould¡¯ve been¡ªmundane across the infinite fractal paths of possibility. It was an ingenious work of magic, and I¡¯d set fire to it all to win a fight I could¡¯ve just walked away from.

    With a sigh, I settled into my body again. Turned my Omensight away from the fire, and back to just beyond it where I saw Amber, Lupe, and Melissa peeking past the rim of my crater. I would¡¯ve never walked away from that fight for all the reasons I¡¯d told Sinaya¡ªThe Angler Knight. It wasn¡¯t in me, but what really was me?

    ¡°Which is it?¡± Melissa asked, her voice trying to climb above the endless rumble of fire.

    I yelled back, ¡°Conceptual to Real. It¡¯s consuming my fate, and leading down to my body.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°Problem isolated, now we go over your spells.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easy, I only have four,¡± I said.

    ¡°Still?¡± the three of them asked.

    ¡°Yes, still, alls below it¡¯s not about how many spells you have,¡± I yelled.

    Amber said, ¡°You¡¯re right, now just tell us about your spells.¡±

    ¡°And make sure to incant them,¡± Lupe added. ¡°That way we can pick apart the phonemes, since we¡¯ll be drawing the formation.¡±

    ¡°Atomic Glory gathers possibility then splits it to unleash Revelatory fire. Inviolate Star makes a dense star of power that diverts fate and scatters Sorcery. Omensight is just my sorcerous sight. While, Godtime¡­well, that one¡¯s kind of weird. It isolates a moment for someone, so I can do more in a small amount of time than I normally should. Varies between a time stop or slow depending on who I take with me. Any of that help?¡±

    ¡°It does,¡± Amber yelled. ¡°Way I see it, we use the portion of Atomic Glory that lets you gather fate¡ªfocus it on the stuff that¡¯s being burned right now¡ªto collect the fire.¡±

    Lupe chimed in, ¡°Then pull the part of Inviolate Star that condenses energy so we compress it down into a shape and it doesn¡¯t just shoot off somewhere.¡±

    ¡°Using the parts of Godtime that isolate, we shove all that energy inside,¡± Melissa finished. ¡°That should solve everything.¡±

    Another strand gave way within me. The pillar of flame bulged, expanding again and making a pit of my crater. The earthen walls became tall enough that I couldn¡¯t even see everyone¡¯s faces anymore. Just their voices, garbled at the edge by the static of my bonfire body.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t,¡± I yelled. ¡°Whatever happens in Godtime can still affect the Real. It just keeps the Real from necessarily being able to affect what goes on inside of it. Isolating the moment isn¡¯t enough.¡±

    Lupe yelled, ¡°I¡¯m open to any suggestions.¡±

    ¡°We need it to be more complex,¡± I said. ¡°Mortal-tier magic can pull from more than one Court, and right here I count at least three other ones. Melissa, do you have a phoneme within Mutation that can twist something to do a semi-inverted function?

    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± she asked.

    ¡°We can¡¯t just isolate the moment,¡± I said. ¡°We make it into one where it¡¯s a full-on trap; one way in with no way out. That way nothing happening inside can still affect what¡¯s outside. While Lupe, do you have a phoneme somewhere in Morning that can punt something into the future?¡±

    ¡°Alls below, of course I do. The dawn is always ahead of us,¡± she said, ¡°but it comes in the next day. We need this to last long past the next day.¡±

    ¡°Amber, do you have something?¡± I asked.

    Silence. My heart teetered as it stretched beyond the amount of time normally needed for simple recollection. Did she not know something¡ªI was used to her knowing everything.

    ¡°I do,¡± she said, like it was a confession. ¡°A few phonemes of Masks would do it. So rather than be bound by a specific near time, we set it in a future that¡¯ll be marked by a cue signal.¡±

    Anxiety fled my body as I exhaled, and nodded to myself. This would do it. This would work¡ªit had to work. So, with the plan set, all I could do was wait. Buried in a pit, on fire, and slowly losing feeling in the remains of myself that were still mortal¡ªmy head, my internal organs, my feet. Though, in a manner that didn¡¯t quite hurt, I knew the flames were consuming them too from the outside in. Flesh sloughing until the metallic scales of my musculature peeked through.

    I shut my eyes¡ªas if that would block out the awareness of my body being stripped away. Then, when my legs were down to bones, I heard a whooshing. Though it was more like a sucking vacuum sort of whoosh. Alongside the sound, came a relieving of pressure that left me feeling lighter than air. As if a wind could ferry me from my tellurian pit. I opened my eyes, blinked off the Omensight, and would¡¯ve cried if the transition between my sorcerous sight and normal vision didn¡¯t already spawn tears.

    The flames had been pulled into a retreat, and with it the chalcedony curtain of fire was withdrawn. Amber, Melissa, and Lupe poked their heads past the edge of the pit¡ªthe flames deep enough in their remission for it to be safe¡ªand there, framed by the stars, they looked more beautiful than they ever had. We were all battered, bruised, and beaten, but alive.

    I crossed my eyes noting the finger-wide beam of chalcedony that still cut up into the air. It terminated at a point between my eyes¡ªmy temple. As I watched its energy slowly dissipate and flicker, I heard its request in a voice, whisper-thin and mournful.

    ¡°Please, just name me,¡± it asked.

    I whispered back, ¡°Maybe one day.¡±

    The beam disappeared, and my demise, delayed.

    Amber opened her storage-spell, and let a step-ladder drop. Its end clattered against some root hidden in the dirt. Engaging my core, I forced myself to sit up only to fight against two weights at my side¡ªmy arms! They were back¡­and as I stared at them, realized how different they were. Scales coated them in thick bands that became smaller as you followed them down to my fingers. Which had also changed. My nails weren¡¯t manicured down to a soft unsharp arc anymore, but instead extended into metal claws meant to carve through flesh.

    Lupe yelled, ¡°Stop staring at yourself, and get up here!¡±

    I chuckled and used my arms¡ªchanged as they were¡ªto push myself to my feet. Climbed up the ladder, hopping off once I¡¯d cleared the edge of the pit, and fell into Amber and Melissa¡¯s embrace. When I¡¯d returned from battling The Angler Knight, they hadn¡¯t hugged me. After dismissing the transformation, Amber had burned just trying to touch me. Now though, there was nothing about me that scared them off or hurt them for attempting to grant me intimacy.

    ¡°Lupe, you want in on the hug?¡± I asked.

    She laughed, ¡°I gave you a hug already.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but that was a victory hug,¡± I said. ¡°This is a, ¡®Alls below, I can¡¯t believe you survived,¡¯ hug. Totally different.¡±

    ¡°To be honest,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯m surprised any of us did.¡±

    ¡°Then we all deserve a hug,¡± Amber teased.

    ¡°Alls below, we do,¡± Melissa agreed.

    As a combined force, Amber, Melissa, and myself ambled after Lupe to pull her into the hug. Lupe laughed at the effort, said we looked, ¡°Actually horrific,¡± as our silhouettes had all merged together. Then marched directly toward us, joining in.

    My eyes fell closed in tranquil appreciation. Though in my ear, I heard Revelation Unmaking¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Nadia, when our arms are full is when we¡¯re most likely to drop everything,¡± she stated.

    I did my best to focus on the moment, but her words were in me now. Settled right next to her implication that I was still on the beleaguered path, whatever that was. The two pieces of information rolled around in my head until I couldn¡¯t fixate on them anymore; my full attention being stolen by a large projection of our proctor¡¯s face appearing in the air above us.

    The Kennelmaster said, ¡°That¡¯s time. All of you slain or captured, take heart that you¡¯ve been judged fairly according to your deeds, both official and unofficial for some of you. We¡¯ll be pulling you out exactly as we dropped you in, so wait patiently while we extract you.¡±

    Once he was done, the projection disappeared. All that remained was more waiting. Across the island, people were being teleported out in an order that still wasn¡¯t clear to me. Was it by severity of wounds, score, who still had a Dream Shell or didn¡¯t? Ultimately, I didn¡¯t know, but I did end up watching Melissa and Lupe be teleported out before me and Amber.

    ¡°So,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she hummed.

    I asked, ¡°What¡¯s my cue signal?¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Amber groaned, ¡°the answer. The fire wanted you to name it, so I made the signal be its name.¡±

    ¡°You know what its name is?¡± I asked.

    Amber scoffed, ¡°As if. Temple, Masks doesn¡¯t have to know¡ªnot at least to the demands of facts. It¡¯s more about feeling.¡±

    ¡°When I feel that I¡¯ve named it, it¡¯ll go off,¡± I said. ¡°Hardly accurate.¡±

    She kicked up a small clump of dirt my way. ¡°Hey, we had to cobble together a formation on the fly. Cut us some slack.¡±

    ¡°Oh, for Melissa and Lupe, totally,¡± I said. ¡°But you know everything, so I expected more.¡±

    My voice was mocking but light.

    ¡°I know it wasn¡¯t easy,¡± I said.

    ¡°What wasn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Telling us what your Court was.¡±

    ¡°Who says, Masks is my Court?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Really,¡± I asked, ¡°you¡¯re going to deny it?¡±

    ¡°I only want to hear the evidence.¡±

    I counted it off. ¡°First, there¡¯s the fact that you and Wren both do that weird disappearing move the exact same way, and she was Masks. Second, you did basically put a ¡°Mask¡± over the control tablet to make it look like a knife. Third, it was in the scroll.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± she asked, her voice cold.

    Smirking, I said, ¡°Yeah, Amber, you were my target for this entire exam. Right inside the scroll, it said, ¡®Amber Scorizni, Court of Masks.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Fuck,¡± she whispered. ¡°I thought I¡¯d hidden it better than¡ª.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡±

    She looked up, glaring. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I. Got. You,¡± I said. ¡°My actual third piece of evidence, your confession.¡±

    She was quiet for a moment, then chuckled. Which became a laugh. That soon shook her entire body in a rolling guffaw. I laughed alongside her.

    Amber said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you actually convinced me.¡±

    I stood and walked over to where Amber leaned against the tree. It was broad enough for me to lean against it also. There, so close that I felt her breath on my lips, I stared into her rose eyes.

    ¡°It helps that I mixed in some of the truth,¡± I said. ¡°You really were my target, but they had nothing on you. Why¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re getting greedy, Temple,¡± she replied. ¡°One secret at a time, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said softly, then leaned in closer so my lips barely grazed hers with every word. ¡°Want to know how else, I tricked you?¡±

    ¡°Tell me.¡±

    I pressed my lips against hers. I had to stand on my tiptoes¡ªif I could¡¯ve kept my humanity and the extra inches from that strange form from earlier, I would have gladly. When I pulled back, I answered Amber¡¯s demand.

    ¡°You told me,¡± I said, ¡°no one¡¯s paranoid when they¡¯re in love.¡±

    Her lips quivered into a smile, but before she could kiss me back, I was teleported out.

    * * *

    The next day, I skipped out on breakfast. I¡¯d woken up earlier than Amber and Melissa. Under normal circumstances, that would¡¯ve been fine. When we were extracted from the island, the secretaries informed everyone that there¡¯d be a day-long gap between the second test and the first. Time meant to recuperate, do some light training, or seriously consider dropping out. For me, it just meant that I stared up into the ceiling and kept seeing Sinaya¡¯s face in the plaster. His eyes wide, patient, and so sad as he bemoaned the fact I hadn¡¯t killed him. When I wasn¡¯t haunted by that, the sound of the cooling shrine at work reminded me too much of the flame¡¯s demand that I, ¡®name it.¡¯

    It made my room unbearable. So, working carefully, I squirmed free of the cuddle puddle that I¡¯d fallen into with Amber and Melissa. Snuck over to my bag where I grabbed a few clothes, threw them on, and slipped out the door. I hadn¡¯t left them a note¡ªI should have, but¡­some thoughts you just have to think through alone.

    A process that led me out of the residence hall, into the crisp morning breeze, and out onto the streets of the district. Where I walked, and walked trying to think without thinking. Not about Sinaya, my status as something more¡ªor less¡ªthan human, or what my parents did to me. Instead, there was just the steady blur of businesses and people beginning their day. A mundanity that under other conditions would¡¯ve been mine¡ªnope, no I didn¡¯t want to think through that. I shoved my claws deeper into my pockets. Walked harder. Down streets, around corners, up hills, all the way until I found myself at the end of it all.

    I was across the street from a house, two floors, pretty big like the ones near it. This one was the end of the street, the district, land¡ªit sat overlooking a cliff after all. It was the house that I¡¯d first seen as a ruin. Where I¡¯d encountered the White Womb, that twisted sibling¡ªif they counted as such¡ªof mine. The first fight I¡¯d had with Sinaya, though at that time we were allies. I¡¯d watched a mom die in that house. My feet led me to the encapsulation of everything I didn¡¯t want to think about. So I did the only thing left. I crossed the street.

    A sign hanging in the window said that it was available for purchase¡ªpart of me wondered how much it cost, but a different area of myself considered the fact that after killing Nemesis I¡¯d probably have to run. It wasn¡¯t really like I wanted a house anyways. Just a home.

    I tried the doorknob. Locked. Rolling my eyes, I blinked on the Omensight and found the thread of fate tying the lock to a key hidden inside the mailbox beside the door. Fishing out the key, I pushed it in and entered the house.

    It creaked in squeaky joy at an occupant crossing its floors. The house didn¡¯t care about what I was¡ªhouses were good like that, non-judgemental. Past the entryway, I crossed through the kitchen and into the living room. The walls, I discovered when not coated in gore or ash, were a light oceanic blue. There wasn¡¯t any furniture to sit down on, so I passed from there to the deck out back which hung past the cliff¡¯s edge.

    The glass door slid aside easily enough, and then I was outside again. Ocean breeze teasing my nose with brine and salt. As well as a chill that wasn¡¯t likely to leave even when the sun climbed past the horizon.

    I rested my arms along the wooden railing, and whispered, ¡°Sphinx, we need to talk.¡±

    My spirit shifted, parting like curtains, and then there was Sphinx, sitting on her haunches beside me. Her smile was wan, but there was no disagreement in her expression.

    ¡°Of course, Nadia,¡± she said. ¡°What about?¡±

 Chapter 45

    A wave crashed against the cliffs below, and with its destruction up went a spray of water obliterated into a mist. My thoughts were not dissimilar in their motion. I had endless questions about me, this ¡°Canonical Path,¡± what to do about Sinaya, my memories, everything. So crash, went my thoughts, shattering against the bulwark of my singular tongue which could shape only one question.

    Plucking it from the mental mist, I asked, ¡°What¡¯s the Canonical Path?¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s head spun until her face was backwards, hidden. Her voice a churning murmur of unease, ¡°Nadia, I can¡¯t answer that. You know I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know,¡± I repeat to myself. ¡°It¡¯s just, we¡¯re bondmates and you weren¡¯t there for me. I was being unmade, and you weren¡¯t there.¡±

    We both knew that wasn¡¯t entirely true. She was there. In my spirit the entire time. Present for the incendiary consumption of my being. Silent, yes, but she was there. Though in the same way one can feel alone in a crowd, I was abandoned even as my love was beside me.

    ¡°Just help me understand when I can count on you, please?¡± I begged.

    Sphinx¡¯s head ticked, slow as a clock in a classroom as it revolved back to me. Her eyes slid to the ocean, broad and expansive. A slight smile illuminated her face with an idea.

    She asked, ¡°If someone asked you to describe the ocean, but you couldn¡¯t fly them high above to see its majesty from the voids of space, how would you?¡±

    I looked to the water, pressed my arms against the railing, and considered.

    ¡°I¡¯d describe what¡¯s around it¡ªcliffs, beaches, broad sky. Probably what it isn¡¯t¡ªnot a lake. How it makes me feel¡ªsmall, terrified, in love,¡± I said. ¡°Sphinx, what isn¡¯t the Canonical Path?¡±

    ¡°Destiny. Singular. A thing to be known by humans.¡±

    So I had free will¡ªto a point, I supposed¡ªnor was its progression one thing with lines and marks to hit like a script. Impossible then to easily predict where or when it might grapple me into its clutches. Though on that last point¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m human,¡± I said.

    Sphinx¡¯s head bobbled. ¡°Nor are you an entity,¡± she pointed out.

    ¡°No special, hybridae clause?¡± I asked.

    She smirked, ¡°Alas, your existence is new, and still unlitigated in the judicial halls of Law or the Parliament of All That Is.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a secret I wasn¡¯t meant to know,¡± I said. ¡°The Sovereigns have a parliament?¡±

    Sphinx stood on her hind legs, and let her bulk rest upon the railing I¡¯d been leaning on. She winked and flashed her fangs in a bright smile.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the Real under the Omensight,¡± she said. ¡°All of this, All That Is, is a negotiation between the Sovereign powers. It¡¯s no great secret, but it is the remit of Revelation to make plain such insights. Provided, of course, you ask the right questions.¡±

    ¡°But even with that remit, as you say, Revelation has some secrets it can¡¯t make plain?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx turned away. ¡°Every Court is¡­curtailed in some respect or another. Bound by the accords struck by our Sovereigns. Afterlife is a shut door, Time flows in one direction¡ª¡±

    ¡°And Revelation can¡¯t make plain the Canonical Path,¡± I said.

    ¡°No one can, but yes. Some of these restrictions were baked into making the Real stable, and others¡ª¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°Were won by way of sanctions?¡± I asked, winning me a glance from her that said, how¡¯d you know? To which I answered, ¡°Revelation Unmaking implied.¡±

    She nodded, and the two of us fell back into a silence comfortable only due to the feelings which flowed along the bond between us. Love, respect, concern, all beaded along our mystic tie like morning dew. Sphinx may have been smiling at our game of slipping through loopholes, but she didn¡¯t like it any more than I did.

    My hand found the back of her head, stroking fingers through the black river of her hair. Eliciting deep throated purrs of pleasure. Though what traveled along our bond was the sharp, bright notes of elation that scattered the beads of pre-existing feeling. I didn¡¯t want to keep things harsh between us¡ªin the end, if she was right, it¡¯d be just us after all.

    ¡°We¡¯ve digressed,¡± Sphinx muttered between purrs.

    ¡°We have,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s easier than playing this game.¡±

    Sphinx nailed me with a glance, soft yet pointed, ¡°Then name yourself, Nadia, and step into the left-hand of your birth.¡±

    My hand fell from her hair, and I set my eyes on the receding vestiges of night that dove past the horizon in a bid to outpace the morning sun.

    ¡°I¡¯d get answers then?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Plain and true, but ultimately the path is one you walk yourself.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d hunt me, Sphinx, the Tenken-bumon,¡± I said. ¡°If what I saw was true¡­they¡¯ve been hunting me. At least like this, I have some plausible deniability. I¡¯m human enough.¡±

    My claws¡ªgained from the flames that ate my arms the night earlier¡ªgouged into the wood of the railing. Sphinx laid her head against my shoulder.

    ¡°Yet as you are, you aren¡¯t entity enough. Not for the answers you want nor to claim the power that could make the swords of heaven rattle with fear in their sheaths,¡± she said. ¡°As you are, the Sorcery which rises unbidden could make the deniability of your nature implausible. Strength unnamed is a mindless beast, Nadia.¡±

    She was right. Alls below, she was right, and I was¡­not entirely wrong either. Though in her language, relating the Sorcery I¡¯d been doing semi-consciously as a ¡°wild beast,¡± I found my thoughts turning to curses. Natural ones, formed in the Underside, were mindless things that infected¡ªoh, they infected¡ªanything they discovered that¡¯d let them in. Working magic without nuance or elegance, raising up and casting down their hosts without heart nor ethos to divine. If I was human enough but not entity enough, was I a curse?

    ¡°Nadia¡ª¡± Sphinx began, likely in an attempt to curtail that thought.

    I asked, ¡°My parents, were they killed because of me?¡±

    Did the tenken-bumon catch up with them for harboring me? Was it a punishment for interfering with the Canonical Path? I felt the ties of fate which I¡¯d touched, burned, and examined wind about my throat forming a noose with which to catch my neck.

    Sphinx dropped back from the railing¡ªthe balcony had us far past the cliff after all. Her eyes flicked from the churning sea now a rippling bejeweled curtain reflecting so much light.

    ¡°Would the answer change the course you¡¯d wish to take?¡± she asked.

    I glanced down to the ocean with its crashing waves and the bone-severing cliffs that stood against it. Then back to Sphinx, who sat within the doorframe leading back inside.

    ¡°It¡¯d¡­it wouldn¡¯t,¡± I admitted. ¡°They¡¯re still dead, and this world feels so ugly without them. Nemesis still needs to die.¡±

    ¡°Then why ask?¡±

    So, I¡¯d know if anyone would have to go as well.

    Sphinx sighed, ¡°It¡¯s unlikely to be the tenken-bumon.¡±

    ¡°So then it¡¯s because they tampered with the Canonical Path?¡±

    ¡°Also, unlikely,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°They tampered with your hybridae nature, yes, but not all hybridae walk the Canonical Path. Nor are walkers of it easily identifiable. Any accuser of your mother would have a steep climb in making the claim she knew and intentionally involved herself.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me my mother, a Sovereign, didn¡¯t know?¡± I asked. ¡°Swordbearer knew. You knew¡­you knew. You knew!¡±

    My brow furrowed in frustration. I stormed toward Sphinx¡ªthough looking back, she very much led me¡ªinto the house. Fists clenched at my side. Mood flailing about in need of answers and targets. I threw my arm to the side casting off reason, Divid*** the floor and wall petulantly. A smooth groove cut from where I stood, climbed up the wall and severed a window.

    Sphinx glanced at the wound I¡¯d made in the house, and back to me. Her eyes unclouded with worry or fear, but instead wet with sorrow. Shame fell upon me heavy as a drenched quilt, driving me to my knees. Tears beaded my lashes as I clutched the offending limb to my chest.

    ¡°Those of Courts related to the walker,¡± she explained, carefully picking her words around metaphysical landmines, ¡°are aware. I, by remit of Revelation and our bond, knew the moment I laid eyes upon you and we became bondmates. In truth, I tried to say it without saying it, but while your skin is thin your skull is quite thick, my love.¡±

    She pressed a kiss to my brow. In specific, the black four-pointed star that marked the spot where the entity which lurked within me, now trapped in a moment belonging to the unforeseen future, had shattered the flesh of my temple. I reached up with shaking hands to cradle her face. Guide her kisses from my brow, down the side of my face, over wet tear-drenched cheeks, and onto my mouth which was done with questions and their hard answers.

    Sphinx¡¯s wings wrapped around me while her tongue twined with mine. I was ravenous and she was generous. Doling out teasing flicks and nips of my lower lip, until my heart settled and my throat opened. We parted, I was panting and she was smiling¡ªentities rarely tired after all. Her eyes slid to their corners, as she smirked.

    ¡°I thought you a puppeteer, not a voyeur,¡± Sphinx said to the air.

    Then I Remembered that the door to the house was unlocked, had been opened and shut sometime before my tantrum, and the third occupant had been leaning against the far wall where my gouging line had passed beside them. A wound marring the house''s domesticity, but which this new occupant had been running their fingers within¡ªabsentmindedly most likely¡ªwhile observing the way Sphinx brought my heart to a rest.

    Secretary said, ¡°Anyone would be a voyeur when you decide to carry on without respect to those who¡¯d been waiting for your time.¡±

    ¡°Sphinx, can I¡­?¡± I trailed off, but she understood.

    With a quick glare at Secretary, Sphinx walked inside of me leaving Secretary and myself to our relative privacy. I blinked through the sensual haze that dulled the bite of my recent mood. Focused on #404, whose gaze roamed across my body.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you arrived,¡± I said, though my eyes widened quickly at the towering truth unspoken. ¡°I didn¡¯t Remember you did.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Secretary asked.

    Revelation Unmaking¡¯s explanation whispered through my thoughts. The spell resistance was a byproduct of the energy used to nurture and awaken the entity inside of me. It wasn¡¯t really mine, and if all that power was directed into the trap we¡¯d constructed¡­my fingers ran over that black star on my forehead.

    My voice struggled to stay even, ¡°I misplaced it, it seems.¡±

    My body shivered at the realization of how naked my spirit was. How cold I was. They crossed the room to take my side, kneeled as I kneeled, but stayed their hand from wiping my tears. In their gaze, I saw pity peeking around the smooth-face of their professionalism. The sight of it caused a revulsion in me¡ªat the weakness which wrung tears from my heart, made them into their problem. I turned away, shoved aside the tears, and faced them again with a plaster smile.

    ¡°How long have you been here?¡± I asked.

    Secretary¡¯s hand fell. They said, ¡°Since you were on the balcony.¡±

    I chuckled, ¡°And you say you aren¡¯t a voyeur.¡±

    Then I spotted a bead of bright carmine tracing down the razor edge of their cheekbones. It¡¯d traveled from a wound on their ear¡ªI remembered, in the normal manner, that they¡¯d been beside the wound I¡¯d struck into the house. It turned out that while they were whole they¡¯d not gone unmarked.

    I wanted to apologize, but when my mouth opened a hungry breath rolled from within my throat like a fog. That beautiful carmine bead became my world. I needed it on my tongue. Then I caught Secretary¡¯s expression¡ªplacid, assenting, and a soft smile.

    ¡°I¡¯d need to clean myself anyways, little brute,¡± they said.

    They¡¯d given me permission without judgment. Found mundanity in my curse¡ªhandkerchief or tongue, they¡¯d have to clean themselves one way or another. It was an extension of trust and, in some respect perhaps, an act of contrition for having placed the mask into my life. Nonetheless, if there was a strength in offering then I¡¯d found the strength in denial.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    I muttered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for hurting you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like you knew I was there,¡± they said, a firm erasure of fault on my part. ¡°Besides, you¡¯re not one to intentionally break what¡¯s yours, are you?¡±

    The image of my teeth in Melissa¡¯s throat came to mind. How succulent her arteries proved to be as they gushed down my throat. Though that impulse was the curse, ultimately. A sublimation of my desire to be seen translated into a consumptive urge. That¡¯s all.

    ¡°Never,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s mine is to be cherished, even when¡­¡±

    Even when it turns out they¡¯re an enemy?

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Secretary said, the usage of my name¡ªrare on their tongue¡ªdrawing my attention.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    They said, ¡°You¡¯re crying again?¡±

    And so I was. A blessing then, I thought, that I¡¯d never been one for makeup really. At this rate I¡¯d have wasted whatever supply I¡¯d arrived to Brightgate with.

    ¡°Little brute, what happened in that exam?¡± they asked.

    I waved off the question. ¡°You probably got a hundred reports. What¡¯s mine going to do in filling in the picture of yesterday?¡±

    Their eyes narrowed as their hand struck fast as a mother pulling her daughter out of the street. Taking me by the chin, and directing my face to meet theirs.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need yours to fill in the events of yesterday. We know that we¡¯ve the local Underside. That even now, the Lurkers do as their namesake hiding amongst the applicants and subordinating our traditions¡ªviolent as they are¡ªto advance their own ends.¡±

    ¡°See, you don¡¯t need¡ª¡±

    They cut me off, ¡°What I want is to hear your story, Nadia. I¡¯m yours and you¡¯re mine. If you¡¯re mine, then I¡¯d like to know what¡ªor as I suspect¡ªwho hurt you.¡±

    A smile shuddered into position. It was forced, frail, and shattered with a tilt of Secretary¡¯s head. My lips parted and out flowed a rendition of yesterday not too dissimilar from what I¡¯ve already described. There were the abrasions my pride had suffered, struggling as I did beneath the urge of my curse. The wound Melissa had inflicted¡ªthat I, in due respect to my own participation, aided¡ªon my heart. I tried to elide past the cage and muzzle, especially when I realized how Secretary¡¯s displeasure came into relief beneath the thinning veneer of professional distance between us.

    Only for things to crescendo at my informing them of The Angler Knight¡¯s identity. First by name, which spawned little reaction. Then by deed, specifically our bathroom encounter, which tipped Secretary back onto their ass as they understood who he was¡­to me.

    They pushed back their hair, and said, ¡°Oh little brute, you weren¡¯t born for simplicity in your life were you?¡±

    ¡°Only monsters are simple,¡± I said, parroting Sphinx¡¯s words from what felt like ages ago but had only been a few days.

    Secretary sighed, agreement in an exasperated way. ¡°Complexity is hardly a virtue either.¡±

    I shrugged, a half-hearted agreement of my own. Secretary stood, dusted off their black miniskirt, and looked to the door. I tipped forward to catch their hand. Worked my thumb into the heart line of their palm.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°why did you follow me here?¡±

    Secretary answered, looking away from me, ¡°I wanted to see how you were feeling.¡±

    ¡°Before you found me falling apart?¡± I sniffed, ¡°You¡¯re hiding something.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m always hiding something, little brute,¡± they said. ¡°I¡¯m a secretary.¡±

    ¡°And my handler,¡± I said. ¡°Or are you not mine?¡±

    They looked away¡­again. The ends of my mouth fell low, weighted down Secretary¡¯s hypocrisy. If I was theirs and thus so was my story, then they were mine as were their secrets. I shifted pressure from the pad of my thumb toward its tip, guiding my knife-sharp claw into their palm. They winced, turning back to regard me and I immediately relented the pressure¡ªI only wanted them to look at me.

    ¡°I am, little brute,¡± Secretary said.

    Secretary inhaled what confidence hid in the air before speaking. ¡°First, I was concerned about you¡ªeven before finding you here having¡­a moment,¡± they said. ¡°However, it was also to confirm if you¡¯d be capable of the mission happening tonight for many of the Lodge¡¯s assets¡ªprobationary ones at least.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be capable?¡± I asked.

    I let Secretary¡¯s hand go. They let it linger there in the air as if I¡¯d change my mind about concluding this small bit of intimacy¡ªI didn¡¯t. In a bid to remind them that, despite finding me in such a despairing mood, I was strong and capable in all the ways that normally mattered, I stood and rolled back my shoulders. Assumed a smile like a bear trap¡ªshiny, sharp, and wicked. The little brute they could rely on, and who I¡¯d prefer to be than the weeping girl in an empty house curled up on a bare floor.

    ¡°It might involve killing Sinaya,¡± they said.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Anything else?¡±

    With a sigh, Secretary continued, ¡°It¡¯d be an infiltration mission. The Lurkers, confident in their results¡ªcurtailed as they were by your own actions, of which the Lodge did make note¡ªwere going to celebrate. Likely an attempt to pull more examinees under their banner, and slay those who reject this Sage of the Deep as their leader. Our plan then being, to subvert this trap to our own gain and do away with the cult, these traitors, and those that lead them.¡±

    ¡°Of which The Angler Knight¡ªSinaya¡ªis one,¡± I said, well aware that he was.

    My bear trap smile rusted to dust, and my shoulders tipped forward in a slump. This was which required an interior strength that I didn¡¯t know if I possessed. Though what snagged between my fangs was the idea that Sinaya had to be¡­dealt with. As if he was like the rest of the cult, gladly waging war against Nemesis rather than being someone trapped.

    That was it! That was what bothered me¡ªSinaya didn¡¯t want this, any of this. He was willing to let my glaive pierce his heart, and finally walk into freedom. Though it pained me to realize it so late, Sinaya didn¡¯t want to fight me or kill Melissa on a personal level. There wasn¡¯t even a true ideological thrust motivating him. It was mechanical. Did someone forced into that life, uplifted by a disgusting connection to a monster, need to die?

    I shook my head, ¡°I can do the mission, #404. It¡¯s just¡ªyou all have Sinaya wrong.¡±

    Secretary¡¯s smile waned. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you do. Sinaya¡ªto a fault¡ªwas forced somehow into this compromise with Marduk, that¡¯s the Sage of the Deep,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s not committed. Why, outside of this barbecue place he told me, um, he told me how his grandfather¡ªstill Marduk¡ªkept him in the dark so he couldn¡¯t get away.¡±

    ¡°Nadia¡ª¡±

    ¡°He was about to let me kill him!¡± I shouted, then blushed as the house echoed back my voice. ¡°Does that sound like someone who has to die? Can¡¯t we do something else?¡±

    Secretary asked, ¡°Like what, flip him into an asset?¡±

    I hurriedly nodded, ¡°Yes, like that. Think about it, he knows¡ªprobably¡ªwhere tons of skeletons are buried. With his help, we can really dismantle Marduk¡¯s cult. He can be way more useful.¡±

    Alive rather than dead. Secretary, undoubtedly hearing the unspoken portion of my plea, was not convinced. Instead, their expression was curdled by something I couldn¡¯t hear within my words. They licked their lips, took to my side, and tried to take my hand.

    ¡°Little brute, I don¡¯t really think¡ª¡±

    I snatched it away from them. ¡°No, it¡¯s a good idea.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a good¡ª¡±

    ¡°Then why not do it? I mean I already have a connection to him, and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Little brute!¡± Secretary snapped, their voice cold as shattered ice. ¡°On paper, it is a good idea, but the flipping of one group¡¯s agent into an asset of our own is a process that takes time. It¡¯s not something you do on a whim or without preparation. Especially when you¡¯re compromised.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not compromised,¡± I said.

    Secretary¡¯s laugh was tight and bitter. They clasped my head within their hands¡ªI could feel the bloody stain I¡¯d made in Secretary¡¯s palm kiss my cheek.

    ¡°You fucked him, little brute.¡±

    ¡°In a bathroom,¡± I argued.

    ¡°You had dinner together.¡±

    ¡°In a group,¡± I defended.

    ¡°He wanted to die.¡±

    ¡°And I didn¡¯t kill him.¡± My voice was a wilting blossom. I moaned, ¡°I¡¯m compromised.¡±

    Secretary nodded, ¡°It happens to every spy or asset, at one time or another, but you need to understand that when the heart is involved it¡¯s just as easy to be turned as it is to turn. I don¡¯t want to lose you to some fling who...¡±

    Was the source of my anguish? The origin of who knows how many tears? It was true, but the thing I wanted to say¡­struggled to do was express that I didn¡¯t think he was just a fling. I still don¡¯t. Despite it all, he was my cocksure Piggy. He¡¯d saved my life. He was the first face I saw when this Nadia opened her eyes. The gallant dork had even left a glass of water for me. If I¡¯d just said who was on the list, he¡¯d never have tried to kill Melissa. He was good. I¡­

    ¡°I can¡¯t kill him,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t make me kill someone I love.¡±

    Secretary¡¯s knowing smile shattered. They searched my face, read deep into my eyes, and flicked down to my mouth¡ªdid I say what they heard?

    ¡°You don¡¯t mean that,¡± they stuttered.

    I said, ¡°I do, and he¡¯s mine and I won¡¯t destroy what¡¯s mine nor will I let anyone else do so.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d make an enemy of the Lodge for him? Of me?¡± they asked.

    I framed their face with my hands. Claws gently depressing their skin. Searched their face as they searched mine, and in the rich gray vagaries of their eyes I found the promise we¡¯d made to each other. It was what we¡¯d built our working relationship¡ªsomething akin to a friendship, perhaps¡ªupon. I didn¡¯t want to toss that aside. I said as much!

    ¡°Not you, never you,¡± I said. ¡°But I won¡¯t let him go either. Not when he¡¯s suffering and in need of someone¡¯s help. Don¡¯t make me choose between the two of you when there¡¯s no reason for it.¡±

    ¡°Nadia, what would you do if you find yourself staring into the eyes of this love of yours, and what they ask of you would see you flying beyond the precipice of your morals?¡±

    ¡°#404,¡± I said, ¡°my heart might be compromised, but I¡¯m not a woman of compromise. You don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m your handler,¡± Secretary said, ¡°I always worry.¡±

    They let go of my face, and I followed suit releasing theirs. Manifesting their sorc-deck from the air, and with it the professionalism we¡¯d both misplaced, they swiped at its screen pulling up a mission brief before sending it to my own. On impulse, I opened the file and found myself flipping through the details within while Secretary explained the general shape the operation would go.

    ¡°Guests for the Lurker¡¯s event tonight are being projected to arrive at pre-selected Staircases just a bit past sunset,¡± they said. ¡°The timing, likely a bid to hide amidst the ever-flowing crowds of the district¡¯s nightlife, is also an excuse to enforce a dress code: no weapons, no armor, and everyone wears an entrance bracelet.¡±

    I glanced from the projected image before me¡ªa hexagonal bracelet made from a cloudy mineral, sat atop black cloth with its schematics beside¡ªto Secretary, my brow piqued.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t those usually paper or something?¡±

    Secretary¡¯s eyes brightened and her mouth turned up at the sweet notes of innocence in what I¡¯d said. Only to shake her head when the aftertaste of that initial joy arrived.

    ¡°Little brute, this isn¡¯t some Old World music hall,¡± Secretary said. ¡°These bracelets are sorcerous technology used everywhere from the highest diplomatic meetings to the capture of the lowest Veiled Market merchant. With one on your wrist, your spiritual mass and density gets scaled down to that of the weakest soldier. While your range drops to about an inch past your skin.¡±

    ¡°If the terms are that strict, why would anyone wear one?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s the best part,¡± they explained, ¡°wearing one of these grants you a hyper dense auric field that¡¯ll negate Sorcery graded to your non-suppressed spiritual density. Further enhanced by the stringency of the oaths you encode them with.¡±

    ¡°The bracelets become your armor,¡± I said.

    ¡°And the key to the party itself,¡± they said. ¡°A key we¡¯ve gotten a hold of and reproduced

    ¡°What comes after that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°After that,¡± Secretary said, ¡°we plant a series of bombs throughout said Staircases, and a secondary sorcerous explosive inside the throne itself. Just past the party¡¯s apex, we activate the bombs in reverse plantation order. Damaging the throne¡¯s structure and¡ªpost our own evacuation¡ªsevering the transdimensional connection between the throne and the city. In short, we arrive, enjoy the party, and leave before its conclusion whilst making a grand exit.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a surprisingly simple plan.¡±

    ¡°It is, little brute, it is¡­before you decided to assign us this secondary mission,¡± they stated. ¡°You have only the duration of our actual objective to find and flip Sinaya into a proper asset for the Lodge. Understood?¡±

    I mumbled my agreement, my thoughts already turned to drafting a script for what I¡¯d say to Sinaya. The first draft included far too many recriminations¡ªI didn¡¯t want him to think me a nag, nor overly sanctimonious. Draft number two was better, maybe because it was composed using more body language than verbal rhetoric.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Secretary said, their voice a whip crack for my attention.

    ¡°Hmm, yes?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Do you have any questions?¡± they asked.

    Flipping through the brief, I hurriedly composed whatever I could to return Secretary¡¯s grace at honoring my selfishness with the appropriate seriousness toward our true purpose. Their gaze, thin and sharp, caused my thoughts to stumble.

    ¡°How do we know which Staircases to go to?¡± I asked. ¡°We can¡¯t all show up at one mural. It¡¯d be suspicious. Right?¡±

    They scoffed, unimpressed by my query, ¡°It would. Lucky for us we have a diligent Psychocartography Dept. that¡¯s already noted a significant number of egoic waves arriving at about ten murals in particular.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re only using ten,¡± I said, ¡°but the brief notes there¡¯s upwards of fifty throughout the city.¡±

    ¡°If I was to invite semi-loyal assets into my facilities,¡± they said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t stretch my forces so wide by manning every potential entryway. Besides the bracelets are the key, little brute, and keys should only unlock certain doors.¡±

    ¡°True, but what if I had a key¡ªto stretch the metaphor¡ªthat opened the doors you didn¡¯t want guests to access?¡± I teased.

    Secretary rolled their eyes, but their mouth curled into that slight grin of theirs¡ªamused at something in my words. Their eyes dipped down to their sorc-deck; an instruction for me to do the same, which I did, and found a message waiting for me on my own. It read: Then I¡¯ll be expecting you and that key to meet the rest of our team at my place.

    ¡°There¡¯s someone else going with us?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± #404 said, ¡°but it¡¯s someone you¡¯d hardly disapprove of.¡±

    The list of people I wouldn¡¯t be upset working with was rather short. It wasn¡¯t like the competitiveness of the exam had made it easier to forge new friendships. Though if my list was short, the crossover between it and Secretary¡¯s made a grain of rice seem long as my glaive. Melissa was out because she would likely balk once a task crossed her personal code. Amber and Secretary mutually loathed each other¡ªthough at this point it seemed like Amber¡¯s loathing was to the role more so than #404 specifically. Which left only¡­Lupe?

    A drought swept through my mouth desiccating any words that could form. My fingers walked across the screen of my sorc-deck to swipe through the brief faster, faster, faster¡­then there, in plain type, was Lupe¡¯s name, Court, and link. The asset designation of ¡°Consultant¡± beside their name in cheeky parentheticals.

    ¡°Little brute, will this be a problem?¡± they asked. Their tone made it quite clear that they¡¯d appreciate it not being so.

    ¡°No, not at all,¡± I lied, blatantly and, likely, horribly. ¡°I¡¯ll see you tonight, then.¡±

    Without waiting for them to put together their own agreement or dismissal, I was out the door. The anxiety that crackled across my brain had polarized, and saw me shooting off an armed regiment¡¯s worth of messages to get ahold of Lupe. Inquiries as to where she was, what she was up to, her state of mind, anything that could be chiseled into a toehold for the climb I had before me. Her response to the hectic brevity of my messages was equally brief and unequally calm.

    Palace of Ghosts. See you there?

    Two messages. Three words each. The punctuation didn¡¯t give me pause, but the venue did. People only went to the palaces of the Godtenders when they were desperate or emotional. Grappling with problems that only the Sorcery of a divinity could resolve. The Palace of Ghosts being a quintessential example; only those haunted by grief unending found their heads bowed before its altar. A trait, it seemed, that found a worthy victim in Lupe and made convincing her of the rewards in converting Sinaya¡ªthe slayer of her people¡ªversus killing him, into a trial that¡¯d rival any graduation.

 Chapter 46

    The Palace of Ghosts rose from the fog like a dreadful specter summoned forth to haunt Tenders¡¯ Row. At this hour, the sun had dissolved the early morning fog like cotton candy in water, but, for the Palace of Ghosts whose office was all things haunting, it only was appropriate that it clung even to the phantoms of now expired weather phenomena. All the better to leave the true shape of the palace and its grounds obfuscated. An outlier on a street otherwise drenched in the honey-gold light of a late morning sun¡ªaccentuating the unReal architectures of those palaces devoted to the other eight ¡°official¡± Godtenders.

    People flowed through their doors with shoulders pulled up and heads bowed only to leave in complete relaxation. This street epitomized the heights of what every summoner could achieve, but in the Godtenders people saw the best of what humanity could be. I only saw the edification of those who¡¯d decided I was their enemy. It was why I stood still as a river stone gazing into the fog¡¯s imperceivable depths¡ªnot because I¡¯d yet to work out what to say to Lupe.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to say anything,¡± a woman said. Her voice was the haunting melody of a breeze carrying autumn leaves beyond a hill.

    My line of thought shattered, I shaped a response from the shards while my eyes slid from one corner to the next in search of her.

    ¡°What makes you think I was worrying about what to say?¡± I asked.

    She laughed and tapped her hand against my elbow. Down here. I tilted my head to discover her, a woman of forty years in brightly patterned pajamas, carrying a bag of mochi donuts. One of which she held between pinched fingers coated in cinnamon and sugar.

    ¡°Your jaw,¡± she said. ¡°It was clenching and unclenching.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked, skepticism framing my question even as I forced my jaw to unclench and stay unclenched.

    She shrugged, ¡°Eh, I don¡¯t always get it right. Why loiter out front then?¡±

    ¡°I have a friend inside right now,¡± I answered, technically truthful. ¡°I¡¯m just waiting for her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d be easier to wait inside,¡± she said.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to be rude,¡± I parried. ¡°I¡¯m not really that religious.¡±

    ¡°Neither am I,¡± she said with a wink, ¡°and they let my goofy ass in.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been inside a palace before.¡±

    ¡°First time for everything.¡±

    I opened my mouth and realized I¡¯d expended my ammo of quasi-truthful statements. All that remained was the unmitigated truth: I¡¯m afraid that if I step onto the palace grounds everyone will want to kill me. There was shame and irony in the thought as I silently voiced it in my mind. All the wariness that¡¯d adhered me to my ad hoc post in front of the palace was absent when I¡¯d agreed to infiltrate Marduk¡¯s throne¡ªan objectively more dangerous mission.

    ¡°I¡¯ll hold your hand,¡± the woman offered, smirking.

    The mocking undertone of her statement set fire to the dregs of my trepidation. So what if the Godtenders wanted to kill me, they had since I was ten, and even when one of their agents was right in front of me she failed to spot the hybridae before her. If they were going to come for me, then they would, but I wasn¡¯t going to let the fear of them keep me from living my life.

    I held up my claws. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m still not used to these,¡± I said. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t want to hurt you.¡±

    ¡°The girls must love those.¡±

    ¡°They do,¡± I said with a wink, then crossed the threshold that marked Brightgate as separate from the Palace of Ghosts.

    Immediately the warmth of the late morning sun was gone, replaced by the phantom chill of morning that defined Brightgate¡¯s fog. The in-and-out tide of visitors to the palace disappeared. It was only me¡­until I heard the sweaty clap of the woman¡¯s flip-flops as she caught up to me¡ªnot like I¡¯d gotten that far.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t lose all that nerve already, did you?¡± she asked, passing me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen worse,¡± I tossed out and hurried after her.

    As we pushed deeper into the fog, I noticed that we weren¡¯t entirely alone. Faded silhouettes, verdigris in color, milled about on both sides of the cobblestone path we traveled on. They didn¡¯t speak or move¡ªthough I spotted a few sitting on benches beside people that looked more solid, alive even. The curious nature of the unspeaking specters caused me to blink on my Omensight for a better look, and I immediately froze.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± I asked.

    The woman stopped, and asked, ¡°Hmm, I thought you¡¯d seen worse?¡±

    I slashed a claw through the air and her teasing¡ªit was impossible to care about that right now. All my attention was claimed by the tapestry of the world. Normally, when I examined Realspace, it was an infinite assemblage of every Court I could name and countless more I couldn¡¯t. A collaboration that resulted in all colors being present yet mixed into a faded lilac¡ªneutral, balanced, normal. Individual Courts perceivable only when a single thread was closely examined. Here, that neutrality was gone. Replaced by a faint verdigris, the color Ghosts, that painted over the tapestry the world like a wash of watercolor.

    ¡°Is this a territory?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No. Those are dreadful impositions,¡± she said. ¡°Also a major barrier if we wanted to keep up visitation rates.¡±

    ¡°Then what am I looking at?¡±

    ¡°A consecrated space,¡± she answered.

    ¡°What does it do?¡±

    ¡°Brings you closer to the god and their Tender,¡± she said with a mocking innocence that paired poorly with her slouchy outfit.

    Enjoying my expression of dissatisfaction, she laughed all the way to the doors of the palace¡ªthat, as it turned out, we¡¯d been three steps from discovering. They were carved from onyx stone, taller than the apartment complex I¡¯d visited during the wild hunt, and laid open like a rib cage cracked and splayed for autopsy. On the interior of one door was the relief of Marguerite Ghost-Shepherd, her iconic braid curling about her limbs and body protectively, carved bells hanging from each segment¡ªthey chimed in the breeze, while her hands held a drum just above her heart.

    ¡°She¡¯s beautiful,¡± I whispered, only partially guilty at complimenting my enemy.

    The woman agreed, and added, ¡°In this aspect, sure¡±

    Noting my raised brow she continued, ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, this is the Mags the layperson tends to love. Beautiful, but lacking.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not religious,¡± I said, ¡°but wouldn¡¯t the priests find you saying that somewhat¡­¡±

    ¡°Heretical?¡± she offered. ¡°Probably, but they can suck it from the back. I¡¯m god¡¯s favorite princess.¡±

    Barely holding back my own laughter, I pointed to the other door, ¡°What about that one?¡±

    Unlike the other door¡¯s inner face, this one had a relief carved only at the edges of the door. They depicted what seemed like events in Marguerite Ghost-Shepherd¡¯s life. Battles, love affairs, deaths, and at the top of it her standing beside her fellow Godtenders. All of this was the frame that surrounded a large pane of some unknown metal polished to mirror shine. Though warped, it seemed, seeing as my own reflection was rendered cyclopean in stature to fill the mirror¡¯s entirety. There wasn¡¯t even room for the woman beside me.

    ¡°It¡¯s to honor the Sovereign of Ghosts,¡± she said. ¡°What¡¯s more haunting than what you find looking back at you with your own eyes.¡±

    My thoughts flashed to my last experience with mirrors¡ªthat other me¡¯s somber smile which I didn¡¯t share. Turning away from any consideration of that, I entered the palace. It was surprisingly empty¡ªthough, at the time, I chalked it up to an aspect of its design. A way to keep visitors focused on their visit as opposed to gawking at who was around them. Still, it meant that the palace¡¯s interior¡ªno doubt spatially expanded¡ªfelt broad as the plains that sprawled across the center of Turtle Island.

    A brook babbled down the center of the atrium we¡¯d stepped into. It was flanked by riparian willows that tilted in respect to a long dead wind. The ceiling was impossible to find, replaced as it was by an obsidian expanse speckled with stars. Walls were equally imperceivable, instead, the space just faded into a gray horizon.

    ¡°Are all palaces like this?¡± I asked.

    The woman answered, ¡°Only the consecrated, and even then not all the time. Anyways, I have things to do and you have a friend to find. Follow the guide up the brook until you hit the Oak Hall. That¡¯s where the vision rooms are¡­well, usually are.¡±

    ¡°Vision rooms?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know what I mean when you get there,¡± she said. ¡°Now, take some donuts and stop stalling. It¡¯s not like you¡¯ll know what to say before you get there.¡±

    She pushed the bag of donuts into my arms and hopped the brook to its west bank¡ªa specificity that felt accurate at the time, although I don¡¯t know why. I would¡¯ve watched her leave until she assimilated into the gray horizon, but my attention was yanked from her by the yipping of a coyote. Once it confirmed my acknowledgment, it yipped again and raced off along the bank of the brook.

    As we ran, the scrubs shrank into the mid-calf grasses of the savanna. Eventually, the brook swerved left, and to my right were two oaks that stretched up into the ceiling-sky and merged forming an arch: Oak Hall. Our sprint dropped to a jog as we crossed beneath the arch entering a woodland of firm oaks. Each one so old that the gap between the floor and their roots was large enough to wedge a door into place; of which there were, doors that is. Verdigris painted wood, brassy knobs, and a carved number to distinguish. The coyote led me to number #4.

    ¡°Um, thank you,¡± I said.

    The coyote tilted its head up at me in confusion, likely expecting something more from the encounter. I looked down to the bag of donuts¡ªwhy not¡ªand removed one, vanilla glazed, then held it out, respectfully, for the coyote. Equally respectful, it clamped its jaws around the treat, stepped away from me, and curled up as it ate. I rolled the bag¡¯s open side back up¡ªI didn¡¯t want the others to grow stale¡ªthen opened the door, where I was met by the faint notes of Lupe¡¯s playing.

    I stepped through the door, pulling it shut behind me, and ventured down into the shaded darkness of a tunnel composed of oaken roots. The stairs, formed by compacted soil, proved firm after I took my initial steps. From there it was a short jaunt down a single flight of steps. After each one, the impact of Lupe¡¯s playing strengthened. First. it grew in volume, I was approaching the source, but soon it became something distinguished. Not just a few notes to a noise, but a feeling that worked its way through my flesh to pierce my heart. After a few more steps I could name the sound. A wail. A wail fit for a dirge too grand for words to encircle. Accompanied by lighter notes in a minor key, jagged little things¡ªregrets¡ªthat tore apart the ventricles of my compartmentalized emotions.

    Tears found themselves wiped off on my arm. They¡¯d occluded my vision to the point that I hadn¡¯t quite noticed that the last step was upon me. With a sniff, I took it and ducked my head beneath the tunnel¡¯s ceiling, stepping out into a field of cloying ankle-deep mist and hundreds upon hundreds of Ghosts. Those closest to me were somewhat indistinct, but as I walked down the central aisle between the blocks the Ghosts had organized themselves into, I noticed their features sharpened into something far more distinct than those in the back, let alone those I¡¯d seen in the palace¡¯s front yard. If it wasn¡¯t for the verdigris pallor undertoning their skin you¡¯d think they were alive.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    However, whether alive or dead, Lupe played for her audience with every ounce of skill she possessed. Her fingers strummed the dawnaxe¡¯s plasma strings into every color across the spectrum, loaning her a luminosity that shimmered across her bare sweat-slick chest¡ªnot even a shirt would inhibit her feeling. Yet for all that she glowed, dewy and grand, the dawnaxe was not to be outdone; its own metal portions incandescent, shapes of burning white light that threatened blindness if I tried to watch them any closer¡ªso I didn¡¯t. I fixated on Lupe¡¯s face; the way her hair plastered across her forehead dripping with sweat, the way her lips fell in a grimace while her teeth clenched the end of a cigarette that left behind a trail of indigo smoke with every shake of her head.

    I was fixated on her face, but when I think back I know I was aware of everything. How her dawnaxe had grown to such an incandescence that it melted out of her hands. The fact that the lack of an instrument didn¡¯t stop her from playing her song on light itself. Nor did I miss the detail where she levitated into the air, backlit by a full body halo, and started graduating! I saw it all, but what I focused on was Lupe¡¯s face as her song crescendoed. How her eyes opened, the clouds within parted, and from within her came the full unmitigated awful grandeur of the Morning sun.

    Then, on the cusp of everything, she struck a wailing chord driving the song into a minor key before completing the phrase. I could hear with my spirit the step that was missed, a moment passed that might never come again, and fell to the misty ground clutching at my chest to close a wound that wasn¡¯t mine. A wail tore through my throat, reminding me of scarred tissue formed on the night my parents died. I forced myself to look up and watched as Lupe sobbed molten sunlight. Pushing up against the burden of all my feelings, I willed my legs to move. First a limping walk, then a jog, then a sprint. I raced toward the onyx stage, scrabbled my way atop it, and held out my arms as Lupe played the final notes of her song, fitfully, hauntingly, and beautifully. Then I watched as she fell from the sky, crashed into me, and cast us both into darkness.

    When I opened my eyes again, it was to the sight of Lupe in a chair as she finished off the dreg of her cigarette. I pushed myself to a sitting position, and with the shift in perspective discovered what entity she¡¯d bonded to. It had the body of an emaciated woman pushing seven feet tall with stretched limbs too disproportionate for any human. Her chest was illuminated from within and pulsed with what could best be described as the last thumps of a dying heart or the first struggling beats of a newborn. While her head was that of a wolf whose fur was the deepest black, and whose mouth was pierced shut from within by jagged shards of a sun it tried and failed to consume. Molten light dripped out the side of its mouth.

    ¡°Congrats on reaching Baron,¡± I said.

    The burn trails from her molten tears crinkled around the hard smile she returned. She raised her cigarette in acceptance, noticed that there was no more herb within to smoke, and placed it carefully beside six other burnt-out cigarettes. I looked behind me and counted seven blocks of ghosts. Seven blocks for seven families.

    In a bid to fill the quiet that curled up in the dead echo of music, I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you smoked.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­usually,¡± Lupe said, with a grin that allowed me to relax a hair. ¡°It¡¯s more of a special occasion kind of thing for me.¡±

    ¡°Did you plan on graduating?¡± I asked.

    She leaned back in her chair. ¡°No, yes, it doesn¡¯t matter the answer. We both know that¡¯s the occasion I chainsmoked seven of these babies for.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen cigarettes with blue smoke.¡±

    Lupe crossed a leg over her knee. Watched me close with her clouded eyes, before flicking away from me with a sick bark of a laugh. Her eyes slid back to me, but her face was directed toward the crowd past my shoulder.

    ¡°If this is how you want to do this,¡± she said. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen cigarettes with blue smoke before because you haven¡¯t seen cigarettes made from the blue lotus that grows in the muddy terraces of the Sunken Valley. That family, right there, they cultivated it. Made a special strain that pushed the hallucinogenic components way farther than before; Marduk¡¯s territory messed up Realspace and the Underside across the entirety of the valley. However, summoning was still doable so long as you had the right circles and knew what you were calling out to. That other family, way there on the end, they had the summoning information. It was them who first noticed the trouble with trying to summon an entity of Morning when your children stopped believing there was ever a thing called, ¡®the sun.¡¯ So to account for this, they went to our lotus-growing family and traded summoning secrets for hallucinogens. Their kids couldn¡¯t see the sun, but a hallucination could be a perfectly decent stand-in. Did result in most of us getting hooked to one degree or another to the damn things.¡±

    ¡°Do they taste good?¡± I asked, for no other reason than to delay.

    Lupe sighed, ¡°You didn¡¯t kill the Angler Knight.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°You know that¡¯s okay, right?¡± she asked. ¡°We can just get him using the Lodge¡¯s plan. He¡¯ll just be another body we¡¯ll be taking down with the rest of them.¡±

    There came that silence again; stalking around me, breath hot on the back of my neck¡ªI was sweating. Like a kindergartner, I squirmed where I sat, rocking from cheek to cheek before I gave up on sitting altogether. The sheer discomfort of the words waiting in my gut rolled me forward until I was kneeling¡ªa more appropriate position for requests like mine¡ªand my chest tipped forward in a slight bow. I¡¯d gone from never taking my eyes off Lupe¡¯s face to staring at the black luster of her boots and the votive assembly of cigarettes.

    ¡°Lupe, we¡ª¡±

    ¡°Stop,¡± she said, and this time shifted her posture. Parting her legs, leaning forward, elbows driving into her thighs so hard I knew it had to hurt¡ªshe wanted it to hurt, I bet, and her face so close to mine. ¡°Now, look at me and ask again.¡±

    I lifted my head¡ªour faces hadn¡¯t been that close since I¡¯d hugged her at breakfast.

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t¡ª¡±

    Lupe slapped me. It was fast, and the pain came in the aftermath rather than from the strike itself. If I had any tears left in me they likely would¡¯ve welled up. Though looking up from my supplicatory position, Lupe had the worse of it. Her tears came freely, flowed down the pre-carved channels of her face, and her expression was one of the deepest betrayal.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say we,¡± she ordered.

    With gritted teeth, I bowed lower. ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill him. He¡ª¡±

    ¡°Murdered Melissa, even if it technically didn¡¯t take.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but he also¡ª¡±

    ¡°Was a part of the killing of the Seven Families. He gloated about it as he rammed his gauntleted fist into my face!¡±

    My mouth was dry, and in the moment I swallowed to try and wet it, Lupe struck again.

    ¡°Help me understand, Nadia, why him? What information could you possibly have gained that changed everything in the handful of minutes for you?¡± she asked. ¡°You¡­¡±

    Lupe trailed off. Her head tilted to the side as she examined the information that she knew to fill in the gaps between the moment I impaled the Angler Knight and the moment I returned distressed. She tilted her head back the other way once she¡¯d found the answer.

    ¡°You saw his face,¡± she said. ¡°You saw his face, recognized him as someone you care about, and now you¡¯re here begging me to agree to spare them. Nadia, please, tell me it isn¡¯t the person you fucked in the bathroom.¡±

    Silence was my answer.

    ¡°The dick was that good, huh?¡± she asked. ¡°Tell me, if I fuck you like you¡¯ve been wanting me to since we met, would that change your mind?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair,¡± I said, shooting to my feet. ¡°It¡¯s not about just that. There¡¯s a value in keeping him alive. We can convert him to an asset for the Lodge and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Shhhh,¡± Lupe hissed. ¡°I don¡¯t care if he¡¯ll have a use, Nadia. I care that he¡¯ll get to live a day longer on this earth when they didn¡¯t. So in fact, explain it to them Nadia. Why is his life worth all of theirs? Why does he get to live rather than face justice?¡±

    ¡°This is a farce,¡± I said.

    She agreed, ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯re the one acting like a fucking joke.¡±

    Fists at my side, I turned to face the crowd, and all pragmatic argument refused to blossom. There were too many of them. So many of them. My eyes couldn¡¯t take in everyone at once, and so the Ghosts became smears of genders, skin colors, ages, and I only found a point to fixate on when I saw her. Or rather, I saw me.

    At the center of the crowd, there in the aisle I¡¯d raced down, was me from that night. Wet, bleeding, and, even from this distance, sporting a gaze dead and sharp as a machete left on a nightstand¡ªviolence implicit in its very existence. They were nothing like Lupe¡¯s eyes which burned and wept in the throes of feeling. Hers was an expression of life¡¯s pain rather than a promise of infinite inhuman violence without end. Lupe could still be reached¡ªdissuaded, even, from the path that offered nothing. The one I couldn¡¯t seem to shake.

    ¡°Lupe,¡± I said.

    She barked, ¡°No. Tell them!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re dead, and death can¡¯t sate the dead. Unless you changed Courts or Amber knows a guy, it can¡¯t bring them back either.¡±

    She scoffed, ¡°Okay, well I¡¯m still alive, and I think I¡¯ll be pretty sated once I know he isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not in your nature.¡±

    ¡°And you know that because?¡±

    I turned to face her, took a second look at her eyes, and then nodded.

    ¡°Cause you don¡¯t have eyes like mine,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re still beholden to something greater than yourself. Greater than anything vengeance could give you.¡±

    Her lips quivered, aching to snarl or maybe holding back a sob.

    ¡°And that would be?¡± she asked.

    I reintroduced her to her own center. ¡°Liberation.¡±

    Lupe sucked down a shuddering breath. Her body rattled as the desiccated remnant of her philosophical core pinged and ponged inside her ribcage. She only stilled when her entity¡¯s hand folded over her shoulder.

    Her voice shrunk with guilt, ¡°What does that even mean anymore? The Seven Families are dead. There¡¯s no one left to liberate, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, was your liberation so precious a commodity that it was earmarked for the Seven Families alone?¡± I asked. ¡°Because from where I stand, it never runs dry and is owed to every person Marduk¡¯s harmed. Whether it¡¯s the people who didn¡¯t stand up and fight beside you guys or those who buckled and joined the Lurkers because it was the only option. It even belongs to the Angler Knight, who was forced to compromise with that monster.¡±

    ¡°Nadia,¡± she said.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re selfish, unfair, and a fundamentally cruel person.¡±

    I nodded¡ªthere wasn¡¯t anything I could say to rebuke that, and I didn¡¯t want to if it¡¯d jeopardize Lupe agreeing to my shift in the mission.

    ¡°But you¡¯re not wrong, alls below, you aren¡¯t wrong,¡± she said. ¡°What was his compromise?

    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, ¡°but you can ask him.¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t like his answer, I¡¯ll kill him. I¡¯m a Baron now.¡±

    ¡°But if it is good?¡±

    ¡°Alls below,¡± she said, rising from her chair. ¡°I hope the Lodge works his ass into an early grave.¡±

    Lupe found her shirt crumpled on the stage. Slipped it over her head, and clapped three times. After the third, the world around us just receded. Ghosts, scenery, all of it stretching out to a distant point beyond any horizon. The last snap of light frozen on a television before it was completely and truly off. In the newly minted void, I felt Lupe¡¯s attention fall on me even as her face was oriented in the opposite direction.

    ¡°Nadia, when we were on that rooftop you implied that vengeance was your center.¡±

    ¡°I remember,¡± I said.

    ¡°Good, so answer this for me,¡± she said. ¡°If the targets of your vengeance were right in front of you, what would you do to kill them?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­I¡­¡± I trailed off. I wanted to say something smart, maybe a little more philosophical considering the conversation we just had, but all of those would be fake answers trying to disprove the simple summation that Lupe placed around my neck as a garland.

    The truth was¡­the truth was¡­that I felt her again. She was cold, heavy as the rain-soaked silks I wore that night, and her breath burned. The fury of a vengeance that could never be abated absolutely. Her presence lurked just behind my shoulder. Slowly, I turned around and beheld the truth of what I tried to kill when I Divi*** myself. What I knew haunted me.

    A vision of a city reduced to a carcass of civilization. Buildings awash in Revelatory fire. Death as far as the eye could see where the only sign of life¡¯s once presence was the soot shadows of those who failed to escape¡­me. They failed to escape the conflagration that hid inside of me, piloting my skin, pretending to be a human being. Yet here, in this visionscape, I stood atop a ruined tower silhouetted by a carmine moon. Proud and resplendent in that scaled inhuman form I wore, ever so briefly, in my fight against the Angler Knight. From a clenched fist dangled five nooses fitted for the five people who I¡¯d let into my heart: Amber, Melissa, Sinaya, Lupe, and #404. While my other hand was outstretched as if to touch the five four-pointed stars upon which the five killers of my father were crucified, their bodies little more than skeletons with the only mark of their identity being the masks that distinguished them in the first place.

    ¡°Do you have your answer?¡± Lupe asked.

    I stammered, ¡°Yes. Can you see it?¡±

    ¡°No, I already disconnected from the room. It¡¯s what the three claps are for.¡±

    Of course, she¡¯d clapped thrice and the room went black. I followed suit, and just as quickly as her vision snapped away to the other side of the void, so too did mine. In a blink, we were in a room about the size of my high school classroom. On every surface was a mirror, and in the center of the floor was a grate where the mist¡ªperhaps some kind of component enabling the room¡¯s sorcerous effect¡ªdrained into.

    ¡°I''ll see you at Secretary¡¯s,¡± Lupe said.

    ¡°Same,¡± I said, not turning to face Lupe, as my attention was held by my reflection.

    Hers¡ªthat Nadia I thought was dead, wished was dead, why wasn¡¯t it dead¡ªwore an expectant expression paired with a sickle-sharp smile that I knew I wasn¡¯t wearing. She tapped her forehead, right where the black star marked my temple. I never moved my arms. It was the sound of the door closing in Lupe¡¯s exit that broke me from the terrors within.

    I snatched up the bag of donuts and fled the room. Passing by a priest whose face was speckled with vanilla glaze crumbs. Raced down cozy hallways lit by gentle verdigris lights that were mirrored in the glossy finish of the wood flooring. Then pushed through the large cafe-esque atrium where people drank tea, priests counseled, and those like me¡ªtroubled by the revelation of what haunted them¡ªdid their best to brick over their newly-gained insights. From there, I was out the door, across the threshold, and this close to outrunning that dread insight. Yet now I have to wonder, are the visions given by Marguerite, do they come from within, does the answer matter?

 Chapter 47

    Due to my hasty retreat from the Palace of Ghosts, I¡¯d found myself traversing Brightgate on foot. Descending and ascending hills in the hopes I¡¯d outrun the horrors I¡¯d seen. A failed venture when what haunted me was¡­me, and despite all the spells and Sorcery I¡¯d accrued up until that point there was none that let me truly escape myself. Delay, deny, delude, but never truly divest. So for all my running, all I¡¯d earned was the briefest reprieve of thought as I fell into my body, fixating on the way my legs burned like matchsticks whose flame was beautiful agony.

    When I returned to the suite, I found it quiet, empty and was thankful for it. The idea that Melissa or Amber would see me like this¡ªchest heaving, shirt sweat-stained and translucent, my eyes dull yet haunted¡ªfrightened me. They would¡¯ve asked questions. Maybe not the right ones at first, but Amber was incisive; the more I tried to hide my feelings and thoughts the more she saw¡ªa consequence of her Court. Technically, I could¡¯ve always stonewalled her, but if Melissa was there then honesty would¡¯ve been my only route.

    I crossed the suite to my room and drifted toward the bed. Allowed myself to fall into the plush embrace of pillows and the downy comforter. I rolled over, shook out the flames of pain in my legs, then removed my sorc-deck from my pocket. Waking it up, the clock on the home screen stated there was only a handful of hours left before sunset¡ªI¡¯d lost most of my pre-mission prep time to my mad flight across the city. I groaned and let the device fall to my chest.

    It wasn¡¯t like I had much to prepare. Unlike the event¡¯s intended guests, I didn¡¯t see a reason to come in formal attire, and I lacked combat attire. The only weapon I owned was Mother¡¯s Last Smile, not really something you bring on a stealth mission. Ultimately, the only thing to prepare was myself and¡­Sinaya. The realization that I¡¯d failed to prepare the subject of this whole secondary objective I¡¯d convinced Secretary and Lupe of crashed into the forefront of my thoughts, spawning a massive headache.

    Then my chest buzzed. Well, my sorc-deck did, but the vibrations seeped into my skin. Lifting it up, I saw that it was an unrecognized address calling me. I answered and a square projection of my unknown caller materialized in the air above me. The image was dark, not entirely black, and as I stared I slowly made out the nuances within. There were unmoving shadow shapes, most were such, but one shifted constantly, almost nervously, before what turned out to be its face opened to unveil bright teeth¡ªfangs, like mine if a bit squatter.

    ¡°I can see through your shirt¡± Sinaya stated, his voice one I¡¯d recognize even in death.

    I glanced down at myself. ¡°Huh, so you can. Like what you see?¡±

    ¡°Nadia¡ª¡±

    ¡°Orchard,¡± I said, ¡°call me Orchard.¡±

    Silence swayed through our call as my reprimand and instruction landed on Sinaya. His silhouette nodded, slightly smiling before re-committing to a frown.

    ¡°Orchard then, better?¡±

    ¡°Immensely.¡±

    He groaned¡ªprobably rolled his eyes too, but I couldn¡¯t see for sure.

    ¡°Are you still in the city?¡± he asked.

    I answered, ¡°Yeah, I am.¡±

    ¡°Why? I told you to leave.¡±

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°You did, but I told you¡ªeven though you were too invested in that one-sided conversation of yours to notice¡ªthat I wasn¡¯t leaving. Not without you.¡±

    ¡°Give up on me,¡± he said, his voice breaking. ¡°I¡¯m the Angler Knight. Your enemy. It¡¯d be so easy.¡±

    ¡°Sinaya, ask the Angler Knight if I¡¯ve ever chosen the easy option,¡± I said.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t,¡± he whispered. ¡°You¡¯re too committed, you obstinate woman.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± I said, ¡°and it¡¯ll be my obstinance that¡¯ll break you out.¡±

    ¡°What? Orchard, there¡¯s no out for me,¡± he said. ¡°Marduk won¡¯t let me go.¡±

    ¡°Of course he won¡¯t,¡± I said, ¡°he¡¯s a bully and a monster. The kind of person who craves control over everything, never lets anyone go and will have you pay the cost of their desires. Making you chip away at yourself piece by piece until you¡¯ve abetted every atrocity in the hopes that it¡¯ll be the last one. Sinaya, there¡¯ll never be a last one.¡±

    Sinaya¡¯s silhouette shifted, becoming something akin to a boulder¡ªI think he was curled up. Holding at himself like a child would when the world¡¯s turned out to be far too much to handle. I sucked in my lower lip, gently biting it, concerned I¡¯d said too much, that he¡¯d hang up. So I let the silence in and allowed my love to find the words to his feelings.

    He whispered, ¡°You think I don¡¯t know that? I¡¯ve tried so many times¡­so many.¡±

    ¡°Can you try once more, for me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. This would¡¯ve been easier if you killed me,¡± he said.

    ¡°Not for me,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, it might have been easy for you, but it wouldn¡¯t have been just. You¡¯re a victim too.¡±

    Sinaya scoffed, ¡°I¡¯m his right hand. His heir! No one would think I¡¯m a victim.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I said, pushing myself up to a sitting position, ¡°and that¡¯s why I¡¯m going to ask you this. Do you want to be free?¡±

    ¡°Orchard, it¡¯s not¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I cut him off. I needed him to feel, not rationalize. ¡°This isn¡¯t about possibility or likelihood. It¡¯s about what you want. Do. You. Want. To. Be free?¡±

    Sinaya scoffed, then chuckled, and broke. ¡°More than anything,¡± he said.

    ¡°Then pack a bag.¡±

    Silence, and then, ¡°I already have,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s the same one I¡¯ve had for ages now. On the off chance that¡­on the off chance. Good luck, Orchard.¡±

    ¡°So you respect the Court of Luck, but not Hope?¡± I asked, lining the question with a brightness.

    ¡°Of course,¡± he said. ¡°With Luck, you always know it can break bad. So unlike Hope, it doesn¡¯t feel like a betrayal when it does. I¡¯ll¡­see you soon?¡±

    ¡°You will,¡± I promised.

    Sinaya ended the call, and with it the black square projection dissipated to reveal Amber standing in the doorway to my room. Her fingers pinched at her eyes in disbelief and pain.

    ¡°Does this have anything to do with you leaving this morning?¡± she asked.

    A wan smile crossed my face. ¡°Aww, you missed me,¡± I said.

    I slid from the bed and crossed the room to the corner where I¡¯d laid my bag down when we first arrived. Fishing out clothes to replace the ones I¡¯d sweated through. Drawing out the process so I could gather myself.

    ¡°Temple, you just disappeared on us. No note, no messages, I was worried,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°I¡¯m here now, aren¡¯t I?¡± I asked.

    Amber laid her hand on my shoulder and asked, ¡°Where did you go, Temple?¡±

    Having gathered my things, I stood and crossed back to the bed, still unready to meet her gaze as if that¡¯d prevent her from seeing through me. The clothes I picked out were tossed onto the bed, and without great fanfare I began to strip¡ªsocks first.

    ¡°A walk, are you happy?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Temple, you don¡¯t go on walks,¡± she argued. ¡°You don¡¯t wake up early. You roll about and moan for maybe a good hour after you should get up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I find sleep comfortable,¡± I said. ¡°Do it right and you don¡¯t have to think¡­that¡¯s it really. I woke up and was just so congested; my brain was chock full of this disgusting thought slime that I couldn¡¯t get rid of.

    I hopped around as I tried to pull off a sock that seemed to adhere to my skin from the sweat. Amber placed a hand at my waist¡ªguiding me down to the bed¡ªand rested my foot against her thigh as she removed the sock. Gathering both of them in her hands.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to make you uncomfortable,¡± she said, softly.

    ¡°Alls below, it¡¯s not about you or Melissa,¡± I said, trying to stress how much it wasn¡¯t their fault. ¡°It¡¯s me. The thoughts were about me and how I laid in that bed pretending to be human.¡±

    In one motion, I whipped off my shirt. Tossed it to Amber¡ªshe¡¯d decided to gather my clothes. Amber tucked the shirt beneath her arm and took my hand. Her thumb rolled small circles into my palm. It was intended to be comforting, but I needed two hands to take off my pants.

    ¡°Temple, there¡¯s nothing wrong with ¡®pretending¡¯. You wear a mask long enough and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Maybe for my mom,¡± I snapped, ¡°but not me.¡±

    I took back my hand, undid the top two buttons, yanked down the zipper. Employed that ridiculous hopping maneuver you do when pants have to come off, but you refuse to get up.

    ¡°For me, it needs to be real,¡± I stated.

    Amber scoffed and grabbed my pants by the legs.

    ¡°And gallivanting to save some ¡®butch in distress¡¯ is real for you?¡±

    She planted a foot against the bedframe and pulled, slipping my pants off and reeling me toward her¡ªmade me face her. I held my ground for what felt like an hour but was more like twenty interminable seconds.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I muttered. ¡°Is it really that bad to try and help people?¡±

    Amber shook her head, paced away from me toward the center of the room. She bundled up the clothes and dropped into my chair. Her breath was steady, but her hands tense, the tendons taut and visible as she folded my clothes.

    ¡°Yes it is, Temple,¡± Amber said. ¡°You don¡¯t actually know what you¡¯re getting into, and if this ¡®mission¡¯ becomes a fight¡ªwhich these things always do¡ªyou¡¯ll advance your curse.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t thought about the risk of that. Amber was right on that point, but what was a curse to a friend that needed me? A love that craved freedom?

    ¡°Ugh, spare me the regrets of your life,¡± I said. ¡°This is worth it.¡±

    ¡°Really, okay,¡± Amber said, ¡°but understand this, Temple, these aren¡¯t anywhere near the regrets of my life. This is me trying to keep you from becoming another Nemesis!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m nothing like her¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yet,¡± she stated. ¡°But I¡¯ve been down this road before, and I know where it ends. Chasing after every lost cause, throwing yourself at every problem, it¡¯s the exact kind of shit she pulled. Dragging me and my siblings into it every time.¡±

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Amber¡¯s voice rose¡ªI don¡¯t think she realized she was yelling.

    ¡°And every time,¡± Amber continued, ¡°it ended in slaughter. That¡¯s the thing, Temple, whether its Nemesis or the curse I¡¯ll bear forever¡ªif you forgot¡ªtheir extremity wasn¡¯t reached in a day. It was grown from the seeds of every ¡®good deed¡¯ she¡¯d set her sights on!¡±

    I know I didn¡¯t realize I was yelling.

    ¡°Then shoot me!¡± I yelled. Punctuating the command with the snap of my bra against my wrist¡ªI¡¯d finally gotten it off, and immediately used it as ammo. Throwing it into Amber¡¯s face.

    She pulled her head free from one of the cups. Held it in her hands like it was the most fragile thing. When she turned from it to me, I saw the nerve I¡¯d struck was a deep one. Making her hands quiver as if she¡¯d gotten zapped fiddling around with some Old World generator.

    ¡°Don¡¯t joke about that,¡± Amber said.

    ¡°Who said I was joking?¡± I asked, pantomiming a search across the room for my accuser. ¡°It¡¯s the only sensible thing after all. No matter what I do, I¡¯m ruined¡­I¡¯m ruin.¡±

    My voice fell soft as my eyes unfocused. The vision from the Palace of Ghosts formed in the theater of my mind. Projected against the far wall behind Amber. It zoomed in tight on her face as she swung from the noose I held in a tyrant¡¯s grip.

    ¡°If you¡¯re right, then every good deed I try will make me into more of a monster,¡± I said. ¡°While if I do nothing, staying as this thing that only lives to kill¡ª¡±

    ¡°What you¡¯re trying to do is more than that. It¡¯s righteous,¡± Amber asserted.

    ¡°It¡¯s still killing, and if that¡¯s it for me¡ªall I can ever be¡ªthen I¡¯ll be a monster of a different sort,¡± I said. ¡°A bomb waiting to go off¡ªliterally. Alls below, it¡¯s like that Tenken-bumon lady said, ¡®where hybridae are found, apocalypse isn¡¯t far behind.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Those sanctimonious fucks don¡¯t know anything, Temple.¡±

    Falling back into the bed, I despaired, ¡°Do we? Does anyone? If my parents did, they¡¯re gone. Whoever made the White Wombs might, but they¡¯re using those kids as weapons. Did you know when they¡¯re born they make their parent explode? Talk about a thing me and them have in common.¡±

    Amber neither shook her head nor nodded. She just looked down at the folded stack of clothes in her lap. Maybe she thought there was a more efficient way to fold them.

    She said, ¡°Temple, you didn¡¯t kill your parents. I mean, if your dad was City Killer, he¡¯d have lots of enemies. Most of them made long before you were born.¡±

    ¡°Still, it¡¯s not like having a hybridae for a daughter makes it easy to stay undercover,¡± I said. ¡°Amber, I have to balance the scales, okay? So yeah, maybe I rescue a butch. Help Lupe kill Marduk and end his little dictatorship. Get Secretary a few ranks up within the Lodge.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be helping Nemesis then,¡± Amber stated. ¡°He¡¯s her enemy. You¡¯re better off letting the two fight each other.¡±

    I pushed off from the bed. Stalked across the room toward Amber. This time, Amber was the one evading my eyes. Good, because as I loomed over her I felt close to discovering a way to light someone on fire using just a glare.

    ¡°I am not helping her,¡± I corrected. ¡°Marduk¡¯s enough of my enemy based on what he¡¯s done to Sinaya and Lupe alone, and killing him gets me points that puts me closer to the #1 spot in the exam¡¯s ranking. That¡¯s how I¡¯m going to kill Nemesis, remember? It was our plan.¡±

    Amber searched the floor. ¡°Do you have to do this with Secretary then? Your curse¡ª¡±

    ¡°Was something they found out about at the same time as us,¡± I said. ¡°Now, stop blaming them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± she said, ¡°but them not knowing then was a blessing. Them knowing now is a temptation. Your curse comes with a leash, Temple. What happens if they pull it?¡±

    ¡°Better a leash than a muzzle.¡±

    A breath, shallow as a wheeze yet heavy as the gasp of a dying man, emerged from Amber. It was a low blow, I know that, but she had no right to speak of canine accouterments. Even if only in metaphor.

    She whispered, ¡°Temple, I¡¯m sorry. A thousand times I¡¯m sorry. I just¡­if you want to be more, then okay. I only need you to know that I¡¯m out here fighting so hard for you, so don¡¯t become less. So you don¡¯t become her.¡±

    Amber¡¯s hands moved quickly, wrapped around my waist, allowing her to bury her face into my stomach. She peeked up at me with those raspberry eyes of hers that gleamed with an inner fire of want, need, and hunger.

    ¡°Please, don¡¯t do this, Nadia,¡± she said. ¡°When someone needs to die, let me be the one to kill for you. When there¡¯s a party, let me pick out clothes for you. If you¡¯re hungry, let me cook for you. I¡¯m willing to be everything for you if it¡¯ll keep you as you are.¡±

    There, there was the crux of our difference. She wanted so much. Loved me¡ªme¡ªtoo much.

    ¡°Amber¡­¡± my voice trailed off, compressed beneath the weight of her feelings. Choked into submission by the frame with which she saw me as an idol to be frozen, eternal.

    Sensing my weakness, she whined, ¡°Nadia, could I ever be enough for you?¡±

    I should¡¯ve said no. I could¡¯ve tried to lie and say yes. Instead, I was weak, to her beautiful eyes, to the comfort her presence was in my life, and unwilling to break her heart or mine before my mission that night.

    I stroked her, cooed, ¡°You¡¯re already everything I need you to be.¡±

    Holding her head to my stomach, I used her as a secondary source of balance. Slipped off my underwear and placed them on the stack of my clothes she held for me. The corners of her eyes crinkled in accordance with the false smile that slid against my skin.

    ¡°How do I smell?¡± I asked, in a poor attempt at changing the subject. Amber¡¯s eyebrows swam toward each other in confusion. So I explained, ¡°I need to know if I need a shower.¡±

    Her face smoothed out¡ªI thought she was pleased to be given a task. I thought this could heal something before I left. So I remained still as she sniffed my skin, her face trailing down toward my thighs. Then she glanced up at me. Her usual genial expression returned.

    ¡°Perfect, Temple, you smell perfect,¡± she said.

    I smiled back, and turned from her, changing into the clothes I¡¯d picked out. Amber left taking mine and some of her laundry over to the nearby laundromat. It didn¡¯t matter that our suite had a built-in washer and dryer. We both needed space, and neither I nor her wanted to bring up the fact that I could¡¯ve sworn I felt fangs graze my skin.

    * * *

    Despite skipping a shower, I still arrived late to the meeting at Secretary¡¯s place. Arguably it wasn¡¯t my fault. The address they¡¯d given me led down toward the docks¡ªfar beyond what could be considered to be the edge of the district¡¯s residential areas¡ªand from there to a squat building whose paint had been stripped away by the ocean¡¯s breeze over the years. Shoving my sorc-deck into my pocket, I entered the place ready to discover that this was something of a secret hideaway for Secretary. In one sense, it was, and in the other, well¡­

    ¡°A pub, really?¡± I asked, claiming a seat at the table Lupe and Secretary were stationed at.

    It was a good table. With a clear view of the ships in the harbor in one direction. In the other, every exit in the building¡ªsave the one in the back leading into the kitchens. Secretary pushed a basket of fries and fried shrimp in my direction.

    ¡°Do you have something against them, little brute?¡± they asked.

    I glanced toward the rest of the room¡ªsailors, from the brawny to the rotund to the whip-thin were in full attendance for a night of drinking, gossiping, gambling, and a few were even dancing. One of them caught my eye, a deeply tanned woman with an undercut and three eyes who winked with the one at the center of her forehead. My attention returned to Secretary, who chose that moment to go back to sipping their dark walnut-colored ale.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a nice place. I just¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± they asked.

    Lupe¡¯s fingers drummed against the table. It¡¯d not been long, but the scars on her face already looked better than when I last saw her having lost most of their redness. She stole a fry.

    ¡°Alls below, play this game of yours later,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Nadia expected to see your place. Where you live. Which, unless there¡¯s an apartment upstairs, then that¡¯s not here.¡±

    Secretary rolled the glass between their hands. Eventually, a tornado formed within the ale, and they stopped to admire the way it spun. Only to look up once it stilled and died.

    ¡°True, but also a little false,¡± they said. ¡°Secretaries above rank four hundred¡ªthose without assets to manage¡ªlive in the dormitories. They¡¯re like the residences you¡¯re all staying at. Though ours tend to be two to a room. That¡¯s where I sleep.¡±

    Gesturing with their ale, they added, ¡°Here, I live. It¡¯s a quiet crowd. The beer is cheap, and the shrimp are fried fresh. Alls below, if you catch something you can bring it here and they¡¯ll fry it up for you. The cook¡¯s bonded to Imagination and pairs everything with the most interesting sauces and dips.¡±

    ¡°I get it,¡± I said.

    ¡°Do you?¡± Lupe asked. ¡°I would¡¯ve sworn they hang out in those fancy bars where every cocktail is Conceptual or something. Look how they dress.¡±

    ¡°The clothes are uniform,¡± I explained, glancing to Secretary to make sure I could¡ªthey nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not really their choice in the matter, is it?¡±

    Secretary sniffed¡ªthe closest to a laugh they¡¯d made since we first met¡ªbefore draining their glass. ¡°No it is not. Though we try every year to petition an allowance from the Lodgemaster to at least let us wear jeans.¡±

    Lupe asked, ¡°So, a lesbian sailor pub is your ¡®place¡¯ because it¡¯s casual?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I like the ocean,¡± they said. ¡°Don¡¯t know why, but I always have.¡±

    ¡°How come you don¡¯t know?¡± I asked.

    Secretary slammed their glass down, ending this line of inquiry.

    ¡°We have a mission to do,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Now, you said you have a key. Where¡¯s the door?¡±

    ¡°Close by,¡± I said.

    I led us from the pub down to the shipping yard not too far away. It¡¯d been a lifetime, or what felt like one, since the night of the wild hunt. Only recently I¡¯d stopped looking for signs of proof that everything I¡¯d done and seen was real. Yet despite the distance from that night, both temporal and emotional, there wasn¡¯t any great difficulty navigating the labyrinth of containers. My heart could never forget the location of that Staircase¡ªI¡¯d met Sinaya there after all.

    When we arrived I instinctually looked down at the spot where I¡¯d burned a man to death. He wasn¡¯t special for that reason, and to be honest I don¡¯t remember what made him special. The corpses in the rearview of my life were towering long before him. I removed the narrow slate of Abyss blue quartz from my other pocket. Immediately, the mural depicting whalefall and jellyfish reacted. First was the low keening cry of a whale¡¯s death, and then the jellyfish peeled themselves off of the shipping crate. Escaping their two-dimensional origins for our three-dimensional world. Swirling in a pulsating dance of bioluminescent greeting.

    ¡°This is our door,¡± I said. ¡°Ready?¡±

    Secretary waved me forward, lead on, little brute. I stepped into the mural-turned-Staircase trusting¡ªand hearing¡ªSecretary and Lupe not far behind me. We crept close together in the darkness. Our feet seeking the step made from what felt like sea glass, and when peered at was completely translucent to the oppressive black that surrounded us from top to bottom. Even the walls¡ªif there were any¡ªwere too dark to discover and too far for me to feel.

    ¡°Lupe, any chance you can make some light?¡± I asked.

    She pretended to ignore my request. We still weren¡¯t on the best of terms. Secretary noticed this and repeated my request which Lupe honored by removing her shades and opening her eyes. Instantly, I felt the teasing warmth of a creeping dawn, and my jaw clenched from the pain of sudden illumination being foisted upon me without warning.

    ¡°Alls below, that¡¯s so bright,¡± I groaned.

    Lupe chuckled at my pain. ¡°It¡¯s what you wanted. Now keep walking.¡±

    I attempted to shoot her a glare but paid dearly for my spite. Lupe¡¯s eyes were the sun at noon, white and sharp. While the tributary scars of her face filled with the molten blood of that celestial body. She didn¡¯t wince or moan¡ªI never asked, but I figured and hoped that her body took the change better than I did mine. Lupe could be pissed at me forever, but I never wanted her to be in pain. So I swallowed my gripes and pressed on within the claustrophobic aura of light that surrounded us, appreciative that we at least caught the detail that our Staircase did have walls, turquoise, and made from coral.

    As we descended the spiral Staircase, I felt the shift from Realspace to the Underside take place. When I¡¯d done it the other way around it had felt like water slipping from my body as I broke the surface. The sensory metaphor still proved apt, as I could feel the dry touch of the Real fade away. Replaced by the suffusing chill¡ªlikely due to the throne we were infiltrating belonging to Abyss¡ªof the Conceptual which lifted away my flesh as if it was dirt and the Underside a cleansing soap. It traveled up my neck, my face, and then past my head. I¡¯d become a being of molten-white scales over orange-hot Metallic spirit flesh.

    ¡°Little brute, step softly,¡± Secretary hissed.

    Fair advice as this was a stealth mission nominally, but I¡¯d stopped moving. It¡¯s childish to admit, but I still found the transition from Real to Conceptual so interesting that I needed to pause. A fact I informed Secretary of, and a half-beat later realized the implication¡ªsomeone was ascending the Staircase. Working fast, Secretary shaped a hand-spell pulling a gun free from a flock of glowing lights. Lupe opened her mouth, and I heard the churning forge song at the heart of the sun softly echo from her throat. She reached in and pulled free a butterfly knife befitting our close-quarters situation.

    ¡°This can¡¯t be an extended engagement,¡± Secretary warned.

    Lupe said, ¡°We strike together then.¡±

    ¡°On me,¡± I decided.

    Bereft as I was of Mother¡¯s Last Smile, I brought my fingers together into a flat diamond-esque shape to make spearheads of my claws. Then we waited, each step echoing from below at a register louder than what preceded it. A brassy clang that tolled with the promise of violence¡ªno one could discover us. No one would. I¡¯d see to that, curse or otherwise.

    When the last step was taken, clang ringing in my ear, I flowed forward as if falling. All my weight driving behind a thrust meant to initiate and close out the engagement. My claws struck air, and a hand clasped about my wrist. They pulled me beyond my balance¡ªonto my toes¡ªonly to wrench my arm behind my back. I¡¯d gone from spear to shield and put to immediate work as they interposed me between their life and Lupe¡¯s butterfly knife.

    With their other hand, their fingers dove into my hair, pulling back my head so my eyes could track the solar flame of Lupe¡¯s blade as it stopped just shy of my throat. It was with a third arm¡ªhow many did they have¡ªthat they reached forward, flicked the safety back on Secretary¡¯s gun, and stole it from her grasp.

    ¡°Alls below, I have the worst luck,¡± a recognizable voice said.

    Lupe withdrew her knife. Secretary gasped. The attacker pushed me up the stairs into Secretary¡¯s arms. Quickly checking they were alright, I whirled around hurrying back to my feet¡ªMom always impressed the importance of not lying down in a fight. Then my arms fell as I wondered what advice Mom would have for a situation like this.

    As what stood just a few steps below us, was me.

 Chapter 48

    ¡°Have I finally lost it?¡± I asked, ready to accept the easiest answer¡ªI¡¯d finally lost my sanity.

    Secretary muttered, ¡°I refuse to accept that I¡¯m stuck inside your head, little brute; I see it too.¡±

    ¡°Alls below,¡± Lupe whispered, ¡°what the fuck are you wearing?¡±

    The three of us, in agreement that someone was physically present, took stock of what stood before us. Sure, the thing looked like me, but in the way that you might call out to someone on the street or in a cafe. You¡¯re sure in the moment they¡¯re your friend or someone else only for them to turn around and prove otherwise. In cataloging the differences, I sought to do just that.

    First, there was how she stood. It was a lazy stance, too loose, and inconsiderate of her surroundings. Akin to a fencer who allowed the tip of their blade to roam about the air without care that they might nick someone who happened to walk by. She leaned against the wall of the Staircase, her head turned from Lupe to me to Secretary¡ªsmooth as melting ice¡ªthen she smiled. A curled thing of predatory self-satisfaction.

    ¡°Oh, this,¡± she said, with my voice, ¡°it¡¯s not really my style. Just some items I happened to pick up on my way out of here.¡±

    Lupe was skeptical, she asked, ¡°Pick up or do you mean looted?¡±

    The woman tilted her head down and to the side, as if embarrassed to answer. Her pupil¡ªsingular due to the vertical scar that closed her left eye¡ªpeeked out from the corner of the remaining one. On anyone else, the action may have come off as coquettish or demure. A sort of shyness that invited intrigue and suitors. On her, clothes poorly fit¡ªdenim shorts that hugged her upper thigh and a baggy t-shirt with a hole over the place her heart would be¡ªand so soaked through with blood that it dripped from her steady as rain, it only served to highlight the metallic jaws of a trap that had already claimed at least one unfortunate soul.

    ¡°I mean, picked up,¡± she said. ¡°Looting implies it was a treasure worth taking.¡±

    Secretary, gesturing at the hole in the shirt, said, ¡°They might not be treasures, but you went to some amount of effort, little brute.¡±

    The woman who wasn¡¯t me rolled her eyes. She held out a bloodied claw, turned it about examining the way the blood looked atop her white scales, and smirked. Her eyes dipped down to Secretary¡¯s chest and back up to their face.

    ¡°Hardly,¡± she said. ¡°Hands like these, well, they¡¯re naturally good at certain tasks. And once you have a hammer¡­breaking hearts becomes a habit.¡±

    Her gaze fell to me again, but this time her face softened in a way that reminded me of myself the last time I¡¯d looked into a mirror. Sad, bereft of edges, before she drew back her lips showing off the extra set of fangs sitting behind the ones I already possessed, the mien of a predator overshadowing the somber light of the child in her eyes.

    ¡°Just ask me,¡± she told me.

    I said, ¡°I know it¡¯s not true, so no need.¡±

    She scoffed, and with both hands twirled them in the air in a, let''s get this over with, sort of motion. I glanced back to find Secretary and Lupe seemed less firm than me about who this woman was. Neither of them met eyes but instead offered arguments.

    Secretary said, ¡°She moves like you, little brute. Her face it¡­¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t even see her face,¡± Lupe said, ¡°but she talks like you. All slippery and trying too hard to keep a lid on all your, well, everything that¡¯s up with you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Lupe,¡± she said. ¡°You always did see the shape of me. Even when I was too caught up in things to see it myself.¡±

    I turned back to the woman, stared hard at her to see myself in her, but couldn¡¯t, wouldn¡¯t. She looked too¡­hybridae. A sickle horn shaped from two intertwining strands sprouted from her forehead. Her ears had the shape of a chef¡¯s knife. She even had a tail, thick as the rope in my high school¡¯s gymnasium. It flicked and skewered the air around it with a head shaped like a bident. I still had my human shape, for the most part, and I¡¯d never let it go ergo¡ª

    ¡°Sphinx, just come out,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m spiraling.¡±

    For the briefest moment, I convinced myself I¡¯d won. This was a bluff no one could make. Sphinx was mine and no one else¡¯s. It was for this reason, this immutable aspect of the summoner-entity bond, that Sphinx stepped free from my spirit to form in the space between me and this woman¡­who effortlessly proved she was me.

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered. ¡°Sphinx, you¡¯re mine.¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s head swiveled from the woman to me and back again. A heavy sigh rolled from her throat, and then a more feline chitter followed. She was stressed.

    ¡°Yes, but to be technical, Nadia,¡± Sphinx said, ¡°I belong to Nadia.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me.¡±

    Sphinx gestured to the woman with her wing, ¡°And that¡¯s her,¡± she said. ¡°I am the bondmate of Nadia, every Nadia, no matter where or when they hail.¡±

    ¡°In this case, it''s when,¡± she said. ¡°Congrats, we¡¯ve now discovered that the urban legend of Staircases isn¡¯t that much of a legend.¡±

    I leaned against the wall for support. The woman¡ªwho¡¯d proven definitively she was me¡ªraised her hand and wiggled her fingers in mock greeting. A low rumble like the rousing of an engine, emanated from Sphinx. It pulled my attention back to her and brought a smile to my face. She¡¯d positioned herself between us, at first diplomatically, but now decidedly in defense of me. The hair of her fur standing on end in warning.

    ¡°Cease your antagonisms, and walk on,¡± she ordered.

    ¡°I would,¡± Future-Nadia said, ¡°but it looks like they have questions for me.¡±

    Using her tail, she gestured at Secretary and Lupe. They¡¯d been quiet initially, allowing me the space to process this chronological confrontation I¡¯d found myself in, but with evidence now proving that this woman was me from the future you could tell the levee of their grace was falling. Questions percolated behind their eyes, and the anxiety of the unknown¡ªwhich we often put aside so that we might live¡ªworked itself through their limbs like caffeine.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Sphinx grunted, ¡°but we hold fast to protocol lest we sink into paradoxical mires.¡±

    ¡°You can approve every question,¡± Future-Nadia said, ¡°just like last time.¡±

    ¡°Last time?¡± I asked.

    Future-Nadia, shook her head, and said, ¡°No cutting the queue. Go on, you first #404.¡±

    ¡°How far in the future are you?¡± they asked.

    Sphinx said, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Sphinx swiveled her head to face Secretary. ¡°You¡¯re seeking to establish a timeline by which you can work backwards and presume events,¡± she stated. ¡°This would vacate you of free will.¡±

    ¡°Better luck next time,¡± Future-Nadia chuckled, bitterly. ¡°What about you Lupe, or are you currently too mad at me?¡±

    Lupe wobbled her hand in the air. ¡°I¡¯m pissed at this one,¡± she said, thumb shoved in my direction, ¡°but if you¡¯re from the future then I have nothing against you beyond being her in the past. All I want to know is, why¡¯re you alone?¡±

    Future-Nadia¡¯s smile was shoved aside by the question. Replaced with a despondent scowl that, like a drawbridge, was tense when shut. A throbbing at her temple¡ªwhich is when I noticed the missing black star¡ªbefore she slammed her fist into the wall. The gong-like bwam echoed up past us and down into the darkness below. It didn¡¯t her hurt, not in the way she maybe wanted it to, so she did it again and again, once more in search of some feeling before she sighed, and held up her blood-soaked hand.

    The sudden tantrum¡ªthat being the easiest way to refer to it¡ªcaused both Secretary and myself to take a step back. Lupe, however, held her ground. When Future-Nadia was finished, Lupe stepped forward and leaned in a space on the wall beside her.

    ¡°That painful, huh?¡± she asked.

    Future-Nadia shot back, ¡°When is it not?¡±

    Lupe sighed, ¡°When we make peace with it, I suppose. How we got to this point.¡±

    Sphinx finally spoke, ¡°You can¡¯t answer that question.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to,¡± Future-Nadia said. ¡°Free will and all. It¡¯s your turn, me. What do you got?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like there¡¯s much you can tell me,¡± I said. ¡°Sphinx, can I ask for advice?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sphinx said to me. She turned to future me and stipulated, ¡°There can be no specifics on events or actions taken. It must be advice given from the standpoint of her present. Not yours.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Future-Nadia said, ¡°so I¡¯ll do what I know protocol allows. Turn back now. Give up and let go of everything you think you¡¯ll accomplish here.¡±

    Secretary asked, ¡°Or what?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t answer that,¡± Sphinx said.

    ¡°Alls below, we need intel. Little brute have your bondmate stop obstructing me.¡±

    Sphinx growled, ¡°Such is my purpose, and thus I shan¡¯t abdicate this responsibility. Least of all when you wish to swaddle yourself with the false knowledge of things that may not even come to pass!¡±

    Lupe stepped past Future-Nadia, her hair tossing to the metronomic swivel of her head.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said, ¡°but that¡¯s some shit advice.¡±

    Secretary, seeing no avenue in which Sphinx would budge, decided to press on as well passing by this future me. They didn¡¯t share a glance¡ªwhich now I consider somewhat intentional, but then had marked it down as a distaste for how this encounter had gone. With the two of them now past the bend of the Staircase and Lupe¡¯s light a fading remnant, darkness returned to soak about me and my future double.

    I think I initially walked down toward the same step that she¡¯d been standing on when darkness fell. Though perhaps she moved by some greater grace than I was capable of, and had taken to the steps above me. In either case, our voices were the same, and with positions occluded I could hardly say who said what to whom. Talking to yourself, even with temporal distance, was still talking to yourself in all ways that mattered.

    ¡°Why give advice we¡¯d never take?¡±

    ¡°Why give advice¡­we¡¯d never take it?¡±

    ¡°But you still gave¡ª¡±

    ¡°No. I did what I wanted to do.¡±

    ¡°Then do something else.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°We always can¡­so why not see if we could.¡±

    In the frigid dark of the Staircase, there emerged an indignant light. Small as a candle¡¯s flame, it wavered like one. Buffeted by Time¡¯s motionless winds, it wept sparks for actions long past and flickered in the face of fate¡¯s great designs yet to come. Then it winked, darkness fell again, only to be shoved back in a grand resurgence of Revelatory illumination¡ªa star, there was a star in her left eye.

    There wasn¡¯t any real distance between us, her hands having intertwined with mine down at my side at some point, while she¡¯d angled her head at an opposite tilt to my own. Anticipating a kiss neither of us could commit to¡ªwe loathed ourselves too much for that. My mouth did fall open though; beside her head, sharing her left eye, was a secondary face equally my own yet not. Familiar but ultimately unrecognizable¡ªit winked at me with its own spectral eye.

    ¡°Now you see the shape,¡± we said, three voices echoing into our mouths until the origin point of the statement was indeterminate.

    I did see it, the shape, it was all around me. It was me. A staircase forever spiraling in a procession of descents and ascensions. The moebius strip which knew of only one face, but cursed with self-awareness enough that it tried to find another one. The wheel which turned in endless revolutions unable to be anything but a wheel. Nadia, the both of us at this one time and intersection, were an infinite idea played out by the desperation of the one before us. Slaves to the urge¡ªthe hope¡ªof change which might arrive before whatever awaited me.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°What do I do then?¡± I asked, my voice finally my own.

    She answered, ¡°Whatever you want to do, that¡¯s the point of this test.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s what you did!¡±

    She deflected, ¡°It¡¯s what we do. What we always do.¡±

    ¡°Is it all that we can do?¡± I asked.

    She didn¡¯t answer, instead, shutting her left eye allowing darkness to edge about the fading brilliance of Revelation¡¯s star. I laid a hand over my own eye¡ªtrying, failing, but trying all the same to capture that astral sight within mine. If I could keep it fading maybe I could¡­but it was already gone. My glimpse at something more had drifted away, and I knew that she¡¯d left. Her time on my stage was done, and Sphinx tugged at my pant leg impressing on me that mine was a clock still ticking. So I set my mind back on the present, had Sphinx return to the inner sanctum of my spirit, and did my best to forget as I jogged after Secretary and Lupe.

    When I caught up to them, they were waiting just outside the exit of the Staircase. Secretary¡¯s head was on a swivel, hand-spell in front of their eye as they looked around with the intensity of a sentry. While Lupe grumpily swatted at the growing flock of sea angel-esque entities that surrounded her, spinning like dervishes as they bobbed about her head.

    Lupe tilted her head in my direction, a soft acknowledgment of my presence, while Secretary shook out their hand dispersing the spell they¡¯d been casting. Stepping off the Staircase and into the throne proper, I chose not to speak, instead doing my best to take in what I could make out of our surroundings. Courtesy of Lupe¡¯s light¡ªthat which came from her eyes and her sky blue Radiant musculature¡ªthe Abyssal darkness that oppressed my eyes was pushed back enough to make out the honey-combed obelisks of volcanic rock that clustered together like so many fingers. It was from these obelisks that the entities which crowded about Lupe emerged by the dozens to investigate her.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry that much,¡± I said, ¡°they¡¯re only soldiers.¡±

    Secretary disagreed, ¡°Yes, little brute, but as you¡¯ve commonly proved, a committed soldier can be decidedly dangerous.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I said, ¡°but last time I encountered these it was their summoners that made these a danger. Their actual nature seems rather harmless.¡±

    Lupe snorted, ¡°They¡¯re of Abyss. That Court¡¯s anything but harmless. Now stop stalling, what happened to you back there?¡±

    ¡°Did I take that long?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t,¡± Secretary said, ¡°but it remains true that you spent time with yourself from an unknown future. This isn¡¯t a phenomenon that the Lodge has much information on that could be considered reliable¡ª¡±

    ¡°Could it help you move up the ranks if I had anything?¡± I asked.

    Secretary glanced to the floor. It was just shy of smooth, made of more volcanic rock, and thus utterly boring yet it held their attention enough as they traced some barely visible crack away from me and off into the darkness. Lupe actually turned toward me, fully incredulous.

    ¡°Really Nadia?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, ¡°It¡¯s a fair question.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°But not at all where Secretary was going¡­if they were willing to be real with you.¡±

    I waved off Lupe¡¯s statement without trying to understand it; convinced that Lupe didn¡¯t understand the asset-handler relationship I had with Secretary. We didn¡¯t do ¡°real¡± in the way she implied. There were only our missions, and any care we had for the other was that of someone keeping their tools in pristine condition. It was what worked for us. It worked for us.

    ¡°Let it go, Lupe,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Little brute, provided you were given nothing that could aid or jeopardize this mission, you don¡¯t have to say anything. I have enough headaches about our secondary objective as it is.¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t worry,¡± I said, ¡°she just did whatever she wanted. Such an asshole.¡±

    Lupe chuckled, ¡°I¡¯ll agree to that one. You are an asshole.¡±

    ¡°Wait. I didn¡¯t mean¡ª

    Secretary covered their mouth with their hand. ¡°It seems encountering yourself provided you some measure of insight,¡± they said. ¡°Now, let¡¯s move, you can lead, little brute.¡±

    ¡°Assholes first,¡± Lupe said.

    Groaning, I gave up on trying to defend myself¡ªthough I indulged in flipping off the two of them¡ªthen blinked on the Omensight. It was, loathe as I am at reductive statements, still dark. The adumbral blue of Abyss had painted over my normally lilac hued vision. Not so dissimilar as it looked when I first saw Sinaya¡¯s field-spell in action¡ªto think, he nearly killed me then¡ªbut this was something on another level. The tapestry of the world was Abyss in every direction, and even Lupe¡¯s light, born of Morning, could only at best lighten the heavy hue as opposed to having true representation in the fabric of our immediate space.

    However, what the omnipresence of Abyss couldn¡¯t counter were the ties fate that connected me, Lupe, Secretary, and yes, Sinaya. They were all there and then some, lurking in the dark, but my eyes found them. I settled my attention on the thickest one that bound me to Sinaya¡ªI¡¯d recognized it because when we fought I tried to burn it¡ªand interestingly shared the same magenta hue as one of the many ties between Secretary and myself.

    ¡°Cover me,¡± I said, then sank my perception into the connection between me and Sinaya.

    I nearly lost myself at first. Our tie was one of many, maybe too many, currents that threatened to pull me into scenes of the past¡ªa few shared and those in isolate. My heart rate quickened when I considered peeking into what Sinaya had done by himself when he thought about me. Though I organized myself with the reminder that there¡¯d be plenty for us to catch up on once we were free from this place. It was that idea, freedom, which conjured to mind Sinaya on our call, curled up and voice soft, and doused the heat of my arousal whilst stoking the indignation I felt at his condition. I¡¯d free my gallant butch, on that I was sure, and on that, I swam the current of our present.

    My sight carried up through a multitude of floors. Past arrays of guards spanning soldiers, Barons, and even a few Viscounts. It went up until it pierced the floor of Sinaya¡¯s room. He was in his armor, bereft the helm I¡¯d destroyed, and paced about¡ªmy handsome tiger in too small an enclosure. I could¡¯ve watched him forever, even as the image it presented pressed sharp fingers into my heart, but then he turned around¡­to me. His eyes wide as the ocean on the horizon, crinkling at the corners from the smile which found his face. He looked hopeful.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be there soon,¡± I said, only to be reminded that he couldn¡¯t hear me. Then he mouthed words, a reminder that I couldn¡¯t hear him.

    I pulled from our connection and turned toward Secretary and Lupe. Their expressions shaded with concern and distaste, respectively. Before I said anything, I noticed a gorey carmine tie connecting Lupe to something off in the shaded distance. What was Bloodlust doing here? I thought, and then recalled the way entities of Abyss had attempted to mob me during my last ¡°visit.¡± The entities of Abyss abhorred light and here Lupe was, a walking reminder of light itself. I hurriedly shaped the seal for Godtime, dragging Secretary into it with me. With time dripping slow as syrup, Secretary made sure not to waste it. They swung their hands up into firing position¡ªa new gun conjured into them in mid-motion¡ªand swiveled about in search of the enemy. While I yanked Lupe into my arms, briefly breaking the connection between her and whatever was coming for her. It was because of that repositioning that we discovered the attacker in mid-lunge.

    First were its teeth, serrated and the length of my hand. Then came its snout and chin, elongated yet also bifurcated opening up like a starfish. Followed by its body, which like the rest of it, was made visible due to the shifted position of Lupe¡¯s light which bounced off the curve of its flank foiling its natural method of obfuscation and ambush. A method I¡¯d liken to a glass of water placed inside a pool of water¡ªuseful when you didn¡¯t expect to find a glass, but worthless once shards of it dug into your feet.

    The comparison to glass proved apt when Secretary squeezed the trigger of their gun. Three snaps of military thunder. Three holes punched into the side of this thing that was ambitious enough to attempt to consume Lupe. Its lunge faltered as the bullets pushed it further astray from its intended course. Then it fell to the rocky floor; briefly made a show of force by wiggling its head in our direction and splaying open its mouth showing off the Abyssal dark interior of its throat. I dropped the Godtime, it wasn¡¯t a threat anymore. A position agreed upon by the sea angels that hovered over its body and began to spin becoming a flock of drills, and dove into the entity¡¯s glass-like carcass, goring into its body as they fed.

    ¡°#404, I thought your gun was Real,¡± I said.

    ¡°I like to keep people guessing, little brute, whether something is real or not,¡± they stated. ¡°In this case, it was the memory of the gun your future-self stole from me.¡±

    I muttered, ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be,¡± Lupe said, ¡°if they¡¯d fired a real one it wouldn¡¯t have done anything to this thing. Which speaking of, why did it go for me?¡±

    ¡°Your light,¡± I answered. ¡°Entities of Abyss seem to frenzy when they notice any kind of sorcerous illumination. Those little guys might have done something earlier to you if they were ambush predators instead of scavengers.¡±

    ¡°Harmless my ass,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Fine, but the light was for your benefit, not mine.¡±

    They closed their eyes, and like a needy lover, the darkness hurried to embrace us. Lupe shifted the dominance of who-held-whom so that I clung to her arm. I heard Secretary¡¯s feet shuffle in probing steps until they reached Lupe¡¯s other arm. After which, I pointed out the direction of my tie to Sinaya, and together we walked.

    ¡°How do the Lurkers even see in this place?¡± I asked, my eyes sore from the endless repetitive void that surrounded us.

    Lupe said, ¡°They don¡¯t. Well, not really. Remember what I said on the roof? Most of the children of Sunken Valley have grown up without vision at all. Some get by with other senses¡ªI knew a guy growing up who swore he could feel electricity, the Storms, in everything¡ªbut most just used the classic methods of canes, pets, or mortal tier Sorcery to make devices like mine. There was a bit of a veiled market for them. The small number that still have vision probably can¡¯t handle going outside during the day.¡±

    ¡°They always did seem most active at night,¡± Secretary mused. ¡°Any other traits that the children of your valley developed?¡±

    ¡°Translucent or outright transparent skin is one,¡± Lupe listed. ¡°Though that¡¯s something I¡¯ve obviously never seen.¡±

    ¡°I can,¡± I said. ¡°The Angler Knight¡¯s skin is translucent.¡±

    ¡°Well there you go,¡± Lupe said, ¡°but if I get my way, we won¡¯t be seeing any new developments. Marduk¡¯s going down in my generation.¡±

    The conversation died again after that. I really wished it didn¡¯t; walking and walking without anything to mark the time was¡­probably how Lupe lived. How everyone in the Sunken Valley lived. It made me appreciate where I grew up¡ªit had so many lights most days, even more on festival days, and I don¡¯t think I ever once feared the dark. Maybe sleep, during my ¡°nightmare¡± period¡ªwhich now I question about calling it that as they seem more like memories half-buried, but never the dark. Dad picked a good place to settle down, huh? There weren¡¯t any despots, or weird sorcerous experiments being done on people. We didn¡¯t even have criminals really. When I¡¯d left, the town felt fake, a trick or delusion we all bought into, but is that so bad? Whether we were all battle-hardened or not, five people able to kill a godtender are still five people capable of killing one. That detail doesn¡¯t change whether the town charges and dies together, or opts to let the whole thing pass them by.

    I ended up voicing the thought by accident. ¡°I wonder if they¡¯d let me back?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°Nothing, I was just thinking,¡± I said. ¡°About how different the Sunken Valley is to my home.¡±

    Lupe laughed, ¡°Alls below, the pit that birthed you had to be one fucked up place I bet.¡±

    ¡°Hey, at least we had the sun,¡± I protested.

    ¡°Little brute, that¡¯s a rather low bar for most of the world,¡± Secretary countered, ¡°but as the classic saying goes, ¡®you can never go home.¡¯¡±

    ¡°You totally can,¡± Lupe said. ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s home. Sure, you might feel too big for it sometimes, maybe you grow to hate it, but it¡¯ll always be there for you if you want to go back.¡±

    ¡°Lupe, no, the phrase is about how your home will be different,¡± I said.

    ¡°So will you,¡± she said, ¡°so why worry about it? Just be happy if it¡¯s a place worth going back to.¡±

    Because what if they don¡¯t want me anymore? I thought. That place of peace nestled in the hills¡­I¡¯d just make it dirty.

    ¡°What about you, Secretary?¡± Lupe asked. ¡°What¡¯s your place like?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t see the face #404 made, but I was familiar with their silence¡ªit was so like mine. A chair you could lean back in and examine a question at your leisure. They cleared their throat after forty seconds. I counted.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± they said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look that old,¡± I said. ¡°To forget, you know.¡±

    ¡°But I did, little brute, all us secretaries do,¡± they hummed. ¡°You asked why I loved the ocean, and I don¡¯t know. To serve the Lodge we ¡®forget¡¯ our names, our homes, all the little memories that would be extraneous to our purpose.¡±

    ¡°Fuck,¡± Lupe said. ¡°They have us beat, Nadia. That¡¯s the worst deal.¡±

    Secretary shrugged, ¡°We get them back when our contract ends. I¡¯ll remember one day.¡±

    ¡°But how do most end¡ª¡± I said, being cut off by a squeeze of Lupe¡¯s hand on my arm.

    She whispered, ¡°Two lurkers. Both soldiers. They entered my bracelet¡¯s range. They¡¯ll reach us in twenty.¡±

    ¡°Disposition?¡± Secretary asked.

    Lupe answered, ¡°Curious.¡±

    ¡°Is that bad?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s worse than neutral,¡± Secretary explained, ¡°since it means they picked up on something to make them or their superiors interested enough to investigate. Though we can walk this back easily enough.¡±

    Then, soft as fleece and smooth as silk, Secretary¡¯s field-spell bloomed. Passing over our minds so subtly that even watching as it painted over the tapestry of the world¡ªfrom Abyssal blue to the chroma-teasing grey of Remembrance¡ªI¡¯d barely noticed the change; the two Lurkers, luckless as they were, didn¡¯t spot it before they stepped into Secretary¡¯s psychic trap. When Secretary bid Lupe to continue on, we found them frozen in mid-step, and Secretary took the time to rifle through their brains¡ªliterally, Secretary used a spell to make their arms things of pure thought and shoved them inside the two Lurkers¡¯ heads.

    ¡°Is this really necessary?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°I remember you did your whole memory removal thing using just your field-spell,¡± I said.

    Lupe asked, ¡°When¡¯d they do that?¡±

    ¡°Our first mission together,¡± Secretary answered. ¡°And I¡¯m still employing that method, these two won¡¯t remember anything, but I want to know what they know.¡±

    ¡°And what do they know?¡± I asked.

    Secretary removed two faintly glowing orbs from the Lurkers¡¯ skulls. Popped one in their mouth, and chewed thoughtfully as they ¡®digested¡¯ the information. From the groans and retching it must have been horrible. Standing back up, they groped for Lupe¡¯s arm and on rediscovery pulled themselves in close.

    ¡°For one, they know what part of Marduk¡¯s throne this is,¡± Secretary said.

    Lupe asked, ¡°Where are we?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a place called the Menagerie,¡± they answered.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that just a fancy name for the zoos back in the Old World?¡± I asked. ¡°There¡¯s no animals here.¡±

    ¡°Correct, little brute,¡± Secretary said, ¡°at least on the matter of the term¡¯s original usage. As it seems Marduk¡¯s intention, and the office which these two work for within the cult, is to consider this place a spawning ground for entities. If you don¡¯t believe me, I also took a memory of how those two perceive this place¡ª¡±

    ¡°Show me,¡± I whispered.

    Secretary worked a quick spell and pulled the small thought bubble in two. They popped one into their mouth, and I opened wide for them to push the other into my own. We chewed, and as we did so I felt the memory work itself through the roof of my palate. Where it then seeped into my brain, and with it the world fell into a clarifying grayscale that overwrote my Omensight in the process¡ªI was seeing the space as those two did, and very soon I wished I didn¡¯t.

    In every direction was an Abyssal horror. Great angler-eels like Sinaya¡¯s arced through the air disappearing and reappearing through holes in the floor. Vampiric squid mermaids bobbed past us, their tendrils hooked and dripping mystic neurotoxins. Crablike imps reminiscent of shadow puppets scuttled over the Lurkers bodies. Ogres the size of apartments wearing cloud-armor spawned from hydrothermal vents in their bodies stepped over us, barely crushing us. The ceiling, which I¡¯d presumed lost to darkness, was instead occluded by the churning mass of leviathans caught in an orgiastic cycle of fucking and consumption¡ªtheir blood falling in waterfalls of molten sulfur. We¡¯d been lucky, and we¡¯d been surrounded the entire time.

    ¡°So, how bad is it?¡± Lupe asked.

 Chapter 49

    Our answer, Secretary¡¯s and mine, to Lupe¡¯s question was simple¡ªthough not one I admit to with any pride; it was a scream. Shrill and jagged, the type that¡¯d ruin your vocal cords and so only came forth when more poetic evocations couldn¡¯t possibly transmit the depths of terror that slaughtered higher reason leaving only the aforementioned primal screech. It was then followed by both of us dragging Lupe along as we sprinted for our lives.

    ¡°Screaming is not an answer,¡± Lupe yelled.

    ¡°This time it is,¡± I yelled back. ¡°Now jump!¡±

    As one, the three of us hopped over a train of crustacean shadow imps marching back to their den. We swerved around the dangling toxic hooks of vampire squid mermaids gossiping just above us¡ªSecretary had to shove Lupe¡¯s head down when one hook swayed over my head and nearly took her in the ear. Yet, despite our frantic pace and absolute terror, Secretary made good use of not just the vision they¡¯d copied, but also the understanding of the Menagerie¡¯s layout that was pillaged from the Lurkers¡¯ heads. It was why with every step, hop, and swerve we found ourselves gobbling up the distance between us and the exit built into the far wall. A rather modest set of double doors bound by three concentric rings of metal with phonemes carved into each ring¡ªa formation dial-lock¡ªand from which spectral bands radiated.

    ¡°Stop,¡± Secretary screamed.

    My body responded to their command before my thoughts had wheeled away from examining the curious security mechanism. An impulse I thanked as my vision of the door was all but instantly revoked by a deluge of molten sulfur that cascaded from the cannibalistic orgy on the ceiling. Though none had splashed on me, I stumbled back in bare shock. The sulfur, or to be more technical, what passed as a ¡°sort-of sulfur¡± ate through the rock of the floor with a satisfied sizzle. I was only a half-step from my brain being the material that satiated those leviathans¡¯ acidic by-product.

    ¡°You saved my life,¡± I whispered, breathless.

    Lupe asked, ¡°From what?¡±

    Secretary explained, ¡°Deluge of molten sulfur. It¡¯s the sizzle you¡¯re hearing right now.¡±

    ¡°Woah,¡± Lupe said, ¡°they really did save your life.¡±

    ¡°Nadia¡¯s my asset,¡± they explained, ¡°if I can help it, I¡¯ll let nothing harm her.¡±

    ¡°Riight, right,¡± Lupe said, ¡°she¡¯s just your ¡®ass¡ª¡¯¡±

    Her teasing was interrupted by the bone-reverberating rumble of shaking earth. Then the crackle of shattering stone. At six points surrounding us, spined pillars burst from the ground, bending at segments in their plating before impaling the floor and heaving up the section of earth we were standing on from the ground. All set to the cry of a spirit-curdling shriek. The acid had eaten through the rocky floor and found the flesh of a buried and sleeping entity.

    The three of us fell to our knees. We tried to plug our ears, but the scream that scratched the world wasn¡¯t one which troubled flesh¡ªof which any instinctual action was engaging¡ªrather it was a rending sensation felt in the musculature of our spirit. The pain of one made into an agony for many.

    ¡°Why¡¯s the ground feel like it¡¯s moving?¡± Lupe moaned.

    I said, ¡°¡®The ground¡¯ is the armor of some kind of entity.¡±

    ¡°Looks a bit like a sea spider,¡± Secretary added through gritted teeth.

    Lupe¡¯s laugh was pitiful and bitter. ¡°I hate crabs and spiders. This place sucks!¡±

    With determination remaining, I forced my head up and with it my body. Lupe had the long and short of this place, it sucked, and that was why I knew we weren¡¯t going to die here. I knew that the place I was meant to die wasn¡¯t somewhere where my demise would be a random occurrence of nature. It would be by my hand and will that death would take me. Though that confidence, which caused my Metallic spirit to be made nearly molten, was soon tested.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± I said. ¡°This place sucks!¡±

    Lured by the keening of our titanic spider transport, the angler-eels who¡¯d otherwise be content arcing from shadowy hole to hole had turned their heads. Noted our carrier¡¯s weakness; the way it swayed on its spire legs, drunk and mad from the cocktail of pain and fury. It outsized them, they outnumbered it, and it was screaming its weakness¡ªso they struck. Swimming through the air like so many sinuous spears lobbed as legion.

    ¡°Get up,¡± I urged. ¡°Get up!¡±

    I dragged Secretary and Lupe¡¯s moaning bodies to their feet. Wrapped my arms around their waists, and bent my knees. Though pain had draped a haze over them as well, they weren¡¯t so far gone as to mistake my intent.

    ¡°We¡¯re jumping?¡± Lupe asked.

    Secretary asked, ¡°Little brute, what¡¯s the gambit here?¡±

    ¡°Jump. Run. Jump again,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re too close to give up now!¡±

    We were close to the exit, but close is an unreliable estimation of distance. Used interchangeably for contexts where you and a loved one were close enough to kiss, or when your coach comforted you after your kick sent the ball wide of the intended goal and hit someone sitting in the stands¡ªDad stopped coming to games after that. It was a phrase that meant everything and nothing. So sure, we were ¡°close¡± if you tolerated that we were however many tens upon tens of feet in the air, and still a good couple of yards shy of our destination. Still, nothing gets the body moving more than being told your suffering was ¡°close¡± to its end.

    ¡°What are we running on?¡± Lupe asked, her legs were already bent.

    I said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Just jump!¡±

    The angler-eels struck every surface of the titanic sea spider. Their jaws clamped around the joints of its legs, wherever its eyes were, and some even tried to plunge their teeth into its rocky back plating that served as both armor and camouflage. It was one of those eels that I leaped onto the back of, my hands firmly clasped around Lupe and Secretary¡¯s waists. When our feet landed it was just in time as the sea spider toppled over from the force of the angler-eels assault.

    As it and the angler-eels fell through the air, I pushed the three of us to run¡ªhard as we were capable of¡ªand shoved from my mind any consequence of what would happen if we fell, if we faltered. My thoughts had no room for it when I was busy screaming verbally to myself and my partners that we had to run faster and faster. It wouldn¡¯t be enough to stay in place while our ¡°floor¡± disappeared beneath us. No, we had to gain ground, ascend up the arc of the massive angler-eel¡¯s body to get even a few feet closer to that damn exit. And we did¡ªgain a few feet closer that is¡ªthough our mad scramble took us to the apex of the entity¡¯s arced body right when there was no more body to run over.

    ¡°Jump!¡± I yelled, and we did.

    We took a leap of what could only be called faith; our legs running on the hopes that we wouldn¡¯t die here, from the fall or from some stray entity whose existence itself was inhospitable to our own. The Menagerie wasn¡¯t a place for people after all. A detail reminded to me by Secretary¡¯s superlative talents in observation.

    ¡°Nadia, look,¡± they said, their arm outstretched to something I could never miss.

    A hole. Wide and filled to the brim with black shadows that seemed to gnash their umbral teeth in excitement at the meal set to tumble down into its open maw. There was no more ground to run, no more dangers that could be dodged, what waited for us at the bottom of our descent was nothing but pure unavoidable consequence. It infuriated me because we¡¯d tried so hard to avoid using our Sorcery that¡¯d draw the attention of every Abyssal denizen within the Menagerie, and were still going to be consumed by them.

    ¡°If it¡¯s eat or be eaten here,¡± I said, ¡°then, alls below, I¡¯m going to burn first!¡±

    I flexed my spiritual musculature allowing Sphinx¡¯s wings to unfold from my back. Angled them so the eyes of her feathers were aimed behind me. Secretary gripped my face forcing me to look them in the eye and explain myself¡ªI didn¡¯t say anything. They found the answer the moment they read my expression. This wasn¡¯t our end, and it wasn¡¯t a suicide. The eyes in Sphinx¡¯s wings burned with a chalcedony incandescence that teased the attention of every entity in the room.

    ¡°Atomic Glory.¡±

    In the Abyssal purity of the Menagerie, a star was born. A minor thing of chalcedony flame that shot through the darkness and evoked deep Conceptual pain for its violation. It was a violence that only entities and their bondmates might inflict on one another. It meant there was an invader in their realm and for that it brought every entity into an alliance. For all that they quarreled, they were all warriors of Abyss, enemies of light, of foulest Stars.

    Angler-eels peeled off the corpse of their prey. Vampire squid mermaids shot forth like bullets, their hooks ready and toxins primed. Those ogres clad in cloudy armor drew forth a panoply of arms and marched. Even the leviathans, otherwise distracted by their games of violent procreation, pulled their heads free from their entangled sea revealing faces of wizened elders that split in half lengthwise baring serrated teeth and let themselves fall upon the star.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to make it,¡± Secretary said, having done the calculations comparing our velocity to the host of Abyss that pursued us.

    ¡°Like fuck we won¡¯t,¡± Lupe scoffed. ¡°Secretary, if you can ¡®remember¡¯ sight, any chance you can ¡®remember¡¯ our flight trajectory?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve not tried it,¡± they answered.

    ¡°As someone who experiments with spells on the fly,¡± I interjected, ¡°there¡¯s a first time for everything.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, I hate improvising,¡± Secretary bemoaned, the closest we¡¯d get to enthusiastic agreement.

    Lupe said, ¡°Good, now Nadia,¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said.

    ¡°Kill the flame when I say so,¡± she ordered.

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Lupe ripped her bracelet off her wrist. The fibers of her Radiant spirit shifted as the claw of her Baron overlaid her own finger. She scratched extra phonemes into the metal band.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Introducing the Menagerie to an ancient Old World song,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Secretary, that spell ready?¡±

    Secretary¡¯s answer was a twist of her field-spell. It stretched before and behind us like spindles, our velocity increasing as the thrust from my Atomic Glory and the memory of that thrust layered atop one another. Lupe¡¯s grin was broad and manic, but her voice clear as a summer sky.

    ¡°Kill it,¡± she ordered.

    I followed. Where once there was Revelatory fire burning strong and long to propel us there was suddenly absence. Lupe twisted in my grip, shifted the bracelet from one hand to the other, and lobbed it behind us into the furious mob.

    ¡°What was the song?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh, nothing special,¡± Lupe said. ¡°It¡¯s called, ¡®Here Comes the Sun.¡¯¡±

    An apt reference because I, with my Atomic Glory, had made us into a shooting star through the void. Lupe brought the fucking sun and the beauty of a Morning undeniable. Secretary and I couldn¡¯t look at it, our borrowed sight was built for the absence of light, not a flood of it. Even looking away from it, my peripheral vision was whited out. So you can imagine how furious it made the mob that trailed us. The lot of them converged onto the bracelet, tearing each other apart to be first to destroy the sun that shouldn¡¯t be in a place like this, and we¡ªSecretary, Lupe, and myself¡ªsoared toward our freedom.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Can you slow us down?¡± Lupe asked. ¡°We should be in the clear.¡±

    Secretary said, ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve used my spell like this.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Were you able to use every trick of your Atomic Glory on the first try?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said.

    Lupe added, ¡°Well Nadia, time for the second part of my plan.¡±

    ¡°You have a second part?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± she said, ¡°it¡¯s called, ¡®this bitch owes me, and should take the brunt of our landing.¡¯¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like this plan,¡± I whispered.

    Secretary patted my face, ¡°I believe in you, little brute.¡±

    With no other options, I wrapped Sphinx¡¯s wings around the three of us and did my best in the process, to turn so it¡¯d be my side which crashed into the wall first. Our faces were all shoved close together. I could smell the sweat of our fear, our struggle, and, alls below, it made me feel just a smidge guilty. It was my ¡°clever¡± plan to sneak us into the throne that had us arrive here, and my selfish request to save Sinaya which instigated even that. I owed these two, even if it was my body that¡¯d foot the bill.

    When we collided into the wall my thoughts whited out. There was no thought of guilt, of the affection I had for these two, or of bills and their due. I did, however, think about that phrase, ¡°foot the bill¡± in no small part because the collision felt like someone had kicked my side harder than I¡¯d kicked the ball that broke my Dad¡¯s nose all those years back. Then, having arrived at our destination, Secretary¡¯s spell concluded and we tumbled from the wall down to the space in front of the exit doors.

    ¡°Ugh, my ribs,¡± I groaned. ¡°Heal, please?¡±

    ¡°Why are you asking me, don¡¯t you have a wild amount of spell resistance?¡± Lupe asked.

    I tapped my forehead. Explained, ¡°Star trap. Took the heat. No more resistance.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that does make sense. Slipped my mind between all that running and screaming and nearly dying,¡± Lupe said. ¡°So nah, have the Angler Knight heal you up.¡±

    Lupe tapped my bruised rib, I moaned in minor agony, and they stood with a smile. I deserved it and they knew it, but Lupe still pulled me to my feet. Things weren¡¯t cool between us¡ªI hoped they would¡¯ve been given time¡ªhowever life-or-death circumstances have a tendency to iron out most issues. I think it¡¯s because it puts things into perspective.

    ¡°#404, heals?¡± I asked.

    I ambled over to where they stood next to a small callbox. They waved off my question with a quick hand-spell, and I felt my body Remember its condition from before we crashed into a wall. I pulled them by the waist into a side-ways hug of thanks which they stiffly accepted. When I let go they patted my shoulder.

    They said, ¡°Quiet, little brute, I need to convince the kind man in the operating room to open the doors.¡±

    Lupe asked, ¡°Couldn¡¯t they just see we¡¯re not the two people who went in?¡±

    ¡°If they had cameras here or some other observation tool, then yes,¡± Secretary answered. ¡°However they don¡¯t. The Menagerie is, according to the memories of those lackeys, a ¡®black box¡¯ meant to be opened sparingly. Now, shush!¡±

    Lupe held up their hands in mock surrender. I took a hand and¡ªafter a silent check-in for consent¡ªled Lupe over to the doors. For their own part, Secretary formed a hand-spell and held the seal to their throat. When they spoke, what emerged was the vocal memory of one of the Lurkers we¡¯d waylaid¡ªtheir voice, congested and horribly nasally at once.

    Secretary asked, ¡°Hey, Tomas, you there?¡±

    The callbox crackled before who I assumed was Tomas, responded, ¡°I¡¯m here. You and Mira done in there?¡±

    ¡°You betcha,¡± Secretary said, before grimacing in disgust¡ªtheir spell having copied both the sound of the Lurker¡¯s voice as well as their speech patterns.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s get you out of there,¡± Tomas said. ¡°Don¡¯t want to risk domain contamination.¡±

    The callbox clicked off. Secretary joined Lupe and I in front of the doors. The metal rings of the dial-lock spun to the unseen command of Tomas. One after the other rotating before stopping as each formation landed in its appropriate spot¡ªthe mechanism requiring internal alignment alongside aligning with each successive inner ring. With a final click, the dial-lock was undone and the spectral bands that radiated from it retreated inside. There was a hiss as the Conceptual vacuum seal on the doors was broken, and they cracked apart just enough for three people shoulder-to-shoulder to pass through.

    On the other side of the doors was Tomas, a lanky man who looked both thirty and thirteen with how no singular part of himself matched proportionally to the next. A sandwich rested beside him leaking grease onto a ceramic plate. His mouth hung like a pendulum, swinging slightly to find the appropriate words. Maybe to inquire as to who we were, what had happened to his friends, or some other reasonable request I knew I had no intention of honoring.

    ¡°Hey there, Tomas, right,¡± I said, asking but not really asking, ¡°could you believe that our invitation had us going down a Staircase leading into the Menagerie. Unbelievable really.¡±

    I crossed what could only be described as a laboratory. Charts and printouts covered the wall and wheelable spirit-boards. I was a bit jealous to see them¡ªthe school back home had us using chalkboards like it was the Old World as opposed to the much better spirit-board which let you write on it with just your finger and a bit of intent, like a token slate but less permanent.

    On the tables were jars, beakers, and other glassware containing Conceptual materials in varying states of analysis. Next to Tomas were two empty workstations, likely Mira¡¯s and her compatriot¡¯s, which were arrayed in a little row. It was on one of those workstations I¡¯d hopped onto to sit down and catch my breath¡ªalso force Tomas to either look at me or Secretary and Lupe. Since I was talking, he looked at me. Twisted in his chair to keep track of my position.

    ¡°Unbelievable, yeah,¡± Tomas muttered.

    I said, ¡°Exactly! Now, I know and you know, Marduk runs a tighter throne than this. So, just point me to the party and I¡¯ll let the right people know that someone made a Sovereign-sized fuck-up.¡±

    His gaze lingered on me, trying to decide what to believe¡ªif any of it¡ªfrom what I¡¯d said. Trying to be congenial, I flashed him a smile shoving into it all the cheer I could. Tomas¡¯s expression went from undecided to decided extraordinarily quick as fear flashed in his eyes.

    ¡°D-dog,¡± he stammered.

    ¡°Well, I think these days I¡¯m maybe more of a dragon,¡± I said, trying to keep things on the other side of panicked.

    ¡°A Lodge dog,¡± he spat out.

    Secretary shoved their head into their hand. Lupe threw their arms up in frustration, nice going Nadia. My shoulders sagged as I let my deception deflate alongside any hopes I¡¯d be able to resolve this peaceably. Tomas¡¯s hand had shot for his sorc-deck, and I couldn¡¯t let him get a message out. So I ripped my claw through the air, his throat, and watched as his life was jettisoned away in an arterial spray of blood.

    The force of the curse hit me soon after. A gut-deep throbbing born from a hunger that I knew could never be satiated. Yet still I hungered, for blood, for the spilling of lives, and a slaughter with no end. My breath came out in ragged heaps. A thin line of drool dripped from my mouth as I salivated just looking at Tomas¡¯s still warm corpse¡ªI needed a bite of something.

    In an attempt to wrest control, I repeated a mantra, ¡°I¡¯m not a fucking cannibal. I¡¯m not a fucking cannibal. I¡¯m not¡ª¡±

    There, on the plate, was the sandwich that smelled so good. I didn¡¯t know if it could work, but I  had to try. So with ferality, I pounced on it. Gripped it tight as grease dribbled through my fingers while I shoved it into my mouth. Tearing it into chunks with my fangs, swallowing, barely chewing, and greatly appreciative that Tomas had ordered the meat in his sandwich¡ªthinly sliced ribeye¡ªas rare. It wasn¡¯t much in the way of blood, but it was more than nothing and better than a corpse whose ex-inhabitant wasn¡¯t someone I cared for enough to tear their flesh from their bones.

    ¡°Alls below,¡± Lupe muttered, ¡°you killed him and stole his sandwich.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to,¡± I said, trying to speak around a mouthful of bread, cheese, and steak.

    ¡°Oh little brute, you¡¯re a horrible liar,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Toss him inside the Menagerie when you¡¯re done.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I whispered.

    After finishing the sandwich and tossing Tomas¡¯s body inside the Menagerie, I joined Secretary and Lupe on the balcony outside of the lab. Lupe leaned against the railing as she tied off a new vision bracelet on her wrist. Her expression was sour and, going off of the distance between her and where Secretary stood, very pointed. When the glass door to the lab closed behind me, Secretary addressed me with a glance over the shoulder.

    ¡°Did you toss his body inside?¡± they asked.

    I answered, ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Wipe down the blood?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Did you use the right solution¡ª¡±

    ¡°Alls below,¡± Lupe interrupted, ¡°are you their handler or their mom?¡±

    Secretary didn¡¯t dignify her interjection with a response. Lupe flipped them off for ignoring her.

    ¡°Um, nice to see you whipped up a new bracelet, Lupe,¡± I said.

    Lupe scoffed, ¡°I didn¡¯t need to. Been blind all my life, and using these bad boys for nearly half of it. I know to keep spares on me.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°Which, speaking of, that thing you did back there was amazing.¡±

    ¡°Eh, nothing special,¡± Lupe said with a smirk that told me how special it actually was. ¡°A few extra phonemes to increase power output, have actual luminosity and then stole a few from what we did to keep you from blowing up so it¡¯d store itself until it reached critical capacity. Simple really.¡±

    Secretary muttered, ¡°I thought you hated my little brute?¡±

    ¡°What are you on?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°Nothing you haven¡¯t intimated to me,¡± they replied. ¡°You¡¯re pissy about the mission, understandable, but either be upset with them or get over it. Rather than snipe at every point yet flaunt your work in the hopes of her praising you.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want Nadia¡ªcause that¡¯s her fucking name¡ªto praise me,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Besides, her extra goal may piss me off, but at least she¡¯s not about to sacrifice innocents¡ª¡±

    ¡°In the name of every Godtender, what is going on?¡± I asked. ¡°I clean up one body and suddenly you go from picking at me to verbally scrapping with each other.¡±

    The two of them pointed past the balcony. I crossed over to them, leaning over the coral railing. Secretary decided then to revoke the vision we¡¯d copied off the Lurkers from earlier. I wanted to protest¡ªthinking I¡¯d need it if I was to see anything¡ªonly to swiftly discover there¡¯d be no need. As past the railing was a city, ancient and preserved through the unchanging cold of Abyss, that reflected the soft cerulean bioluminescence of the entity whose back this elder metropolis was built on. Thinking back I recalled what Sinaya had termed it when we first met, Atlantis¡¯ Ferryman.

    However, for all the city sprawled with its towers, domed buildings of stained sea glass, and roads paved with bricks taken from the shell of some great beast¡ªit all paled in comparison to the spire which stretched far above the balcony we were on, going up as if it could spear through the barrier between the Underside and Realspace. Though I noted branches that fractaled off of the tower in every direction, disappearing into a darkness that rippled softly¡ªthe Staircases. I counted more than were listed in the Lodge¡¯s mission brief. Marduk¡¯s throne was connected to the city above by what must have been hundreds of Staircases.

    ¡°There¡¯s so many of them,¡± I said, with a fearful reverence.

    ¡°My point exactly,¡± Secretary said.

    Lupe growled, ¡°Keep looking. Beyond the tower.¡±

    So I did and beheld a queer sky. There weren¡¯t clouds, no moon or sun, but instead what seemed like a forest of leafless trees, a city district tilted as if a municipal wave, there was even a valley filled with the little ants of village homes and likely those who lived in them. Lit by what I had to presume was some kind of light born of Abyssal bioluminescence¡ªI didn¡¯t see how Abyss would tolerate anything else. This wasn¡¯t the sky.

    ¡°Behold,¡± Lupe said, ¡°the Sunken Valley in all its stolen magnificence. Alongside it, every other Abyss-claimed domain beneath Marduk¡¯s throne.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°that doesn¡¯t make any sense. We¡¯re in the Underside.¡±

    Lupe shrugged, ¡°I know. It¡¯s what makes Conceptual zones and territories so dangerous. They exist in the Underside and Realspace at once.¡±

    I screwed my eyes shut as I processed. That lady I met at the Palace of Ghosts¡ªwhose face I found rather hard to conjure at that exact moment¡ªhad described territories as an ¡°imposition,¡± and I finally understood why. To forcibly exist in the Real and the Underside left you endangered by both. It meant that anyone who wanted to even save the Sunken Valley had to also gear up for an invasion of the Underside. I glanced to Lupe, and chunks of my Heart fell in shattered pieces¡ªno wonder she¡¯d been seeking aid for so long, it wasn¡¯t a simple request.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, slowly catching on, ¡°but why are you fighting?¡±

    ¡°The mission, Nadia,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Alls below, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, but it can¡¯t happen.¡±

    ¡°Wait, why?¡± I asked. ¡°You were up my ass about this earlier.¡±

    ¡°And you were up mine about liberation and shit,¡± Lupe said. ¡°Alls below, we can¡¯t detonate those fucking bombs if the valley isn¡¯t liberated first.¡±

    Understanding pressed upon me eliciting a sigh of pure exasperation. I dropped into a squat, head between my knees, and screamed at the unfairness of it all. Our mission was simple: plant bombs to sever the Staircases and a different set to destroy the throne. The brief didn¡¯t say anything about what the throne hovered over, who it hovered over. Where the debris of a broken throne would fall when we¡¯d left and triggered the detonations. Though now the three of us knew where, and our team at least, nominally, together for my bullshit was actually coming undone. All over the fact that to do our mission right would mean dooming the entirety of the Sunken Valley.

    ¡°Secretary,¡± I said and was ignored. ¡°#404!¡±

    ¡°Yes, little brute,¡± they said, their voice so weak.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t right,¡± I stated. ¡°You know it¡¯s not right.¡±

    Secretary¡¯s shoulders shuddered, their body at war with itself over what path to take. ¡°I thought we¡¯d been over this, little brute. The Lodge doesn¡¯t want the right thing. It wants the best.¡±

 Chapter 50

    ¡°Then fuck the Lodge,¡± I said, ¡°and look me in the eyes, #404. Tell me right now that you actually think sacrificing the Sunken Valley is the best path.¡±

    Secretary¡¯s hands clenched the railing. Their back muscles tensed as they tried to shove all the feelings within their heart over the balcony. They didn¡¯t turn around.

    ¡°Little brute, that¡¯s not my job,¡± they said. ¡°I can¡¯t decide who lives and dies.¡±

    ¡°But you do,¡± Lupe scoffed, ¡°you do, I do, and Nadia does¡ªway too much I might add. Everyone everywhere makes this choice constantly with any decision of consequence. According to the elders down in the valley, the folks of the Old World dealt with it every time they bought something.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the same,¡± Secretary spat.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s not,¡± Lupe said. ¡°You only had to push a button. Someone else told you what bombs to use and when to use them. The only thing that changed is now the blinders are off and you¡¯re seeing the tableau for what it is. What doesn¡¯t change, however, is that we were always making the decision. To kill Marduk, the Lurkers, traitors to the Lodge¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all it was though,¡± Secretary said. ¡°This is asking me who lives. Do the people of Brightgate live? Does the Sunken Valley? Marduk has to die, that¡¯s no question, but who pays the cost to put him down? Whose children don¡¯t get to grow up?¡±

    Secretary whirled on me and Lupe. Their eyes warm with rage, but their body frozen by despair.

    ¡°Lupe, what you feel for the valley is what I feel for Brightgate. I can¡¯t make that trade.¡±

    I strode toward them. They pressed themself back into the railing, wishing to escape but unwilling to make a proper attempt. I wrapped my hands over theirs, pinned them between me and the railing, forcing them to stare into my eyes. They attempted to meet my gaze with furious defiance but found it unflinching in its loving sharpness. A sunny gold now flecked with carmine stars reflected back within Secretary¡¯s horizon grey irises like washes of paint over a primed canvas.

    ¡°Then is this the best path?¡± I asked.

    Secretary¡¯s eyes flicked away from mine as if I was trying to hypnotize them. They bounced to my lips, to Lupe, to my ear, to the star at my temple, before returning to my eyes. Secretary¡¯s face screwed shut and crumpled inward, defeated and excised of a burden they could never carry.

    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± they whispered.

    I removed my hands from theirs, freeing them, but lingered in that position of proximity. Secretary didn¡¯t slip away immediately either. Neither of us wanted to be the first to pull away. Not when we¡¯d been on the precipice of being torn apart by the excuse that was our ¡°professional relationship,¡± which up to then had kept us together. Lupe, emotionally astute but having little patience for the coy dance between #404 and myself, took the initiative in providing us reason not only to part but return our attention to the tasks ahead of us.

    ¡°Are you done eyefucking each other?¡± Lupe asked.

    I said, ¡°No, I was just¡­¡±

    ¡°...we were trying to¡­¡± Secretary stammered

    Lupe rolled her head from side-to-side¡ªa replacement for rolling her eyes¡ªand clapped her hands together. We both ¡°coughed,¡± parted, and gave Lupe our full attention.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said. ¡°So with Secretary proving they do have a heart, how are we stopping all the bombs from going off?¡±

    ¡°We just don¡¯t use the detonator,¡± Secretary said matter-of-factly.

    I asked, ¡°But who has the detonator?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± they answered. ¡°My superiors assigned the task to me seeing as we¡¯ll be avoiding the party entirely if all goes well with flipping the Angler Knight.¡±

    Secretary held their hand palm-up as they conjured a small carmine box coated in velvet that looked like it was meant to hold a ring or necklace. They cracked it open to reveal a red button on the inside. Lupe chuckled nervously before throwing their hands into the air.

    ¡°Really, a big red button?¡± Lupe asked.

    Secretary shrugged, ¡°Lodgemaster Khapoor has a sense of ¡®humor¡¯ about these things.¡±

    They shut the box, but rather than put it back in whatever storage-spell or place they conjured objects from¡­Secretary grabbed my hand and pressed the box into it. Closed my fingers around it with a grip so tight that I felt its beveled edges bite my skin.

    I lifted my closed fist. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t Lupe hold onto this?¡±

    ¡°Lupe would toss the box over the edge,¡± Secretary stated.

    Lupe said, ¡°Probably, but handing it to Nadia¡ª¡±

    ¡°Is the best I can do,¡± Secretary said. ¡°I can¡¯t give up Brightgate, you can¡¯t give up the Sunken Valley, and Nadia¡¯s the only person who¡¯d be audacious enough to think we can save both.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s selfish,¡± Lupe argued. ¡°Nadia doesn¡¯t listen to anyone but Nadia.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± they said smirking, ¡°I¡¯m counting on it. My little brute would sooner brawl an Earl than accept something she believes to be wrong. If she presses that button it won¡¯t be because of my argument, yours, or anyone else¡¯s. It¡¯ll be because we¡¯re absolutely fucked.¡±

    The detonator felt ten times heavier in my hand, suddenly. I shoved it into my pocket and did my best to ignore the fact that once again people were betting on me based on my worst traits. At least it was trust of some variety. Although Lupe¡¯s expression was of acquiescence to Secretary¡¯s confidence in me rather than true acceptance. She¡¯d still not forgiven me.

    ¡°Now, little brute, is the Angler Knight above or below us?¡± they asked, their expression returned to the cool professionalism with which I was familiar.

    ¡°Since the place is upside down, technically below us,¡± I answered.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Secretary hummed. ¡°Do you remember any of the security details leading to¡ª¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just jump?¡± Lupe asked.

    Secretary¡¯s mouth fell open, formed the beginning of multiple refutations, before ultimately closing when no smooth argument came forth. They glanced at me as if I¡¯d rebuke the suggestion in their stead. When none came, Lupe clapped Secretary on the back with a look that screamed, I win this round.

    ¡°Seems your ¡®little brute¡¯ was planning on taking the brutish option,¡± Lupe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not brutish! I was trying to be cognizant of time,¡± I argued. ¡°The party¡¯s already spinning up, I bet, so instead of trying to stealth through however many floors¡­we could jump. It¡¯d be the stealthier option, right?¡±

    As if it pained them to do so, Secretary agreed, ¡°It would be.¡±

    I gathered Secretary and Lupe into my arms. Together, we stepped up onto the balcony and I felt the edge of the throne¡¯s inverted local gravity wash in and out like a tide. It made the hem of my shirt flutter like the tendrils of an anemone. I¡¯d not forgotten the horrors we¡¯d seen in the Menagerie¡ªI¡¯d never forget them, but for a brief moment I could understand the beauty of this throne with its gentle glow and ancient streets. Especially as that same illumination shimmered across Lupe¡¯s shades, and filled Secretary¡¯s eyes with color when they peeked up at me from beneath their lashes.

    ¡°Please, little brute, just jump,¡± Secretary whined. ¡°I¡¯d prefer this to be a swift torture rather than a long one.¡±

    Lupe teased, ¡°And once again being blind is my victory. Can¡¯t be afraid of heights if you can¡¯t see ¡®em.¡±

    I ignored Lupe¡¯s teasing. ¡°#404, shut your eyes and I¡¯ll let you know when to open them.¡±

    My handler trusted me, closed their eyes, and placed their life in my hands¡ªthough I suppose handing me the detonator to every bomb the Lodge had smuggled was largely the same. It was without further discussion that I kicked us off the balcony and into the air where for the briefest moment we hovered in space as unspoken forces considered whether we should fall or ascend. A discussion made moot once we¡¯d properly passed the shoreline of the throne¡¯s gravity, and fell. Headfirst, hair snapping and clapping in the wind of our passage, and the ground below¡ªwhat I¡¯d previously assumed to be sky¡ªmagnifying at an increasing rate.

    I blinked on my Omensight and traced the tie between Sinaya and myself down the tower. There were adjustments I¡¯d made as we fell; a lean here or a twist there, all so we could slip around Staircases, dodge patrolling entities, and follow the thick magenta bond that led from my heart to Sinaya¡¯s. A focus that prevented me from noticing Lupe¡¯s features made graven as who we approached wasn¡¯t her love, but her greatest foe. I¡¯d also missed Secretary¡¯s expression¡ªyearning and dripping guilt¡ªdirected at me to no acknowledgement, and quickly shuffled behind their professional identity as my ¡°handler¡± when I flexed my spirit to release Sphinx¡¯s wings.

    They caught on the non-wind of the domain and cast us away from the tower like a paper hawk. I shifted our weight slightly causing the wings to tilt as we rolled into a turn that redirected us back on target; my tie to Sinaya finally level. The only barrier left between us was the floor-to-ceiling window that framed him in his armored majesty like some ancient portrait¡ªmy gallant butch-in-distress had been waiting for me. He exited the glass frame, attending to some mechanism that operated the windows which swiftly slid aside like the screen doors back home.

    It took four flaps of Sphinx¡¯s wings to slow down enough for a proper landing. Though ¡°proper,¡± in this case, saw the three of us hit the floor in an ungainly stumble to bleed off the momentum that we¡¯d still maintained¡ªflying in this manner was already hardly intuitive, and carrying passengers was a feat I hadn¡¯t found the time to master. Sphinx¡¯s wings beat at the air to help slow us down, but, while well-intentioned, they¡¯d only knocked over the towers of books that coated the floor like weeds and made loose papers cartwheel off into the air. It wasn¡¯t until we crashed into a wall¡ªthe only obstacle in the room obdurate enough to cease our passage¡ªthat we came to a stop, bouncing off of it and onto our asses.

    Though our collision wasn¡¯t completely neutralized by the wall either. The force of it caused a grand painting¡ªat least half the length of the windows we¡¯d flown through¡ªto jiggle-hop off its mount and fall atop us. As its shadow stretched over us I did at least appreciate the hand which had made it; the painting being an expressionist depiction of a rusted set of armor laid out in a field¡ªovertaken by flowers dappled by the sun, a thing forgotten to time and left to rest. My nose was inches from smelling those painted flowers before the painting¡¯s motion was canceled.

    I tilted my head back to find Sinaya, his beautiful scarred mouth laid out in a pleased smirk, standing in the middle of the room and my destructive wake. With a raise of his eyebrow, he worked his field-spell with a deftness most at his link could never hope to achieve. Returning the painting back to its place on the wall. After which he swept his gaze across the room, restoring each book and paper I¡¯d misplaced to its original position in, what I¡¯d realized, was an organized garden of scholastic chaos.

    ¡°#404, you can open your eyes,¡± I whispered, trying to avoid giving away Secretary¡¯s weakness.

    Their eyes fluttered open, stress washing away as they ran their hands over the hardwood flooring of Sinaya¡¯s room. Finding it firm enough for their liking, Secretary rose to their feet and went about smoothing their clothes¡ªthey were representing the Lodge in this, after all. Lupe and I didn¡¯t linger long on the floor ourselves. While Secretary attempted to look the part of negotiator, I was immediately besotted by the layout of Sinaya¡¯s space.

    Ignoring the towers of books and papers, his room may as well have been an altar to every pursuit a human could follow that stood in opposition to the mastery of the sword and violence. His walls were festooned with paintings abstract, expressionist, and all too real with softly blended colors which breathed rosy life into its subjects. On multiple bookshelves, he¡¯d made space for miniature sculptures of entities¡ªmany of them of Abyss¡ªas well as those that depicted mundane things like flowers, trees, and pastries. Over top his bed was a quilt whose end row was only half-complete. Everywhere I looked was expression of such want for a life that he¡ªstanding there in his grim armor rusted slightly by bloodstains he¡¯d given up on removing¡ªhad long abandoned hope of escaping.

    ¡°Um, welcome to my room,¡± Sinaya said, his voice shy and off-balance.

    I said, ¡°It¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Nothing like I would expect from you,¡± Secretary added. ¡°Though I¡¯d hope what you bring to the Lodge is more than artistic extravagances.¡±

    Confusion drew his brows together. ¡°What I bring?¡± he asked.

    Secretary asked, ¡°Yes, you didn¡¯t think we were coming for you out of some misplaced goodness, did you?¡±

    Sinaya¡¯s eyes whipped to me in wounded disbelief. I¡¯d sold him on that very premise, and from me it was entirely true. Yet before I could arrange the truth to him, make it palatable in the face of the wounds and failed escapes that haunted his eyes, Lupe broke from where Secretary and I stood. Proverbial fangs bared and ready to taste blood.

    ¡°Alls below, so the genocidal asshole fashions himself an artist,¡± Lupe growled. ¡°Whether that¡¯s all he brings or he knows the secret weakness to Marduk himself, none of it matters until I get some answers.¡±

    When his attention settled on her it looked like a firework had gone off in his face. Sinaya stumbled back, toppling a tower he¡¯d just re-assembled¡ªhis expression, a panorama of shock and abject terror. He¡¯d had none of it when they¡¯d crossed weapons. Why now?

    ¡°Lupe,¡± he stammered out. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    Lupe cackled, its tone jagged as lightning. ¡°Like fuck I shouldn¡¯t,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m the last of the Seven Families, and I¡¯m the one here to kill you.¡±

    ¡°Kill me,¡± his voice said, breaking like ice over a lake.

    I raced past Lupe, interposed myself between her and Sinaya.

    ¡°Now who¡¯s getting ahead of herself?¡± I asked. ¡°You said you¡¯d hear him out first and then judge. Sinaya¡¯s a victim too!¡±

    ¡°Orchard¡ª¡± Sinaya exclaimed.

    Lupe asked, ¡°That¡¯s his name?¡±

    ¡°No¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I stated, raising my voice to supersede his own. ¡°His name¡¯s Sinaya. His grandparents on his dad¡¯s side ran an apple orchard. While not blind, his arms are translucent, probably because of being born in the Sunken Valley. And he has a scar on his lip.¡±

    From Lupe¡¯s expression, I¡¯d set off a firework of my own. They leaned against a stack of books for support. Shaking their head to rid themselves of whatever in my rambling had stunned them.

    ¡°Ate?¡± Lupe asked.

    Sinaya said, ¡°Yes. It¡¯s me¡ªalways been me.¡±

    Lupe nodded, righted herself, and raised her chin out in a show of bravery in the face of whatever had passed between them. Yet bravery is the bulwark against fear, and means little when overcome by the conflicted hydra of joy, grief, and complete sorrow. She turned from Sinaya and myself, walking toward his bed, and fell stiff as the dead onto the quilt. Though this proved to be no true support, as her fingers ran over its squares eliciting a guttural sob muffled by the quilt¡¯s thickness.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Secretary said.

    I asked, ¡°Is this good?¡±

    Secretary sat beside Lupe¡¯s slumped-over form on the bed. Stroked her back, and regarded me with the facial equivalent of a shrug.

    ¡°That depends,¡± they said. ¡°How would you feel if it turned out the person you were set to kill was your sister?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, before turning back toward Sinaya. ¡°If you¡¯re sisters, why are you enemies?¡±

    Sinaya shook his head, unable to form words now that the depths of his identity were revealed. Lupe flipped herself over on the bed. Pressed her palms into her eyes to stopper her tears.

    ¡°I already told you, Nadia,¡± Lupe said. ¡°My sister¡ªSinaya¡ªjumped a cultist when we were younger. He got the scar in the scuffle. Bonded to Abyss, and trained up to get me out of the valley.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯d put him on your side, right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You¡¯d think,¡± she hissed, ¡°but people can change, I suppose.¡±

    Sinaya¡¯s head whipped up¡ªhe¡¯d struggled to form words in explanation, but he had plenty for defense.

    ¡°Never in that way,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯d never turn¡­in that way.¡±

    ¡°Then what happened?¡± she asked. ¡°How¡¯d my older sister go from loathing Marduk like the rest of us to someone who could kill the people who raised us?¡±

    He held out his hand, and I helped him stand. On shaky legs, he carried himself just far enough to find a chair to fall into¡ªone with brassy legs that held up the full weight of himself in his armor. Then, with a steady arm, he pointed at Lupe.

    ¡°Because you exist,¡± he answered. ¡°Marduk may not care about his grandkids but he knows who we are and kept tabs on us. When I killed that cultist, he knew and just let me train in secret. The bastard wanted to see how powerful I could be¡ªif finally, his fucked up experiment worked. When I got you out he was waiting for me on my walk back into town. Told me that for killing his knight all those years ago, I owed him my fealty or I owed him a life.¡±

    Sinaya¡¯s arm fell and with it his spirit. ¡°I couldn¡¯t let him kill you. You were the hope of everyone, and as long as I served Marduk he¡¯d allow you and the families to operate unmolested. So I swung a sword in his name. Bloodied my spirit until I couldn¡¯t recognize myself. Alls below, how¡¯d you put it, Orchard, ¡®I chipped away at myself piece by piece.¡¯ Abetted every atrocity because I knew that it meant you had more time.¡±

    ¡°Why not escape?¡± Lupe asked. ¡°You couldn¡¯t possibly think that I¡¯d be fine with¡­¡±

    ¡°Marduk made it plenty clear the cost of escaping,¡± Sinaya said. ¡°Each time I¡¯d failed he dragged me with him to watch as he whittled down the Seven Families one-by-one. Sometimes he made me do it or else I¡¯d get to watch him destroy two at once. Following his will or trying to listen to my heart still left me complicit. It became easier to just¡ª¡±

    ¡°Pray someone would kill you?¡± I asked, my eye drawn back to that painting. Of that knight at rest and unbothered, free from service even if only through death.

    Sinaya gifted me a weak smile. ¡°Unfortunately mine weren¡¯t answered, but Orchard here convinced me that I should at least try one last time¡ªto live free, if possible.¡±

    Lupe propped herself up. ¡°Yeah, Nadia¡¯s pretty convincing. Can¡¯t tell a lie to save her life.¡±

    ¡°But she wields truth adeptly,¡± Sinaya said. ¡°I get why you all followed her.¡±

    ¡°It is, little brute¡¯s specialty,¡± Secretary said. ¡°Though, can I ask why you call her, Orchard?¡±

    Lupe and Sinaya answered at once, ¡°She has apple-sized tits.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not that small,¡± I protested, to the snickering of both sisters. ¡°If you can make fun of me, can I assume Sinaya¡¯s not dying?¡±

    ¡°She may have been stuck working for Marduk,¡± Lupe said, ¡°but I could never kill a member of the Seven Families. Sister or otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Lupe¡ª¡± Sinaya started.

    ¡°But,¡± Lupe continued, ¡°while I¡¯ll help free you¡­I think it¡¯ll be a while before I forgive you. Also, I¡¯m punching you in the face¡ªyou at least owe me that.¡±

    ¡°Punch me as much as you want,¡± Sinaya said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t bear to have you hate me.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t hate someone who''s been fighting for me for so long,¡± Lupe stated. ¡°It¡¯s my fault I failed to produce results until now. If I was better¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t go down that road,¡± I said, ¡°there¡¯s no answer at the end. We always wish we were more than we were, but it¡¯s about what we can do now. And from where I stand, right now, there are two surviving daughters of the Seven Families of the Sunken Valley ready to crack Marduk¡¯s scheme wide open.¡±

    Secretary added, ¡°Sinaya, if you¡¯re willing to become an asset of the Lodge, work to try and offset the balance for your years serving Marduk, we¡¯ll do everything we can to free you.¡±

    Sinaya ran a hand through his hair, pushing his head back. Squeezed shut his eyes in an attempt to prevent tears from forming. He was facing down years, maybe decades, of service to the Lodge and undoing the ills he¡¯d inflicted on the world. From the smile that caught his tears, wetting his lips, I knew he wouldn¡¯t have it any other way.

    ¡°I¡¯d be doing that anyways,¡± Sinaya said.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s done,¡± Secretary said. ¡°We¡¯re breaking you out of here. So, first order of business, do you know a way out of here?¡±

    Sinaya rose from his chair, a woman enervated with new purpose and bright eyes.

    ¡°I do,¡± he said, ¡°though we¡¯ll need to move quickly. Marduk¡¯s attention won¡¯t be held for long.¡±

    ¡°The party?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°Party,¡± Sinaya said bitterly, ¡°he doesn¡¯t care about that any more than he loves to gloat¡ªI¡¯ve listened to him gloat for far too long. No, it rarely happens but Marduk has a visitor.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯d visit him?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s not like this place is easy to get into.¡±

    ¡°Everyone has family, even him,¡± Sinaya said. ¡°Although, according to the way he rants about them when drunk, there¡¯s little love between the lot of them.¡±

    While he spoke, Sinaya opened a drawer filled with long black tee shirts. He removed one and held it out to me, his eyes dipping briefly to my chest with a concerned frown.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re trying to be stealthy, I presume, it¡¯d be best if you changed clothes,¡± he said. ¡°Walking around in a blood-splattered shirt will bring up far too many questions if we run into anyone.¡±

    Sheepish, I took the shirt and hurriedly made the swap. Secretary¡¯s eyes didn¡¯t stray from my body as I stripped, but they lacked a joy about themselves for all my brief nudity. While I stomped on the urge to sniff the shirt Sinaya decided to loan me. His scent might as well have been woven into the fibers, and I yearned to add it into my olfactory memory.

    Lupe asked, ¡°Wait, you¡¯ve been walking around in a bloody shirt this entire time?¡±

    ¡°Not the entire time,¡± I said. ¡°Only after I killed Tomas.¡±

    Sinaya asked, ¡°You killed Tomas?¡±

    ¡°Alls below, don¡¯t tell me you liked him,¡± I whined.

    ¡°No, no, you¡¯re fine Orchard. He willingly worked on the Menagerie project,¡± Sinaya said, ¡°so he deserved it. Though, why not try to clean the shirt or leave it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Nemesis¡¯s stupid Bloodlust curse,¡± I said. ¡°Ever since I caught it that night during the wild hunt, it¡¯s become really hard to not get covered in blood. You get it, right?¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± Sinaya groaned. ¡°Alls below, Marduk¡¯s a monster, but he knows his way around Sorcery, especially curses. Taught me a method to tamp down the Bloodlust curse so it barely develops.¡±

    He removed his gauntlet and held up a translucent hand. The bones were carmine. I caught his hand between my own utterly fascinated. Sinaya had fangs, but that¡¯s where his curse had stopped before Marduk had taught him this method. Relying on the nearly unchanging facet of Abyss to hinder the curse¡¯s progression. It wasn¡¯t a method that¡¯d work for me, and while the truth of that hurt¡­it was a dull pain that paled in comparison to the relief I felt that Sinaya wasn¡¯t likely to suffer as I¡¯d suffered. At least in this respect.

    ¡°Can I, um, have my hand back?¡± Sinaya asked, that pale flesh of his nearly as red as his bones.

    ¡°Now, little brute!¡± Secretary snapped. ¡°I¡¯d like to be free of this place.¡±

    I released his hand with a wink and a smirk. Which drew nervous chuckles from him. The way he held himself, so demure yet contrasted by tender bulk, introduced me to the other side of Bloodlusts¡¯ coin. The violence inherent in attraction, and my desire to knock him down so I might taste him again. It was only by him cupping my face, the distraction of tangible touch versus abstract lust, that pulled me from fantasy.

    ¡°Give it time,¡± he said.

    ¡°Alls below and all of the Nine,¡± Secretary bemoaned, ¡°which way to getting the fuck out of here?¡±

    ¡°This way,¡± Sinaya said, opening the door of his room and leading us out into the hall.

    Secretary followed close behind him, with Lupe and myself taking up the rear. I drew close to Lupe as the four of us slipped through what Sinaya had termed, ¡°the Executive Hall,¡± where the abodes of those who largely led the terrestrial affairs of the cult for Marduk resided. As we crept down the hall toward the stairs, I drifted back toward Lupe, slowing my pace to match hers.

    ¡°Lupe, since it seems everything worked out,¡± I whispered, ¡°is there any chance to us going back to how things were?¡±

    She let the question bob in the air between us. Holding an answer in her mouth, while we descended a staircase with too many landings leading off to countless other halls connected to the tower¡¯s main function. ¡°Atlantean secrets,¡± Sinaya stated as he warned us about drifting off from the pack. The throne predated Marduk as well as the world, and as such held enough secret paths that more than a few Lurkers tempted by knowledge had been consumed by shifting passageways which rarely aligned to the throne¡¯s spine¡ªthe term for the staircase we were on. It was in this quiet descent surrounded by paths never taken, that Lupe answered me.

    ¡°Nadia, everything working out was coincidence,¡± she said.

    I said, ¡°That¡¯s maybe downplaying the work I put in for you to not just immediately kill him¡±

    Lupe¡¯s head rolled side-to-side. ¡°If it was anyone else, sure, it would be. If it was anyone else, it¡¯d be incredibly generous. The problem is you did it Nadia, and that means you did it for you. It¡¯s intoxicating when that selfishness of yours lines up with what I care about¡ªtrust, it felt so good to see you knock the Angler Knight around¡ªbut I know now it was never for me. Nor was it for some higher purpose or value. Nadia, what happens when one of us actually gets in your way?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d find a way around it,¡± I said, trying to convince myself more than her. The image of what I saw in the Palace of Ghosts flashing through my mind. Their corpses dangling in my fist.

    Lupe sighed, ¡°I¡¯m glad you believe that but I don¡¯t. I¡¯ve seen what you¡¯re like when someone¡¯s needs don¡¯t align with your wants¡ªcruel, manipulative, and I think my sister was right¡ªback in Fort Tomb¡ªabout you. Though now she¡¯s, to use her own words, ¡®infected¡¯ by you. Fortunately for me, huh, that you¡¯re your own vaccine. I¡¯m cured and Nadia, I don¡¯t want to be sick with you ever again.¡±

    ¡°What does that even mean?¡± I asked, my voice rising.

    Lupe stopped, caught me by the arm, and pulled me close. Whispered into my ear, ¡°It means that there¡¯s no going home, Nadia. There¡¯s no going back. Everything we were, and, much as it pains me to say it, everything we could¡¯ve been is never coming back.¡±

    ¡°Do you hate me?¡± I asked, voice cracking.

    ¡°No,¡± Lupe answered. ¡°I just don¡¯t trust you. It¡¯s a shame they do, Secretary and my sister, but they¡¯ll wake up one day. Maybe you will too.¡±

    She kissed my cheek. Then hurried down toward Sinaya and Secretary¡ªthey¡¯d paused on the steps near the hallway we were searching for¡ªand while it took me a moment, breathing down the accusations she¡¯d leveraged, I soon joined them.

    ¡°Little brute¡ª¡± Secretary started.

    I shook my head, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    Secretary¡¯s eyes narrowed, and while I walked past them¡ªwhen I think back¡ªthey muttered something. Just below their breath. I think it was, ¡°I¡¯m your handler.¡±

    Though maybe I¡¯m wrong. It wasn¡¯t like I gave them much attention in that way. We continued into the hall, the four of us, and it was marvelously gaudy in impression. Floors of soft red velvet, a number of black plinths atop which were pillows the hue of Abyss, and capped in glass. Peering through the glass, it was completely transparent, there were diamonds the size of my fist resting on each pillow. Below them were little gold placards with names and dates debossed.

    I read them off, ¡°Janet Fairtide, April 3rd. Gustav Carlsson, October 12th. Johnny Ying, May 4th. Carlos Zapata, Lori Bird, Danny Payne, Cameron Carter, Bobbi Kim, October 24th.¡±

    ¡°What are these?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°Trophies,¡± Sinaya answered. ¡°This is the trophy hall. Each one is someone Marduk defeated.¡±

    I spun around¡ªthe hall was spatially expanded¡ªin both directions I saw plinths that went on for at least forty rows deep before I lost sight of them. We¡¯d already passed at least twenty columns on the way in. Secretary¡¯s eyes widened in shock¡ªa summoner this prolific was the exact kind that the Lodge was meant to deal with. Lupe only grit her teeth, having long accepted the facts about what kind of monster Marduk was.

    ¡°How¡¯d we never know about this?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t want you to know,¡± Sinaya said, then pointed off into the distance. ¡°It won¡¯t make you feel better, but the Lodge¡¯s secretaries have tried to report on him before. He keeps all their diamonds in one large see-through pillar.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe he goes and grabs a diamond to celebrate.¡±

    Sinaya shook his head. ¡°No, he doesn¡¯t grab them. He¡ª¡±

    His voice cut out. Silenced like a microphone whose plug was pulled. All of ours were, and with the loss of our voices so too came the loss of our limbs. Like the strings that let us walk and gesture were snipped. We dropped to the floor. There wasn¡¯t a pressure pushing down on us, or the feeling I had when Nemesis leveraged her full attention on me¡ªlike my spirit would be snuffed. Any description in that vein would feel like something a mind was meant to process. Something you could resist. I flipped the pages of my memory to find something to compare this to, but it was Sphinx, quiet up until then, who stilled my mind with an answer.

    From within myself, she said, ¡°A Sovereign is moving.¡±

    Oh, I thought, and then swiftly felt myself stop thinking. To think would be an action, a verb. Synonyms for think: deliberate, consider, imagine, deem. None of these happened. The Sovereign had called for a pause in the story, and we players fell still, fell silent. Our director wanted to flip through the pages of the script, take a walk to consider our blocking and decide if they really did like the design of the set. In this forever moment¡ªrecognizable only once it had ended¡ªreality felt fake. A shared delusion we all gladly agreed to. I mean, who¡¯d want a heart that beats? Blood that flows? Lungs that inflate? It¡¯s kind of disgusting, isn¡¯t it. The very costume of consciousness designed and laid over the physical was a work of bodily horror lacking in elegance or mystique. Just fluids and gases moving, churning, and transforming.

    But you¡¯re beautiful. Said the flipping pages of lines and actions. Said the lights which brought illumination to the hall. Said every fiber of my spirit and the spirits of others beside me. Everything that was, fake as it was, agreed with the Sovereign that I was beautiful. The only thing that¡¯s real.

    Then to places we were called, reset to our last mark.

    * * *

    Sinaya said, ¡°No, he doesn¡¯t grab them. He¡ª¡±

    Before Sinaya could answer, a door slammed shut. We spun around to discover five individuals racing down the aisle between the field of trophies that intersected with our own. Both paths led to an obelisk of Abyss-blue bone that curved up from the ground like it¡¯d carved its own in. Sinaya was crestfallen upon sighting the five new-arrivals to the hall.

    ¡°Who are they?¡± I asked.

    Sinaya hissed, ¡°Marduk¡¯s executives.¡±

    One of them spotted Sinaya from across a quadrant of trophies¡ªnot hard considering his size.

    ¡°Knight, your sage needs us!¡± they yelled, not stopping in their sprint toward the obelisk.

    Lupe crossed toward Sinaya, whispered, ¡°Why are they here? Don¡¯t they have cult shit to do?¡±

    ¡°They normally do, and there¡¯s only one reason they¡¯d be here,¡± he said. ¡°Unlike every other time, Marduk decided to take this meeting in the Cathedral of Virgin Black.¡±

    Noting our blank expression, he explained, ¡°It¡¯s one of the most inner secrets of Atlantis. Offering paths to every domain the throne touches, including the ones that exist at depths deeper than Marduk can enter. Whenever he leaves the Cathedral it¡¯s a rule that we greet him.¡±

    ¡°And,¡± Secretary guessed, ¡°this Cathedral was to be our way out?¡±

    Sinaya grunted his agreement.

    ¡°Knight!¡± the executive called out again.

    ¡°New plan, then,¡± I said, grasping Sinaya¡¯s arm. ¡°We can¡¯t give away Sinaya¡¯s turning, so we all just walk up like nothing¡¯s wrong¡ªcause there isn¡¯t¡ªand get through one conversation. We¡¯ll take a different Staircase out.¡±

    ¡°And if they ask who we are, and why we¡¯re here?¡± Lupe asked.

    ¡°Then we tell them the truth,¡± I said. ¡°A version of it anyways. Unless we want to take our shot trying to run away from Marduk¡¯s strongest people?¡±

    My plan wasn¡¯t that great, but when compared alongside an even worse option it was rather palatable. So with me hanging off Sinaya¡¯s arm, looking ever the love-drunk girlfriend, followed by Secretary and Lupe¡ªeach doing their best to keep a grimace from their face and maintain whatever characterization they¡¯d decided on¡ªwe joined the five executives who were waiting on their knees for their sage, Marduk, to exit the Cathedral of Virgin Black. As the lot of us joined them, I saw a flash in the corner of my eye.

    There, standing amidst the quadrant of black plinths that may as well have been tombstones, was another of my potential Barons come to haunt me. She stood there, hair shorn low to a buzz, and wearing my clothes that rippled according to a non-existent wind. When I blinked, she was gone, but then I felt her tap my shoulder¡ªnot gone, just moved. I turned my head to find her sitting on the floor beside me. My face showed all the hallmarks of excitement; wide-eyes with pupils dilated, mouth slightly open to sink my fangs into the moment, and chest heaving in anticipation. As this Baron wore my body, I looked almost gleeful about what would come.

    She tilted her head toward mine, whispered, ¡°Nadia, not to bias you, but the winds of fate are always blowing. And it wouldn¡¯t do for you to miss this moment thinking about me¡ªthough I appreciate the attention.¡±

    ¡°What moment?¡± I asked.

    She winked, ¡°When your quest finally begins.¡±

    I blinked, falling out of the Godtime she had only briefly dragged me into. Revelation Questing¡ªas that felt a fair guess¡ªwas serious about what she said. The giant bone obelisk had begun to glow¡­though as it was Abyss it wasn¡¯t with an illuminating radiance. Rather, a sort of anti-light that consumed the illumination within the hall. Casting us all into a darkness that hadn¡¯t known light for thousands of years. My breath caught in my chest, as if that too would be stolen to power this elder artifact¡¯s functions. But when I was forced to breathe so too was it forced to release its hold on the light, its non-existent maw slamming shut and letting every wisp of light flit about in a daze reminiscent of a murmur.

    It was in this drunken shifting luminescence that I beheld Marduk for the first time. He wore armor that was blacker than black. Slightly shiny, like a crayfish shell. With a mask that hid his face and intentions through a Sorcery I wasn¡¯t able to properly pierce. Though my eyes no longer forcibly slid away from it. So I tell you this, with utmost confidence, that his mask looked like that of an ogre with a dorsal fin and heavy brow ridge.

    As one, the crowd of us on our knees looked up and called out, ¡°Hail, Marduk, Sage of the Deep. Slayer of the one named, City Killer.¡±

 Chapter 51

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Marduk, Sage of the Deep, slayer of my father and mother, hummed.

    Bemused, considering, but not at all happy about some aspect of our address. We¡¯d said it perfectly in unison¡ªyou¡¯d be surprised how easy it is to be one with those around you when the edge of looming death shaves the hairs at the back of your neck, but whatever camaraderie had been found dissipated beneath the ripples caused by Marduk¡¯s single considered hum. It made us like the entities within the Menagerie, falling upon one another when weakness could be scented, as we sought to find whatever imperfection earned Marduk¡¯s reaction.

    I cast my eyes toward the executives¡ªMarduk¡¯s supposed chosen¡ªto see, perhaps hoping, it would be them. Though doubt sprouted amongst my thoughts when I initiated my own investigation. They were of different heights, all men, and decked in chitinous plate accented by coral filigree. If there was a lack in them it was of grime, dishevelment, or any imperfection that could be physically perceived. A stark opposition to us¡ªof which they no doubt noted though their faces were obscured by their helms¡ªwho were nothing but dishevelment and grime covered. Evidence to our hasty escape of the Menagerie, my own exchanged shirt for the killing of that boy whose name had faded fast, and of course our hair probably all askew from our flight and troubled landing. It¡¯d be us. It had to be us. Yet, Marduk didn¡¯t look at us¡­not once.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± he asked his executives.

    The five glanced to each other and quickly decided who¡¯d be the sacrifice to answer their leader. Shuffling back once the unspoken negotiations had finished¡ªof course to the tragedy of the one who¡¯d fallen short, not shuffling back fast enough. A small man with a rotund silhouette.

    He stammered, ¡°My Sage, it¡¯s the rules¡ªyour rules¡ªthat we attend to you when exit the Cathedral. We¡¯ve come to fulfill our duty.¡±

    Marduk¡¯s head tilted one way. Back the other. He held a finger to the snarling lips of his mask.

    ¡°Heh,¡± he chuckled. ¡°So then, what of your positions for tonight¡¯s festivities? Were those not the duties I¡¯d assigned you? Those that had been delineated days in advance? Who attends to them now when we¡¯re at the edge of accomplishment yet still flirting with loss?¡±

    The man was quiet as he considered the flurry of questions which slipped between the plates of his person. His breath grew ragged as his thoughts no doubt spun. He never considered that the answer didn¡¯t matter. Marduk just wanted to stab something. Yet loyalty, however Marduk had instilled or come upon in it, was what girded this man¡¯s spirit. He unsheathed his face¡ªa bid toward sincerity or sympathy¡ªdaring to look up into the face of his ogrish leader.

    ¡°Our seconds, my Sage,¡± he answered. ¡°We¡¯d never leave our posts unmanned nor could we fail to show ourselves before you. What if you had new orders for us? What if you needed us?¡±

    Marduk whispered, ¡°Needed you?¡±

    This cancrine sacrifice had misstepped. You could feel it in the air of the throne. See it in the shadows that snapped to attention, ignoring their usual interplay with shifting light. I heard it in Marduk¡¯s voice, harsh as a cold snap, and fell heavy as the tumbling face of a shattered glacier.

    ¡°You think I needed you,¡± he all but sang. ¡°For what?¡±

    My knees creaked and groaned¡ªon the verge of shattering beneath the barometric hammer that was Marduk¡¯s aura. Far from a field-spell it was his existence; a truth made manifest into something realer than any of us and our lives might ever amount to. Though the man nominated as the voice of his fellows received the worse of it; faceplanting into the fine carpet, nose shattered, brow fractured, as he prostrated under duress before Marduk. I realize now, what I¡¯d felt¡ªwhat we all felt¡ªwas the afterwind of what laid that man low.

    The man groaned, ¡°The guest, my Sage. We felt their presence¡ª¡±

    ¡°Of course you did,¡± Marduk said, ¡°they were a Sovereign within our midst. Knowing this you came running to help me? Have you, dear ummanu of mine, discovered some hidden secrets within the links of Earl?¡±

    ¡°No, my sage,¡± the man cried¡ªhis tears, frothed with blood, trickled to my foot. Staining my shoe. ¡°All I know is that which you¡¯ve given me.¡±

    ¡°Of course, so then how could you possibly imagine I¡¯d need you? How could any of you!¡±

    Marduk ripped away his mask. With it went his armor¡ªmaybe it was conjuration of the mask, some secondary or tertiary function¡ªreplaced by the discovery of refined dress. High-waisted trousers, straight razored and voluminous to hide his hips. A sheer button-down left unbuttoned which left a clear view, not as if the button-down hid much, of scars underlining his pectorals. Encrusted by shards of glacial ice poking out from beneath. While his face was in opposition to the roaring masculinity of the mask¡ªa jaw gently traced by a calligraphic hand, lips flush and pouting even when traced into a scowl, and eyes sleepy yet attentive with irises of a deep purple found only when the sun graces the water at sunset. Though all paled beside the blatant distance from humanity which marked Marduk, his hair. Wavy water tresses in lieu of keratin, a literal waterfall which hid an eye from view, highlighted by frontlines of seafoam.

    He was an inhuman beauty. You couldn¡¯t look away if you wanted to¡ªhe was the master of tides and all us mortals, for a soldier despite their Sorcery was just that, were forced to obey. However, Revelation Questing proved a fan of malicious compliance and teasing fun. Her fingers, which were my own, chased into my hair and made a slight adjustment of my view.

    She said, ¡°Nadia, quests are about symbols darling, and to miss one may as well be to miss them all.¡±

    The symbol in question, an earring from which dangled a cloudy-red diamond¡­Dad. My father with his collection of records. My father whose nose I¡¯d accidentally broken with a kick. My father who sang songs as he wove shrines to cool air. My father who may have been City Killer, but was also the one who listened to me cry as I told him my body felt like an enemy. Who carried me through the night and spoke with Melissa¡¯s family so I could become Nadia. A whole life of love, of interests, and wisdom reduced to an earring.

    It¡¯s here that I think I should make a correction. I was new¡ªthis Nadia¡ªwas new. Born in bloodshed, hungry for love, and who felt cool on consideration of vengeance. This was how I characterized myself to you. I¡¯d Divi*** what I was to part from the sorrow I¡¯d inherited, the inhibitions that slowed my arms, and slumped my shoulders. Which kept me from joy and barred me from love. This, I told you, was my choice unstable as it might have been. Though it was on sight of that earring which taught me that while I was Divi*** that other half wasn¡¯t gone to some unknown ether. It lurked beside me. Behind me. As a shadow. The face in every mirror I¡¯d avoided looking in. The vision I couldn¡¯t escape in the Palace of Ghosts. And it stretched over my shoulder, lips to ear, and for the first time, I heard it speak.

    ¡°We¡¯re mad,¡± it said, and lo, I was. A being of fury aroused by an earring and two words. The coolness I thought I possessed was the calm of abstract consideration. No different than lighting an imaginary bonfire, and a world¡¯s difference when the bonfire stood before you. Crackling, consumptive, bold that it¡¯d never be doused¡­and wearing my fucking father as an earring.

    That severed self¡ªmy sister-self if I¡¯m to accept the memories I¡¯d recovered, and apply them to then¡ªspoke alongside Revelation Question. They said, ¡°Focus.¡±

    ¡°...so in light of that correction,¡± Marduk shouted to his audience of shivering executives, ¡°let me tell you what I know you wanted. You wanted this Sovereign to crush me. Maybe you imagined it was a Godtender coming to ¡®save you¡¯ despite it being me, your sage, who saved you from being forced into pitiful mediocrity or risked walking an unstable path toward power.¡±

    ¡°Never, my sage,¡± the man wailed.

    ¡°You wanted to see me broken and laid low.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d never wish it, my sage.¡±

    He crooned, ¡°You wanted to be the sage, didn¡¯t you? To wield this cult of mine as a crude bludgeon. Gather some harem of sycophants and sluts. Feel like a king despite knowing you¡¯d never touch the crown of Sovereignty.¡±

    ¡°I want for nothing but you rise, my sage.¡±

    ¡°In short, you Hoped,¡± Marduk hissed, the word all but sizzling on his tongue. A bright note forced out between umbral lips.

    The man had no more ways to plead his innocence. As the pressure accumulated, he¡¯d lost teeth. Shot forth pellet-like until they pinged with a fairy toll against the plinths which marked every person who¡¯d thought many of these thoughts about Marduk. It was obvious he¡¯d make another.

    ¡°Thrice you deny me, though now you fall silent,¡± Marduk said. ¡°Relief spiraling out in your heart. So let me tell you the truth, my lovely ummanu, I know it¡¯s not you.¡±

    He flipped his hair over his shoulder, and it lashed out, a tsunami meant for one person. Wrapped around his largest executive, the one who was the least tense of them all, but now fear-stricken and stiff. His last act was to twitch his finger¡ªlikely intended to remove his helmet and beseech the mercy absent in his master¡¯s heart. In a blink he was crushed, and in his stead, bobbing in Marduk¡¯s ocean-hair, a small-clear diamond.

    Marduk withdrew his hair. The diamond fell, rolled past the man who¡¯d accepted his fate, and came to rest at the toe of Marduk¡¯s black suede heeled boot. He tilted his foot, the diamond rolled, and then he crushed that too¡ªMarduk was realer than any diamond. Then he pointed toward the ceiling with two fingers, rise, and we did. The man Marduk had interrogated was the slowest, but Marduk gripped his face once he rose. Thumbed away sweat from his brow, thorny and sharp, and kissed his temple.

    ¡°Attend to your original duties, and I shall join you after I¡¯ve taken Nemesis¡¯s head,¡± he said.

    The man stammered out his thanks¡ªloyalty reaffirmed despite being tested, and off he went with the others to see to whatever needed seeing to. Myself, Sinaya, Secretary, and Lupe waited for our own dismissal. Fury may have warmed my spiritual musculature, but I¡¯d not abandoned reason yet. No matter what Revelation Questing and my sister-self dripped into my ears.

    ¡°Are these friends of yours, Sinaya?¡± Marduk inquired, his head not even turning to meet us.

    Sinaya fumbled for an answer. I intercepted, ¡°Well, some of us in fact¡ª¡±

    The words I¡¯d planned spilled from my lips as water. It flowed back into my lungs and rained with each cough onto the floor. Marduk turned to us, looking at none of us in particular save Sinaya, but addressed me.

    ¡°Quiet,¡± he said. ¡°For your own sake, it¡¯s best to speak when spoken to. So, Sinaya, speak.¡±

    Sinaya answered, ¡°In the case of her, more than a friend. She¡¯s¡ª¡±

    ¡°A distraction,¡± Marduk said. ¡°There¡¯s no power in Love for your path. Post tonight you¡¯ll discard her.¡±

    ¡°But she¡­¡± Sinaya trailed off as Marduk¡¯s brow rose.

    ¡°She can keep her life,¡± Marduk groaned. ¡°Just don¡¯t see her again. And the others?¡±

    ¡°Sympathizers,¡± Sinaya said. ¡°One¡¯s a¡ª¡±

    ¡°Secretary. The other¡¯s your sister,¡± Marduk said, waving a hand through Sinaya¡¯s words.  With swaying steps, heels clacking, he loomed over Secretary. ¡°The former is obvious. All of them have this gaping hole where a person should be. Really. How Nemesis so loves her dolls, pretty yet agency-less.¡±

    Two more clacking steps, and he was in front of Lupe. ¡°And you, so like your grandmother. I didn¡¯t expect to see you anytime soon. Sinaya¡¯s been such a good grandkid, doing everything I ask of him. How do you feel about that?¡±

    Lupe hissed, ¡°Happy he met your expectations.¡±

    Marduk chuckled, ¡°Oh, you are but you aren¡¯t. I wouldn¡¯t expect you to. You stink of Morning, but you are also mourning. I take it he let slip about the families. Only reason why you¡¯d be lacking any conviction toward gripping your life.¡±

    Sinaya asked, ¡°Lupe, what¡¯s he saying?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m implying, technically,¡± Marduk gloated. ¡°Your sister here reached Baron, but she didn¡¯t share with you her relationship to it. That her faith and confidence was Dying. Morning Dying, it sounds hilarious when you say it.¡±

    Lupe¡¯s knuckles popped. Her fists clenched tight around the desire to swing on Marduk, and crumple that arrogant aquiline nose of his. Marduk turned from them both and cast his eyes to the ceiling¡ªstaring into his own thoughts.

    ¡°What shameful strays my heir brings in,¡± he bemoaned.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Water, the last of it, dribbled down my chin as I snarled, ¡°They¡¯re not strays and it¡¯s not your place to judge them!¡±

    Marduk¡¯s head snapped to mine. I froze. The taste of brine in my throat a fresh memory, and one I instantly feared would be overwritten by some worse punishment. Though there could be no punishment worse than Marduk¡¯s fascination. In one moment he was contemplative, and the next was before me. His face all that I could see¡ªI could count each bioluminescent eyelash that fluttered around his smiling eyes. He spoke again and I realized my mistake.

    ¡°Are you the one that was bargained for?¡± he asked, in perfect hybridae speech.

    I said nothing, my thoughts spinning fast¡ªhe¡¯d said a Sovereign was here. Were they who bargained for me? With what?

    ¡°Do you know how long I¡¯ve searched?¡± Marduk asked. ¡°Speak, become mine, and I¡¯ll give you everything. The cult, Sinaya, and if you so want it, the valley. Just speak.¡±

    It was a beautiful deal for anyone¡ªMarduk being on the other side of it notwithstanding¡ªhowever I was not anyone. His offer didn¡¯t stir my heart or draw it into conflict. A knife once forged had a single purpose, and mine was engraved into the damascus patterns of my spirit flesh on the night he slew my father. If Marduk searched for someone like me, he could search in the Afterlife when I sent him off. So I stayed silent and denied him.

    The shimmer of greed died in his eyes¡ªthe first death I¡¯d deliver unto him. His pupils expanded, consuming the shimmering purple irises which encircled them, and devoured his sclera. What remained was Sorcerous Sight which looked every bit appropriate for Abyss.

    He asked, this time in human speech, ¡°You¡¯re wrong¡ªabout it not being my place to judge them¡ªand do you know why?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I answered back with human speech, which earned me a furrowed brow.

    ¡°Then let me¡ªmuch as I hate the word¡ªenlighten you,¡± he said. ¡°As you ascend the Chain you¡¯ll come to realize things about yourself, your Court, and reality as a whole. One of them arrives at Earl, a joyful little link before you step into the shallows of true power. When I reached it I discovered a truth that made dealing with humans so much easier; Abyss Lurks in Every Heart.¡±

    The words shimmered, a vibrato played on Marduk¡¯s spirit but resonating with every strand of existence within the Underside¡ªwithin myself. It let me, briefly, lay eyes on the black gash in my heart where my sister-self lurked. Sharp fingers waggling in lustful reverie as memories¡ªscent and sight¡ªplayed in her mind and my own; I would be due blood and gore, but how soon?

    A sharp ring muted the resonant sound. The world became duller in absentia of this truth Marduk bestowed¡ªthough I consider it a poison pill of knowledge that should¡¯ve never been listened to¡ªyet there Marduk stood unaffected, or always affected, by what he¡¯d stated. Underneath his clap was a gentle chirping. An alarm. With wan smile, Secretary claimed it.

    ¡°I wanted to know when the party would officially start,¡± Secretary answered, silencing their sorc-deck.

    Marduk grinned, ¡°When the doors would close.¡±

    ¡°That too,¡± they said. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be good to be locked out.¡±

    ¡°That it wouldn¡¯t,¡± he said, ¡°so allow an old man to accompany you. Wouldn¡¯t do for you to get lost¡ªthere are some hallways I don¡¯t even know about.¡±

    Grim-faced, we accepted¡ªas if we could deny¡ªMarduk¡¯s escort. Sinaya walked a few steps behind him. I walked just behind Sinaya, having let go of his arm to instead clutch the detonator that burned in my pocket. On Marduk¡¯s other side, about as far back as me, was Lupe and Secretary. Down staircases that appeared only by perspective shifting in the patterning of the throne¡¯s floorboard. Down hallways that yawned into service where before were only walls. Each step and motion toward the ballroom was abetted through Marduk¡¯s mastery of the throne. Light yet impactful like a thumb gliding through a man¡¯s eyeball.

    No one talked, save my now all too chatty sister-self and Revelation Questing. The former¡ªappearing in the polished floors and shimmering sea glass windows¡ªgoaded me to push the button, to leap onto Marduk¡¯s back and swing us over a handrail, or find some other way to end him. While the latter danced beside me, gleeful, and currently sliding down said handrail at an impossible speed which kept perfect pace with our marching cadence.

    ¡°If you think about it, this is rather convenient,¡± Revelation Questing said. ¡°So many besmirch the beleaguered path, or, in the case of Unmaking, fetishize it. They¡¯re all wrong. What¡¯s a Canonical Path but the highest quest, and what quest can be sung of without troubles? Better to forge you here than see you fall when it matters most.¡±

    My sister-self snarled, her reflection tenfold in the wall¡¯s tiling, ¡°We¡¯ll never fall. We¡¯ll sup¡¯ on our foe¡¯s blood. Consume them so they never leave us.¡±

    ¡°Oh the torment of being unnamed and unacknowledged,¡± Revelation Questing bemoaned. ¡°So right in ways you couldn¡¯t know, but so wrong you lovely, little brute.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, stopping in the hall we¡¯d arrived at.

    Marduk said, ¡°Are you so beggared to not know what an umbrella is?¡±

    Revelation Questing snickered, ¡°Pay attention to words, Nadia. To scenes. To deeds. The Omensight can show you much, but you have to see. Though it also helps to not talk to yourself.¡±

    I forced my attention to Marduk and away from the Baron that disappeared behind a column. He held an umbrella¡ªhooked handle toward me¡ªin offering. A quick glance in both directions told me everyone else had accepted theirs. It also showed me they were concerned; that I¡¯d buckle beneath some unspoken burden, spoil everything, and steer us toward doom. I withdrew my hand, the heat of the detonator a memory for my palm, and accepted the umbrella.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t rain much where I¡¯m from,¡± I said, ¡°but I know an umbrella.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Marduk said. ¡°Now, umbrellas out, it¡¯s time to party.¡±

    He spun on his heels, and the doors¡ªquick to show obeisance¡ªopened under their own power. We followed inside, opening our umbrellas as we crossed the threshold into the ballroom. An action much-needed as water rained down and up in an infinite cycle around the numerous summoners¡ªmore than some of which were assets and handlers undercover¡ªthat chittered like farm hens. Circling around tables laden with seafood and drink, or clustered about a few notables which crowed like cocks¡ªas existed at every party.

    The four of us split from Marduk, taking to the ballroom floor. While Marduk, once again in a gaudy display of power, directed raindrops to flow beneath his feet to create a staircase for him alone to ascend into the air. When he stopped the water flowed into a platform whereupon he gracefully sat, legs swinging in the air like pendulums over the pit he¡¯d created for us. However impressive his position or that of the pit, my attention stayed on the raindrops. They added to the ambiance, a song of endless crashing things and shattered tension¡ªmaybe to remind of cozy indoor memories. No, that wasn¡¯t right, and I considered, examined, and excavated every memory down to my bones. Ah, there it was.

    ¡°Nadia!¡± Secretary hissed.

    I blinked emerging into the present. ¡°Hmm?¡± I hummed.

    ¡°We need to get out of here, little brute,¡± Secretary said. ¡°You can¡¯t keep disappearing like this.¡±

    Lupe said, ¡°At this point, it might be safer to wait things out.¡±

    ¡°You can wait,¡± Secretary said, ¡°but I won¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°None of us are waiting,¡± Sinaya said before addressing me. ¡°Orchard, stay with us. We need you.¡±

    I turned back, smiling, ¡°Sorry, I realized something.¡±

    ¡°A way out?¡± Secretary asked.

    ¡°No,¡± I said, my thoughts hardly on anything that pragmatic.

    Sinaya asked, ¡°Then what, Orchard?¡±

    ¡°This was how¡ª¡± I said.

    The raindrops, dancers eager to follow their choreography, halted under Marduk¡¯s power¡ªit didn¡¯t take the Omensight to know that. It was a repeat performance for me after all. All discussion settled into bobbing anticipation, their host was about to speak.

    Marduk, voice magnified, said, ¡°Well met, all who¡¯ve decided that getting your best clothes a little wet was worth being here tonight.¡±

    A gentle chuckle rippled through the crowd. So unaware.

    ¡°It¡¯s important I think that I acknowledge the land we¡¯re in,¡± he began. ¡°This throne goes by many names, the most famous of which lived in the fictions of the Old World and political treatises of the Very Old World. Some of you might know it, many of the servers and security here¡­¡±

    He gestured to the doors where Lurkers stood at attention. Stretching their spines for a few more inches if it meant looking impressive to their sage.

    ¡°...But for those who don¡¯t,¡± he continued, ¡°I am proud to say its name is Atlantis. Though, why bring up an old name you might ask, aren¡¯t we in the New World? Shouldn¡¯t we put aside such things? Queries that I¡¯d answer with a simple statement, did we not all those decades back, slay the Old World because its masters suffocated our ability to dream; of other ways to live, of other people whose rule we might abide, of the simple desire to not feel a boot on our neck? City Killer thought so. I think so. Nemesis, regional Lodgemaster stationed here in Brightgate, would have you think otherwise.¡±

    The detonator seared my flesh from within my pocket. Heated from the invocation of my father¡¯s name and deeds being harnessed by a monster. Mine was a unique fury that stood in isolate to the jeers and boos that rose from the crowd at the utterance of Nemesis¡¯s name. Marduk¡¯s performance this time was interactive.

    ¡°From such sounds, I¡¯m pleased to call you allies for you think as I do¡­that Nemesis¡¯s reign should end,¡± Marduk declared to roaring applause. ¡°No more blood running the streets in her wild hunts. No more assassinations of those who wish freedom to associate with whom they please. No more should that small cruel woman rule us who only hold the simple desire¡ªas all men of the New World might¡ªto rise above our born station of mortality and if fated, touch the crown of Sovereignty. Yet, she seeks to draw us low and keep us beneath her boot. Even now, when I would rather regale you of how I¡¯d constructed a Menagerie to generate entities en masse across the phylum of Abyss¡­she attempts to undo us.¡±

    The jeers at Nemesis¡¯s name fall silent. I could see the thoughts lashing together as a rope across the crowd, did he just say he could generate entities? Marduk laid his head into his hand, wearing a melancholic expression that any painter would yearn to detail. Then, almost dismissively, he shaped the seal of a hand-spell. Crashing down from the shadowed ceiling¡ªlikely the access point of his storage-spell¡ªwas a glacial conglomeration of every bomb that had been planted throughout the throne. I know because Secretary wheezed, the discovery of the Lodge¡¯s foiled plan a needle which punctured their lungs.

    ¡°It is, to my sorrow, that before I regale you with the details as to the Menagerie¡¯s purpose, I must strain our numbers of the unfaithful,¡± Marduk said, shaping a seal I hadn¡¯t seen since I left home. It caused the tide of the world to recede toward him and with it went every drop of rain within the room. All of them coalescing into seventy-two titanic arms of water.

    His voice boomed, ¡°Those who know themselves to be true to me, do not fear for my waters shall pass you by as pleasant streams. While those who have decided to be my enemy, gnash your teeth or fall silent, but know that the flood shall see you drown all the same.¡±

    That was the herald to action for perhaps a third of the audience he¡¯d amassed. Summoners who saw no reason to hide what they¡¯d done or held as their true allegiance were the first to strike back at Marduk. A grimoire¡¯s worth of hand-spells formed across Courts found in the Public Record and many that I¡¯d never seen. They spawned spiraling black holes the size of marbles. Materialized gavels of spectral fire. Loosed psychedelic winds. Released tri-headed monstrosities which stretched up from deep shadow.

    Marduk smiled at them. Parried them, quenched them, swallowed them, and drowned them. Every spell a failed weapon before his power. He was a Marquis that stood¡ªwell, sat¡ªabove the rabble of Barons and Viscounts that made up the audience. Each of these, hecklers of a sort, received for their uprising a hand meant just for them. Not a whole one¡ªwho needed the entirety of their arm to crush a fly, only a finger that gently but firmly pressed them down into a diamond. An existence erased by the gesture of a Marquis who desired it.

    Others in the crowd stood stock still¡ªthat was his instruction after all¡ªbut as I knew from Marduk¡¯s lesson, he could see the Abyss in their hearts. A natural place to hide shreds of seditious thought. They were still yet stiff when the hands of Marduk erased them as well. Which confirmed for all those that yet claimed breath, had little option but to fight and die¡ªthere was no ¡°or¡± in that realization for them.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± Secretary screamed.

    Lupe yelled, ¡°Nadia, where are you going?¡±

    Sinaya¡¯s fingers grazed my arm. ¡°Orchard.¡±

    I walked through the chaos of dying assets and traitorous scum. Untouched by Marduk¡¯s gleeful oceanic fingers. His were seventy-two weapons of death. So I arrived to my one, gathered by some distant hand, and kicked the explosive conglomeration across the ballroom. Its icy surface was rough, making it skip and hop like the twenty-sided dice Dad used to carve as he taught games of pretend to children still in the years of middle school. The glacial mass stopped just below Marduk, catching his attention.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s confident,¡± he said.

    ¡°I have every reason to be,¡± I answered, my sister-self sneering at Marduk in the moist reflection of the ballroom floor.

    ¡°Which would be?¡± Marduk asked, bemused.

    ¡°That I¡¯m my parents'' daughter,¡± I said. ¡°Inheritor to the legacy of City Killer, who ushered in the Changeover, and to my mother, Sovereign of Upheaval.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Marduk said, stunned enough that thirty-one of his arms stilled. ¡°So that¡¯s what makes you valuable then. You know, you have your father¡¯s eyes now that I think of it¡ªthey give me shivers at night, even now. Still, there¡¯s little that confidence can do for you¡ªa soldier is nothing before a Marquis.¡±

    I sneered at the nothing that he was. ¡°Noted, but what¡¯s a Marquis to a princess¡¯s fury?¡±

    My friends knew what I was doing when I¡¯d kicked the bombs beneath Marduk. They were charging across the battlefield of the ballroom, debris and diamonds all around them, and I didn¡¯t spare them a glance. The detonator was already in my hand. Its lid popped. My thumb pressed down on the button to the quiet acknowledgment of a mechanical switch that controlled the sorcerous output.

    The world was white. A bright nothing that consumed things until it fell into its maw. It was a tool I¡¯d read about in school, a weapon that the Godtenders had kept from going off¡ªa Paradox bomb. Composed of diametrically opposed Courts. Their isolate natures warring to exert influence or find resolution. They¡¯d been banned as a part of the Thunder Declaration, I guess Nemesis didn¡¯t care much for those rules.

    I cried as I faced my death, but smiled as I knew it¡¯d come by hand. I¡¯d told everyone just as much. This was what I wanted¡ªvengeance for my parents, though it was only one, and a justification to see them again. Whatever feelings I¡¯d walled up between me and sister-self leaked out, or welled up on my side. I¡¯d lost Mom and Dad. I never got to know Mom and Dad. Maybe I¡¯d get to amend that when the nothing claimed me.

    ¡°Quaint,¡± Marduk said in hybridae speech. ¡°Gathered, these are powerful, but gathered they¡¯re not really effective against me, princess.¡±

    Lives, furniture, architecture, all fell to the rapidly approaching nothing that consumed the throne. Yet shadows held firm on the frontlines, an ontological bulwark against the Conceptual explosion ongoing. Everyone who¡¯d tried to fight or opted to piss themselves in fear, watched in reverence as Marduk granted us a glimpse of what could be achieved when humanity was abandoned.

    In a voice quiet as the bottomless ocean and loving as a prayer, Marduk proclaimed, ¡°From Abyss Comes The Lightless World.¡±

    Those shadows so still were bid to motion. Every strand of Abyss woven throughout the throne, the broader domain, and exuded by Marduk¡¯s spirit fell under his command. Reality became his hands, and with them, he cradled us so no light could enter and besmirch our eyes. Darkness defined not by the absence of light, but the presence of Abyssal nothing flooded the room, pressed down onto the Conceptual explosion. It was a messy bickering thing which fell into order beneath Marduk¡¯s firm grip. I watched the explosion¡ªmy weapon to strike him down¡ªshrink to the size of a grain of sand. Then smaller. Then banished because that explosive nothingness was illuminating, and we were in The Lightless World.

    Reality opened its eyes, they were tight and smiling, and so like Marduk¡¯s. They were Marduk¡¯s. I looked around for a place to hide, but there was nothing to see. No one to see. My hands were gone. My arms. My body. No reflections, no sister-self. I fell to my knees, but I couldn¡¯t see them. Were they even there? Was I anything? Just thoughts floating in a void? If there was anyone here besides myself, I hadn¡¯t heard them yet. All I heard was the voice of Marduk, the ruler of this place of no light, no hope, and no love.

    ¡°So cute to see you on your knees, princess. Now run, struggle, for yours is a bargained life,¡± Marduk said, his voice just behind my shoulder, ¡°and when you leave my throne. I want you to know, I¡¯ll kill you and every last thing you love. As for the rest of you, I believe you were dying.¡±

    And all around me, in distances unknowable, the screams of dying summoners resounded.

 Chapter 52

    The screams echoed around me, a clarion bidding me to action. A desire countermanded by guilt¡¯s firm hand which stilled my lungs and crushed my heart¡ªaction was what plunged the ballroom into this state. My bid to deny death and doom at the hands of Marduk had left him no recourse but the invocation of The Lightless World. Whilst still failing to divert the tides of fortune which had never once turned from Marduk. How could they when a Sovereign ripped apart the scales that may have, at one moment if only one moment, been in our favor?

    Revelation Questing whispered in my ear, ¡°They may die, but our quest continues Nadia. If you live there can always be another chance to kill him.¡±

    Head hung, I muttered, ¡°This was our best chance.¡±

    ¡°No, Nadia,¡± Revelation Questing countered, ¡°it was their best chance. You didn¡¯t forge this plan. Your fate may have woven into it¡ªbeen the cause for this scenario¡¯s detour¡ªbut yours is a fate tied to three Sovereigns compared to his one.¡±

    The Sovereign of Revelation was one, but it wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d come to my aid. What few times she¡¯d visited were to deliver admonishments. Functionally the limitation of her Observations. My mother was the obvious second. Her inheritance, Mother¡¯s Last Smile, was a powerful weapon¡­currently in the corner of my suite doing little but gathering crowds of devoted dust. Functionally useless much like its wielder.

    ¡°And the third?¡± I asked.

    In my other ear, Revelation Questing answered, ¡°A Sovereign bargained for you. Maybe¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered, rage simmering. ¡°The bitch or bastard or whatever they are¡­helped Marduk and screwed me!¡±

    ¡°They saved you,¡± Revelation Questing stated.

    I cackled, ¡°And that shows how much they know me. If I wanted to be saved would I be on the beleaguered path as everyone keeps saying?¡±

    ¡°You have an oath to our Sovereign,¡± Revelation Questing remarked. ¡°If you thought chasing death would be a loophole, you¡¯re mistaken, Nadia. Poor questor that you are¡ª¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m no questor,¡± I hissed. ¡°I¡¯m nothing but what I¡¯ve done, which has only been¡­what I wanted to do.¡±

    It was strange to see¡ªfor the second time, but a more intimate time¡ªa summation of what you are. My future-self told me plainly, ¡°We do what we want to do.¡± Lupe stabbed me with it when she denied my claim toward generosity¡ªeven when Melissa described that other me, that happier me, she never said I was giving or kind. In her eyes, all their eyes, I was simple.

    ¡°And simplicity is no crime, Nadia,¡± Sphinx whispered, her voice barely legible in my spirit. ¡°It is the cauldron from which complexity is stewed, and when thy pot is empty and cupboards barren, remains when naught else does.¡±

    My breath caught the edge of concern. She¡¯d been so quiet since the Staircase, and the Baron so loud. I¡¯d nearly forgotten¡ªno, I had forgotten¡ªthat hers was a voice meant for me. That asked for nothing of me save I attempt, in good conscience, the oath to which I was sworn. Even then she was the only one who asked me what I wanted, free from judgment.

    ¡°Do we die or do we move forward?¡± Sphinx asked.

    I was ready to embrace death, but where the Old World had the adage that you ¡°die alone,¡± for me that could never be true. If I died I took Sphinx with me. She deserved better than that. Better than me. Though few ever get what they deserve¡ªthe ties of fate don¡¯t engage in that sort of accounting¡ªleaving it to me to lay claim on a future for Sphinx, my love. Empowered by want, I rose to my feet and rolled back my shoulders, declaring, quite simply¡­

    ¡°Forward. For you, always forward.¡±

    And forward I went. Running toward the outcome I wanted, the people I wanted. The Lightless World had rendered this a simple place, and these were simple wants. Guided by the magenta ties of fate that my Omensight dredged forth for me, I ignored everything not of my want. Screams fell to nothing. The sensation of diamonds kicked by my feet was unnoticeable. Fear was too slow a hunter as it tried to sink worries of, ¡°what if Secretary has already died?¡± and ¡°what if there is no more hope?¡± into my mind. There was only fate to follow.

    It led me to Secretary moments before their death. A bulging tide of Abyss, nearly imperceptible, in the tapestry of the world, surged toward them, a silhouette Remembrance grey. I pounced on them. Drove us to the floor, and made sure it was my back that Marduk¡¯s finger would reach. Secretary, unaware of how death¡¯s immediacy, struck my ribs with sharp palm strikes. I hissed.

    ¡°Little brute?¡± Secretary gasped.

    ¡°Bear with it,¡± I implored.

    Then it arrived, that finger of Abyssal obliteration. Hairs of inches from my back, it loomed. Secretary quivered beneath me. There were ways I liked people to shake if was above them, and that prey-like oscillation¡ªsuch insistent stillness that it created motion, invited death¡ªwas not one of them.

    ¡°They¡¯ll just die later,¡± Marduk said, his voice coming from a thousand directions.

    I yelled back, ¡°Then let ¡®later¡¯ come when it does. I want them to live.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯ll use your body to cover for them,¡± Marduk stated. ¡°You misunderstand something, my will here is reality¡¯s motion. The only want that matters is my own.¡±

    The finger withdrew, and reality squeezed. Abyssal darkness oozed between my arms, slipping through the gap between my stomach and Secretary¡¯s, making a mockery of my poor defenses. Secretary went still. My mind whited out. I needed options, an opening, time if nothing else.

    In hybridae speech, I screamed, ¡°Stop.¡±

    Marduk did. Reality oozed backward, enough to no longer threaten Secretary¡¯s life. I looked up to find Marduk¡¯s eyes¡ªthey were taller than me¡ªstaring at me.

    ¡°So you are one,¡± he said, our conversation in hybridae now.

    I nodded, ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°Do you think this admission merits anything?¡± he asked.

    ¡°A return to the negotiating table,¡± I offered weakly.

    His eyes narrowed, unamused. ¡°Why negotiate for what I could take?¡±

    ¡°Because you can¡¯t take me,¡± I stated. ¡°That Sovereign won¡¯t allow it.¡±

    His eyes closed, submerged into the dark. Replaced by the clack of heels and a face ripe with rage. There was nothing to see in The Lightless World, but right now Marduk wanted me to see him¡ªto fear him. His hair was a stormy grey, and waves rose and fell¡ªthe oceanic jaws of a beast hungry for mortal ships to try it.

    ¡°You think I fear them?¡± he asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re a Sovereign,¡± I said, shrugging. ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve killed a Sovereign¡ª¡±

    ¡°With a group,¡± I scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t test me, Marduk, and don¡¯t test the Sovereign who saved your life. That was how they bargained for me, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    His hands clenched into claws¡ªI could smell his Bloodlust rising to the level of my disrespect. He fumed, ¡°Hybridae girls, truly you lot are wretched and impossible.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a hybridae Godtender?¡± I asked, a constellation formed between the facts.

    ¡°There¡¯s at least one who is a godtender,¡± he corrected. ¡°Us spawn of black wombs hold little love for the Nine. Though what you are, too human in face to be a White Womb and too young to be of Black, makes me curious of your capabilities.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who told me to run, so let me run,¡± I proposed, a plan assembling. ¡°Measure me against what you¡¯ve built¡ªthe cult, the throne, your Menagerie¡ªand I¡¯ll show you what I am.¡±

    ¡°I see what you¡¯re doing; Hoping that I¡¯ll take you up on this deal,¡± he said, squatting so our eyes were level to one another.

    ¡°That¡¯d be a bad idea,¡± I admitted. ¡°You do so love to crush Hope. No, I¡¯m leaning on something simpler.¡±

    ¡°That being?¡±

    I gifted him a fanged smile. ¡°That you are as Sinaya and Lupe described, a researcher, and so I¡¯m offering you a chance to research. Besides, if I make it, your bargain with the Sovereign has passed, and will be free to claim me anyways. You don¡¯t lose.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯d play a game with no hope of winning?¡± he asked.

    ¡°What can I say,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m wretched and impossible.¡±

    He stretched his legs¡ªtransparently wanting to be ¡°above¡± me. The palms of his imposed reality, our cradle-cage, parted way for Secretary and myself. A narrow path of wooden ballroom flooring which shot arrow-straight back into reality. I helped Secretary up but never broke from Marduk¡¯s gaze. He was a predator and that was never smart to do.

    ¡°Now give me Sinaya and Lupe,¡± I ordered.

    ¡°You¡¯re insulting me,¡± he said, ¡°I know the worth of them, fruit of my tree. They¡¯d be dead weight and would skew the results. A mere soldier can¡¯t overcome that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a soldier of two Courts,¡± I stated¡ªa not-quite lie to be fair. Though it was enough to stoke Marduk¡¯s attention. His brow rose and his hair shifted to sparkling turquoise.

    ¡°Two,¡± he said. ¡°You are special. Oh when I catch you, I¡¯ll never let you go.¡±

    His reality parted again¡ªthe path Secretary and I stood on was now a ¡°v¡± that connected to where Sinaya had sprawled himself across Lupe. That silly butch of mine had employed the same plan I¡¯d attempted. He popped his head up first, looked about in disbelief, before rolling back into a squat.

    ¡°Sinaya, I¡ª¡± I started.

    ¡°You¡¯re still speaking in hybridae,¡± Marduk groaned. ¡°You¡¯ve been taught so little¡ªyou need to increase vocal cord frequency, and cease vibrating your spirit. What?¡±

    ¡°That was just a really good explanation,¡± I said.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve taught four hybridae before you how to do it. This is our native register, and swapping takes practice that you¡¯ve never had.¡±

    Employing his advice, I spoke again, this time like a human. ¡°Sinaya, I¡¯m over here.¡±

    He lifted Lupe to her feet, leading the two of them to where Secretary and I stood. His eyes flicked from Marduk to me and back to Marduk. Loudly belying the fear that had been imbued into him from previous failed escapes. Though fear settled into silty confusion when Marduk didn¡¯t turn his head toward him. Marduk, by way of my sacrifice, had found what he¡¯d been looking for all these years. Sinaya didn¡¯t know it yet but he¡¯d become obsolete in his master¡¯s eyes.

    Speaking to me, Marduk stated the rules, ¡°You¡¯ll have no headstart. My test begins when I finish speaking, and there shall be no hiding. Per your point, I want you to run¡ª¡±

    ¡°Run!¡± I ordered everyone, the trap in Marduk¡¯s instruction was obvious.

    We took off down the path that¡¯d opened to us. At our flanks was The Lightless World, and it blasted us with Marduk¡¯s voice, cold and curious.

    ¡°And so you shall be pursued. By the cult, by the power invested in me through my throne, and by my glorious Menagerie,¡± he crooned. ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me now, Sinaya can tell you what happens if I am.¡±

    Marduk was many things. Some of which¡ªsuch as his claim, however inaccurate, to being a researcher¡ªI¡¯d exploited in the manner that my friends declared a talent of mine. I even predicted the security of his word, that our start and his pursuit would commence once he¡¯d dispensed all instruction. What I hadn¡¯t expected was that he loved wordplay.

    ¡°Secretary, down!¡± Lupe hissed.

    Her instruction pre-empted a rod of The Lightless World extruding itself from one half of its reality to the other. Secretary dropped into a roll before it took their head. Sinaya and Lupe slid underneath, the immediate danger now spent. Sinaya spotted the next one, flexed against the wall of void beside us before the tension Marduk imbued in it was released. He grabbed Secretary and Lupe by the collars of their shirts and jumped. Clearing the rod as it snapped out eager to claim an ankle, and nearly missing the two more that shot toward Sinaya. He flexed his field-spell, a pressure wave blooming behind him, and shot forward as if pinged by the flick of a Sovereign¡¯s finger. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°Alls below,¡± I growled, ¡°you¡¯re meant to pursue us!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pursuing you, as was our agreement,¡± Marduk said. ¡°They¡¯re the ones behind you.¡±

    Sinaya, probably because he was used to Marduk¡¯s tricks, exerted his field-spell again. The bursts of Conceptual pressure skipped him through the air like a rock across a lake. I slowed enough so the trio would land ahead of me¡ªwalls of void snapped together nearly nicking my heel. Don¡¯t go too slow, it all but warned, a thought neither I nor the others had considered. We wanted out of this place, and we were going to get out.

    We cleared the ballroom exit, emerging into a library¡ªI don¡¯t know if it came with Atlantis, and thus unsafe for anyone committed to preserving their mind to read, or if in his commitment to a researcher¡¯s air, he¡¯d gathered true books from across the world. Either way, we had no time to check. The Lightless World flooded into the library with all the force you¡¯d imagine an entire reality¡ªimposed or otherwise¡ªwould have when trying to squeeze within a door frame, even a doubled one.

    An arc of it, about the girth of a tree trunk, shot through three bookshelves. The Abyssal black clung to the books, the shelves, and grew over them¡ªan ooze that now parted wished to be whole again. As we wheeled into a right turn, following Sinaya¡¯s direction as he knew this place the best, I gaped in awe at how the library was digested by the dark. Then screamed as the rest of it circled toward us, an umbral tidal wave that saw us as inhabitants to be reclaimed.

    ¡°Sinaya,¡± I called out, ¡°can you ride your entity?¡±

    He yelled, ¡°He¡¯s big enough.¡±

    ¡°Good, then you take Lupe,¡± I instructed. ¡°Secretary, you¡¯re riding with me.¡±

    It was rough and I was tired, but I yanked my spirit open bringing Sphinx out into the world. My run became a jump as I mounted her back. Through the power of four legs, I caught up to the trio, wrapped an arm around Secretary¡¯s waist hauling them onto Sphinx and between my legs. Sinaya did the same with Lupe mounted on his entity¡¯s back as well, the thing swimming faster than any of us could run¡ªthis was its natural domain after all.

    Secretary looked back, screamed, ¡°We¡¯re not fast enough.¡±

    ¡°We will be,¡± I yelled. ¡°Sinaya, try to keep up.¡±

    I arched my back. The eyes of Sphinx¡¯s pelt and wings burned. Over my pounding heart I felt for the infinite possibilities that wound about us; there weren¡¯t many that were good, but that meant more fuel for my plan. Outcomes wound about Sphinx and I, tighter and tighter still. Two cosmic ropes of Fivefold Atomic Glories on the precipice¡ªwe wound those together, also.

    ¡°This¡¯ll give us away!¡± Sinaya yelled.

    Secretary screamed back with serrated sarcasm, ¡°I think we¡¯re long past stealth¡¯s purposefulness, don¡¯t you¡ª¡±

    Sphinx and I released, split infinity down our cosmic braid¡ªa dualcast, and spewed Revelatory fire. Secretary¡¯s next words shot into the back of their throat. Sinaya followed suit, his field-spell dualcasted with his entity, and raced after. Down the wing of the library. Bursting through another set of doors. Up a staircase whose glass wall looked out onto the exterior of the throne, a perfect view of Marduk¡¯s history of conquest.

    Up we climbed the spiral staircase, a black riptide, and a chalcedony comet. It wasn¡¯t sustainable. We didn¡¯t need sustainable¡ªwe needed fast, but I accept blame for thinking we were past stealth. We weren¡¯t fast enough to surpass the hateful notice of Abyss and the entities that are its spawn. Its legion.

    If you¡¯ve heard the roar of water as it braids itself over a river rock or is expelled fast enough, then try to toss that sound aside. Instead, imagine with me, a sound like lights going off in a hallway in rapid succession. Dark is coming, the clicking of light just the herald for its rapid annexation of the space. Slot that in, but remove the click. Instead, focus on how many sounds are around you. Even the sound of your breathing. So many sounds, right? Now take them, and one by one drown them into quiet. This dynamic was how I knew to look to my right¡ªSecretary¡¯s screams were gone¡ªand bearing down upon us was the vomit of entities from within Marduk¡¯s Menagerie.

    It was quiet when they struck. Glass crushed to powder as endless tons of Conceptual flesh rammed into it. Black anti-sparkles thrown in the air. Sphinx leaped over a leviathan. Sinaya¡¯s entity corkscrewed through the legs of a giant sea spider. Sphinx slid around a vampire squid mermaid whose hooks scythed the air and would¡¯ve taken my and Secretary¡¯s neck had we not laid ourselves flat. It all went wrong because of a sea angel. The damn thing spun down through Sinaya¡¯s leg breaking the concentration on his field-spell. His speed flagged, and his entity was snatched in the grip of a giant¡¯s fist. Whipped into Sphinx, breaking her concentration which threw us off balance. The force of my own Atomic Glory carrying me into Secretary, off Sphinx¡¯s back, and into the stairs.

    All of us tumbled up the steps. Scrambled to our feet to discover we were surrounded. Standing atop, hanging from, leaning against, each and every entity was Lurker. Armored in simple conweave and wielding harpoons, nets, and a few very long swords meant for sushi.

    No one moved, but everyone stank of Bloodlust. I covered my nose, not like it¡¯d help, but I could feel the red river in my mind surging upward. My breath was ragged. A smile carved my face open, spilling saliva¡ªI could taste it, imminent violence. A simple thing, but not one I wanted. We don¡¯t always get what we deserve¡­or what we want.

    Lurkers fell upon us, murderous raindrops, and we scattered their lives as such. Sinaya¡¯s field-spell punched a few out of the air. One of them dropped their ¡°sword,¡± which he took up in their stead to wield for our cause. The dark metal stained red as he swung it¡ªmy love was The Angler Knight, a fact I¡¯d loathed, but watching him at work I found a way to embrace it. He was a whirlpool of death that drew in his old ¡°comrades¡± to be left severed and dismembered at his feet.

    Not one to be outdone, even though they¡¯d declared themselves to be, ¡°not a warrior,¡± Secretary leveraged their impeccable memory. Dualcasting with Blotomisc, they reached beyond the easy recollections of guns I¡¯d seen them use and instead materialized the white-nothing explosion of a Paradox bomb. Entities and their bondmates were consumed before they could scream. The ¡°lucky ones", however you might define that, lost limbs, chunks of their torso¡ªspilling entrails and viscera onto the floor¡ªand a few had bites taken from their head. It was awful even as it was imperfect, the true potency of the bomb having been denied by Marduk. Accounting for this pinhole view of its destructive efficacy, Secretary materialized ten more¡ªfive to clear those behind us and five to clear the barrier of entities before us.

    ¡°Up we go, Nadia,¡± Lupe ordered, throwing my arm over her shoulder¡ªI¡¯d fallen to my knees at some point. Don¡¯t ask me when.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, choking on Bloodlust. ¡°You don¡¯t trust me.¡±

    Lupe hauled my ass up the stairs after her sister. Sinaya arm wove canvases of steel strokes as he yanked Lurkers forward into range. Secretary deleted the stairs as we ascended them. Ours was a fighting advance, slowed by Sinaya¡¯s bleeding leg, but not halting. Not dying. Forward.

    ¡°That¡¯s your hang-up,¡± Lupe said. ¡°I told you on the roof, you¡¯re not so special and not so evil as to be beyond a hug. And while I¡¯m pissed you detonated the bombs, I¡¯d counted as a, ¡®we¡¯re actually so fucked,¡¯ kind of situation.¡±

    ¡°We still are,¡± I said, blinking to clear a carmine haze that was in places far deeper than my eyes.

    Lupe agreed, ¡°So sit tight and shut up. It¡¯s time I do my part.¡±

    They inhaled and for the time, Lupe flexed her field-spell. From every pore came light that doubled and doubled. An exponential flurry of snowflakes made of photons. Flowing from her spirit, on the opposite side as me, was Morning Dying¡ªI¡¯d never learned its true name. Its heart, a shadow in a starving ribcage, shrunk as the radiance under its skin grew. The drops of molten sunlight that dribbled around its lupine maw floated off into the air. It was from the light, her¡¯s and Morning Dying¡¯s, that they sang a duet they¡¯d performed a hundred before.

    ¡°A thousand children who knew only Night/Who played forever bound in Abyssal depths/Remember true that all things die/Though praise the Morning which lives again/Golden blades in both hands/Time shall be cut anew/From black bolts Tomorrow is sewn/And Freedom known as we once knew.¡±

    No one could know the state of my mind. How I¡¯d bent back my sanity to keep my face just above the carmine curse. I can¡¯t claim to know how exhausted Secretary and Blotomisc were, remembering what was ultimately nothing, sketching its impact onto the Underside. It didn¡¯t take a doctor, however, to notice our pace had slowed and the thin trickle of blood from Sinaya¡¯s thigh had painted a scarlet streak up the stairs. Though I bypassed knowledge and felt the warm touch of Morning on spirit as it drained the river going through my head. I heard the explosions conjured behind us increase in frequency. The scarlet streak had ended.

    We walked with the Morning. Streaks of indigo, slashes of bright magenta, and violet accents swam through the air around us. Secretary once described a field-spell as painting with your Court, and Lupe did that and more. What she cloaked around us were the strings of not only a guitar, but the pulsing beat of drums, crooning horns, and voices multiplied. There was hers, and in deeper accompaniment what I presumed to be Morning Dying. Though as she rolled through verses, glided up its glissandos, and skipped through every syncopation others joined in¡ªphantom participants whose faces I¡¯d recognized from the Palace of Ghosts. They¡¯d arrived for one last time in the sun.

    ¡°Alls below,¡± I said, breath stolen by awe.

    Sinaya, his pace restored, rising, answered, ¡°I saw it once when Marduk fought one of the families¡ªthe only time he looked scared. They called it, ¡®the Great Sun Parade.¡¯¡±

    Song and field-spell combining, Lupe entered the second verse, ¡°Hands together we make our Ascension/A new Origin for all/Love incinerating darkness/With Luck, we won¡¯t fall/So dance in ode to Morning/Though not, do I mean Grief/Over horizon we chart Rebellion/As the sun assumes rightful¡ª¡±

    A breeze blew over my head. Tousling my hair with something wet. I ran my hand over my scalp, careful not to scratch myself, and at first, I thought I¡¯d failed. My hands were red as if I¡¯d killed someone. In my disbelief, I fell with Lupe when she stumbled¡ªI wasn¡¯t able to properly support her. My knees slammed into the stairs, and worried I glanced over to Lupe. Blood was pooling beneath her. She had clasped under her throat. Around us the phantoms faded, the parade brought to a close.

    ¡°Lupe,¡± Sinaya yelled, turning back toward his sister.

    She held out a hand, stay. Pointed with her finger, go. Sinaya disobeyed, abandoning our frontline to arrive at her side. Secretary ran past us, Lupe and I, and took Sinaya¡¯s spot. She and Blotomisc worked fast to conjure bombs at both ends of the staircase. I helped prop Lupe up¡ªshe¡¯d bowled over when we fell. It was this way, on her knees with her shaggy haircut plastered to her skullcap¡ªit was sweaty work putting on parade¡ªthat we saw what she¡¯d tried to hide. Below her hand, through the fingers really, were hints of gore.

    Sinaya dropped his sword. Slid down the last few steps to be at her side. Cradled her against his chest. I found my feet, but not my reason. It bled from me with the color in my face, down the sanguine river that soaked Lupe¡¯s shirt and left me afloat in a carmine flood. My head swung around like a dog¡¯s trying to catch the scent. I did, faint as it was, and led me in a slow pan across the Abyss beyond the shattered staircase window. There, nestled in black nothingness, astride something like a jellyfish was Apogee.

    In her hands was what I¡¯d best describe as an organic sniper rifle¡ªConceptual, in nature. Its legs twitched gleefully when she racked the bolt. Expelled the casing of a quill or needle. I¡¯d hazard some part of its design was inspired by a pufferfish¡­maybe. It doesn¡¯t matter. It didn¡¯t matter. She was beyond me, distance-wise, and buffered by more entities birthed and expelled by the Menagerie. I wanted to fly out there and rip her head off¡ªSecretary was why I didn¡¯t.

    They locked their arm with mine and dragged me up the steps. We were continuing on¡ªI didn¡¯t want to continue on. Not without them. I flung my arm from their grasp and looked out to see we¡¯d climbed enough stairs to ruin Apogee¡¯s next shot if it was me. It probably would¡¯ve been.

    ¡°Little brute, stay with me,¡± Secretary said.

    I wanted to pulp my brain. Drove my palms into the sides of my head. I snarled at them.

    ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± I said, ¡°and we need to be there. They need us.¡±

    They did. Entities edged around them. Morning Dying, fading as she was, swung her claws in bright arcs scoring the faces of entities who got too close. Sinaya only had eyes for Lupe. His entity took up the other portion of defense. Pressure wave blasts and ice spikes to ward off the Lurkers, but it only takes five soldiers to equal a Baron. They layered their intentions together in a field-ritual that broke the undirected attacks into scattered bits of Abyss. Beyond the Lurkers, peeking just around the bend of the staircase, was The Lightless World¡ªwe¡¯d lost our advantage. I didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°I need you,¡± Secretary said. ¡°If we die no one knows what Marduk has here. We have to go.¡±

    They wrapped their hands around my head, guided my vision so all I saw was their eyes. Secretary had beautiful eyes, a beautiful face, but what they needed from me¡­

    ¡°No,¡± I said, shoving them backward. ¡°They¡¯re your friends¡ª¡±

    Secretary laughed. ¡°No, little brute, they¡¯re yours! All of this was for you. I let you rescue him. I let you talk me out of using the bombs for her. Please, do me the courtesy of doing this one thing for me.¡±

    They reached for me, my shirt, my neck, the back of my head. Their hands crawled over me as they pulled me into their embrace. Prevented me from looking back. They didn¡¯t keep me from hearing.

    ¡°Orchard,¡± Sinaya wailed, ¡°please, come here. You can do something, you need to do something!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡± I screamed.

    I broke from Secretary and the Inviolate Star was already above my fingers. I¡¯d made it two steps before I¡¯d stopped¡ªSecretary held my wrist. They fell backward, leveraging all of their weight, to keep me from leaving their side.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go,¡± Secretary yelled. ¡°They¡¯re dead. If you go, you¡¯re dead. I¡¯m dead. Nadia, you said I was yours, so aren¡¯t you mine? Why won¡¯t you stay?¡±

    Tears blurred those grey eyes of theirs. They blurred my own. I¡¯d arrived at a choice

    I¡¯d begged off with tears and wan smiles. Though fate had dragged me back to this moment, and made it no longer hypothetical. Down the stairs, back toward doom, was Lupe and Sinaya. Up the stairs, toward possible life, was Secretary. Forward or die.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m also theirs,¡± I snarled, turning back so Secretary collapsed. Unable to exert force on me, I ripped my arm free. ¡°And, I¡¯d sooner die than abandon those I love.¡±

    I took the stairs two at a time. One hand flung Atomic Glories down at the crowd. The other carried what I prayed to my Sovereign mother was Lupe¡¯s salvation. I¡¯d left Secretary at my back. Out of my sight. How easy it is to lose sight of a predator when you think you¡¯ve tamed them.

    ¡°If that¡¯s how it is,¡± Secretary whispered. ¡°Spider-lillies love whiskey.¡±

    They¡¯d said the words softly, but there was nothing soft about the tug I felt in my body. Every limb of mine froze mid-motion. Muscles hot and contracted with no ability to release themselves. There wasn¡¯t anything I could do beyond¡­feel; Secretary¡¯s fingers tracing my spine. Their body chest, just a bit soft, grazing my arm as they stood before me. Why¡¯d they look sad? They had all the power; #404 had my leash.

    ¡°You told me earlier today that you wouldn¡¯t let someone destroy what¡¯s yours,¡± they said. ¡°I feel similarly, even when that someone is you, little brute. If it helps, I blame myself. I¡¯d given you such a lead that I¡¯d forgotten that assets can sometimes go astray. Make the wrong choices. So I¡¯m here to help you¡ªit¡¯s my job¡ªnow turn around and carry me.¡±

    And so I did. Limbs shifting with an elegance I¡¯d never experienced before. Bodies are complex things, but tools are so simple. I couldn¡¯t even cry¡ªthe curse¡¯s leash didn¡¯t allow me any acts of agency. Secretary climbed onto my waiting back. Laid their head atop mine.

    In the distance, I could hear Sinaya. ¡°Orchard, come back. You promised you¡¯d help me! You made me Hope.¡±

    The way his voice broke, all that muscle failing to uphold the firmament of his feelings, that¡¯s what made me feel the worst. He was too far away to hear what Secretary had said, had done to me. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯d make him feel better. All I know is I stopped hearing his sorrow once The Lightless World reclaimed its prodigal butch.

    ¡°Good girl, we don¡¯t go backwards. That way lies death,¡± Secretary whispered. ¡°Now, Forward, little brute, only forward. Carve us a way out.¡±

    I had fallen to something simpler than want; my most natural state that slit the illusions I¡¯d held. I, Nadia Temple, was less and more than a thing of want. I was a cutting line made of metal. A bright blur whose claws shredded flesh with abandon. Boosted by Revelatory fire, I was a sharp-edged comet that cleaved through scores of men and women. Unladen with tears, unable to fall out of perfect edge alignment, it was by my handler¡¯s grace that I achieved my purpose. To be a knife for the one who held my leash, and knives don¡¯t worry about the carmine stains in their spirit. They only drink deep and keep cutting.

 Chapter 53

    As Secretary¡¯s knife I¡­I¡ªdon¡¯t want to talk about this part. Forgive me, please, I want you to know my story in its wholeness, but the final act of my escape from Marduk¡¯s throne isn¡¯t a portion worth telling. The actions taken weren¡¯t mine. Nothing about that was, and so they¡¯re not representative of me. Nothing of me was there because I¡¯d made the ¡°wrong¡± choice, and proven unworthy of self-direction! I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s just, if you ask me, the whole event between breaking the encirclement and returning to Realspace is boring. Hardly illuminating as to my character. So let¡¯s skip forward some¡­to when Secretary and I stumbled back into Realspace¡ªthat¡¯s a good part. At least, I think so.

    The Staircase we¡¯d exited deposited us far from the docks of the Lodge District. Far from the district at all. We were high-up, on someone¡¯s rooftop, in the thick of Brightgate. Secretary slipped from my back, walked about the roof sucking in deep breaths of Real air, and then collapsed onto their back. Grateful we¡¯d made it. Unworried about being followed because the Staircase behind us evaporated from existence once we¡¯d left. Marduk was a man of his word.

    Secretary groaned, ¡°Relax, little brute, we¡¯re home. We¡¯re home.¡±

    #404¡¯s command slackened my leash, but whether limp or taut I could still feel it. That place where the curse hooked into all that I was. It¡¯s why Sphinx couldn¡¯t help me escape it; her freedom and her life were tied into my own. She¡¯d been pushed hard as a result, taking wounds meant for me that I couldn¡¯t dodge¡ªSecretary¡¯s order hadn¡¯t said, ¡°Oh, little brute, make sure to dodge on the way out as well.¡± No one tends to worry about the damage done to a knife until after they''ve attempted to cut with it.

    So with my body returned to me, however temporary or however searing the gales of pain that tore through my limbs, Sphinx was my first priority. I returned her to my spirit so at least one of us could recover. Sphinx had lost most of a leg on the way out. A portion of a wing was severed. They¡¯d been gored multiple times. All to save me from my handler¡¯s poorly conceived demands.

    ¡°Okay, little brute,¡± Secretary huffed, rolling up into a sitting position, ¡°let¡¯s get this intel back to headquarters and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, attention pinned on the Lodge District¡¯s skyline. Was it always so ugly?

    ¡°Because we¡¯re the only ones who survived¡ª¡±

    I scoffed, ¡°And whose fault is that?¡±

    ¡°Marduk¡¯s,¡± Secretary declared.

    The skyline was ugly, but it was better than other things, people, I could¡¯ve looked at. Though I did trace a path from the skyline to Brightgate. Stiffly walked to the roof¡¯s edge, and looked down to admire all those little people scurrying about their little lives. Unaware of who¡¯d died so they could enjoy blissful mundanity.

    I countered, ¡°But it¡¯s Nemesis who sent us there. She signed off on the missions, didn¡¯t she?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡ª¡±

    ¡°And, correct me if you didn¡¯t say this, but we knew Marduk was a Marquis,¡± I reminded them. ¡°Our first mission and it was obvious.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡± they asked, rising to their feet¡ªI could hear their clothes shifting.

    I could hear their heartbeat, it was a hurried uptempo sort of rhythm reminiscent of Mom¡¯s favorite songs¡ªwailing guitars, screaming singers, and drums who raced toward the end. Secretary must¡¯ve been exhausted pinning down my bodily autonomy¡ªthe curse wasn¡¯t made to make it easy to keep us under control. It required a firm attentive hand. Especially when we were ordered, as I was, to feed on so many lives. No matter the reason, that¡¯s what happened. It¡¯d made the curse advance prodigiously. Gifted me better ears, sharply pointed like a dog¡¯s; a better nose, one sniff painted my surroundings in strokes of carmine on the black behind my eyelids; and it even made my gore-dressed state not just palatable but exultant. There was no shame about the viscera that rouged my cheeks or the heartsblood that painted the snow-white scales of my arms a wilting pink.

    ¡°Nemesis sent us to die,¡± I answered, ¡°obviously.¡±

    Secretary paced behind me, unbalanced. ¡°Little brute, it was a stealth mission. We were never supposed to see combat.¡±

    ¡°But we did.¡±

    ¡°Because a Sovereign fucked us over,¡± Secretary screamed. ¡°No one could¡¯ve planned for that.¡±

    My head wobbled, shaking the reasonable point from my mind. ¡°She still sent us,¡± I argued. ¡°Soldiers, Barons, maybe a few Viscounts. We shouldn¡¯t have been the ones in there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s our job,¡± Secretary said. ¡°We risk our lives to handle these problems before they harm innocent people.¡±

    ¡°Lupe wasn¡¯t innocent to you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I said,¡± they replied. ¡°Lupe was¡­¡±

    ¡°Not your friend,¡± I offered. ¡°Not your concern?¡±

    ¡°Different. Lupe was different,¡± they admitted, ¡°in some ways like Cedric.¡±

    I dragged some entrails from my head¡ªthey¡¯d been tapping at the back of my neck. Dangled it over the building¡¯s edge, curious what the reaction would be if I¡¯d dropped it. I tossed it to the far side of the roof. I then turned to Secretary, though my eyes were tilted away from them. I wasn¡¯t ready to look at them.

    ¡°Who I might remind you, Nemesis killed,¡± I said.

    ¡°Cedric died in the exam¡ª¡±

    ¡°That she designed,¡± I stated. ¡°It¡¯s looking to me like a lot of people are dying for Nemesis, because of Nemesis¡ª¡±

    Secretary rushed toward me¡ªto hurt me, no, they had the gall to hug me. Pressed their head into the crook of my neck. Assault me with their stench, floral with citric notes made twinge ripe from the sweat of fear of violence.

    ¡°Forget Nemesis,¡± Secretary said.

    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± I answered. ¡°Not when she and Marduk get to walk around with people throwing away their lives for them. Not when they ruined mine.¡±

    My arms were vines, creeping up Secretary¡¯s body. Careful so my claws didn¡¯t shred cloth or flesh. Tensed just enough for this to be considered a hug. Beyond them, I watched the edges of the sky lighten toward deep cerulean¡ªmorning was in motion. Lupe¡¯s Morning had died, but as sun danced across windows and restored color to the world I refused to mourn. The city in all its splendor, however ugly, could serve as the medium for my vengeful message.

    ¡°Let them fight,¡± I spoke, the idea philosophically ergonomic. ¡°They can be the other¡¯s punishment for everything they¡¯ve done. It¡¯s so simple saying it out loud.¡±

    Secretary tried to pull away. I pressed them back in. They looked up into my face as I looked down into their eyes. Both of us committed to pulling the other to their side of the knife¡¯s edge we stood on, we danced on, Brightgate¡¯s last symphony of stirring wakefulness acting as accompaniment for our dreadful waltz.

    ¡°Little brute,¡± Secretary said, ¡°Nadia¡ª¡±

    ¡°Shhh,¡± I instructed. ¡°You had it right the first time.¡±

    Secretary stammered, ¡°So they wronged you, I get it, but you took this whole exam to join the Lodge. To help people, to help Brightgate¡ª¡±

    ¡°Oh no,¡± I laughed, ¡°I joined to kill Nemesis, and to use your own phrasing, you¡¯re the one who loves this city.¡±

    ¡°You took the missions to¡ª¡±

    ¡°Get points. Make some things safer for Melissa and Amber,¡± I explained. ¡°Free Sinaya, aid Lupe in her goals, and help you climb the ranks¡ªthat last one being my intended apology for what I was going to do. Nowhere in my thoughts was the safety of Brightgate¡¯s people.¡±

    ¡°Little brute, why are you acting like this is simple?¡± they whispered.

    ¡°Why are you acting like it isn¡¯t?¡± I asked, ¡°Are you so attached to your Lodge, to Nemesis, that you¡¯d make an enemy of me?¡±

    I twirled Secretary from my grasp. They nearly went over the rooftop¡¯s edge¡ªpity. Arms outstretched they found balance, and while their heart was tossed about a ship slowly sinking toward a decision¡­I held out my hand.

    ¡°We can just go,¡± I said. ¡°Let what was meant to happen, happen. Maybe find out why you love the ocean, hmm?¡±

    Secretary shut their eyes. Pushing me away; the two of us falling on opposite sides of the knife.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the right thing to do,¡± they said.

    I sighed, ¡°But for me, it¡¯s the best thing I have left.¡±

    When they opened their eyes, read my face, it caused a broken-hearted smile to sprout. They¡¯d seen my own decision. Though it wasn¡¯t to either of our pleasures to embrace its resolution. A minute we waited. Maybe we¡¯d have waited longer if a bell hadn¡¯t tolled on the hour¡ªthere wasn¡¯t much time left. So to the droning noise of a mechanical giant, the evacuation of rooftops by disturbed birds, we played out the last steps of our dance.

    ¡°Spider-lillies¡ª¡± they tried to control me.

    I was faster. Their fault really. In our escape, if there was something of interest to note, it was that Divi*** came easily when thought and consideration were cast aside. Acts of magic done by mundane motion. My recent practice allowed me to copy a trick I¡¯d used on Sinaya, Divi**** the space between me and my foe¡ªSecretary, by their own choice¡ªfor what may as well have been an inescapable blow.

    Despite this, they tried the control phrase once more. ¡°Spider-lillies¡ª¡±

    I ripped out their heart. Their arms collapsed between their chest and mine. They¡¯d slumped forward and I caught them¡ªcareful not to drop their heart. I¡¯d ripped it out but it was still theirs.

    A dying body may go cold, but their final breaths tend to be hot. The passion of living escaping the fragile cage of flesh and organs that evolved to hold onto it. Cling to it. Secretary, ever a master of themselves, didn¡¯t cling to life but to me. Pulling with the embers of strength on my hair so I¡¯d look at them. So I¡¯d see myself¡ªcarmine-faced, carmine-eyed with speckles of honey-gold, and a fang-filled smile salivating from another life taken.

    ¡°Yes?¡± I asked, expecting some corrosive words to be their last.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sentimental,¡± they said. ¡°To ever think you needed to embrace the comfort of the knife. What poorly fitted advice intended for an old regret.¡±

    I asked, ¡°And if you got to go again, what would you tell me?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± they said. ¡°You knew what you were. From how you argued near the end, Lupe figured it out. I¡¯m just late. So, I think it¡¯d be advice for me. To beware this knife, however beautiful or loving, and not to wish so readily to bring it into myself. As the closest, it seems, we¡¯d ever be is you plunged into my chest.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of words,¡± I said. ¡°You could¡¯ve commanded me to save¡ª¡±

    Secretary kissed me silent. They kissed me deep. Their lips gently chill, but tongue deathly cold. When we parted their lips looked lively¡ªit was just some blood from a dead cultist painting them though. As Secretary¡¯s fading command of their body, saw their legs knock and give. I didn¡¯t drop them. I couldn¡¯t drop them. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    What I did was prop them up. Against the upraised portion of the rooftop, so they could back¡ªaway from the Lodge I planned to ruin¡ªwhere the sun rose. I kept my eye on the future, forward always forward, after all.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Because it¡¯d haunt you,¡± they said. ¡°Going by that future-you, it still does.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s cruel,¡± I gasped.

    Secretary chuckled, coughed, and slumped to the side. ¡°Says the woman who stole my heart.¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, spotting a fire escape I could slip down.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be, it means I¡¯ll live on in your memory,¡± Secretary said, before cooing softly at a memory that floated in for their eyes only. ¡°So that¡¯s why I love the ocean.¡±

    ¡°Wh¡ª¡± I stopped myself. Their contract was done. Fulfilled by death. I¡¯d receive no answer and only had their slowing heart to comfort myself. To remember them by. To make sure something of them could stay with me¡ªI kissed it. Tenderly, reverently, wantonly. It wasn¡¯t their lips, but the absence of them I felt most acutely.

    I know I said this was a good part, but it¡¯s my part. Their part, in some ways esoteric.

    * * *

    Afterward, I cut my way across Brightgate. A scalpel sliding along her veins. Skipping off the bone. Chaining Godtimes with such rapidity that, were anyone to see me, I¡¯d be but a sanguine phantom in the corner of their eye. The only mark of my passage, proof of my trek, the gouges in the stone of buildings.

    When I arrived at our residence building, it was by its walls that I entered my suite. To my claws, the stone was only pudding-firm¡ªthe true obstacle was the window I¡¯d left locked by accident. A problem remedied through mortal force, however brutish. So it was onto a suite strewn with glass that I tumbled in, and finally let my feelings tumble out¡ªloud as they were.

    Amber found me first, and true to her character¡ªalways true she was¡ªno shock registered in her expression. She didn¡¯t pummel me with questions or demand I sketch out an explanation. She, as usual, read me. I wasn¡¯t a hard text in this state, wearing my pelt of gore and viscera.

    Stroking my head¡ªthough likely removing bits of flesh that were gum-stuck¡ªshe asked, ¡°What¡¯s next?¡±

    My hands, fanned across my face to catch tears, closed. Slid back so my eyes could meet hers¡ªmouth still hidden, but smiling. The curse, my carmine seductress, still flowed through my brain but it wasn¡¯t why I smiled. It was because Amber played her part so well to compliment mine¡ªalways making the choice or asking the question I needed. Whether I knew so, or not.

    ¡°Gathering our things,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re leaving.¡±

    In stating the next steps, I acted as any good leader should and went about completing them for myself. I¡¯d never really unpacked since we¡¯d been here¡ªwe were always going to make a hasty exit. Amber rose and wrapped her arms around me. Forced me to a stillness.

    Amber said, ¡°You didn¡¯t give up on killing Nemesis.¡±

    ¡°I already did,¡± I chuckled.

    ¡°How¡ª¡± Amber asked, but before she could compel me to any honesty I¡¯d turned about in her arms. Pressed my lips to hers. Not a kiss, maybe for her, but it wasn¡¯t a kiss as I saw it. At the time, I¡¯d decided that no kiss could compare to what I¡¯d had. There could be no taste I¡¯d wish to overwrite¡­or share with anyone on this earth.

    My pressed lips were enough to send Amber reeling. Her eyes danced with the flickering light of lust¡¯s heat, and the curse¡¯s urges¡ªI¡¯d painted her lips carmine by accident. She slipped from my room to the common area. My bag in one hand and Mother¡¯s Last Smile comfortably in the other, I followed. Discovering Melissa and Ina melted into each other on the couch, gently stirring before my blood-dripping presence entered their view and shocked them from slumber.

    ¡°Alls below,¡± Melissa gasped, ¡°Nadia are you okay?¡±

    I cocked a hip, winked. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Better at the sight of you, of course.¡±

    Ina, that small gremlin, clambered to cover Melissa with her own body. I hated that she tried, but as my tongue swished behind my fangs¡­what I really hated, loathed, is that she was right to do so. Ina had always seen me in the worst light possible¡ªshe was a bitch like that. It didn¡¯t make her accurate, but when you make the worst light in the house your spotlight you shouldn¡¯t be surprised if someone reads the scene appropriately.

    ¡°No shit,¡± Ina spat. ¡°If all that came from you, you¡¯d be face down and cold. So where¡¯d it¡ª¡±

    ¡°Really, Ina?¡± I purred. ¡°I¡¯m sure you could imagine worse ends for me. Which, speaking of ends, Melissa, go pack. We¡¯re leaving.¡±

    ¡°But the exam¡ª¡± Melissa said.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t needed anymore,¡± I stated with a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s go home.¡±

    ¡°Home?¡± Melissa questioned me as if still sleeping. She¡¯d dreamed of me stating such, no doubt. Though the word evoked a squeeze from Ina, a physical grounding in opposition to the fantasy I was trying to fulfill.

    ¡°The last test is today,¡± Ina said, reinforcing the obvious with another hug. ¡°Mel, you do this and you can go anywhere. Do anything you want.¡±

    The bitch even cupped Melissa¡¯s head with her twiggy fingers, and the two shared this look, these expressions, that had no continuity to the moment. Ina had revived an old discussion¡ªlast night¡¯s discussion¡ªand it had no room for me. Intentionally.

    Soft, conspiratorially so, Ina reminded Melissa, ¡°You could leave.¡±

    That¡¯s what they¡¯d talked about in each other¡¯s arms. Was Melissa¡¯s waking shock because I stood there a charnel mannequin, or was it because she¡¯d been lured to sleep with dreams involving my absence? Either way, it couldn¡¯t stand¡ªI planned to lose no other friends or lovers this close to my victory.

    ¡°She can leave by staying?¡± I asked, chuckling. ¡°That¡¯s oxymoronic even for you Ina, and I think very against the agreement we have, Melissa. Come now love, don¡¯t I deserve some defense?¡±

    Ina said, ¡°As if you aren¡¯t doing the same to me. Telling her to leave right now just because¡ª¡±

    ¡°I never said you couldn¡¯t come, Ina,¡± I stated, cutting off the little doll before she got too wound up. ¡°Melissa, we need to pack, and you can bring your favorite diva if you want. So please, pack.¡±

    Melissa whipped from Ina to me and back, our arguments tossing her between reality and fantasy without grounding. So, mediator that she was, Melissa parted from Ina¡¯s arms to make for her own suite. Very much keeping her berth around my growing puddle of wasted life.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get dressed,¡± she said. ¡°We can talk about leaving over breakfast?¡±

    ¡°No, we can¡¯t. It has to be now. Sooner the better,¡± I said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Ina asked.

    I laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t have to explain¡ª¡±

    ¡°Mel, ask why,¡± she urged. ¡°There¡¯s no reason Nadia would ever want me around.¡±

    ¡°Is it so impossible for me to have grown some, Ina?¡± I asked, before turning to Melissa. ¡°Please trust me and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Why does it have to be now?¡± Melissa asked, hesitant to slam the hammer of skepticism into the glass dream I¡¯d done my best to arrange.

    There hadn¡¯t been enough time to figure out how I was going to explain things. I¡¯d figure it¡¯d be easier on Every Train, Brightgate¡ªwhat was left of it¡ªin our rear, and her so thankful that I was quick to make the call for our exit. Answers are easier to accept when someone¡¯s happy. Harder when, as she was, already perturbed.

    ¡°It¡¯s simply not safe. The last test,¡± I answered.

    ¡°Why?¡± she asked.

    I said, ¡°The Lurkers, they¡¯re still a problem. A pernicious one. It¡¯s only prudent to realize that the Lodge has no intention of keeping us safe, and we¡¯d be better off making for some other exam in some other place.¡±

    Melissa screwed her eyes shut. Leaned against the doorway, and swung her, ¡°Why?¡± through my explanation. I giggled¡ªa minor pattering¡ªthen covered my mouth to smother them.

    ¡°Their plot, my love. To take the city and the Lodgemaster¡¯s head,¡± I said.

    Ina rolled my answer between shuffling hands. ¡°They¡¯ve been trying since the exam started. You didn¡¯t run at any of those points. Why now?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to answer¡ª¡± I said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Melissa asked, that great hammer of questioning swinging again, breaking things and wasting time. It was aggravating.

    I said, ¡°Because they have a small army¡¯s worth of entities¡ªunbonded but directable¡ªthey can field. The Staircases they¡¯ve made, some of them, connect to the menagerie in which they¡¯re kept. If directed¡­¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d drain into the city streets,¡± Ina concluded. ¡°Unbonded but having climbed a Staircase, they¡¯d be much weaker than a properly bonded entity. Yet, if it¡¯s so many of them¡­¡±

    Now, I concluded for her, ¡°Weakness doesn¡¯t matter. The Lodge will have to respond. Defenses will be thin everywhere. The Lurkers can ravage Brightgate¡¯s face whilst taking the Lodgemaster, their defender¡¯s, head. Is that a good enough answer, Mel?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but it means we have to stay,¡± she said, as I beheld her metamorphosis.

    Her dessert-sweet face hardened with the heat of conviction. I¡¯d laid out the reality and while terrible, she raised her head ready to face it, the faith in her eyes, scintillating, a crystal of righteous purpose shifting beneath the sun. She took my hand to guide me toward it¡ªunaware our morning had¡­passed. It pumped giggles out of me which in turn caused her clement expression to falter. Why was I laughing?

    ¡°Why, I¡¯ve accomplished what I set out to do,¡± I said.

    Ina said, ¡°The exam hasn¡¯t¡ª¡±

    ¡°Shut the fuck up,¡± I snarled, then whirled to Melissa. ¡°You know why we¡¯re here. When I tell you we can leave, it¡¯s because our task is done. Nemesis is going to die, and you and Amber won¡¯t have to worry about me doing it because I had a great idea¡ªif you don¡¯t mind me stealing your off-hand suggestion, Amber.¡±

    Amber, so quiet until now, dredged up my implicit joy to Melissa¡¯s explicit horror. ¡°Temple, I didn¡¯t mean it. If you let Marduk and Nemesis fight, no one here wins.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I said. ¡°What part of this isn¡¯t making sense?¡¯

    The room had quieted from my question, all of them as confused as a class clown sitting for an exam they never studied for. Then, they backed away from me¡ªwell, Ina and Melissa did, Amber stopped to lean over the counter in the kitchen of our suite¡ªlike I was an animal in a place meant for only people. Ridiculous really, this was my residence too; it was¡­until Melissa made a choice that I doubt she regrets. Without looking to Ina, she addressed the diva.

    ¡°Run to headquarters,¡± Melissa hissed. ¡°Now!¡±

    Ina¡ªwho I hold was more of an animal than me¡ªbolted, doelike, from the couch for the door. I¡¯d had little against Ina beyond her existence in my personal sphere, but the edge of apathy is so very thin. Melissa had shoved the girl to my mental category of enemies and obstacles. That was the real cruelty if you ask me.

    My fingers twined for an Atomic Glory, parted just as fast, loosing a sharp tongue of chalcedony flame I¡¯d intended for Ina¡¯s leg. It would¡¯ve been a fun bit of asymmetrical symmetry to have claimed her arm¡¯s opposite¡ªMelissa thought otherwise, swinging the couch with crude Mutant strength to block me. The flames were spent reducing the couch to nothing, and Ina slipped out the door while the upholstery burned to embers.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you do that?¡± I asked.

    Melissa said, ¡°You were going to kill her.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be dramatic,¡± I said. ¡°I was going to amputate her leg. Now, telling her to go spread the news, give Nemesis a fighting chance, well¡­now I¡¯m going to kill her. You did that yourself.¡±

    I dropped my bag, and reversed into my room¡ªthe window was already open. The drop wouldn¡¯t be that bad. Though again, Melissa thought otherwise and made use of her extensive sorcerous biomodifications. Thick strands of silk attached to my clothes¡ªjust above each joint¡ªthat she used to pull me back toward her. My shoes slipped across the floor. Inching me back from the window. Loosening the noose I¡¯d prepared for Nemesis and Marduk.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I pleaded, my voice weak, small, ¡°you remember your promise to me?¡±

    She gaped, ¡°Temple¡ª¡±

    ¡°Kill Melissa,¡± I ordered. ¡°She¡¯s in my way. You promised.¡±

    ¡°Nadia, what?¡± Melissa asked, as if she wasn¡¯t aware of what she¡¯d done. Betraying me, my family, and all for some random collective bitch she¡¯d known for a week.

    ¡°Do it!¡± I screeched, but Amber turned her head. Refused my request¡ªto fulfill her promise.

    Amber whispered, ¡°This isn¡¯t what I wanted with you.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s always what everyone else wants. What I can give them. Purpose, their dreams, freedom, or love. But when all I want is the heads of two monsters, you all abandon me. Well, I guess Sphinx was right. It would only be us in the end.¡±

    I went limp. No longer fighting to progress forward, Melissa inadvertently yanked me back towards her. She was off-balance. I rotated in the air, glaive ready to take her head. Mother¡¯s Last Smile lost its divine refulgence mid-swing¡ªthough I¡¯d been blind to it, focused on the expression Melissa held in those final moments. Neither betrayed nor sad. No, no, she had the look of someone who finally understood a joke, a lecture, a truth. Melissa saw me.

    ¡°Oh,¡± was what her final words would¡¯ve been.

    Mother¡¯s Last Smile kissed her neck¡ªI broke Mom¡¯s heart¡ªand her ¡°smile¡± shattered. A shard flew into my left eye, slicing through so quick and clean I¡¯d not have noticed if it wasn¡¯t for my vision darkening. I collided with Melissa. We fell, scattered across the room, and I wept.

    ¡°You killed my mom,¡± I moaned.

    Melissa, without heat, said, ¡°You did that yourself.¡±

    She was right. I¡¯d made the worst mistake. Squandered a precious gift. A weapon that, in retrospect, was never meant for vengeance or war. Mom had taught me everything she knew because she wanted me to be healthy. Be safe. She wanted to spend time with me. It was Mom who wheedled Dad about arranging the marriage; Melissa was someone she knew made me happy, made me feel like a person¡ªa rather large benefit for a hybridae¡ªand who¡¯d never abandon me. Mom loved Melissa. No surprise she¡¯d hate to see me try to kill her.

    I stumbled to my feet. ¡°I loved you.¡±

    Melissa wobbled to hers. ¡°And you, like this, are something I could never love. No matter if you wear the face of my Nadia, I refuse to love a monster.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°then let¡¯s finalize our divorce.¡±

    I charged toward Melissa. She dropped low ready to receive me, as she¡¯d done when we wrestled in middle school. I¡¯d no intention of something that sentimental¡ªmonsters aren¡¯t sentimental things. So hidden at my side, was a Fivefold Atomic Glory that wound together our shared fates and possibility. Where we¡¯d worked it out, fallen or risen together, parted amicably, or just outcomes where I¡¯d never come back here at all. They were pleasant; they weren¡¯t mine.

    Melissa caught me by my shoulders, stopping my charge. As if presenting a flower, I brought my hands forward for her to see. A quick glimpse before all was chalcedony. The roar of an explosion. A whoosh as she was launched backwards. When the fireflies cleared from my good eye, I saw our suite¡ªour temporary home¡ªburning away. Memories and all. Then, spearing through smoke and haze, was a vine of twisted muscle tipped with a serrated hook of bone. It latched into my shoulder, shredded muscle.

    In the distance, Melissa said, ¡°Let¡¯s,¡± before yanking me through the hole in the wall.

 Chapter 54

    ¡°When we first met, Nadia and I,¡± Melissa said, ¡°it was the summer. All us kids were taken down to the lake for the day, and I¡¯d chosen to fish.¡±

    I flew through the air stuck on that bone hook of hers. A wriggling thing like the fish in her recollection. Below me she hovered in the air; dragonfly wings buzzing away to preserve her stillness. The street below was still empty of people save the racing dot that I presumed was Ina. Though I didn¡¯t have long to observe, Melissa¡¯s back arched¡ªmy trek through air hadn¡¯t concluded¡ªflinging me back-first into the ceiling of a separate building.

    She said, ¡°I was alone¡ªI hadn¡¯t learned to swim yet¡ªand her being her decided to rectify that. Joining me there on the pier, dripping wet with her hair pushed back, as I was mid-struggle against a great fish hiding below the surface.¡±

    I had no idea why she was rambling about something so long ago. Roaring, I pushed through pain and confusion to find my feet. Cast a quick Atomic Glory to set fire to the hook curled through my shoulder, laughing as the flames scurried up the vine of muscle connecting the two of us in enmity. However, it took only one hand-spell for her body to still, to fall, and to shatter sideways. Slick with a Mutagenic vernix¡ªthe remnant of her quick-change¡ªshe burst from the flesh-shell that was her body.

    Tumbling through the air, I unleashed a flailing flurry of Atomic Glories. Most went wide¡ªrage and a lost eye made for poor accuracy¡ªwhile the few that would strike clean, she escaped via rapid shedding of her body, afterimages of dermis and fat sizzling to cascading embers. A trail of dancing nothing marked her descent from the sky to our new rooftop arena.

    Embers of nothing dancing in the wake of her descent from the sky to our new rooftop arena.

    ¡°She cheered me on,¡± she stated. ¡°Me, the littlest Knitcroft who stood in her sister¡¯s shadows. No one outside of my family looked at me, but she did. I was embarrassed¡ªfor her taste in who to root for¡ªwhen the fish yanked the line and pulled me off the pier. Part of me was happy that it¡¯d take me under the water¡ªso I wouldn¡¯t have to face the disappointment I¡¯d expected. But there was never expecting Nadia. She dove after me, sliced through the water without fear, and took my hand hauling me up toward the sun. The sun danced across her skin, stored the memory of itself in her eyes, and I forget everything she said¡ªI was busy falling in love.¡±

    I laughed, ¡°Why are you talking like I¡¯m not¡ª¡±

    Vind¡¯fulla¡ªMelissa¡¯s Baron¡ªcrashed into me. His antlers, for all that you could call the writhing neurons atop his head such, entangled themselves about my middle, my thighs, and under my armpits. Each attempt at escape earned me a muscle-failing shock. So away we went as he carried me off the roof and into the glass hide of another building. My body, the arrowhead, turned smooth hide into a vitreous web of cracks¡ªa delightful snap behind my ears told me so.

    ¡°The second time I met Nadia,¡± Melissa sang, ¡°was in my family¡¯s dye house¡ªher father had visited for work reasons¡ªwhere she stood alone in shifting pools of sunset colors. Dark oranges shifting hues toward shining white before spiraling back up through pinks toward rose. So tranquil it pained me to intrude¡ªI was scared that you¡¯d dart off before I could say anything¡ªbut it hurt more to imagine doing nothing.¡±

    The building shed glass¡ªlight splitting shards rained around me and Vind¡¯fulla¡ªwhich Melissa quickly took hold of with her field-spell. Glass melted, not from heat but by change, and flowed through air to shape into the head of a dragon. I hadn¡¯t seen one like it since my birthday¡ªthe festival¡ªwhen the town would make one to honor the Godtender of Collections who¡¯d saved the knowledge of the Old World, what we¡¯d need to sift through to make a new one.

    ¡°Inviolate Star,¡± I incanted, tongue nearly numb as the rambunctious shocks scattered the commands of my body.

    It formed in the mouth of the dragon¡ªa poison pill¡ªwhich spoiled Melissa¡¯s work. She was a Baron, so it wasn¡¯t enough to cancel her effects outright, but it¡¯d make the process more of a fight, even if ultimately a losing one. Most of that fight, on my part, was a losing one. Revelation is an esoteric Court at the best of times, and while its Sorcery moved from Real to Conceptual and back with ease. It struggled to stay on one side for long. Mutation, on the other hand, was extremely tactile; a gentle nudge that pushed things from their ¡°proper¡± path to a new one. Leaving things largely Real, save the moment where it nudged. I had to disrupt that nudge.

    Melissa continued, ¡°I stepped forward¡ªthough she¡¯d say I ran¡ªto take her side. Nadia looked at me like there was nothing else in the world, nothing else that mattered, and asked how all of this worked. I explained that the fibers, our cottons and silks, were photoreceptive. Sucking the color of the light that shined on them. Of course, I struggled through the explanation¡ªit was hard to remember vocabulary when impressing a beautiful girl¡ªand when I¡¯d found the limit of my tongue and studies¡­my heart shriveled into a corner thinking I¡¯d fucked up.¡±

    Melissa flung herself from the opposing roof. Her reared back arm Mutated into the glass dragon¡¯s head¡ªshe¡¯d given up on making the full thing¡ªand flew with her, a mirrored-gauntlet whose fangs reflected my own. Snarling in defiance of an old flame¡¯s love I was committed to denying. It was that same love¡ªas well as a dragon''s head, the size of which was meant for parades and not boxing¡ªthat Melissa pistoned into me a half-second after Vind¡¯fulla let me go. Behind me the glass gave way. The shards ricocheted light into my eyes¡ªMelissa may have caused that, or my luck is just that bad¡ªblinding me as I fell through the air¡¯s teasing fingers and collided with the patterned hardwood of the atelier we¡¯d crashed into.

    Mannequins proved horrible guards as the force of our arrival toppled them all. Tables, sewing machines, and rolls of fabric fell with them. I tried to suck down air to replace the breath Melissa¡¯s punch had evicted from my lungs, but the weight of her glass-wreathed fist was oppressive to their function. I rolled my eye toward her face¡ªto see if she meant for me to suffocate¡ªand discovered tears, ugly tears pouring faucet-fast from a face mauled by grief.

    ¡°Instead, Nadia hugged me,¡± Melissa cried. ¡°Told me we could look up the answer later, or just appreciate not knowing. ¡®Mysteries are pretty,¡¯ she¡¯d said while never once looking away from me. At the risk of no longer being a mystery¡ªbeing pretty¡ªI¡¯d told her my name. She said it was pretty too.¡±

    ¡°Is this some torture you¡¯ve devised?¡± I asked. ¡°Are you trying to Resurrect something in me?¡±

    From within my spirit, Sphinx begged, ¡°Nadia, let me out. You need every advantage against¡ª¡±

    No, I thought, you need to heal. Every second you do makes a comeback possible.

    ¡°Then have me in pieces, in shards,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Those large enough to rend and reap. I won¡¯t rest as you¡¯re broken.¡±

    Sphinx arched her back, breaching my spirit and spine like water, the eyes of her pelt burning bright before releasing a score of Atomic Glories. Long, harsh flames that pushed against the floor. Lifted me, that glass fist, and Melissa up into the air. I just had to roll over, slip free, and¡ªMelissa splattered my hopes beneath her palm. She¡¯d shifted into her chimeric warform¡ªher hand broke the glass dragon¡¯s head¡ªand leveraged the weight of her muscles and extensive modifications to return me to the floor.

    ¡°The third time wasn¡¯t a unique meeting,¡± Melissa admitted. ¡°I¡¯d known her for a while, we were playing one day in the woods outside of town. We shouldn¡¯t have been there, but Nadia loved to push the bounds and see what she could find. Our discovery that day was an entity, unbonded. And, having climbed the nearby Staircase, it took notice of us, chased us down deeper into the woods. I thought we were doomed.¡±

    Her voice, deepened to a thunder¡¯s rumble, shook down her arm into me. Pressed into my bones, marked them up like an inked-up thumb onto paper. Like Dad¡¯s records. A sad song able to be played long into the future.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t stop crying,¡± Melissa said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t remember the Mother¡¯s Prayer¡ªmy teachers and parents drilled it into us, but tears and fear hid the knowledge. Nadia, however, didn¡¯t cry or forget or yell at me for crying and forgetting. No, she comforted me. Wrote that formation out so fast, and held me. Told me a story about her sister dealing with scarier things every night. About how this formation was better than the rest. Taught to her by a shining lady. I knew she didn¡¯t have a sister, I knew it was just a story, but it worked. It brought me peace.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, get a life,¡± I screamed at her, goading her toward a misstep. ¡°All I¡¯m hearing is memories of my use toward you. Servitude dressed up as love!¡±

    Vind¡¯fulla stepped beside her, disappearing into the black wings of my lost vision in accordance to Melissa¡¯s unspoken command. The wood became amorphous, a wet clay that rolled over my legs and wrists; hardened into manacles that held me firm for my crucifixion. Melissa raised her hand¡ªit was the size of me, encompassed me¡ªthen slammed it down, smothering my vocal tirade. The floor buckled, cried out in abuse one last time, and broke, depositing us into a lower floor. Whose ceilings were just as high as the atelier¡¯s. We picked up speed. Shattered the floor, shattered the one after, assisted by high ceilings and the accumulated debris of previous stops not taken.

    ¡°We waited six hours,¡± Melissa said, her words dragging through the air like a bridal train. ¡°Talking about our dreams, our fears, our families, and it was in this conversation that she told me her real name¡ªintroduced me to Nadia. Not a unique meeting, but the most important.¡±

    Six floors in total we fell. Melissa¡¯s chimeric hands clutched the chunk of flooring I was bound to¡ªwielding it like a shield. I felt each collision through my back, in my blood, to my teeth. In the midst of our fall, it¡¯d begun to rain outside; fat droplets that slammed heedlessly into the lobby¡¯s glass front¡ªour final stop. The flooring and my bonds were reduced to splinters which rehomed themselves in my legs and arms, but I was free. Too broken to take advantage of it but still free.

    Her shadow fell over me. A series of eyelids shuttered in examination of the ruin I¡¯d become. Sphinx, just as broken as me with barely any time to heal, hobbled from my spirit to guard me. On three legs she stood, back arched and fangs bared. Her wings, one full and the other¡­healing, outstretched in defense. Melissa ignored her and enveloped me in her field-spell. She could¡¯ve done it at any point in our fight¡ªmy spell resistance was locked away alongside my explosive fate¡ªand I honestly couldn¡¯t tell you why she¡¯d not done it earlier. Ended this farce of a fight sooner.

    Through bloody breaths¡ªa rib had lanced my lung¡ªI asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°To most people, these are relatively small moments,¡± she stated. ¡°Vignettes from a longer romance¡ªmeant to be longer still if life bent another way¡ªbut to Nadia, every moment, every memory, stood on the next. ¡®Ours was a love built fastidiously,¡¯ she¡¯d say. Whether we fought or laughed, it all went back to that love.¡±

    Melissa¡¯s field-spell felt like kisses. Smelled like chai. Bent colors from what they were to what they could be. It overpowered me with its softness. Silenced the booming taiko that¡¯d been my heart¡ªit was a tempo not meant to last. Sphinx launched herself at Melissa, unwilling to let her treat my flesh as clay. However spirited the attempt, it couldn¡¯t make up for the wounds that dragged her down¡ªspecters of fights past¡ªallowing Vind¡¯fulla to catch her with his antlers and escort her beyond reach of me. This was to be a private affair between Melissa and myself.

    Melissa said, ¡°The edifice of affection Nadia created, I¡¯ll always cherish, but I want her to know that I¡¯m freeing her now. From every responsibility, from every dream unmet, and from the duty she so nobly upheld when it comes to loving me. Nadia, I know you were never religious, but allow me to ask that Our Guiding Lady Who Shepherds the Dead greet you with a broad smile. Rest now, forever, and know that no matter what you¡¯ll be a dear part of my story. Your parents will be in my story. I¡¯ll climb as high as must so that someone in this broken world can remember you all. Can say that there was once a girl named Nadia Temple, and she was loved.¡±

    As she spoke, she put me back together. Gently pulled apart muscle to slide bones back in place. Rewove said muscle to be just a bit better than before. She repaired my blood-drowned lung. Every bit of me the fight had broken she repaired. Then when she¡¯d finished, she left.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± I asked, stumbling to my feet¡ªthe new legs, because they were new legs, were still a smidge unfamiliar to me.

    She ignored my question, passed by Vind¡¯fulla¡ªwho at that point released Sphinx, and left the building we¡¯d wrecked. I chased after her like a jar rolling down the stairs. Always close to falling, coming undone, but staying together for the next step. Sphinx hobbled after me, and together we stumbled into the rain where Melissa had sloughed off her steaming chimeric flesh. I called out to her as she swung herself onto Vind¡¯fulla¡¯s back.

    ¡°Is that it?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯re going to beat the shit out of me, rambling about some fucking scenes of our past, and then heal me!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re mad I healed you?¡± she asked.

    Finger aloft, quivering with the violence of a sword, I shouted, ¡°No. Yes. Alls below, why the fuck would you heal me rather than kill me? Why not kill me?¡±

    Melissa slumped against Vind¡¯fulla¡¯s neck, shoulders shoved low from exhaustion. Her gaze to me was flat, not reading me like Amber or Secretary would, not seeing me like Sinaya. I was more like a thing to her. Fit for pity, exhaustion, but not true connection.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Cause you¡¯ve done that yourself,¡± Melissa answered with a smile. ¡°I was¡­I was just burying the woman I loved. She¡¯d been gone for a long time, and I wanted to say goodbye.¡±

    In her finally realizing that that Nadia was dead¡­I¡¯d turned myself into a grave. A memorial to a better person smothered on the cusp of her entire life by all the world¡¯s callousness. The rain stroked my hair down to my scalp. Patted at my clothes until they were heavy with moisture. At some point in my internal vigil¡ªher words had stunned me harder than falling through six floors¡ªMelissa had left. I didn¡¯t know where. I didn¡¯t really care. I was free. Alone in the rain of a city I¡¯d doomed, but I was free.

    Sphinx and I wandered in silence. When I¡¯d tried to return her to my spirit, so she could heal, she¡¯d placed a paw against my chest. Told me, ¡°I want to enjoy the rain.¡± Far be it from me to keep her from getting her pelt wet if that¡¯s what she wanted. Thinking back, she probably didn¡¯t, and she walked with me¡ªeven though it had to hurt hobbling like that¡ªfor block after block. Never allowing space¡ªfrom her side to my leg. We hobbled together, all the way to a square that was plenty familiar.

    I¡¯d met Secretary there before the wild hunt. Sphinx had greeted my emergence there after my date with Sinaya. It was a square with a beautiful fountain¡ªthat was off at the time¡ªand very nice benches that I and Sphinx sprawled ourselves out on. Her flowing into my lap. Me flowing over its back. With a clear view above so many buildings down to the bay where the city¡¯s eponymous gate looked exactly like what it was, a shabby relic of a time long since past.

    It was there from my meager bench, I saw the horizon¡ªthe water¡ªbulge like a pimple. Swelling and swelling, yet rather than how one reddens the flesh, this darkened the bay¡¯s waters into ebon iridescence. When the bulge could swell no more, it burst, and from the bay what came forth shattered that old relic, its pieces falling beneath the water, while Marduk ascended into the sky.

    Twice I¡¯d encountered only a sliver of Marduk¡¯s entity. The first was its belly and the second its back, but from the bench, so far away, I could finally see its awful entirety. Swimming in a sine motion through the air was a woman¡¯s veiled face with a body plan melded in sick design to that of a leopard seal, its flesh, milky and luminescent, like the moon as it was in the Old World. Sporting more breasts than a woman, and to call them breasts would be generous because they stretched to exaggerative tentacular lengths, and split down said length to reveal mouths filled with a panoply¡¯s worth of needle teeth that ran just below the dual areolas they had¡ªeyes, in truth. While atop its back were jagged spikes¡ªAtlantis, for those who knew¡ªwhereupon its head, sitting like a crown, was the spire that served as the throne¡¯s center.

    So large was it, that even far away down many hills and a few miles, my hands couldn¡¯t block it from view, its mass spilling over the sides to tease sight of it, that awful sight, which threatened my mind¡¯s cohesion. To think anything could be that big.

    Before Sphinx or myself could fall to terror or melancholy about what had arrived, the rain stopped. Not stopped as in ended, but stopped as in still. Twirling spheres waiting for command¡ªwhich came rather promptly. In unison, the raindrops vibrated into a tinny whine before striking harmony enough to carry a tune, a message.

    ¡°Hear me now, sons of Brightgate, for I come bearing grand news,¡± Marduk proclaimed, his voice heard by the entire city. ¡°You have been chosen to receive a most glorious purpose, to aid me in finding that stage just beyond meager humanity. Terrifying as this news might be, try not to let it spoil your day, for what might at first feel like oppression is only the firm hand of a father trying to lift you up to a better place. A better world. The Lightless World.¡±

    From where his entity swam in the sky, reality rippled and flipped like the tiles of a game. The underside of which was Abyssal blue, essentially black, and caused a cascading transition from Real to Conceptual; Marduk was spreading his territory. The people in the square, those on the streets nearby, and likely all across the district as well as the city, panicked. They dropped bags, food on skewers, anything that¡¯d slow their escape. They didn¡¯t know there was no escape.

    ¡°I win,¡± I muttered to myself and Sphinx. ¡°I win. I win. I win?¡±

    A phrase on repeat like a badly skipping record. I only wanted to see if there was a way to pronounce the words that didn¡¯t taste like bile on my tongue. In the meantime, the Staircases opened, entities from the Menagerie stormed into the district¡ªnot even weakened as one would expect due to Marduk¡¯s territory being established first, and flanking them were Lurkers and allies. I repeated myself, and Brightgate was at war.

    * * *

    Beneath the gloaming blanket of unReal sky, Sphinx and I listened to the dying cries of a city. There was the klaxon wail of an emergency broadcast instructing people to reach the shelter gates of their city segment. Tolling along were the bells of Tenders¡¯ Row declaring the Nine¡¯s palaces to be safe¡ªnot like the Nine showed for any of this. Of course, there were choral screams; defiant at fate¡¯s dealing to them, terrified at entities they couldn¡¯t fell, and mourning those already claimed and lost to death as if corpses could hear. Cymbal-sharp thunderclaps and bass-boom blasts of bullets and spells slipped through the orchestration of violence which congested every road, street, and alley.  Lodgemembers fought Lurkers in the street only to strike meaty thuds on each downbeat.

    ¡°The city¡¯s dying,¡± I stated.

    Sphinx said, ¡°They¡¯re wont to do that on occasion.¡±

    My hand found her hair, twined it between my fingers like the bars of a loom. Perhaps it was her nature, Revelation is composed of Stars after all, but even in that forced twilight it glistened. Sphinx purred in pleasure, her head settling into my chest. We basked in the purple glow of a shrine-lamp¡ªits light sorcerous and committed to resist the pressing dark. It wasn¡¯t much, resistance never had to be, but, dying though it was, the city still pushed back with every convulsion. Bony death throes intended for its conqueror to choke on.

    Is this what Dad listened to? Everyone agreed he destroyed that first city, but what about the second and third and every sighting after¡­was that him? I didn¡¯t want to think it was and yet that made more sense than the idea of him showing up to witness this. The noise, the mess, the bodies turned bulwarks, and the scent of smoky violence¡ªI think someone lit a fire somewhere. My senses were overwhelmed alongside my sensibility. There was death, of that I¡¯d seen plenty, but it was something frameable, romanceable. A committed nobility to fight and die in the name of¡­something. This was war. A city tumbling toward the grave. There was too much to frame.

    Is that why there are historians? People who can sit from temporal distance, and look upon tragedy and travesty like a speck on time¡¯s horizon¡ªmake it frameable. While a tad mythic, that¡¯s what they did for Dad. Would they do that for me? I hope they don¡¯t. Make a story of it, sure, dye these events with the colors of something causal¡ªnot necessarily palatable, we¡¯re not seeking distortion here¡ªjust an arrangement that pulls something from all of this. It¡¯s what I do¡ªhave done¡ªam doing¡­

    ¡°You stalk great thoughts, Nadia,¡± Sphinx whispered, ¡°but prey is easier caught with company.¡±

    I said, ¡°True, but it¡¯s all running wild in my mind right now.¡±

    ¡°Pick one to catch,¡± she said. ¡°The others can be killed later.¡±

    ¡°Where did I go wrong?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx¡¯s head tilted toward confusion. ¡°Whoever said you did something wrong?¡±

    ¡°You. The Barons,¡± I answered. ¡°Every time you said I was on the beleaguered path was a warning of that, wasn¡¯t it? That I chose the wrong thing, again!¡±

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Sphinx purred, her face buried into my neck, ¡°that¡¯s not what it means. Who can judge, whether upstream or down the flow of consequence, the rightness or wrongness of an action?¡±

    I waved my hand at the chaos that the city had fallen to. Sphinx chuckled at my offering of evidence, and shook her hair free of my fingers¡ªshe wanted the whole of me to listen.

    Sphinx said, ¡°This is what it is. Destruction and death¡ªthose coming as dates often¡ªare a part of life. Many someones died to make this city¡¯s first incarnation. Many died to create this one. Many die right now to usher in the next of whatever this place will be. These things happen.¡±

    ¡°No, they don¡¯t,¡± I snapped. ¡°People do things. Make decisions. I made a decision.¡±

    Sphinx bobbed her head side-to-side. ¡°Okay then, you did, but in that chain you have Marduk deciding he¡¯d try to take this city. You decided to let this happen. Everyone is deciding to fight back. Nemesis, wherever this place¡¯s woeful Lodgemaster hides, is deciding to do nothing.¡±

    Sphinx gestured with her wing at the city, ¡°Are you so important that your decision countermands all others?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Is your choice more grave than the one who sought this battle in the first place?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Is your¡ª¡±

    ¡°Sphinx,¡± I shouted. ¡°I¡­I get it, but I don¡¯t accept it. I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You must,¡± she said. ¡°This is the fruit of the beleaguered path, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°Atrocity?¡±

    ¡°Wisdom. The beleaguered path is not a condemnation of choices made,¡± Sphinx stated, ¡°but a descriptor of how you walk the Canonical Path. To be beleaguered is to face trials and tribulation. Pulling wisdom from pain and growing toward enlightenment.¡±

    ¡°Then why point it out every time?¡± I bemoaned.

    Sphinx kissed my cheek. ¡°Would you not want to do your best in steering a love from pain if possible? Many days ago I told you that if the way was strewn with glass, I¡¯d walk beside you, and still I¡¯d do so. It doesn¡¯t mean I want to see you bleed.¡±

    Above us a gossiping clique of vampire squid mermaids flew past, cadavers hung from their toxic hooks¡ªto where they took the bodies, I don¡¯t know. Marduk¡¯s entity, flying fortress it was, swam toward the city with breasts eager and drooling to sink teeth into its flank. Behind us the rolling din of violence pinged and ponged off the street¡¯s buildings before hitting something and causing an alley-racer to barrel roll past us, snuffing out the shrine-lamp by way of decapitation.

    ¡°Am I the alley-racer, then?¡± I asked. ¡°Pursuing enlightenment with destruction in my wake, apocalypse fluttering behind my every step, and living up to the bitter reality that as a hybridae I¡¯m a walking curse whose life means another¡¯s death?¡±

    Sphinx said, ¡°Only if you want it to. Decisions are what set you on the beleaguered path. They could just as soon get you off.¡±

    Noting how that did nothing for my dour disposition, Sphinx decided to amend her statement.

    ¡°Nadia, there is nothing following you,¡± she said. ¡°The agent spoke with¡­muddled accuracy, at best. If you don¡¯t want this, the death and destruction, then you have to find new choices. Ones that may be hard for you to make, seemingly cruel on the face of it, and persevere. They may lead you off of the beleaguered path, they may not, but as someone who walks the Canonical Path your decisions¡ªmuch like anyone¡¯s¡ªare tied into the tapestry of this world. You will make waves, of that unfortunately you can not escape, but whether the waves scatter to summon rainbows or drown these nation-seeds is within the purview of your decisions.¡±

    ¡°Could I have done anything different here?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You could¡¯ve been less greedy,¡± Sphinx said. ¡°Allow the Abyssal knight to perish, leave Mutation¡¯s maiden at home, or reject the fealty of the mummer. Morning¡¯s bard was a good choice though¡­I liked her. Shame.¡±

    ¡°I liked her too,¡± I said. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t I let go?¡±

    Sphinx¡¯s lips pursed, she had the answer but also the grace not to say it out loud. My smile stretched, wan and knowing, Just say it.

    ¡°You¡¯ve already lost,¡± she said, ¡°and though loss is life it¡¯s never easy. Nadia, if you¡­¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± I said, feeling forming drops along my lashes, ¡°royalty isn¡¯t supposed to show emotion at the natural flow of things. I¡¯m a princess, so¡­and emotion got me this. I don¡¯t deserve¡ª¡±

    Sphinx stretched her wings around me. Curtains from the world. In the dark of this intimacy, there were just the blazing stars that were her eyes, and they cried for me who¡¯d cried so much already.

    ¡°No crown sits on your head, and lest it be an illusion,¡± she whispered, ¡°we¡¯re on a bench. Not a throne. Be  mortal enough to cry, my love, royalty can wait.¡±

    And so I cried. Not tears of shock or rage at what was taken from me. I just cried, without outlet or direction. Grief is a potent Court, and it made me, like everyone, into a child. Wailing for a mother and a father to hold her, make sense of death, but there¡¯s no sense to be made. All lessons are in the thing itself. Which leaves us only the task of feeling. Only feeling. What I felt was Absence, Melancholy, Nostalgia, and ruinous soul-breaking Love.

    When I¡¯d sputtered cold¡ªLove¡¯s flame stealing heat from my heart in its passage¡ªSphinx pulled back her wings. The city I¡¯d declared was ugly and made an offering of for my parents, was bent and broken. It wheezed¡ªflickering snaps of violence, glared¡ªdropped bright warding shields around the district¡¯s edge to barricade the madness, and bit whatever it could¡ªbuildings collapsed tactically onto attackers. Dying with its middle finger to the sky, was Brightgate.

    However, my attention was on the hulking form that heralded the creeping fortress-shadow. With a tiger or bear¡¯s bulk, it was black and bereft of gloss or iridescence. Spiked like a sea urchin, tips bloodied and dripping¡ªthe blood was what traced each plate into distinction. One hand dragged, uncaring, a sword whose hilt was a spine, whose guard a pelvis, and whose vertebrae wound sinuously as support for a blade of ice. At this fell knight¡¯s hip was a gourd I¡¯d recognize forever, Memories of the Diluvian World. From gait to gourd, it was Sinaya.

    Spinx struggled from my lap, but soon took position before me. I rose after and waited, with baited breath and teetering hope. At the edge of the square, he raised his sword in salute.

    ¡°Sinaya, I didn¡¯t betray you,¡± I yelled. ¡°Secretary used the curse¡ªthe mask¡¯s curse¡ªagainst me and you and Lupe. I wanted to run back for you, but I couldn¡¯t. You were taken and I¡ª¡±

    He raised his hand, quiet. The drawbridge to my voice and excuses, raised shut. He crossed the distance between us. Sphinx hissed, her fur at attention, and the eyes of her pelt blazing bright in expectation of violence¡¯s outbreak. I set my hand on her head.

    ¡°Sphinx, stop. It¡¯s Sinaya,¡± I pleaded. ¡°It¡¯s him.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Sphinx hissed.

    ¡°My lady, it¡¯s best you heed your companion,¡± the knight stated, his voice one of smoky dusk supported by velvet shadow. ¡°You speak of the young master, of whom I am confidante, and am not.¡±

    ¡°You sound like him,¡± I argued. ¡°You have his gourd! His Conceptual weapon. Did you steal it from him? Did you do something to him?¡±

    The knight settled the sword¡¯s tip to the ground where it shattered stone from sheer cold. He raised a hand to halt my hurried interrogation. I swallowed my hope in waiting for his answer.

    ¡°On good terms, the young master and I are,¡± he said, ¡°but he is committed to worlds of slumber rather than the ones we waking folk make our own.¡±

    His helm¡¯s top half parted, and Sinaya¡¯s mane tumbled forth to catch the breeze rolling like a wave. This reveal was only enough to show me that his eyes¡ªthose beautiful eyes¡ªwere closed, and tendrils of muscle like that of a sea anemone clung to his skin. He¡¯d finally found the eternal sleep he sought. Though not death¡ªwhich would¡¯ve been an unbearable loss¡ªthis puppeting made me question that assumption.

    ¡°Then what are you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Angler Knight, the Everlasting Night,¡± he said with a bow.

 Chapter 55

    ¡°Give him back,¡± I said, ¡°or at least let me talk to him.¡±

    He shook his helm closed with a resounding and satisfied snap-click that reminded me of a coffin¡¯s locking. Then with a flick, the Angler Knight raised his glacial flamberge, pointing to my heart. Placed an open hand over his own¡ªSinaya¡¯s in truth.

    ¡°He made many things clear before he entered his torpor,¡± the Angler Knight stated. ¡°First, above all else, was that there is nothing he wishes to say or hear from you, Lady Nadia.¡±

    Nothing? I had everything to say, everything I wanted to hear from him, and for him to hear from me. It wasn¡¯t that I thought my explanations would change the past¡­I just wanted them to save us if nothing else. From rash decisions like entering an eternal sleep inside a suit of armor; settling for what freedom could be found behind his eyelids. The shock of this sat me back down, my heart threatening to overflow. The Angler Knight, keeping a respectful distance from Sphinx, allowed me my moment and not one more.

    ¡°It¡¯s time we leave,¡± he said, and at my confusion added, ¡°to Lord Marduk¡¯s throne. You¡¯ve been designated as one of the treasures he¡¯d like retrieved before he lays waste to the light of resistance that burns here.¡±

    Eyes red from tears and my curse, I growled, ¡°Marduk can fuck himself.¡±

    ¡°Shall I take this as your commitment to conflict?¡± he asked, blood still dripping from his spikes. ¡°My only task is to see you brought back alive. The status of all else is not my concern.¡±

    Unlike Sinaya¡¯s last entity, the Angler Knight spoke in a manner bereft of sadism. This isn¡¯t to say there was warmth to his words, of which there wasn¡¯t, but that sadism, while a foul color to one¡¯s tone, is a color all the same. His words, this umbral retainer Sinaya let act in his stead, were cold as the void¡ªan Abyss of a different clade than I¡¯d seen¡ªand flat as a starless sky. Violence from him would be natural, free-flowing until it need not, and whatever form it took wouldn¡¯t cease until he¡¯d completed his task. Why the fuck did Sinaya let this thing run wild?

    ¡°I¡­¡± trailed off, my gaze drifting up from the Angler Knight to the source of a sudden whistling.

    Descending from above¡ªdropping in from some unknown point¡ªwas a Lodgemember wreathed in a kaleidoscope of butterflies. Their wings, impeccably sharp, and proboscides, spear-tipped and superheated from ripping through air. The Angler Knight never looked up; he folded his sword beneath his arm and raised a finger.

    ¡°Hold your answer,¡± he stated, an instant before the swarm met his plate.

    A waterfall of prismatic-winged violence poured over him, obfuscated him, and swooped low skimming ground to arc back up into the flow descending again to continue the circuit of harm. It flowed faster and faster, blurring butterflies from distinction into an incandescent lemniscate. The Lodgemember who¡¯d sic¡¯d them on the Angler Knight landed, technically buoyed atop a cloud of them not committed to battle. He looked pleased by the attack, enough so that his attention drifted¡­which is why he died.

    The space, the dark, behind the Lodgemember stretched forward and around the Angler Knight¡¯s armored physique as he breached back into three-dimensional space. His finger, out-stretched in the most gentle manner, tapped the back of Lodgemember¡¯s head. He tried to turn around, his butterflies ceased flowing, and it was futile¡­his head imploded.

    There was no cry of pain or meaty squelch. Only a neck¡¯s stump where once upheld a head with thoughts, tastes, and reasons to fight for this city. His body hit the ground, on that downbeat again, and was joined by the tragic rain of discorporating butterflies. Which revealed what they¡¯d struck, an ice sculpture of the Angler Knight; heavily eroded from their assault.

    ¡°I substituted the statue for myself,¡± the Angler Knight explained. ¡°Imbued enough power into it that it held the appropriate resistance he expected my corpus to possess. Then I slipped inside Abyss¡ªit makes for easeful travel¡ªemerging again to employ the technique of which you¡¯re familiar.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask,¡± I said, processing the five seconds it took for the Lodgemember to arrive and die.

    The Angler Knight touched the ground¡ªcould you believe a suit of armor could be that quiet, float down with feather-grace¡ªand set his attention on me once again. His head tilted in moderate confusion before he shrugged it off. All with the same mannerisms Sinaya used.

    He said, ¡°Strange, the young master stated quite clearly how curious you are when it comes to sorcerous matters. I would¡¯ve thought it¡¯d be of interest.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d ¡®intrigue¡¯ me with secrets about how you fight?¡± I asked.

    Sphinx grumbled, ¡°He¡¯d goad you into a fight. Make you think you have a chance at winning.¡±

    His game given up, the slits¡ªof which could barely be made out¡ªof his helm opened to reveal eyes, slanted and stacked on one side, that narrowed in mischievous malice. He bent over, swiped a finger through the pooling blood of the cool corpse, and raised it up in appreciation. The helm¡¯s lower half stretched into an adumbral jaw of metal fangs that parted as four tongues¡ªnone of them Sinaya¡¯s¡ªcoiled about the finger in a fight to savor the flavor of the slain man¡¯s life.

    ¡°Forgive an old knight newly born,¡± he said, finger popping from his mouth. ¡°I¡¯ve yet to quell the tastes and traits of my ¡®younger¡¯ self if you would. Now, shall we fight, Lady Nadia? I have so many new spells and tricks to show you.¡±

    Sphinx asked, ¡°Do we die or move forward?¡±

    Her voice was steady as Dad¡¯s hands when he assembled a shrine. I don''t know how she didn¡¯t waver in asking the question; fighting Sinaya at one link of difference took everything I had in both attempts¡ªI cheated in both attempts. This was a fight of two links of difference, an impossibility without a plan or a bandolier of cheats strapped across my body, and I¡¯d been found¡ªcornered¡ªwith nothing.

    ¡°Would a fight even be rewarding for you?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯re a Viscount.¡±

    The Angler Knight traced his sword¡¯s tip through the air. ¡°Exercise, however brief, is its own reward, and I am still fresh from my graduation. Too untested, and you¡¯d serve as a pleasing benchmark for what power I might exert.¡±

    ¡°Sinaya wouldn¡¯t want this,¡± I said. ¡°He was never cruel.¡±

    ¡°The latter point I don¡¯t contest,¡± he agreed, ¡°but on the former, well, the young master spoke to me nothing of his wants. ¡®There¡¯s too much Hope in wanting,¡¯ he¡¯d said.¡±

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Sphinx stated, ¡°his is an unerring blade. Neither pathos nor reason will parry him.¡±

    This wasn¡¯t anything I¡¯d failed to parse from our brief exchange of words, but I had no way to answer Sphinx¡¯s question, to die or move forward. How do you when both choices are an illusion masking the same destination, death? An outcome I¡¯d faced more than once before, but at least had the chaser of success masking the bitter notes of a long goodbye. In that moment I was surrounded by the monuments of my failures, my road terminating at my grandest¡ªSinaya, and there Sphinx stood beside me all the same, her paws ready to tread over the shards of my ruined life.

    If I¡¯d let go at Fort Tomb, named myself, and dredged forth the entity within me, could I win this? If I¡¯d graduated with Sphinx there in my residence suite, or even at the hospital, could I win this? There¡¯d been so many times to grow my power, and I¡¯d held back for fear of losing what I loved¡ªironic then that there was no one here who loved me, who¡¯d stand by me, save Sphinx¡­so ready¡ªtoo ready¡ªto die for me. I couldn¡¯t see her die.

    Sensing my desire, Sphinx snapped, ¡°Nadia, don¡¯t you dare¡ª¡± then silence.

    My senses fell away from me. I groped about in the dark of my mind and spirit until I felt the edges of a door¡ªit¡¯d been there for some time¡ªyearning to be opened. Wrapped hands of trembling determination around the knob and pulled. Darkness gave way to light, my eyes opened ready to behold my trial¡­and there was the Angler Knight still standing before me.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± I hissed.

    I was still in the city, witness to its dying breaths, and faced with a choice made all the more difficult¡ªthere was no Sphinx at my side anymore. She was there, beyond the door¡¯s threshold, but quiet. Responding to no question or statement that howled through my thoughts. I couldn¡¯t expel her from her place within me. I¡¯d initiated my trial, and summoners face their trial alone.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± I whispered, truly alone for the first time in what felt akin to forever.

    In the far distance, one of the breasts of Marduk¡¯s entity glowed bright, surging rings of white flickered down its length, inflating the breast¡¯s head into lobe-y shape. Whatever was stored inside its mouth soon forced the maw open, rolling its upper and lower jaws back like a sock mid-removal. Revealing a bead of such condensed power, such oppression, that I could only watch from my peripheral vision.

    Ptoo, was the sound it made¡ªdaintier than I¡¯d expected¡ªas the bead was fired. Released? In either sense, it¡¯d disappeared from between the breast¡¯s teeth, and, on the next downbeat of this war, I heard a whoomph. Quick, breathy, like when Mom would blow an eyelash from my eye or when Dad pantomimed cleaning the ¡°game cartridges¡± he used to collect. Though my examples are domestic, I¡¯d ask you to imagine that sound raised to the volume of a thundering heaven, a bellowing god, the quick-quiet grunt of five hundred lives¡ªenemies, allies, civilians¡ªand histories snuffed in one moment. Paired with the sight of a skyline flattened.

    At the time I had no words. Marduk had flattened, churned to shadowed gray, the section of the Lodge district. I think it was the dockyard; it had to be, the shoreline was bitten by the blast. Secretary¡¯s favorite place was gone. All because a monster let it happen, and a different one had grown bored of facing resistance.

    ¡°It seems quarrel is not within my itinerary,¡± the Angler Knight declared.

    He dropped his sword into his shadow and hurriedly swooped me into his arms. Just a quick toss¡ªI corkscrewed in the air¡ªbefore he caught me on his shoulders, slung over like a sack. Then he ran, a pressure wave boosting each step just like Sinaya would do¡ªhad done. The city howled in rage and pain, the sound blurring by to pitches my ear could never catch.

    As we bolted, I kept my eyes ahead, technically behind us, where I met my face cloned in triplicate with minor changes. Barons Isolating, Unmaking, and Questing followed in the Angler Knight¡¯s wake, close enough to graze his back were they truly present. It was easy to find my words, as well as my fury, when met by my own alien smirk.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Sphinx?¡± I asked.

    Revelation Isolating said, ¡°Beyond the gates of your, hopefully, inevitable graduation.¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Revelation Unmaking said, ¡°but we are rooting for you!¡±

    ¡°Alls below, I don¡¯t care,¡± I said. ¡°I initiated the trial, so what¡¯s going on? Why am I not¡­¡±

    ¡°Engaged in some vision?¡± Revelation Questing offered. I nodded, and she said, ¡°Shame then, that¡¯s not our trial. Ours is rather special, and while you¡¯ve claimed your ticket you¡¯re yet to board, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°So what is it?¡± I asked, the metaphor slipping past me.

    Revelation Isolating purred, ¡°A trip, my dear.¡±

    ¡°Make way knaves!¡± the Angler Knight commanded, unable to perceive what followed him and the conversation I was engaged in.

    I lifted my head, curled my body to look behind me¡ªtechnically ahead of me¡ªto note the squad of Lurkers hunched behind the lightning-blasted carcass of an alley racer. Past them was a trio of summoners slinging bolts of Cathartic lightning¡ªthe ones I presumed blackened the vehicle which served as the Lurker¡¯s cover. The Angler Knight had us set to ram into the cover and conflict. That is, until he grasped my ankles, swung me round in four quick spins, and hammer-threw me over both cover and conflict. The Barons joined me in the air at least.

    ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck,¡± I screamed. ¡°How do I start?¡±

    Revelation Unmaking stammered, ¡°You need only depart.¡±

    Below me the Angler Knight leaped over the blasted cover, sprinting through the exchanged volley without losing speed. The lightning-slingers, no stronger than soldiers most like, formed matching hand-spells as fulgurous snakes of stormy clouds emerged from their spirits to entwine into a celtic knot, daring to dualcast while ritualizing their lightning spell. I didn¡¯t know whether to cheer them on or curse their attempt; no matter my loathing for the armor which entombed Sinaya, it was Sinaya entombed within¡ªany harm that struck true would strike them.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    They loosed their spell, a tree of lightning whose roots grew from them, the casters, and the snake-knot above. Fulgent branches sizzled across dead buildings and overturned vehicles, reaching greedily for the Angler Knight who¡¯d formed the seal for a hand-spell I¡¯d never seen Sinaya cast. It smoothed away all differentiation between the plates of the armor, leaving him as something more than a silhouette¡­a window, rather, to the void between stars that great celestial Abyss which held all in its palm. The worries flocking ¡®round my indecision flew away as lightning shot through the window, racing off into infinite, everlasting night.

    Having already warned them once, the Angler Knight held silent as he burst through their spell and then their trio, his bulk large enough to consume a grown man, and did, leaving only limbs in his wake. Post my aerial nadir, as I descended back into the Angler Knight¡¯s arms, I caught sight and memorized the expression on the man¡¯s face as he tumbled limbless into black¡ªsurprise at the present of painful, final wisdom. The Angler Knight reverted to his twisted normal, shutting the window.

    ¡°So you return, Lady Nadia,¡± the Angler Knight stated, ¡°it¡¯d have been frustrating if you flew off.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I wheezed, shoving down the terror of touching what was in fact a trapdoor to doom.

    Laid back over his shoulder, I raised a new question to the Barons. ¡°When can I depart?¡±

    ¡°Immediately,¡± Revelation Questing said, ¡°provided you find a way.¡±

    ¡°To where?¡± I roared, frustrated and fearful.

    The trio responded, ¡°Beyond causality¡¯s rim.¡±

    ¡°Spears and sabers,¡± the Angler Knight groaned, unslinging me into his arms cradle.

    The next blast came. Ptoo. Whoomph. This time the residential portion of the district¡ªwhere Sinaya and I had fought together¡ªwas flattened. A wave of evaporated buildings and bodies swept over us, a dust cloud of particulate debris moving so fast it shredded metal into whining strips. Protected by the Angler Knight¡¯s body, I listened to the finger taps of the dead against his armor; curious as to why we lived and they died¡ªit wasn¡¯t like we were a righteous duo.

    Though we escaped being shredded to pieces, the pressure wave of the blast banked us off the ribs of a destroyed apartment complex¡ªits spatial enhancements broken, rooms tumbling forth as fractalized innards¡ªinto an overturned cable car. We punched through one wall and stopped after hitting the opposite interior wall. Groaning, the Angler Knight¡¯s arms flopped open, and I crawled out from his lap to take advantage of his incapacitation, however brief, to escape.

    Out of the car and into the street, it looked like a desert of bone dust, municipal and mortal, had swept the street. Dunes covered vehicles, hands clutching toward heaven poked free like so many flowers¡ªsome were so tiny¡ªbut I turned from it, the horror and all, to face my Barons. I couldn¡¯t comprehend any of this and decided to ask one last question.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t there four of you?¡±

    The trio looked at each other then back to me. Confused why I¡¯d ever ask that question.

    ¡°My dear,¡± Revelation Isolating said, ¡°I think it¡¯s clear¡­¡±

    Revelation Unmaking picked up, ¡°from choices made and your disposition¡­¡±

    ¡°...that you¡¯re far from her now,¡± Revelation Questing finished.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I grunted.

    They pointed up. I looked. Above me, the district I found myself in, was the open tit-maw of Marduk¡¯s entity¡¯s breast. A bead of power mature and ready to be launched. ¡°Oh,¡± I said.

    Ptoo. Whoomph. DEA¡ª!

    ¡°Intermission,¡± Amber incanted behind me.

    The early displacement of dust, the pre-emptive dissolution of buildings, and the Angler Knight, now risen and half-out of the cable car, froze. Above me, our collective doom refused to settle into stillness, only slowing. Though an instantaneous death once slowed merely proceeded at the pace of a hurtling train just past the eye¡¯s horizon.

    Whirling around, I found Amber standing in the street with my bag in hand and hers slung over her shoulder. What seemed like flames danced up and down her raspberry locs, flickering in the indecision of whether now was the time to ignite the whole of her head or not. Nahey tittered, fluttering around her shoulders.

    ¡°You left your bag, Temple,¡± Amber said, and more softly, ¡°as well as me.¡±

    ¡°My bag¡­¡± I whispered, stunned by the mundane thing in her hands. ¡°You brought my bag?¡±

    She looked sheepish, and said, ¡°It¡¯s not much of an apology gift, I know, but I am sorry¡­about not killing Melissa. I didn¡¯t realize I couldn¡¯t because¡­I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d ever want that. The three of us were so nice together¡ªhealthiest relationship I¡¯ve ever been in¡ªand I got selfish. I promised to be your hands and failed you when you needed me to act. So, I wanted to at least grab your stuff and bring it to you¡ªif you were leaving town still¡ªthat way you¡¯d have everything you might want to take with you¡­still.¡±

    I stared at the bag, then her, brushing aside her arm to wrap her in an embrace. It was a messy, ugly hug of frenzied pressure administered haphazardly across her body. Testing that she was real and unharmed, she passed both. Looking up into her eyes¡ªwere those shreds of flames flying off with each blink?¡ªI could tell she still, somehow, held me in some affectionate esteem I didn¡¯t, could never, deserve.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, tears flowing.

    She brushed my hair back. ¡°I love you. One rage-motivated kill order won¡¯t change that.¡±

    ¡°I know you do,¡± I moaned, slapping my hand against her chest. ¡°I do too, so why the fuck show up here¡ªto die with me?¡±

    ¡°Temple, I didn¡¯t¡ª¡± Amber stammered.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me watch you die. Don¡¯t watch me¡ª¡±

    ¡°For the second time,¡± Amber said, catching my wrist, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but trust me when I say that I didn¡¯t come here for either of us to witness the other¡¯s death.¡±

    I snatched my arm back¡ªshe looked like she believed this, but one glance upwards quelled my ability to believe in her; death was still approaching, however slow. Reading my doubt, Amber rolled her eyes and tossed my bag to me. I caught it, and watched her stride past me, jacket fluttering behind her with Nahey at her heel.

    Without looking back, she called over her shoulder, ¡°Temple, you can¡¯t only believe everything you see, for reality¡¯s a fiction¡­¡±

    One finger pointed skyward, her other hand she raised to her face¡ªhidden from view¡ªand ripped away something profound. Blinking, I watched, frame by stuttery frame, a change overcome Amber. In staccato steps, she grew twenty feet. Her hair extended in length commensurate to her height, and the flames which had teased my eyes, too indecisive about their moment, surged to take center stage transmuting what was mundane keratin to perfectly loc¡¯d strands of raspberry fire. Her skin took on a dewy effulgence that created a shadow of light whose luminescence was only superseded by the halo of Sovereignty that sat atop her brow¡ªa line of light tracing a circle broken up by the characters which composed the Coronation name for the Sovereign of Masks.

    A Sovereign composed of ten, twenty, fifty¡ªsome unReal endless impossible number¡ªof women sporting butterfly masks whose wings told a different expression, story, identity. They crowded around Amber, clung to her legs, her back, draping themselves in a tableau of artful worship. Enhancing the grandeur of their bondmate as if they¡¯d prepared for only this moment.

    ¡°...and easily overwritten.¡±

    She snapped the hand, now at her side, and the Intermission ended. Movement occurred. Death arrived with a flash of black¡ªMarduk¡¯s attack stomped on light itself¡ªthat tossed me into a void of vision. I saw nothing for five interminable seconds. However, I felt the finger of something more real, impossibly real compared to everything around me, tip my head back. A voice that taught me how false all sound had been until this point, spoke to me.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay Temple,¡± Amber whispered, ¡°you can see. Just open your eyes.¡±

    For all the doubts of godtenders I¡¯d amassed since Dad¡¯s death, it felt so natural to put my faith in one when they deigned to speak to me directly. My eyes opened¡ªI wished I¡¯d kept them closed¡ªto greet Amber¡¯s nothing of a face. Where before there¡¯d been her kissable lips and sharply-planed face, I now only saw darkness. As if someone took the chisel tip of a paintbrush and whipped freely back and forth laying planks of ebon paint over almost every feature she¡¯d possessed. The one that went untouched was her eyes, raspberry with pupils aflame.

    Her eyes pinched gleefully, ¡°See, Temple, nothing¡¯s set in stone.¡±

    I looked around us, we were an island¡ªno, more of a plinth¡ªof what remained of the street. Beyond us, in every direction, was level flatness. Even the cable car, where the Angler Knight¡ªSinaya¡ªhad been stumbling from, was gone. One with the dust cloud that traveled back toward the remaining edge of the district and broader city. I fell to my knees.

    ¡°Temple, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Amber asked, her voice echoed by her Sovereign chorus. ¡°You lived.¡±

    ¡°He died,¡± I answered. ¡°Sinaya¡¯s dead.¡±

    Amber kneeled, gently patted my head with her hand that could crush me.

    ¡°Humans die, Temple, it¡¯s the way of things,¡± she said. ¡°Best not to worry overmuch.¡±

    I shook my head, rising and jabbing my finger in her direction. ¡°No, no,¡± I roared, ¡°you might be a godtender but you have to remember what being human is like. It¡¯s scrabbling and struggling to get anything in this world. Us reaching for Sorcery is so we could push back at all the bullshit the Old World had become. At the people who said shit like, ¡®it¡¯s the way of things,¡¯ when their actions or inactions let the dead pile up.¡±

    Sobbing and screaming, I continued, ¡°And right now, you¡¯re the only godtender present and I¡¯m asking¡ªtelling¡ªyou to do something. Alls below, if reality is fiction, then rewrite this.¡±

    Amber sighed, ran a hand through her flaming hair, ¡°Temple¡ª¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®Temple¡¯ me!¡± I said, stomping to punctuate. ¡°Can you bring them back?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she responded flatly, ¡°but it¡¯d shift my role in this drama.¡±

    I said, ¡°You¡¯re a godtender, no one can put you in a role.¡±

    ¡°In that, you¡¯re wrong,¡± she said. ¡°Sovereigns have more of a role to play than anyone¡ªconsequence of power. I arrived to play the role of your ferrywoman, to see you from here unharmed. Reviving everyone is within my power, but it¡¯d make me no ferry but the deus who¡¯d set this machine back to rights¡ªdoable but would force me away from you.¡±

    ¡°For how long?¡± I asked.

    ¡°How long,¡± she muttered. ¡°Long enough, Nadia, long enough for Marduk to fire another shot and kill everyone, including you, again. Maybe longer seeing that I¡¯ll have to shake off the Nine ¡ªthey¡¯re very particular about who gets to be a god. Either way, not worth it.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t accept that. Amber¡¯s points, while esoteric at the time, weren¡¯t unassailable. There had to be a solution, a trick out of this, and I searched the flat ruins of Brightgate for it. I found it behind me, in a building that was coated in a murmur of cherry blossoms and stood in beautiful rebellion to Marduk¡¯s awful horde¡ªthe Summoner¡¯s Lodge headquarters.

    ¡°What if you push me into harm?¡± I asked.

    Amber¡¯s eyes widened in understanding. Only to narrow at my madness. She couldn¡¯t save me from harm and reverse the destruction that¡¯d occurred here. Doing the former left everyone dead, abhorrent to me, but the latter meant Marduk would just strike again, a waste to Amber. However, raise the dead and send me into the den of the third monster lurking in this city, well, that meant Amber needn¡¯t be ferry or deus.

    ¡°You¡¯d play Faust, opposite me?¡± she asked. ¡°You owe this city nothing, Temple.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know the reference,¡± I admitted, ¡°but I¡¯m trying to make better choices¡ªSphinx¡¯s advice¡ª¡±

    ¡°This is hardly a better choice,¡± she said. ¡°It looks more like a complicated¡ª¡±

    ¡°Suicide,¡± I interjected, ¡°maybe, but sometimes better choices seem awful on their face. Besides, it was our plan to get me into that room from the beginning. This is us finally doing the damn thing.¡±

    She was on the edge of falling to me; her eyes did that thing where she read me, searching for any hidden feelings that her disagreement could prop up against. I did that thing where I looked at her, smiled, and tried to leverage every iota of my infectious confidence that may have killed so many so far but this time could be used to bring them back. Her eyes shut to a dark face¡ªI thought I¡¯d failed¡ªthen opened again.

    ¡°I won¡¯t be able to catch you,¡± she said, ¡°if this plan curdles.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Plans curdle, these things happen. Don¡¯t worry overmuch.¡±

    She raised her hands leaving afterimages that shimmered into distinct and Real arms of their own. A thousand and one limbs readied to direct the Sovereign of Masks many bodies. Her hands twirled and closed tight around reality, she had notes to give.

    The fluttering pages of time stopped. Photons ceased shifting between particle and wave. I couldn¡¯t breathe nor think, all were actions, and we players, per our director¡¯s command, would commit ourselves to both stillness and silence. She sliced out the script¡¯s pages, laid them flat¡ªI was spread across the six of them, a hundred-and-sixty-eight times, moments fully realized and considered that played all at once¡ªshe took a razor to the pages. Sliced out my moments, shifted around words, and discarded others; gone went ptoo and to the shredder fell whoomph. Those figures whose names I¡¯d never known and the few I¡¯d recognized¡ªMelissa Knitcroft, Tsumugi Hoshino, Ina Goetia, Sinaya of the Sunken Valley/The Angler Knight¡ªshifted place to stand beside me in this moment, yet to come when cued.

    With marks reset, players called back to stage, she addressed the scenery¡ªthat flat construction called, reality¡ªand reset the light down to every errant photon. She rolled through the score, winding back and cutting out measures deemed no longer relevant. Then rebuilt what set had been struck as couldn¡¯t everything that was Real notice the script called for all these buildings. What, no, there was no cue for destruction, don¡¯t you see how it¡¯s absent from time¡¯s pages? We all have to obey the script¡ªit¡¯s paramount.

    Every change now made, all agents given new command, the director lowered her hands. Her crew fled to the wings and the seats behind her. She brought together her thousand hands. CLAPPED¡ªthe cue. Run it again, she commanded from a viewpoint beyond time and space.

    I blinked, and a wind passed through the desolation that surrounded me. Plucked away the ruined vista to reveal a perfectly unmarred version of Brightgate. The streets filled with Lurkers and Lodgemembers alike, villains and victims side-by-side in temporary confusion. Amber turned to me, one hand still raised, primed.

    ¡°It was you,¡± I said, realizing. ¡°Why the fuck did you¡ª¡±

    Her eyes bloomed in panic. She freed her finger and with a powerful flick caught me in the chest. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it sent me flying backward through the rustling curtains I¡¯d seen Amber slip through so many times before. She¡¯d lent me enough propulsion that I wouldn¡¯t stall here with no way out, and so I hurtled through the black underside of the world¡¯s tapestry. Passed by a number of doors, most unmarked and unremarkable. Some were denoted with stars and names blurred down to initials: S. Y., N. K., D. H., N. T., B, and M, were the few I¡¯d caught.

    My body, responding to the rotational force Amber had embedded in me, twisted about to face a shifting light¡ªcurtains again. I shot through them and out into reality once more. My shoes skidded across the floor. I hit a chair, fell over and into it. Upside down, I took in my destination as it spun into multicolored clarity.

    Across from me was a couch, and on said couch sat three secretaries. One held a tub of ice cream, spooning it out at a steady pace. The second held a large sorc-deck which displayed a map of the city with shifting pieces that represented their forces as well as Marduk¡¯s. The third clipped toenails. Sprawled across their lap was that horrible beast who¡¯d killed my father, cursed both my lovers as well as myself, and who might be the only one that could stop Marduk.

    ¡°Is this Nemesis Khapoor¡¯s office?¡± I asked, forcing a smile.

    She turned her head to face me, accidentally getting ice cream daubed on her nose, and beamed a mouth full of serrated shark-like teeth in my direction. Eyes already sparking with awful amusement.

    ¡°It is,¡± Nemesis laughed. ¡°Now, what can I do for you?¡±

 Chapter 56

    Her laughter was a skipping record, a knife pinging off bone, and even if it lacked those awful qualities I found it infuriating that Nemesis Khapoor, Lodgemaster of Brightgate, could be so calm while her city died. Was the ice cream that smooth? Was she anesthetized to true horror due to a diet of sterile reports? Did she just not care? My claws tore into my pants, slicing the fibers with the fineness of a scalpel¡ªI wished they were opening up Nemesis¡¯s arteries.

    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t noticed,¡± I all but hissed, ¡°there¡¯s a war going on outside.¡±

    Nemesis clapped her cheeks whilst dropping her jaw in mock shock. ¡°Really,¡± she said, ¡°I hadn¡¯t noticed. #2, have you been holding out on me?¡±

    #2, the one holding the sorc-deck, answered, ¡°No, Lodgemaster Khapoor, I have not. Our current projections of both mortality and municipal rebuilding have the conflict resting firmly in the ¡®battle tier.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Damn,¡± Nemesis said, her eyes flicking back to me, ¡°if the projects are saying it¡¯s only a battle then it¡¯s only a battle. Sorry, puppy.¡±

    At the risk of proving I deserved her diminutive, I swallowed the growl that¡¯d rumbled up my throat. Opted instead to breathe, in through the nose and out the mouth, like Mom taught. I needed to stay calm through this; try not to think about the ticking clock of Marduk noticing what had happened, the time it¡¯d take to charge up that blast of his again, or the number of people that¡¯d be returned to early graves each moment I spent arguing to get this waste of a woman off her ass!

    ¡°Then your projections are wrong,¡± I stated. ¡°Marduk¡¯s out there tearing up the city with that massive entity of his, a host of Lurkers and associated allies, and what he calls his ¡®Menagerie¡¯ which produces an endless number of unbonded entities of Abyss! Right now, every Lodgemember fighting in those streets are severely outnumbered and soon to be overpowered, again, by what Marduk¡¯s sending their way.¡±

    #3 asked, ¡°And we should take it on faith from you¡­¡±

    ¡°Nadia,¡± I said, ¡°Nadia Temple.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± they hummed.

    #3 put down the toenail clipper, and with a flex of their field-spell materialized a file¡ªmy file. Their eyes blurred until it looked as if there were six pupils in each respective eye. Two seconds later they shut the file dematerializing it.

    ¡°What¡¯s the determination?¡± Nemesis asked. ¡°Are we to believe Nadia?¡±

    #3 pushed back their circle glasses. ¡°Hardly. By all accounts, she¡¯s a chronic manipulator and¡ª¡±

    ¡°A piss poor liar,¡± I added. ¡°Everyone says, which means while I might want a situation to go my way sometimes¡ªwho doesn¡¯t¡ªI¡¯m not a liar.¡±

    ¡°At least not a good one,¡± #3 said.

    Nemesis pouted, shaking their head. ¡°Gotta give us more to work with Nadia.¡±

    I bared my fangs, ¡°I¡¯m one of your hounds. An asset.¡±

    ¡°I have many puppies,¡± Nemesis admitted, ¡°but that hardly makes them special. Try again.¡±

    Her eyes half-lidded, Nemesis looked pleased watching me clutch and fail to garner support for my claims. I knew what I saw, experienced, but no one in the room wanted to hear me. If I had #404, if I¡¯d done what they had wanted, I¡¯d at least have an ally but¡­I didn¡¯t, hadn¡¯t. Though when I met Nemesis¡¯s gaze, saw how the ends of her smile curled up¡ªa pleased predator¡ªI shot back with my own white-gash of a grin; I didn¡¯t need to make allies of anyone in this room, only have them believe me, and what better way than to make plain my plot.

    Freeing the detonator from my pocket, I whipped it at Nemesis who caught it¡ªof course. Then, gifting a teasing smirk to #3, I pantomimed the opening of a file, reading the past in my palm.

    ¡°Let¡¯s check this file again, why don¡¯t we,¡± I said. ¡°Cause where I sit, I was on the saboteur mission to bomb Marduk¡¯s throne¡ª#404, my handler, ran point¡ªand everything I¡¯m citing now I learned on that mission.¡±

    ¡°I remember approving that mission,¡± #1 said, connecting points of evidence in their mind. ¡°No one reported for debrief. Why didn¡¯t you? Why now?¡±

    I crossed my legs, rested my chin against my fist¡ªlet them have the character of Nadia Temple, chronic manipulator that I was. There was even a two-count of silence I let pass between #1¡¯s question and my own comment¡ªeveryone but Nemesis leaned in. Secretaries are so curious.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t because I didn¡¯t want to,¡± I said. ¡°Check my file #3, I never do what I don¡¯t want to do. I¡¯m only here now because my plan didn¡¯t quite shake out the way I wanted it.¡±

    ¡°That being?¡± #1 asked.

    ¡°To¡ª¡± I almost answered before Nemesis cut me off.

    ¡°She wanted to see Marduk and I tear each other apart,¡± she said, tapping the side of her nose. ¡°This whole affair has the aroma of your Bloodlust all over it. Shame, you overestimated Marduk¡¯s desire to kill me compared to his urge to annex Brightgate for himself, and break the hopes and will of anyone trying to resist.¡±

    ¡°The Lightless World,¡± I whispered.

    Nemesis grunted, ¡°Huh. Guess Marty finally hit Marquis. If that¡¯s the case, I really do have to go put him down.¡±

    She rolled off of the secretaries¡¯ laps, disappearing before striking the ground, and reappearing fully upright next to a cabinet. Leaning against it, she began to stretch, running through a quick series of yogic poses that would¡¯ve broken the scapula, pelvis, or collarbone of a normal human being. Whilst doing so, she ran through her instructions.

    ¡°#3, activate the timer once I leave, it¡¯ll make filing the mission report easier when the higher-ups interrogate me as to why I took the field,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°#2, alert all the shelters that¡ªwait, Nadia, you said Marduk flattened parts of the city?¡±

    ¡°He did, but technically didn¡¯t,¡± I answered.

    #2 said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen no change in the city¡¯s simulacrum to corroborate that kind of damage.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± I said, ¡°a godtender fixed it. So, it happened but technically it never did.¡±

    ¡°Really,¡± #2 said, rolling their eyes, ¡°and you, a soldier, happen to just be so gifted that you¡¯re able to keep concurrent temporally divergent phenomena straight in your mind? While all of us here, in a sorcerous black box with protections against such meta-editing, somehow missed it?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I stated, ¡°I¡¯m not special¡­just special to her. She saved me from one of Marduk¡¯s blasts and brought everyone back because I begged. And before you ask, she¡¯s also the reason everyone on the saboteur mission died¡ªshe secured my life with theirs.¡±

    Nemesis chuckled, ¡°Well, that explains how you slid into this black box of ours. Always told you not to get too confident in your protections, #2, they¡¯re not properly rated for godtenders. Now be a good secretary and alert the shelters that I¡¯ll be taking the field. They should gather up their medicines in advance, I have a feeling this¡¯ll be a heavy fight.¡±

    She walked over to a far wall, tapped a hidden button that activated a formation turning the entire wall facing the bay transparent. The other walls and ceilings framed the window into the ongoing conflict below like a painting¡ªone meant to immortalize tragedy, perhaps humanize us toward higher consciousness. Not aware that for every person who saw horror in the beautifully rendered destruction, there was another for whom they felt a yearning; Nemesis, salivating and fingers twitching¡ªeager to shape seals of mass death¡ªwas one of those people.

    ¡°#1, start up the¡ª¡± she said.

    #1 cut her off, ¡°¡®Massacre Playtime¡¯ playlist? Already done.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to say that,¡± Nemesis whined, blowing raspberries. ¡°I was feeling ¡®Slaughterfield Siesta¡¯ this time.¡±

    #1¡¯s gaze was flat as the wall-turned-window. ¡°I¡¯m constantly in your mind, Lodgemaster, you were never going to ask for ¡®Slaughterfield Siesta.¡¯¡±

    ¡°What do I do?¡± I asked, earning the attention of the war room.

    Nemesis shrugged, ¡°Nothing¡­except wait. I¡¯ll be executing you after this. Anyways, henshin.¡±

    The words weren¡¯t an incantation, probably an in-joke of some sort, but they precluded Nemesis¡¯s transformation all the same. I could feel the pressure in the room increase as she flexed her spirit¡ªa titanic thing meant to unfurl across a city, rather than be shoved into this box. Though soon as Nemesis struck a pose¡ªfor whom I don¡¯t know¡ªwith her middle fingers pulling down her lower eyelid, the pressure receded into her at such speed it knocked over chairs and papers. Congealing into a red mist that further compressed itself to form deep carmine armor depicting muscle groups in a looping ornate fashion. Tendons rendered in white-gold. Her panoply finished with a summoned mask; the claw on her gauntlet having carved a channel around her face¡¯s edge from which blood flowed in one thick weeping sheet.

    I shot up from my chair when it formed¡­ a stylized depiction of a wolf¡¯s upper skull with an aventail of red pucks¡ªnot too dissimilar to the wax discs Dad made as a hobby¡ªconnected to the mask. Immediately it tried to force my eyes to look away, to not remember or even attempt to see through it. I dropped back into my chair; there was nothing to see. Nemesis¡¯s mask wasn¡¯t one of the five.

    Nemesis didn¡¯t kill my parents. Amber lied. I sacrificed a city on a lie. That¡¯s the kind of stuff which makes a girl go mad¡­I nearly did, but pressed a claw into my thigh¡ªstay in the moment; watch¡ªto bear witness; I knew Marduk was a true target, and I wanted to savor his demise.

    Unaware of my ongoing turmoil, Nemesis tossed a mock salute back to the secretaries staying behind and backflipped through the wall¡ªthe button she¡¯d hit that made it transparent also enabled one-way access for spells and people to escape. #2 swiped at their sorc-deck, activating controls which transformed the wall from a simple window outward into a projection detailing a bird¡¯s eye view of the ongoing battle. A special emphasis being placed on keeping track of Nemesis¡¯s whereabouts.

    She tumbled through air as the emergency broadcast system swapped from repeating safety instructions to echoing across every block the punch-you-in-the-brain bass beats of her chosen playlist. It was sudden enough, more than obnoxious enough, that it caused a lull in the fighting; combatants frozen by the half-second delay of parsing whether the noise was some new weapon being deployed¡ªunaware that it was merely the weapon¡¯s herald. A truth immediately understood when Nemesis landed on a Lurker¡¯s head with the gentleness of a leaf, balanced on the poor soul with a heron¡¯s grace.

    Looking around the battlefield, Nemesis tossed her hands up. ¡°Lodgemembers, what are we waiting for, let¡¯s party!¡±

    Recognizing the voice of their leader, those battered and bloodied servants of the Lodge hauled up the last reserves of their vigor. Roared it in the faces of the Lurkers before them. Nemesis hopped off her human stand¡¯s head, reared back her foot, and shot it into their face. Flesh tore inward as bone became dust and muscle turned to soup¡ªthe head propelled off its neck and over the crowd. Hovering in the air, Nemesis cast a rapid sequence of hand-spells causing the newly made corpse to swell, their bone marrow having been induced to over-produce blood, all for the moment when that great sanguine swell raced to the only opening it could find¡ªa neck bereft its cap¡ªand erupted geyser-like over the street.

    ¡°What¡¯re you waiting for,¡± Nemesis asked, ¡°I thought you came to kill me?¡±

    There wasn¡¯t any purpose behind her squeezing a corpse for all the blood it was worth¡ªat least, not a sorcerous one. She just liked making a scene, and with the stage set the Lurkers hurried to their places to play the role of invaders roused to berserk fury. In their eyes were a hundred imagined executions meant for Nemesis alone¡ªshe clutched her chest, mockingly.

    ¡°Oh, some of you have frightful imaginations,¡± she said, before disappearing¡ªreappearing behind enemy lines after sprouting from inside a Lurker¡¯s skull like a child playing in a box, gore and gray matter splashing out. ¡°Not this one though. He was boring¡ªonly wanted to stab me.¡±

    It didn¡¯t matter that she couldn¡¯t Realistically fit in his head, she was Nemesis and had the sorcerous might to do whatever she wanted. Using the man¡¯s body like a pilotable machine through blood manipulation, Nemesis wheeled him around and ran down the street with her embattled Lodgemembers following behind¡ªa killer¡¯s parade with Nemesis as grand marshal. They swept through street after street, relieving allies held under fire, and breaking the invader¡¯s bulwarks with their bodies. The lot of them lost in such frenzy they hadn¡¯t realized Nemesis had left for other fields of battle.

    Our viewpoint tracked Nemesis to the residential area where unbonded entities cracked apartments open like crab shells, the spatially expanded guts of the building flowing into the streets below where those stragglers forced to shelter-in-place scrabbled out of the debris, grateful at avoiding a crushing and slow death, only to find giants in armor of cloudy methane with chins coated in dribbled blood and entrails caught in teeth looming above them. When she appeared, it was from the crimson stain on the giant¡¯s chin; blood forming together in Nemesis¡¯s image. Standing against the chin like it was ground, she stomped her foot¡ªshooting the giant¡¯s body away from the apartment and the huddled masses below¡ªtwisted in the air, shaping atmospheric Bloodlust into a carmine axe about five times her size, and threw it through the stumbling giant, bisecting them in a single fluid revolution.

    ¡°Is everyone okay?¡± Nemesis asked, helping haul the injured from beneath rubble she moved with ease, like it was a bundle of clothes or pillows¡ªhardly an inconvenience.

    A little girl, barely older than six, pressed into her father¡¯s chest sobbed out, ¡°No, they ate Kitty.¡±

    Nemesis cocked her head, ¡°They ate your cat?¡±

    ¡°Our dog,¡± the girl¡¯s father explained. ¡°We had gotten it for Sera last month.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Nemesis hummed, ¡°then I should punish them for that. Sera, how do you want me to deal with them?¡±

    ¡°We couldn¡¯t possibly¡ª¡± the father tried to say before Sera cut him off.

    Crying, she screamed, ¡°Bite their head off like they did to Kitty!¡±

    Nemesis offered a bow to the girl, turned to face the remaining giant¡ªin the face of a greater predator than it, it¡¯d already begun running, it could never have run fast enough. Nemesis, using no seal or incantation, reached out with her field-spell once again shaping the area¡¯s Bloodlust into a construct of solid carmine¡ªthis time into the angular head of a wolf, jaw wide and waiting for the giant¡¯s next step when¡­chomp, it¡¯s upper half disappeared leaving legs still running yet to realize, though they would, that they¡¯d failed to escape death. Nemesis turned back to the girl, tousled her hair, and in a demonstration of the same power, albeit on a smaller scale, formed a carmine dog that yipped excitedly.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Now, why don¡¯t you follow my friend here, and he¡¯ll get you to a shelter,¡± Nemesis said.

    As the family took off, the girl yelled, ¡°Thank you, Dog Lady!¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Sera, I hope you join the Lodge someday,¡± Nemesis called back, as she let the breeze dissipate her body into a carmine cloud.

    Riding the wind¡¯s currents over hundreds of tiny battles, turning the tides of them a hundred times over. Liberating surrounded Lodgemembers by converting the burning rage in Lurker¡¯s hearts into literal fire¡ªquasar bursts shooting out chest and back as they died on their own killing intent. Leaping into the maw of a leviathan before it could consume a gaggle of fleeing secretaries, her head the only part of her to escape consumption¡ªthat is until she spoke an incantation that converted her body into a bomb whose payload rendered the great serpent into ground mush that coated the street and secretaries. While her body rapidly reformed with assistance from the Bloodlust drenching the city, first shaped of gaseous carmine before solidifying and a half-second later assimilating into her body proper¡ªarmor and all.

    Body reformed, she landed atop a cable car with enough force to goad it to motion. Surfing down the streets, up and over hills, Nemesis laughed gleefully. Arms wide in embrace of the chaos and slaughter the battlefield served up to her, its most eager glutton. Bullets and spells fell like rain, but she simply danced up and down the cable car¡¯s length; arms a blur catching bullets to fling at spellcasters, deflecting spells with the sheer density of her spirit into huddled marksmen. While not on the battlefield, sequestered as I was in that box, my heart beat slow and quiet fearful of attracting that thing¡¯s murderous attention¡ªI thought I could kill her, really?

    Reminding the secretaries I was present, I asked, ¡°If she can do this, why wait so long?¡±

    #3 filed their nails, ¡°It¡¯s very expensive to pay for her rampages. #1, congratulate her on the self-restraint this time.¡±

    ¡°It also doesn¡¯t help that she¡¯s a Duke,¡± #2 bemoaned. ¡°Her Court¡¯s so persnickety about the timing of things; act too soon and she¡¯s reducing net Bloodlust, which can¡¯t be done, but act too late and we have more death and destruction than we¡¯d otherwise like.¡±

    ¡°So the present situation did what,¡± I asked, ¡°provide enough of a lull that her hopping in raised Bloodlust across the city?¡±

    #2 and #3 glanced at each other before looking back to me, ¡°Correct.¡±

    #1, their eyes focused on the footage, explained, ¡°Think of us and the Lodge how you will, but know that we do not enjoy restraining Lodgemaster Khapoor, such that tragedy is given leeway to foment. However, observe her and ask yourself, if a being one step from godhood was only able to be an active participant in the world if she caused or increased Bloodlust and all the slaughter that came in its wake, would you want her to be running wild?¡±

    Easy answers died before passing my lips. Instead, I looked around, at the see-through fridge filled with ice creams, a large tv surrounded by cases of surviving Old World movies, a different cabinet complete with alcoho,l and boxes of cigars¡ªevery inch of the room replete with varying tools of pleasure and distraction. It was the most plush cage I¡¯d ever encountered. When I turned back to the video feed of Nemesis¡¯s exploits I couldn¡¯t chase together an argument.

    Nemesis, unburdened by philosophical concerns, had just kick-flipped the cable car off its tracks, cut the cable with a swipe of her hand, and soared down into the major square of the district¡ªwhere I¡¯d encountered the Angler Knight barely thirty minutes prior¡ªcrashing into its fountain nose-first. Water sprayed into the air, augmenting through destruction the grandeur of her maneuver whilst also framing her as she balanced on the cable car¡¯s back end on a finger. Her playlist crackles to a pause, perched just before a sonic drop, replaced by #1¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Lodgemaster Khapoor,¡± #1 said, their words transmitted by sorc-deck, ¡°I might remind you that the longer you play around and damages wrack up, your budget for filmic archaeology will be drained to fund municipal repairs.¡±

    ¡°I know, #1¡± Nemesis whined, before shouting. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault that Marty¡¯s being a bitch boy!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s really going to tease him into¡ª¡± I asked #2 and #3. My question cut off by the appearance of Marduk¡¯s eyes opening in the sprawling black of The Lightless World.

    Marduk¡¯s voice echoed from the sky, from the shadows, the cracks of doubt in hearts.

    ¡°Shut the fuck up, Nemesis,¡± Marduk roared. ¡°That is not my name you incorrigible miscreant!¡±

    Hopping upside-right, Nemesis yelled back, ¡°That¡¯s a new one! You¡¯ve called me insane, intransigent, insubordinate, insouciant, but not that one yet!¡±

    The eyes in the sky narrowed with concentrated rue. ¡°You¡¯re everything I despise in this world.¡±

    ¡°What can I say, not all of us ¡®post-human entities¡¯ that you jerk off about can be the demure partners to your crushing ego,¡± Nemesis replied, smiling. ¡°Now get down here, we haven¡¯t had a real dust-up in ages.¡±

    ¡°While my ego may be crushing, it¡¯s yet to be pressed into hubris,¡± Marduk countered. ¡°I¡¯ve never beaten you in a duel of brute force¡ªas that¡¯s your specialty down to your essence¡ªso it¡¯s in due recognition to that truth I¡¯ve opted for strategy. It¡¯s that thing you¡¯d always slept through during our classes and briefs, if you remember?¡±

    Nemesis shooed off the comment. ¡°Yeah, yeah, they made for weird dreams. Though last I checked, strategy usually meant more than flooding the streets with losers and entities¡­or relying on a godtender to bail you out of trouble.¡±

    ¡°Miss Redacted bailed you out too!¡± Marduk screamed, his voice briefly rising an octave before he shuffled his indignation back down. ¡°You know how she meddles, and while you might disregard my forces you¡¯re bold to let them surround you.¡±

    Nemesis looked down to find the square, the streets connecting to it going out a block in every direction, choked with Lurkers and their allies. She snorted in disbelief before dropping down to sit on the perfectly vertical cable car. Her laissez-faire posture, an insult greater than any flipped finger or biting invective.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s meaner,¡± Nemesis said, ¡°you thinking that this crowd can take me¡­or you not explaining to them what they¡¯re trying to kill.¡±

    A blustery Lurker yelled, ¡°He¡¯s told us about what you are, monster, but more to the point he¡¯s told us about who you are, Slaughteress.¡±

    Cackling, Nemesis¡¯s head rotated a hundred-and-eighty degrees to face them, ¡°Little girl, you can¡¯t just go accusing a woman of being one of the Ten Cruelties, it¡¯s misogynistic¡ªnot a surprise considering Marty taught you¡ª¡±

    Suddenly, Marty¡ªMarduk¡ªcalled out, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her. Fire, everyone fire right now¡ª¡±

    ¡°Or the fact that Waycarver recorded it down in that book of his incorrectly. My name¡ªwell-earned I might add¡ªis the Rapacious Slaughteress¡­though not like you¡¯ll live long enough to remember.¡±

    Nemesis, for all that she giddily trampled on propriety and spat on moral patterns, had a confoundingly attractive quality¡ªlike a blood-drizzled cinnamon roll. Instantly you¡¯re disgusted, but you have to investigate, draw closer, figure out why or who would spoil such attentively made pastries with the crimson water of a human being. Before you knew it, you were fascinated and entranced¡­unaware that the person who¡¯d done this was creeping up behind you, maw salivating at the flavors hidden in your body. When you¡¯d finally come to the conclusion that if blood was to replace frosting then more would be needed, she was there ready to whisper in your ear, ¡°Tsk, you¡¯re right,¡± before ripping your throat apart like a child does a bad report card.

    Marduk had tried to command his forces to motion before that last step¡ªhe only made them aware of their throat being ripped in half. The ground, of which no one had paid attention, was no longer made of cobbled stone. Replaced by blood that¡¯d bubbled up from between the cracks, slowly rose past ankles, calves, knees to their waist which was when Marduk¡¯s call to attention gave them notice¡ªsuch was Nemesis¡¯s deployment of her territory, insidious. It¡¯d extended not just in the square, but had made veins and arteries of the District¡¯s alleys and thoroughfares. Lodgemembers, those who¡¯d lived long enough to witness her territory before, had shaken loose their combative hand-spells to instead make for higher ground and escape the bloody bayou that Nemesis made of the district.

    ¡°Thanks for the meal,¡± Nemesis said, clapping her hands in gratitude while Marduk looked on in petulant fury rather than any horror or sorrow¡ªhe¡¯d seen this before.

    The bayou¡¯s redwaters bubbled, a gurgling taken up in a citywide harmony as it engaged in digestion. Despite many of the Lurker¡¯s being clad in conweave and other armors, I gawked as flesh sloughed, a thinner liquid than Mom¡¯s cornstarch slurries used to thicken soup. Their armors were likely well-made, but few could find let alone afford an artisan capable of making equipment that could hold up to the power of a Duke¡ªit pissed me off to give her credit at the time, but I understood then why Amber held the stance she did¡­why spend money on something this useless. Especially when I realized that the horror of Nemesis¡¯s territory wasn¡¯t just manifested blood-water that ate you, but a sorcerous conversion of all blood to be an extension of her digestive process. I figured that out by watching a woman¡¯s face melt and leak through the grate of her mask¡¯s faceplate.

    I¡¯d wondered, earlier, why Nemesis warned the shelters she was taking action and in the distance of the video feed I saw why¡­her territory was indiscriminate. Cable cars melted into sludge into tiny particulate into nothing. Lodgemembers too slow or uninitiated in the appropriate procedures were consumed with the same rapidity as enemies. I didn¡¯t pay close attention to the group of survivors that Nemesis herself had rescued only to be caught in the bayou. Neither I nor the secretaries focused on how Sera, that little girl, was saved only by a father whose dying spell was to place her in a magenta bubble of solidified force, levitating her to the roof of a building¡ªstone being one of the few things that Nemesis¡¯s territory didn¡¯t consume.The only untouched place, the tiny area surrounding the cable car Nemesis sat on, leaning back with the satisfaction of someone who¡¯d known hunger for far too long and finally got to eat.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, Marty,¡± Nemesis said, burping, ¡°we really should¡¯ve been more careful how we climbed. The pangs I¡¯ve gotten this last decade have been the worst!¡±

    Marduk yelled, ¡°Unsheathe your aspect, beastwoman!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Nemesis said, taunting him, ¡°I kind of want to enjoy the meal. If you want, we can take five and you can eat with me¡ªit must¡¯ve been so hard abstaining¡­if you abstained.¡±

    ¡°I. Abstained.¡± Marduk said, his tone cold as the Abyss¡¯s waters.

    ¡°You¡¯re missing out then,¡± she said. ¡°I mean, last time you had a good meal was what, Tokyo?¡±

    Marduk growled, ¡°Nothing about Tokyo was good.¡±

    ¡°I have photos that say otherwise,¡± Nemesis said, waggling her sorc-deck. ¡°But you should come down, nothing we can¡¯t potentially hash out at the dinner table¡­unless you want your disciples to be consumed over days rather than moments¡ªyou know how excruciating that can be.¡±

    His eyes closed, the perfection of void re-assumed as he emerged from the darkness in front of Nemesis, heels clacking against solidified portions of The Lightless World¡ªhe even made a chair from it. Nemesis removed her helmet, shook out her hair, and offered the sort of smile I¡¯d only seen at parties when five-color kush got passed around. She was indiscriminately consuming nearly every living thing in the city and was getting high off of it.

    ¡°Reprobate,¡± Marduk spat.

    Nemesis blinked slowly, ¡°I know you are but what am I? Heh, so let''s get to business¡ª¡±

    ¡°My disciples first,¡± he insisted.

    ¡°Can we ask more nicely?¡± Nemesis inquired. ¡°It¡¯s not like I said I¡¯d eat them faster than¡ª¡±

    Marduk¡¯s lips rose from a scowl to a gentle smile¡ªit even touched his eyes. ¡°Please, Nemmy, can you give them a clean out for me?¡±

    ¡°Ooooh,¡± Nemesis squealed, hands smooshing her face in glee, ¡°you haven¡¯t called me that in way too long. I totally can!¡±

    She opened her mouth as if to take a great bite, and all across the city hands of those devoured in times long past breached the bayou¡¯s surface to latch onto the clothes and melting bone¡ªthen she swallowed. Those hands snatching the half-consumed down below the surface. Nemesis nearly burped, but at a raise of Marduk¡¯s brow she covered her mouth, swallowing it.

    ¡°There we go,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°Can you tell me now why you¡¯re attacking Brightgate? Especially after I let you play cult leader for so long.¡±

    Marduk looked at his nails¡ªthe last time I¡¯d observed him my attention had fixed on the remnants of my father that dangled from his ear, this time I realized his nails were red¡­carmine. ¡°No reason in particular,¡± he admitted. ¡°I found the valley to be woefully lacking as experiments go, and decided I might as well claim this place from you¡ªit helps when you have so many foes willing to ride under a stranger¡¯s banner if it means taking your head.¡±

    Nemesis nodded. ¡°That makes sense¡ªthe enemies part, though it¡¯s cruel to give them hope like that, not your experiments. Those have always been pretty dumb.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the clarification,¡± Marduk replied, teeth gritted. ¡°Though I know you¡¯ve been doing experiments of your own. My granddaughter encountered one of these ¡®White Wombs¡¯ on that wild hunt of yours.¡±

    ¡°Interesting, you should point them my way next time,¡± Nemesis said, ¡°I¡¯d love to examine their entrails, see if you two have any familial resemblance. However, sad to say that those aren¡¯t mine. Try asking Eeny, she¡¯d love to help you.¡±

    Marduk scowled, ¡°I¡¯m not lowering myself for her assistance, and even if finding research here won¡¯t be fruitful I¡¯ve already discovered another of our cohort. A greater lead than anything you lot have uncovered since Miss Redacted¡¯s miracle a decade prior.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re so confident,¡± Nemesis said, ¡°how about you take this lead and leave Brightgate alone? I¡¯ll even send you off with a cake from this place I love.¡±

    Nemesis pointed at the cake shop, and Marduk, following her finger, nodded thoughtfully in consideration of the deal. He held up a hand, closed it, and his flying fortress of an entity unleashed a pressure blast¡ªnot one fully charged in this case¡ªthat crushed the cake shop like a fly beneath your thumb. Nemesis turned from the new absence in the city to Marduk, her high smothered just like every cake that¡¯d been left behind in the evacuation.

    ¡°That¡¯s petty,¡± Nemesis said.

    Marduk grinned, ¡°That¡¯s war.¡±

    ¡°Since you want me to unsheathe my aspect so badly,¡± Nemesis said, voice becoming edged as a sawblade and sticky as a charnel house floor, ¡°From Bloodlust Emerges the Infinite Slaughterhouse!¡±

    Her words fell into her territory, a brick dropped into a pool, and the sanguine bayou rippled before exploding into gorey showers of blood that lashed themselves to the district¡¯s buildings. Flowing upward in a fashion and fury no fluid could ever do. Only to spread across each surface whether stone or steel, wood or glass like frost on a window; fractalizing in violent beauty until the skyline¡ªthe earth itself¡ªwas replaced by a legion of carmine spears with fangs for edges and whose tips threatened to perforate The Lightless World. And why wouldn¡¯t they, The Infinite Slaughterhouse was a reality which impressed the inescapability of violence for all things, even the endless dark heavens that Marduk had smoothed across the city.

    ¡°Shall we fight according to our station?¡± Marduk asked, head tilting back in smug pride for having riled the unflappable Nemesis.

    She said, ¡°If you plan on killing me, it¡¯s the only way.¡±

    ¡°Then best you commune with your servants,¡± he said, ¡°for I won¡¯t leave them much to bury.¡±

    Nemesis rolled her eyes and threw herself backward off the cable car into the carmine water from which her murder city had emerged. While Marduk allowed his chair to pull him back into the infinite dark. The two of them merged into their aspects¡ªMarduk¡¯s entity breaching the skyward Abyss to join him¡ªto begin their proper war.

    And how to even describe it, this battle between heaven and earth, where the frontlines were drawn with Brightgate¡¯s bruised skyline? I¡¯ll start at the opening salvo that I, as a soldier, could comprehend¡ªit went to Marduk. The secretaries and myself stared through the video feed as it whirled about, a child looking for its violent mother, only to find nauseating red and hopeless black, black, black¡­my mind fell into the black. Though it was better said that the Abyss fell¡ªpoured¡ªinto me, finding my rueful inquisitiveness to be a funnel with which it could offer completion.

    There¡¯s an Abyss in Every Heart, Nemmy, you just have to show them where.

    I whirled around, Marduk¡¯s voice was everywhere and nowhere. It was still only myself and the secretaries¡ªpanicked as much as I was¡ªin the war room. Yet, there it was, echoing over again and again that insight, Abyss in Every Heart, and how true it was. The words glided along the rim of the pit in my soul, pulling forth a tone of sorrow and defeat; I was alone. You are alone. My love is gone. Your love is gone. There¡¯s nowhere for me anymore. There¡¯s nowhere for you anymore. I¡¯d be better off dead. You¡¯d be better off¡ª

    Blah blah blah. Marty, not everyone is a moody fuck like you. Remember, Bloodlust is Enlivening!

    The dark echo of my worst thoughts was interrupted by the rugged wail of a chainsaw. It shredded through the icy muck that¡¯d taken root in me, not stopping until it found pain¡ªglorious infuriating pain; my first broken nose and the hot tears that filled my eyes when I pounced on the boy three years my senior, the sight of the adults back home turning their back on me after stating they¡¯d do nothing to avenge Mom and Dad, my urge to find Secretary and cut off her head after she left me to be tortured by the Angler Knight, the sight of Marduk¡¯s earring¡ªmy Dad¡ªdangling like jewelry, and even Ina¡¯s stupid fucking face! There was no time to listen to sorrow. Defeat, who fucking cares. Long as I lived, long as my blood could boil, I could stand and plunge my fangs into their throat. There we go kids, let''s give Marty a good hacking!

    My thoughts filled with knives, my body understood it differently, making a cauldron of my guts with the flame on high. I was on fire, nothing inside could settle, and as I burned like kin to a wicker woman I knew it had to come out. All that I was squeezed down, even my legs twisted and arms wrapped tight, pushing out everything that had infiltrated me. It felt like my jaw cracked as bile was piped from my intestine out my mouth. Vision returned in pieces, brief glimpses of color, the room came in and out like tar was poured over my head¡ªwhen it stopped I realized it¡¯d poured from my eyes. In a few blinks I saw it on the floor of the war room, puddles of concentrated Abyss, and met the faces of #2 and #3 whose lips were stained in the Court¡¯s color with frail capillaries of it branching from their eyes like tributaries. It dripped from their chin.

    #1 screamed, ¡°Hold onto something!¡±

    None of us but them had the strength to do a rush job on their call out. From my place on the floor, I made do grabbing a chair leg. Risked a glance toward the video feed¡ªfrom every angle perceivable, pressure blasts at full strength assaulted the city, chipping away at the carmine coating that composed the reality¡ªNemesis¡¯s aspect¡ªshe¡¯d used to armor the city. When one of the pressure blasts flew past view, ebon ripples the only sign of passage, I was briefly puzzled¡ªits target was a building covered in a murmur of petals¡ªonly for it to dawn on me: we were the target.

 Chapter 57

    In school, I watched a kid shake a terrarium once. It wasn¡¯t a big one, and the only thing in it were bugs found and caught from the surrounding wilderness that framed my hometown¡ªbeautiful little insects¡ªbut this kid didn¡¯t care about beauty. He only wanted to shake things up, see everything tossed about and splatter against the glass. I¡¯d had sympathy for the bugs; when Marduk¡¯s attack hit, I developed empathy the moment my face, limbs, and spine received an introduction to every surface, piece of furniture, and the few appliances that lined Nemesis¡¯s cage of an office. I didn¡¯t go splat, didn¡¯t even break a limb, but with each shake and introduction I discovered the limits with which my body could bend and flesh could give. When everything was still again, my nose bled¡ªa small reminder of my mortality, but I didn¡¯t notice cause my hand was wet¡­that was when I turned to find that a table had landed, edge first, on #2¡¯s skull, cracking it open but not killing them, the wound¡¯s interior almost a twin to the ideal slice of cherry pie.

    #2 moaned, ¡°Christy. Christy. Christy. christy. christy¡­¡±.

    #1 hauled me to my feet, gathered #2¡¯s sorc-deck¡ªsomehow it survived¡ªand shoved it into my arms. They yelled something, but I didn¡¯t, couldn¡¯t, hear. Christy was echoing on repeat and¡ª

    ¡°Look at me,¡± #1 yelled, punctuating the command with a slap. I whipped my head, growling on instinct. They nodded, ¡°Good, stay in it. I need you to pull the feed up over the city before #2 dies. Damn thing¡¯s their spell.¡±

    Before I could agree, they called #3 over to do triage on #2. Said, ¡°They don¡¯t need to think, but I need them stable!¡±

    I looked down at the sorc-deck, the controls were similar to the aerial shrines Dad sometimes made as presents. The function of the shrine¡¯s sorcery was to fly around according to user input. I figured it¡¯d be better to ¡°sit in¡± that¡ªthe memory of him¡ªthen in rage or let the cold-wet mushy texture of #2¡¯s brain against my palm ensorcell me, and so I controlled the spell until the vision on the video feed could see the entirety of the city in all its hemoluminescent grandeur.

    #1 stood like they were the center of a shield-wall that couldn¡¯t afford to collapse, and considering who they had to stand beside them¡­it wasn¡¯t an inaccurate assessment. Rimlit by the sanguine light of the feed, their spirit blossomed, velvet petals grazing flesh and teasing out fringe details of memories that had passed the river bend of conscious recollection but whose passage left its mark in the shore of my being. There were #404¡¯s smiles, begrudgingly extended, and accompanied by the awareness of what was lost when each one was given. The sensation of Lupe¡¯s hands at my back as she squeezed me, assuring me that I wasn¡¯t evil. I even heard the sound of Amber¡¯s voice, bobbing just above the nonsense noises of festivities partaken in earnest glee, as she said, ¡°This line is too long for an old lady like me, take my spot,¡± before it was subsumed in a child¡¯s thanks, mine and Melissa¡¯s¡ªmy conscious thought chased after that memory but it was like catching a breeze in your palm. I looked up, and saw #1 levitating atop the power of their Court and link¡ªEarl, perhaps¡ªwhile flanked by a serpent composed of lenses in a hundred colors and sizes wrapping around their waist and over their shoulder, curving across her hidden face; its lenses shifting and re-assembling according to unspoken their unspoken needs as they stared into Abyss.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± #3 asked, their voice breaking.

    ¡°My part,¡± #1 answered, their voice an iridescent sphere rotating and warping what hides within. ¡°Remembrance within Informed Prediction.¡±

    It was a claim that couldn¡¯t be argued, realer than gravity or the hand in front of me, and, backed by their Court¡¯s affirmation, #1 vivisected Marduk¡¯s plans and made them plain. Attacks hidden behind randomness were pinned by its planner¡¯s habits and limits, a constellation of vantage points. Whilst impressive it wasn¡¯t free because the Abyss knows when it¡¯s being watched, and everyone across the district had already learned that there¡¯s an Abyss in Every Heart. Theirs was ripped open, and from within their chest inflated, Abyssal water shattering their ribs and sternum, drowning them in hopeless sorrow. It burbled past their lips, staining despite the water¡¯s chill already shifting vibrant red to cadaverous blue, and this Abyss blue, teasingly black, overflowed their eyes¡¯ waterline¡ªa stark pillar of condemnation struck down their cheeks for the hubris, per Marduk¡¯s vision, and loyalty, their truth, that led to their intercession.

    They stumbled toward the wall, hands slamming against it, before they slipped sideways as sloshing water upset their balance, shattering their kitten heels. I moved to assist them, but they raised their palm in denial, stay where you are, before shaping their last hand-spell. A churning protean mass of stained glass shards bubbled into existence, a carrier for their final thoughts. When the mental transfer had finished, the shards formed together, a dodecahedron of tactical intel, before tumbling from the air, kicking up gleefully across the floor, and into the wall¡ªwhich I suppose was in some way also Nemesis, wherever they lurked within The Infinite Slaughterhouse.

    ¡°#1, what do we do?¡± I asked, as #3 was busy sobbing and stabilizing #2.

    ¡°What you must as long as you don¡¯t abandon her. She¡¯s sensitive to that,¡± #1 said, ¡°and call me Danni¡ªit''s my¡ª¡±

    Abyssal waters clogged their throat, depressing their tongue and breaking their jaw¡¯s hinge in search of even more space. It made lagoons of Danni¡¯s eyes, silenced a touchingly sardonic voice, and caused their entity to break apart in a rain of verdigris and unReal glass. Marduk had slain the greatest of this Lodge¡¯s secretaries, and that petty backlash stoked Nemesis¡¯s simmering rage to a furious boiling over. The Infinite Slaughterhouse re-shaped itself, an Escher-esque puzzle box of a city whose inner mysteries were cadaver hooks, bone-saws, and great wheels for withdrawing organs as if threading a bobbin. Its architecture slid against itself effortlessly, lubricated in blood but made efficient through practiced control, before striking out with a butcher¡¯s surety against each point Danni had brought to their attention.

    You¡¯d be forgiven for thinking the Nemesis¡¯s anger was¡­tepid¡ªhow could fury be found in such elegance¡ªand fiercely corrected as her aspect hooked into The Lightless World¡¯s expanse, dragging it onto disemboweling wheels, and the saws, joylessly shrieking as teeth shredded darkness; birthing shafts of light, sunlight, that plunged into The Infinite Slaughterhouse, danced along its gore-glistened buttresses, skipping of it blood-tipped spires, to return heavenward replete in the perfect shade to paint the imperiled The Lightless World¡ªcarmine; the first wound their war had wrought.

    Learn the taste of hubris you glutton, for Abyss is Obstructing, and you¡¯ll regret sinking teeth into my flank.

    The Lightless World¡¯s skin twisted to skein, contorted into an unyielding Abyssal hank whose umbral fibers trapped the sawteeth and counter-hooked The Infinite Slaughterhouse¡¯s crystal-coated carmine claws. Its wheels stalled to a wailing groan, unseen tendons stretched beyond tautness, bowing until all that the city had become vibrated in a shriek that threatened to flay the spirit hiding beneath the flesh and fat of your physical body. Abyss is Obstructing. Marduk had seen the hope we¡¯d placed in the sorcerous machines assembled from Nemesis¡¯s aspect, and reminded us that¡ªMachines break down. Nothing is inevitable except the slow grind to quiet, stillness, unchanging cold; shatter your teeth on me, and internalize this.

    I ain¡¯t internalizing shit! The only unchanging fact of Abyss is that you¡¯re still an uncreative fucking hack, and I¡¯m still the Insatiable Reaper whose hunger can never be sated nor denied!

    The Insatiable Reaper lashed new tendons to the wheels, slotted Corinthian pillars of scrimshawed femurs into crackling arteries¡ªoriginally benign thoroughfares¡ªrepurposed into bolt guns that fired in accordance to the aortic bellows of transmuted bell towers. Get. Fucking. Wrecked. Impaling The Lightless World¡¯s tightened hanks, the pillar-femurs vibrated to the major key harmony of Nemesis¡¯s unbowing heart, shaking loose the fibers that now pried apart couldn¡¯t resist the turning wheel. Sewers-turned-veins snaked from within their architected sheathes, vomiting the digestive blood of Nemesis¡¯s territory; a weakening glaze that softened the darkness into a curry consistency that she slurped down with awful vengeance.

    Turning the feed around, from city to sky, what was an indistinguishable dark had been afflicted with a cerulean vitiligo that fed on Marduk¡¯s imposition, growing until mottled islands kissed, and what was black became the cloudless pelt of a high noon heaven. Realities bickered, how could light exist in the Lightless World, and the answer was that we weren¡¯t in The Lightless World after all; Marduk¡¯s grip on the horizon unfurled, and with no shadows to hide him and his entity, flying fortress that it was, were forced into the open, a worm and its ruler plain against the sky¡¯s plate for inevitable consumption.

    No more hiding, Marty! The Infinite Slaughterhouse rearranged from its consumptive configuration into a Babellian tower designed by a serial killer in mimicry of a whaling harpoon. At the riotous officiation of the city¡¯s hearts, one for every district, the tower-harpoon fired; the tit-cannons of Marduk¡¯s entity fired in unison, glancing off its bitter edge¡ªknocking it off-course by just enough. It lost a cannon, a chunk of Atlantis which tumbled into the city somewhere, and was knocked off balance in the sky lilting into the side of a barbed building whose piercing nails multiplied through the entity into a fractal spit, eliciting a wailing moan whose baritone blues found sympathy in any heart that cared for life¡ªeven mine, squeezing out tears I¡¯d rather use on anyone else.

    Escaping the spit which sought his heart, Marduk leapt from his entity, withdrew it into his spirit, and descended down into The Infinite Slaughterhouse; a virus, dodging all methods of titanic-intended evisceration, that nestled deep within Nemesis¡¯s aspect, settling in the frail shadow of a heart-tower that overlook the square they¡¯d had their pre-battle discussion. His watery-hair lifted, churned into frothy white waves¡ªhe was surrendering? Nemesis emerged from The Infinite Slaughterhouse¡¯s charnel streets, shaping flesh from blood, and sporting a face fit for a war goddess as the white-enough flag announcing Marduk¡¯s defeat reflected in her eyes.

    ¡°What the fuck are you doing?¡± Nemesis asked. ¡°We don¡¯t surrender.¡±

    Marduk shrugged, ¡°Maybe I¡¯ve changed? Wish to parley?¡±

    ¡°You, the ¡®unchanging Abyss¡¯ have changed?¡± Nemesis scoffed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not impossible, I¡¯m only one-link above the mortal precipice of Earl,¡± he stated. ¡°Not as high as you or Miss Redacted, for whom change may truly be impossible beyond the remit of your Courts¡¯ offices, and despite that, you have changed. Last I¡¯d seen of you¡ªall of us, had seen of you¡ªwas a feral youth that couldn¡¯t accept her ¡®fun¡¯ was over. To think, the Rapacious Slaughteress has been domesticated by the constant sight of a jewel-toned bay.¡±

    ¡°Fuck off, Marduk, I¡¯m no more ¡®domesticated¡¯ than you¡¯re any less of a pompous asshole,¡± Nemesis said, rolling her eyes.

    Marduk pressed his hand against his chest. ¡°You wound me, but despite being an ¡®asshole¡¯ I¡¯m also curious. You were content in your power for so long, too lazy to climb, and now you stand a link above me in the victory¡¯s effulgence. If not domestication, what changed?¡±

    Nemesis interlaced their fingers behind their head as they thought. ¡°It was Brightgate,¡± she answered, ¡°when you all left, threatening to kill anyone who tried to follow you, this city took me. Didn¡¯t care that I was a ¡®feral child¡¯ who¡¯d never get the sin out from beneath her nails. I fought for her, made it into the slaughterhouse for anyone who tried to hurt her, and in turn she made me family.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Marduk nodded thoughtfully, but the ice sculpture of consideration shattered in the light. His lips trembled before bitter-black laughter broke free, and his hair swirled into whirlpool coils of delight. He thrust his arms out in comedic embrace of the city Nemesis claimed as both weapon and source of her evolution from whatever he¡¯d known of her previously.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s see how strong these familial ties are,¡± Marduk said, ¡°when The Condemning Judge holds you and this fucking city accountable for the sins of the other! As Below, So Above!¡±

    In accordance to his incantation and will, the shadow that fell across the square became mirrored as the sharp silhouette of a heart-tower punched out the sky and the sun, acting as the doorway to an Abyssal beyond where stars served as distant necrologue for light¡¯s evanescence. Tumbling from that depth was an iris, jagged and cold, howling the cry of an astral more ancient than the arctic¡ªa comet the size of a city, the gavel with which we would be judged, and the testament to Nemesis¡¯s sins.

    Nemesis unlaced her fingers, turned to dive back into The Infinite Slaughterhouse and direct a defense, but Marduk had formed a seal with his other hand while Nemesis tried to puzzle out his plot, shooting a black marble suspended between a cocoon of orange light, pointed like a drill at both ends. It punched through Nemesis¡¯s back, spun her around as it took inside of her, greedily consuming the consumer, and dropping her to her back¡ªthe blood streets holding to a brick¡¯s firmness rather than letting her drift into their depths. Marduk, hovering above the sanguine mirror of the square, drifted over toward Nemesis, eyes ablaze in manic glee braided in rage.

    ¡°What happened to surrendering?¡± Nemesis asked, groaning as she clutched at her chest and the widening hole within it.

    Marduk cackled, ¡°Nemmy, you know we never surrender. In fact, I think that was one of your moves, get captured by the enemy post-surrendering then consume them from within like the parasite you are¡ªthe parasite your city deserves to see¡ªwhen forced to choose between someone else¡¯s needs and your own.¡±

    Lowering, he traced the rim of the hole in her chest, the spaghetti strands of flesh, blood, and spirit spiraling down into a forever prison. She clawed for him, but Marduk only had to direct his hair to slap her hand away¡ªwater was firm when struck hard enough, tutting in disappointment. Then glanced up at the crowning comet, applauding once birthed as, now struck by light, a shimmering umbilical cord traced up into stellar wasteland he¡¯d summoned it from.

    ¡°What are you going to do, Nemmy?¡± Marduk asked. ¡°If you don¡¯t close your aspect and fold your spirit back together, the Cosmic Pinhole will consume you, trapping you in a prison where you¡¯ll die-but-not for eternity. Of course, then my gavel will pronounce judgment, crushing this undefended city you supposedly love like family.¡±

    Struggling until she could sit up, Nemesis asked, ¡°And what happened to taking Brightgate for your ¡®experiments?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Eh, I suppose I¡¯ll lose this district. The rest of the city, cowering under their warding shield, they¡¯ll be alright. A bit smarted, but alright,¡± he said. ¡°In fact, this might be just what they need to understand who I am.¡±

    Unable to guide The Infinite Slaughterhouse¡¯s defenses, the comet-gavel crashed into it, grinding against Nemesis¡¯s aspect with an instilled insistence to strike its designated soundblock, the city streets. Darkness clogged the veins and arteries of The Infinite Slaughterhouse, roused by the ice wall that stretched across the district like a giant¡¯s palm and blocked the light. Marduk cupped a hand about his ear, as the conceptual glaze of Nemesis¡¯s aspect cracked, spilling crumbs the size of window panes to the streets below.

    ¡°Hear that Nemmy?¡± Marduk asked. ¡°It¡¯s the sound of your indecision¡ªa potential double win. If I break your aspect¡¯s cohesion then you¡¯d be stuck without much spirit to crush that pinhole¡ªthough, it¡¯s more like a porthole at this point.¡±

    An apt description, as the black hole in Nemesis¡¯s chest was a yawning abyss slurping down her being without break or breath. It left her limbs convulsing, her mouth unable to turn throated grunts and groans into articulated sounds¡ªwords. He¡¯d cornered her, and she was losing. Nemesis tried to crawl away, force her hand into her aspect, imbue just enough direction to save the city, but Marduk tsk¡¯d, pursuing with the unbothered pace of a parent after a crawling infant.

    ¡°Now this brings back memories,¡± Marduk said. ¡°They¡¯d appointed me to care for you and Bubo¡ªwonder how she¡¯s doing these days¡ªall because I was ¡®mature¡¯ and ¡®trustworthy¡¯ with ¡®naturally maternal instincts.¡¯ So I stayed behind, watching you and that fuck-up of a twin of yours, while everyone got to ride the high of completing missions and earning distinction. Seeing the world and setting it aflame.¡±

    Nemesis grunted, flipping him off. Marduk clutched her wrist, pulled it from the bloody street where she¡¯d only just got her index finger inside, and bent it behind her back, securing it further by dropping on top of her, making Nemesis¡ªLodgemaster of Brightgate, the infamous Slaughteress¡ªinto a cushion. , clutching her hair at the root, he lifted her head back.

    ¡°¡®Why does this matter?¡¯ you ask, well it¡¯s because you¡ªsince creation¡ªhave been something I hated,¡± he said. ¡°I didn¡¯t have to raise you long, but I watched as you proved just how defective you were¡ªa feral thing who¡¯d barely learned human speech, struggled with utensils, and even nearly ate your fucking sister¡ªand received accolades for it. ¡®A natural killer,¡¯ ¡®What we wanted all along,¡¯ and ¡®More of a soldier than that water-haired bitch we ended up with.¡¯ You were foisted on me, became the anchor ¡®round my neck, caused me to be seen as¡­something I never was. So right now, I¡¯m going to do what I should¡¯ve done when you couldn¡¯t roll over in the crib¡ªsmother you.¡±

    Marduk¡¯s storm-sea hair coiled about Nemesis¡¯s head, a fishbowl bereft the glass, invading her nostrils and mouth. The hand behind her back clutched uselessly while the other tried once again to touch her aspect, only to be caught by Marduk and left dangling a hair¡¯s breadth away from possible liberation. He was toying with her, torturing her, for a history only the two of them truly knew, and within his watery tresses, Nemesis was done. Using the hand behind her back, she formed a seal that liquified her aspect, sucking it down from the builds and off the rooftops to the streets below where it crashed and churned into a sanguine flood that raced back to its true heart, Nemesis.

    Tongue clicking against his teeth, Marduk leapt from Nemesis¡¯s back just as the tide came in, whirlpool forming above the cosmic pinhole, draining down into it as the rest of the bayou sunk through her skin into her spirit. Hair drenched and dyed carmine, Nemesis stumbled up from the ankle-deep blood that covered the square, diminishing as it surged into her body, arcing carmine streams that raced to repair her spirit in time to counter the black hole consuming it.

    ¡°And there we are,¡± Marduk said. ¡°There¡¯s the feral little Nemmy that ruined my life, and has decided to ruin this beautiful peaceful city. I can¡¯t believe they trusted you, let you lead anything here, pretending to be this place¡¯s protector when all your hands can do is destroy¡ªyou are War incarnate after all.¡±

    ¡°Marty, move on, I didn¡¯t ask to be made. I didn¡¯t ask you to be my mother-father,¡± Nemesis said, before revealing a chainsaw smile beneath the locks of blood-drenched hair that fell like strips of flayed curtain over her face. ¡°Though what¡¯s funny, I never pretended to be a protector. This place called to me for the Bloodlust that carved every valley it was spread over. Neither of us were peaceful, we didn¡¯t pretend like we were, but we both wanted to do something else, be something more. So I slew its enemies, safeguarded its children, and for that, the city and its people adopted me¡ªtheir feral fucking daughter. They made me their Lodgemaster. Cause at the end of the day, like attracts like, and Marty¡­Bloodlust Seeks Kings in Carmine.¡±

    The city was breaking, the comet descending, and with the gavel close to pronouncing judgment, Nemesis invoked something that I could only describe as a purpose; the answer, or at least one answer, as to why we cracked rocks over heads, sink teeth into flesh, made beautiful obsidian into knives, and shaped the tree of life into a ladder of death from which we ascended to a necrothrone that oversaw our world mother, sputtering and dying. This was the cosmic purpose of Bloodlust, for us to climb, to make plain through disembowelment our right to exist, and make more of ourselves. It was in the name of this purpose that I¡ªeveryone across the city¡ªwas granted a carmine vision of Nemesis holding out to us a crown of woven veins barbed with teeth, and could hear the divine dictation of her words with every beat of my heart.

    Oh city of mine, Lodgemembers mine, I offer you a chance to stand as legion and make plain your rage. I won¡¯t force you, but I do beseech you this question, Brightgate, will you stand with me?

    What words could a city¡¯s mass convey, mortal speech clanging and banging against counter statements of our neighbors, but that didn¡¯t matter because every statement was a sword and every word a shield on which we drummed a furious din; a roar by any other name. Marduk spun around in shock, unable to pinpoint where the sound emerged, deaf to what clearly came from every brick, every ruined piece of glass, every beam of steel, and every building whole or made a carcass.

    Brightgate, will you fight with me?

    Our din heightened, the monkey screech in the back of skulls recognizing us as one and Marduk as other, and what started as the bellow of noble man became the blood-frenzied cry of a beast who¡¯d been wounded and would deliver in kind. Surging from the city¡¯s corpus was a stormcloud of carmine that rolled itself into a lumbering bloodtide colossus, a hundred-and-eight armed asura whose tongue wagged in salivation of Marduk¡¯s heart¡¯s blood. First, though, we¡ªa mob, a community, a city¡ªdecided that we would not be judged by any outsider, and with every fist formed from the failings of our hearts, whether neighbors or ourselves, we drove them into the comet, battering it with chisel-sharp punches that cleaved way flakes of ice that broke buildings, shattered streets, but would never pass judgment over us. As a city, we raised our fist to icy heaven and struck a dolorous blow to its body, exploding it into a spray of frigid shrapnel, a mist of snowflakes that settled on windowsills and roofs, and taking back the sky and the sun with our own hands.

    ¡°No, no,¡± Marduk cried, ¡°this isn¡¯t fucking fair. You don¡¯t work with anyone!¡±

    Nemesis shrugged, shambling toward him as he floated backward in fear of her and us. ¡°Sorry to say, Marty, but all I needed was a pack to run with¡ªand this city and my lodge, well, they¡¯re full of feral motherfuckers.¡±

    Marduk cast the hand-spell for Cosmic Pinhole again and again, until Nemesis was an idea, barely a silhouette, that still advanced on Marduk. We raised our fists to crush him, but Nemesis, daughter of us all, raised a fist to halt our judgment of this failed conqueror. She pushed back her hair, smiled at the person who¡¯d raised her.

    ¡°If it makes you feel better, I won¡¯t kill you with my Duke¡¯s purpose,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll beat you with an Earl¡¯s insight, using a trick you taught me¡ªin this very fight actually. Bloodlust behind Burning Eyes, and yours are plenty aflame, Marty.¡±

    His eyes widened, the heat that¡¯d burned joyously as he taunted Nemesis, tortured her, and tried to destroy the city sputtered, briefly, but couldn¡¯t quench fast enough¡ªhe had Bloodlust in his eyes, and so Nemesis was already in him. She cast a hand-spell, carmine wolves popped free from Marduk¡¯s exploding eyeballs, a lupine hydra that turned back onto him, tore his limbs from his body, consumed his flesh, and reduced him down to a single eye, a plump grape. Nemesis plucked it from the ground, dusted the wolves off, and popped it into her mouth where it burst to her own smile. She turned back to us, the city, and with a wave of her hand dismissed the assembled legion of consciousness controlling that colossal asura.

    Back in my body, I dropped to my knees¡ªcontrol over my motor functions returned far too slowly¡ªand unfortunately banged my head against a chair leg. As darkness fluttered at my vision, I saw Nemesis re-enter her office, take in #2 broken but stable by some definition, #3 who was beside themselves, and #1 who¡¯d died to help her win the war. She gave some sort of instructions¡ªI couldn¡¯t make them out¡ªand crossed toward me where her face colonized my view of the ceiling.

    With a smile, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s do this execution thing tomorrow, I have paperwork to do.¡±

    Her knuckles rapped my head, shutting the door of my awareness, and all became dark.

 Chapter 58

    I don¡¯t know if my eyes opened, or if I simply became aware of the depths to which I¡¯d fallen; darkness extended in every direction save one, where a verdant needle stood, winching me forward in stuttery steps toward whatever lay hidden behind its emerald luminescence. Time was of no concern as I walked, found my footing, and increased pace to a jog. Gaining on that needle which widened into a wall, yawned open¡ªa circle whose top and bottommost sides were cleaved to a precise horizontal-ness¡ªto heights that quintupled my own, and displayed, behind frail silken gauze of shifting color, a hallway lined with bookshelves.

    My shoulder met silk, and all the force I¡¯d built up carried me forward, forward, before that gauze snapped back into place, rebuffing me as many steps as I¡¯d taken in testing the barrier. Despite its demonstrated elasticity, it didn¡¯t quiver back into place¡ªit was made of sterner stuff than me. Rising to my feet, I opted for an approach of respect and humility, inching my way toward it like it could bite or batter me, and when I pressed my palm against it¡­it did. Not with teeth or the prick of a needle, but vicious memory¡ªMom¡¯s voice. A looping refrain of the lesson that had safeguarded my tenuous humanity, ¡°this is what it means to be human,¡± coupled by the phantom sensation of a pinch against my cheek.

    ¡°I know Mom,¡± I whispered to the gauze, ¡°but I need answers, about everything.¡±

    Raising my hand, I recalled that I didn¡¯t have soft pads of flesh and well-kept nails anymore, this was a memory of myself. Skin dried, fell like a dying flower¡¯s petals, revealing claws that glowed the cutting orange-white hue of a horizon, the molten wounds of severed steel. These were my hands now, and, like slicing open a box, I slit the protective gauze which doubled as caul for the secrets of myself that¡¯d been denied a chance to mature through the consideration of years, and stepped into the chthonic depths of a memory that I¡¯d thought a dream.

    Beside me, farther apart than my arms could ever reach and double that of even Sphinx¡¯s prodigious wingspan, were bookshelves, warped along the curved walls of the hallway, their texts squirming and singing for attention. Above and below were transparent panes of a malachite-hued glass¡ªwhat counted as glass in the Underside, anyways¡ªthrough which I could spy a thousand-thousand hallways with their bookshelves below me, another thousand-thousand above me. They were layered in sharp angles, offsetting the hallway¡¯s curved composition, and ascended up and down without necessarily connecting to each other in any causal fashion¡ªEscher-esque, as Mom would say. Before I could get lost in the memory of those hallways, shifting like pieces of a puzzle box with infinite formations, a girl ran past me.

    Barrettes¡ªlovingly shaped from bone when observed in Realspace, but Crystalline in the Underside¡ªclacked together as she ran, braids bouncing with every step. Not to mention how her Metallic musculature converted even the quickest, briefest step into a cymbal cry whose quivering echo reflected her fear¡ªmy fear. She was me, wearing the braids I¡¯d worn all the time when I was eight. The only ones Dad knew how to do, and when I¡¯d ask him why he couldn¡¯t do more he¡¯d say, ¡°Life likes to test you on what you never thought to learn. Keeps you humble.¡± Then I¡¯d reassure him that I love these braids more than anything. All of this came back to me as I watched myself, that younger self, flee from a terror I knew wasn¡¯t far behind.

    It was like a centipede, though one whose legs were replaced by those belonging to a desert reptile and its antennae now a bouquet of human arms bent beyond limb-cracking angles. The fingers, stained in the dark hue of unactivated Underink, were a sharp contrast to the parchment skin of its antennae arms¡ªthe result of handling the many books in this labyrinthine library. That was its duty, to reshelve misplaced books and slot new acquisitions into the appropriate shelves, and this would be fine¡ªI¡¯d have been fine¡ªif it didn¡¯t have the impulse to shelve first and question never. An action which I¡¯d seen it do when I¡¯d first opened my eyes here; finding an entity that¡¯d wandered in, just like me, and deciding to shove it into place on a shelf somewhere, and when it wandered away, the newly shelved ¡°book¡± dripping a milky ichor from its folded up body, I knew I couldn¡¯t let it catch me. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have many places to hide here, loud as I was, and it was gaining behind me, emerging from the shadowed distance of the hallway, hands applauding in absolute glee¡ªit loved to shelve.

    I pried myself from the memory of my terror, undiluted over the years as time couldn¡¯t touch it, and pressed against the hallway as this place¡¯s ¡°librarian¡± surged past, its own claws lightly rapping against the glass floors. At the hallway¡¯s end, my eight-year-old self cowered against the back wall of this dead-end. She plucked a book from the shelf, interposed it between herself and the entity as if a shield, and tried to hide within the fantasy that this would save her. It meant she didn¡¯t see the entrance of what did, but, from my unique vantage of dreamy recollection, I did. I watched as this entity charged, fingers squirming in warm-up to handle my younger self, and before it could grab her¡­space shifted, parted like curtains, and out stepped a woman with a shadow made of light, sporting a blazing halo proclaiming her rule¡ªAmber, it was Amber.

    She glided in front of the librarian, clapped her hands together to form as if in prayer, and shoved them forward before parting them, parting space, and causing the librarian to tumble into that interstitial space that Amber used. After dealing with the entity, she turned around to catch that younger Nadia in the ensorcelled throes of a good book; its song having filled her ears until it¡¯d replaced her heartbeat, seducing her thumbs to curl around its cover and back, slowly parting them¡­and again, Amber came to the rescue, clapping the book shut without harming younger Nadia¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Please,¡± Amber sighed before plucking the book from her hands. ¡°stop trying to destroy yourself.¡±

    It was a kindly entreaty, but came from an alien face; Amber greeted her as the faceless Sovereign I¡¯d seen just before parrying a neighborhood leveling blast with a single finger, and younger Nadia, bereft the pre-existing context of friendship, presumed her fate had fallen into the clutches of a new alien thing. Screaming, she ascended the curved bookshelf, throwing volume after volume of strange ego-obliterating texts at Amber¡¯s head.

    She said, ¡°Go away, go away, I¡¯m not tasty or something to be shelved. I¡¯m just¡­¡±

    ¡°Lost?¡± Amber offered, swaying around each literary projectile.

    My younger self lowered her throwing arm. ¡°Yes. I am.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s why we don¡¯t go wandering down Staircases, kid.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ¡®wander¡¯ down one,¡± she said, pouting. ¡°I just end up here at night.¡±

    ¡°Without your family?¡± Amber asked. ¡°You do have one of those?¡±

    She nodded. ¡°A sister, my mom and dad. I, um, don¡¯t see them much. They¡¯re up top.¡±

    ¡°Realspace, you have a full family that lives in Realspace,¡± Amber said, ¡°but they let you wander around here at night? That¡¯s a pretty shitty family.¡±

    Younger Nadia whipped the book at Amber, this time not at her head, but her foot. The edge of its spine slammed into her big toe, forced her to hop about on one foot as she clutched the wounded one. When she looked up from the injury, she was rewarded with the sight of my younger self pulling a face mocking her sharply mundane pain.

    ¡°Language,¡± she snapped, ¡°and my family isn¡¯t¡­that word. They don¡¯t listen to my sister, but she¡¯s trying to help me get home.¡±

    ¡°Awesome, then you can wait here for her,¡± Amber snapped darkly, the raspberry flames of her eyes smoldering to a low burn. ¡°I only came here to get a book anyway.¡±

    Amber turned on her heels, the shimmery white of her dress fluttering her goodbye before she reversed in the other direction. Younger Nadia, torn between putting her hope in her sister and getting aid from a stranger, hopped from the shelf, raced after Amber, to clutch the hem of her dress. Amber turned around, her Sovereign body allowing her spine to twist like a cat¡¯s, and bent low so the black oval of her face met the little girl¡¯s.

    ¡°What?¡± she asked, a merciless glint in her eyes as she approached the end of her patience.

    Younger Nadia asked, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    Amber¡¯s eyes widened, a vulnerability that my younger self noted, and she reared back up, looking away from the small child¡ªmy younger self noticed this as well. ¡°Redacted,¡± she answered. ¡°Miss Redacted, as my team called me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a name,¡± Younger Nadia said.

    Amber exhaled, ¡°It¡¯s not, but it is. They all took names and I didn¡¯t¡­couldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°How can it be ¡®not¡¯ and ¡®is¡¯ at the same time?¡± she asked. ¡°Isn¡¯t that kind of¡­¡±

    ¡°Oxymoronic?¡± Amber offered.

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t look stupid,¡± Younger Nadia said. ¡°It¡¯s more sad, like you¡¯re making do with something not meant for you. My sister¡¯s friend, Melissa, gets teased sometimes for wearing her sister¡¯s hand-me-downs. Everyone says they aren¡¯t really her clothes, and they aren¡¯t but also are the best her family can do. They¡¯re too busy making everyone else¡¯s clothes.¡±

    ¡°Your point, kid?¡± Amber asked.

    Younger Nadia pouted. ¡°First, my name isn¡¯t, ¡®kid,¡¯ it¡¯s Nadia. Nadia Temple.¡±

    ¡°Pleasure to make your acquaintance,¡± Amber said, sarcastically.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it is, people always say that to me,¡± Younger Nadia replied, casually oblivious to Amber¡¯s disbelief at my inability to read tone. ¡°Second, to get back on topic, is that you deserve something that¡¯s your own. Not given to you by others and used to hurt you.¡±

    Crouching down, Amber pushed her finger into my younger self¡¯s chest. ¡°That¡¯d be a dream, ki¡ªTemple,¡± Amber said, ¡°but I made my choices¡ªbest I could at the time¡ªand now I can¡¯t name myself. Goes against the rules.¡±

    ¡°Then we cheat, and I¡¯ll name you¡­¡± Younger Nadia declared like it couldn¡¯t be simpler. She fished a necklace out from beneath her nightgown, an amber magatama on a leather cord, and held it up. ¡°...after this!¡±

    ¡°Magatama?¡±

    Younger Nadia pursed her lips. ¡°No, dummy, amber. Your name can be Amber.¡±

    ¡°Not really that creative,¡± Amber said, rolling her eyes, ¡°but I¡¯ll try it around. See how the entities like it. See ya, Temple.¡±

    She turned to walk away, but again my younger self clutched her dress, preventing her exit.

    Amber asked, ¡°For someone so afraid of a soldier, you really have no fear fucking with me, do you?¡±

    ¡°Language,¡± Younger Nadia snapped, ¡°and why should I, your face is weird but you¡¯re nice.¡±

    A laugh rolled through Amber¡¯s body. ¡°You¡¯re a terrible judge of character, Temple, I¡¯m one of the worst people on the entire planet you could¡¯ve ever run into.¡±

    ¡°Mom likes to say, ¡®everything in context,¡¯ so maybe, but right now you¡¯re nice,¡± she countered. ¡°Right now, you¡¯re mine.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Amber groaned.

    Younger Nadia nodded, emphatically. ¡°I named you, like a dog, so now we have an unbreakable bond, and obla¡­oblo¡­¡±

    ¡°Obligation,¡± Amber answered, seeing where this was going.

    ¡°That! We have an obligation to each other,¡± she said. ¡°So you can help get me out of here, and I¡¯ll help you with whatever you want¡­like helping show people that you¡¯re actually really nice.¡±

    From behind my younger self, I watched Amber¡¯s eyes flit about to read my younger self¡¯s face, wondering, what¡¯s the angle? Is this some other scheme? A trap? Only to discover that I, in my innocence, had nothing behind my words than a guileless kid¡¯s conviction. Amber closed her eyes, muttered the word, her new name, ¡°Amber,¡± over and over, tasting it. Her eyes opened, she lowered her palm, and said, ¡°Hop on. It¡¯ll take too long if we go at your pace.¡±

    My younger self squealed with joy and climbed onto the survival raft she¡¯d made of this unknown giantess. I felt conflicted, so many feelings counter to each other cannibalizing their energies to decide the direction of my heart; Amber had known me before all of this, and I¡¯d forgotten her. I shut my eyes, cleared the set of this memory play¡­

    * * *

    ¡­and opened them, revealing a coffered ceiling overhead. Its lights, set into the beams at each intersection, were dimmed to a whisper of lavender, but sunlight still found a way in, slicing through my artificial twilight. I slumped up, feeling a kinship to slugs sweat as I was, and noted a large furry loaf at the end of the bed. Reaching out, I pet it¡­and it turned out to be just a bundled blanket¡ªvery soft, impeccably made¡ªand not who I wished it was. I felt around in my spirit, confirmed that Sphinx hadn¡¯t left, nothing had changed. My bondmate and love was still a protean mass of possibility that hovered beyond the other side of a trial that I¡¯d initiated, but hadn¡¯t discovered the mechanism that¡¯d allow me to undertake it.

    Attention flicking to the mirror across from the bed, I sneered at the woman I saw, my sister-self; she was clean, the secretaries¡ªthose in the triple digits¡ªsaw to that while some other contingent took stock of my things, what Amber hadn¡¯t gathered in her escape, and inquired about Mother¡¯s Last Smile. They were relieved when I said it¡¯d been shattered. The woman in the mirror, now she looked shattered, her face broken up in fracture lines of self-directed fury that spiderwebbed from beneath her eyepatch. She¡¯d been played, she¡¯d set up the innocent to die, and lost everything in pursuit of a vengeance that seemed farther than any knife, than the horizon she¡¯d never cross. She¡ªI¡ªwe were set to be executed; not at any particular time, not that it stopped me from glancing at the clock, but at whatever hour drew Nemesis¡¯s whim. The woman in the mirror, she set her eyes on her reflection¡ªdead center of the temple¡ªwhere a black star waited to be given its cue. It wouldn¡¯t be an escape, but at least I¡¯d decide when I went out, I thought to myself. This sated my sister-self, but left me quietly asking, do I deserve that choice?

    I listened for an answer, heard a knock, and stumbled to my feet in surprise¡ªguess that¡¯s my answer. A brick of orange light blinded me, blinking it away I spotted the folded-up binding suit I was to wear for transfer. After taking it, the light disappeared, and I wasted little time in getting changed.

    When I¡¯d knocked, a quaint syncopated beat, the door to my room¡ªa cell in purpose though not decor¡ªopened, to the reveal of a secretary, plump in the manner of a pear, with a face meant for smiling but had decided to exercise new muscles for scowling. I smiled, wan and polite, and the secretary spit in my face. They smiled after that. Then they led me through the lower intestines of Lodge headquarters where people like me, traitors, and other sorts, villains perhaps, were kept in equally plush cells for when we¡¯d be brought to task for what we¡¯d done. Most of the villains were judged by the city, as it was the city and its people who were harmed by their actions, but traitors like me¡­we got to ride a swanky elevator up through floor after floor toward the very top of the building to be judged by the face and voice of the institution we¡¯d stabbed in the back, Nemesis.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take it from here, #562,¡± a secretary in a raspberry skirt-suit combination said, smirking around the pleasure of getting to hand me off to Nemesis themselves.

    #562, as I¡¯d learned was their name, frowned. ¡°Really, I never get to see the Lodgemaster, let me have this.¡±

    The other secretary said, ¡°You¡¯ll be delivering plenty of others to the Lodgemaster, and I¡¯ll trade you some good intel I found out.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the intel?¡± #562 asked.

    The secretary said, ¡°I know where a chunk of Marduk¡¯s throne landed.¡±

    #562¡¯s eyes widened¡ªthat¡¯d be a massive coup for someone otherwise stuck in the basement. The secretary in raspberry leaned forward, whispered it into their ear, and the deal was done. #562 hurried back into the elevator, and my new keeper led me down a hallway past office after office, a blurring backdrop of wood detailing and black rugs. We took lefts, rights, and soon the floor started dipping downward. Carpet became cobblestone, and the grinding groans of a city healing scrabbled into my ears, muffled by a kind of pressure change¡ªpop.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    I was in the streets of Brightgate, free. Whirling around, I discovered that my binding suit was gone, replaced by a button down with the sleeves rolled up and a white caplet cut from the same fabric as my skirt, cotton woven in a fashion that created a grooved pattern, like a vinyl record. A whistle drew my attention, that raspberry-suited secretary had been replaced by Amber¡ªthe one I¡¯d become familiar with¡ªwho waited farther down the block. I ran to her.

    ¡°Pretty sly escape, huh Temple?¡± Amber asked once I¡¯d caught up to her. ¡°One of my smoother¡ª¡±

    Leaping, my fist caught her in the jaw to a resounding crack. She stumbled, holding out an arm to catch herself, but it was Nahey, back as a cloud of butterflies, that¡¯d saved her from collapse. I stalked toward her, swinging my arms to have somewhere for my rage to go as it surged in me¡ªI¡¯d not forgotten what I¡¯d realized before she flung me to Nemesis¡¯s office, she¡¯d helped Marduk. Was the reason that everything went wrong.

    ¡°Temple,¡± Amber said, trying to ward off my violence, ¡°Temple, please, I just freed you. Let¡¯s get out of the city, and then we can¡ª¡±

    I lashed out. Jab, cross, jab, a reverse rend with my claws¡ªthey all whistled in the air, my form and speed were perfect, but perfection was the ground floor to a godtender, her body swaying around every blow, as her brow knit in focus to maintain what I presumed to be her field-spell.

    She said, ¡°Temple, don¡¯t make me hurt you.¡±

    ¡°You already did,¡± I growled, snapping out a front kick with the heeled boots she¡¯d put me in.

    Her face fell flat, darkening in response to my accusation. Catching my kick between her hands, Amber latched a single hand around my ankle, swung me up into the air, released, and then the world tumbled end over end. Streets became sky, sky became streets, became sand and sea, and then I landed¡­supine, face to a woolen sky peppered with quills of sunlight. Amber¡¯s face entered view, upside down, and worried about how I¡¯d landed on the sand.

    ¡°Are you oka¡ª¡± she tried to ask, before my leg snapped up, toebox hammering into her orbital bone.

    I flipped myself over, on all fours fangs bared, and my one good eye, a supernova of hatred that most people with two eyes would struggle their entire lives to rival. Amber shrugged her jacket off and dropped to the sand, lowering herself to my level. An irony, as she¡¯d been doing since I¡¯d met her on that hunt. From inside her jacket, she withdrew a rapier with a guard of black-iron rose stems and a serrated blade the color of obsidian¡ªI hadn¡¯t seen it since the first test, which didn¡¯t bring back good memories for me. Amber tossed the sword toward me, it landed in the sand just ahead of my right hand.

    ¡°You know I¡¯m not a swordswoman,¡± I hissed.

    Amber shrugged, ¡°And I¡¯m not going to dodge.¡±

    ¡°Would this even work on you?¡± I asked. ¡°You are a godtender, remember?¡±

    Running her hand through her locs, she said, ¡°Not like this, I¡¯m not. My role, at this point, is to be a Baron and I¡¯ll suffer as any Baron should if Prick of Plague touched me.¡±

    I curled into a crouch, my hand grasping Prick of Plague¡¯s hilt before angling swordpoint at Amber. With three limbs I slowly picked across the sand toward her, slid the blade just below her chin, rose to my full height, and made her look at me. Alls below, she smiled at me and I remembered all those smiles, knowing, loving, burning with a passion for me. My saliva tasted of whiskey.

    ¡°Stop doing that,¡± I screamed.

    ¡°Doing what?¡± Amber asked, concerned that something was wrong.

    Tears streamed down my face, wet my eyepatch, as I cried, ¡°Making me remember!¡±

    ¡°My Court¡¯s Masks, not Remembrance, Temple,¡± Amber explained.

    ¡°You¡¯re still a godtender, you can make reality whatever you want!¡±

    She wobbled her hand in the air. ¡°It¡¯s more complicated than that, trust me.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s ¡®me¡¯ in this scenario,¡± I asked, ¡°Amber, the person who swore to help me; maybe it¡¯s the Sovereign of Masks, who I had to beg to not callously ignore thousands who¡¯d died; though at this point, it¡¯s probably Miss Redacted talking, hmm?¡±

    That last name hurt her, good. The light in her eyes, the hope that everything would be fine between us, sputtered and my heart soared in heavenly elation; before me was a Baron hiding a god, and she found herself kneeling at my feet, seeking my understanding¡ªit felt great, I felt horrible, I sobbed.

    Screamed, ¡°Who even are you?¡±

    ¡°Someone who loves you,¡± Amber said, ¡°that hasn¡¯t changed. It¡¯ll never change.¡±

    ¡°And if I want it to?¡± I asked, probing for the dark flash of something I could make into a simple enemy.

    Tears beaded at the corners of her eyes. ¡°Then I¡¯d encounter the second order of yours I couldn¡¯t complete, and the first that I¡¯d have no regret in denying.¡±

    ¡°Fuck!¡± I screamed, removing the sword from beneath her chin, whipping it out to be claimed by the ocean before turning back to my kneeling god-love. ¡°You¡¯re impossible. Alls below, you¡¯re fucking impossible.¡±

    I kicked her in the chest, knocking her to the ground, and pounced, driving my fangs into her shoulder. She should¡¯ve struggled, punched in my floating rib until it pierced a lung, or bucked her hips to throw me off. Instead, she cradled my head, my feelings, as I drank her blood in the hopes that I could guzzle down whatever made her care for me¡ªI never found it, and rolled off of her, droplets of blood dotting a line toward where my head rested; against her shoulder, a lover¡¯s position, and my claw rested over her chest where I could feel her heart beat alluringly. Though I wasn¡¯t keen on claiming it, I didn¡¯t want it, not in the way I¡¯d taken #404¡¯s. Never and no one, would I take in that fashion after them.

    ¡°On the matter of what I can do,¡± Amber said, the crashing surf filling the space between words, ¡°you can trust the Sovereign.¡±

    I asked, ¡°Is she who decided to help Marduk?¡±

    ¡°No, but she had the skills to back it up,¡± Amber said. ¡°That one was a joint operation. Amber, couldn¡¯t allow you to die, and Miss Redacted couldn¡¯t¡ªdespite how awful he turned out¡ªlet Marduk go out like that.¡±

    ¡°Then I suppose I only hate two-out-of-three of you,¡± I said, ¡°so far.¡±

    I propped myself up, gazed out to the horizon where things were flat and simple, then back to my love who was anything but. In her eyes I was a dark thing framed by a neutral heaven, and her lips¡ªregardless of how serious I was, this moment was¡ªtwitched in appreciation of what I assumed was my beauty. While I curled fetally, she laid back against her elbows. If no one knew us we looked like two gals on the cutest date, on a beach all by ourselves.

    ¡°Thank you¡­for freeing me,¡± I whispered.

    Amber grinned, ¡°Anytime, Temple.¡±

    ¡°Really,¡± I asked, ¡°I thought I wouldn¡¯t be seeing you for a while after bringing everyone back?¡±

    Her grin died at my signal of more serious talk. ¡°The assessment was¡­before your proposed changes. I had a new role, and it¡¯s more permissive¡ªlets me pull you out of there, take us to the beach¡­and make you an offer.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I asked.

    Amber reached into her discarded jacket, removed a small velvet box, and rolled back onto one knee. My mouth swung open in disbelief, and my eyes opened to the truth¡ªshe was proposing. The box cracked open with a mouse-sized whine, revealing a ring of carved wood, golden wired inlaid, and at the center was a smooth chalcedony gem. I looked up to find Amber¡¯s expression awash in affection begging for reciprocation.

    ¡°Nadia Temple, would you¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said, rising from the sand and walking away. Of course, Amber chased after, dog and servant to my heart and whims that she was.

    She said, ¡°Temple, I¡¯m not asking lightly.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I said, seeking out the end of this damned beach. ¡°Though you¡¯re a bit late if you want my parents¡¯ approval. As a match, they might approve of you being a godtender, but they always wanted me to be with someone honest, forthright, transparent.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s three words to say the same thing,¡± she yelled. ¡°Temple, please, this is the best way for us to stay together.¡±

    I stopped, sighed, and turned to face her. ¡°Let me correct you. This is the best way for you to stay with me this way. I don¡¯t know if I want to be with you, Amber, let alone ¡®with you.¡¯ Besides, I already ducked out of one marriage for power, who¡¯s to say I won¡¯t do that to you?¡±

    She shrugged, ¡°If you marry me you¡¯d be ducking into a marriage for power. I¡¯ll show you everything I can when it comes to climbing the Chain. Help you plan out every bit of your upChains so you don¡¯t end up making poor decisions.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t even graduated, and I¡¯ve made the worst decisions of my life!¡± I screamed from down the beach. ¡°I trusted you all the way down into that cell!¡±

    Her brow furrowed as she fought down her anger. ¡°Don¡¯t put that on me,¡± she screamed back. ¡°I gave you my counsel, my body, everything, and you decided to abandon it all to help out a fucking secretary and one of Marduk¡¯s fucked up grandkids!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that she was right¡ªthough maybe she kind of was¡ªbut her words drove me into a full-body paroxysm. My feet stamped into the sand, kicked apart the tiny peaks created, and I ripped apart the shirt and skirt she¡¯d dressed me in, tore the boots from my feet, and tossed all of them at her in one chimeric blast of apparel¡ªthat the wind returned the bulk of in my direction, my shirt hitting me in the face and silencing my fury. Peeling it off, I stared at it, then at her, and giggled. Tiny bubbles of sanity popping into a layered choir of laughs.

    Amber¡¯s rage dissipated, as she raced over toward me. ¡°Temple, I¡¯m sorry¡ª¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± I said, short of breath as any and all were claimed by laughter, ¡°this is pretty funny. I¡¯m on a beach, arguing with you, standing around in tights and panties while you¡¯re a fucking godtender begging the crazy bitch in tights and panties to marry you. How does that make sense?¡±

    ¡°My current role lets me make an offer that will let us stay together forever,¡± she explained, voice soft and guilty. ¡°I can teach you everything, give you everything, and we can just run from all of this. Be anything we want, be anywhere we want, and¡­¡±

    ¡°And what?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You won¡¯t have to die,¡± she said. ¡°If I didn¡¯t steal you away, if you don¡¯t say yes, then you¡¯ll die.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve nearly died before and gotten out of it,¡± she said.

    Amber conceded that point. ¡°That¡¯s most people, Temple. Every step is a moment where death reaches out to pluck you from the wings, and you¡¯ve been too downstage to be caught.¡±

    ¡°Until now?¡± I asked.

    She nodded. ¡°Until now.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I hummed, ¡°that sucks. Any chance you can¡ª¡±

    ¡°This is the choice,¡± Amber said, ¡°die with Nemesis or live with me.¡±

    The sea breeze never felt colder, but I didn¡¯t put the shirt back on or the skirt that came with it; my head had to be clear because my heart was lead, and I didn¡¯t want to sink to the bottom of things due to another wrong choice. I looked out toward the city, away from the infinite horizon where I could easily imagine running off with Amber¡ªI could imagine forgiving her, in time, knowing she¡¯d swim to the depths of the Underside and back to earn it¡ªso that I could see what I was running from, my mess. Brightgate¡¯s skyline was missing some teeth that Marduk¡¯s attack kicked in, and I¡¯d held them down so it could happen. The people in that city didn¡¯t have a godtender to offer an easy escape, they¡¯d be working for at least half a year, maybe longer, to find all the missing bodies, repair the broken infrastructure, and hunt down those entities that Nemesis had missed when she consumed most of Marduk¡¯s forces. That was everything before actually rebuilding buildings.

    Amber pinched my chin between her thumb and the edge of her index finger, guiding my face toward hers, pressing my lips against hers. It felt warm, right, and the kind of ease of burdens that I¡¯d been chasing since that time in the bathroom with¡ªI shoved Amber away from me,  Turning around so I didn¡¯t have to look at her, but she wrapped her arms around me like so many times before to help pull me together.

    ¡°Amber,¡± I said, ¡°I want to say yes, I want to say yes so badly.¡±

    ¡°Then say it,¡± she whispered, ¡°and we¡¯ll go anywhere you want.¡±

    ¡°Before that, I¡­,¡± it was hard to get the words out, ¡°I need answers, Amber. There¡¯s been too many reveals, half-truths, and alls below who knows what else that¡¯ve made this entire journey beleaguered. So, if this is you making your offer, then wrap it up in the truth and I¡¯ll take it.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡± Amber asked, offering her heart and our future together as votive.

    ¡°Question one,¡± I said, tears welling, ¡°if you¡¯re a godtender, why didn¡¯t you save my parents?¡±

    Amber¡¯s hands went cold, clammy against my skin as she said, ¡°It wasn¡¯t my role.¡±

    ¡°Is that all you are,¡± I asked, ¡°a role?¡±

    ¡°Is that your second question?¡± she asked.

    I answered, ¡°No, but that¡¯s something of an answer. Question two, were you ever going to tell me that Nemesis didn¡¯t do it?¡±

    She growled into my ear, ¡°Nemesis had done enough. If fate was to steer you¡ª¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not my question,¡± I stated.

    Amber¡¯s breath was hot against the nape of my neck, but her tears were hotter, warming my chilled skin as they struck delivering her answer.

    ¡°Question three,¡± I said, turning around in her arms to face her, ¡°is my life my own?¡±

    She searched me for clues. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Is. My life. My own?¡± I asked. ¡°Or is it just another thing you¡¯ve ¡®directed?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Temple, I wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°That just means you might fuck up in the attempt, but maybe you¡¯d try.¡±

    ¡°Temple¡ª¡±

    I burrowed my head into her chest, my claws sank into her back as I latched myself to her¡ªthe last mast holding me up, or potentially taking me down¡ªand begged, ¡°Amber, just say the words. ¡®Temple, I did not direct your life.¡¯¡±

    Her lip quivered, but no words came out.

    ¡°Tell me, and I¡¯ll run away with you,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll hunt down whoever is left, track down whatever you need to leave your past behind you, and then we do whatever we want, go wherever we want, be whoever we want.¡±

    Amber lifted her head, looking past me and toward the truth she refused to put into words.

    ¡°Amber, please,¡± I said, ¡°say them otherwise I won¡¯t know if..if this is a love I¡¯m feeling for you, or if this feeling, these words, this moment were all scripted. Alls below, Amber, are tears scripted? Are they hitting the right cue? Are my tits the size you¡¯d edited to fit your desire? The angle I tilt my head, how wide I open my eyes¡­how I can¡¯t stop looking at your mouth and dreaming of pressing mine to it, is any of that me, or am I your damsel, following along to your plot where I¡¯m forced to choose between you and death?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never been a damsel,¡± Amber said, kissing the top of my head.

    I sobbed, ¡°And there¡¯s the lie.¡±

    ¡°But, you haven¡¯t¡ª¡±

    ¡°I remember,¡± I said, ¡°how we first met. Not in the van on the way to the Staircase, but in the Underside. Where you saved me.¡±

    I opened my arms, but Amber refused to let me go.

    ¡°Is that what this is about?¡± she asked. ¡°Temple.¡±

    ¡°Send me back,¡± I said.

    She shook her head, ¡°Over that? Temple, I forgot, I didn¡¯t lie to you. I didn¡¯t. Give me a different reason, and sure, but I didn¡¯t lie.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t give me an answer either,¡± I said, looking away from the pain in her face. ¡°Not a real one to any of my questions. You¡¯ve deflected, been silent, bit down on whatever truth you¡¯d refused to part with. Alls below, maybe you did forget how we met, or maybe you just had to lie so that I¡¯d know the right decision to make. Now send me back.¡±

    Amber¡¯s hands fell from my arms. She formed a hand-spell, then dragged it through the air as if there was a curtain part, and space parted around the motion creating a jagged doorway back to the Lodge¡¯s headquarters. I kissed her on the cheek.

    ¡°Is being with me worse than death?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No, but I¡¯m tired of not knowing anything,¡± I said. ¡°So, while the choice seems ugly on its face, feels to you like an insult, know that it¡¯s not me choosing death over you. No, it¡¯s me choosing answers over ignorance, even if it¡¯d be with someone I can really love. And Amber¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± she asked, relocating tears from her cheeks to her sleeve.

    My voice breaking under the weight of forced levity, I winked, lashes kissing a tear from my eye. ¡°You¡¯re free from your oblo¡­obla¡­¡±

    ¡°Obligation,¡± she said, picking up her side of an old conversation now a new joke between us.

    ¡°Y-yeah, that¡¯s the¡­¡± globs of tears drowned my words, my heart, but I had to finish the joke¡­for her. I needed her to know that maybe this would only be a goodbye for now, not forever. ¡°That¡¯s the word¡­that¡¯s the word¡­yeah.¡±

    ¡°Nadia, you were never an obligation to me,¡± Amber cried out, needing to yell so her words had enough space for every feeling. ¡°You¡¯re my temple, and I¡¯d worship you forever.¡±

    ¡°Sounds boring,¡± I chuckled, as each word between us¡ªsteps taken to avoid goodbye¡ªaccompanied a profound snap in my chest; the fingers of love that¡¯d choked my heart for so long, snapping backward as I let go of my own, uncompromised, volition. ¡°Enjoy forever.¡±

    I passed through the doorway she¡¯d made for me, felt reality swing back in place to barely a flutter¡ªAmber was a master of subtle sorceries¡ªand made my way through the top floor of headquarters. In tights, black panties, and crying down to my bare tits I sought out Nemesis¡¯s office. Not like it was hard, it was the place that had the thickest scent of Bloodlust. As I navigated those hallways, secretaries stopped in shock and disbelief, Lodgemembers froze as they tried to discern if this was some hazing ritual or something stranger, and in spite of the maudlin air about me, I kept my head up. I kept it up, just like Dad always told me to when I had to face something that turned my stomach¡ªhe¡¯d meant it for eating my vegetables, but I think my own execution still applies. When I reached Nemesis¡¯s office, #2 and #3 rose from their desks to, not really greet me, but to see me off in some sense.

    #3 asked, ¡°Did you run?¡±

    ¡°No, just, took a stop by the beach,¡± I said. ¡°See the horizon one last time with someone special.¡±

    ¡°Was it fun?¡± #2 asked.

    I said, ¡°No, Christy, it was awful.¡±

    ¡°Apologies, then,¡± #2 said, her expression lifting as I returned to them their name. ¡°Nemesis is¡­ready for you.¡±

    Walking past them, I clapped their shoulders. ¡°Cheer up, I¡¯m the one dying.¡±

    Then, I pushed open the door, and entered Nemesis¡¯s office, that plush cage which no one could see into save a godtender¡ªI hope Amber didn¡¯t watch, and found my executioner, legs crossed with a plate of tacos balanced over her knee, smiling.

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get this started, hmm?¡± Nemesis asked.

 Chapter 59

    I stood there, semi-nude, and eye red from tears, and asked, ¡°How?¡±

    How does one start their execution? Does it involve kneeling¡ªI didn¡¯t much want to kneel, the carpet would¡¯ve been uncomfortable¡­at least let me die without first suffering rug burn¡ªor does it begin with reading off to me every wrong I¡¯d committed that led me to this point? Nemesis, as the one officiating my send-off from reality, gestured at the chair in front of her¡ªit was the one I¡¯d fallen into when I first arrived.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to die sitting?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Nah,¡± Nemesis said, ¡°unless you want to, but I¡¯d prefer you don¡¯t. Getting gore stuck in the upholstery is the worst¡ªyou never find out you missed a spot until it stinks.¡±

    I shrugged, walked around to take my seat, and found a plate of three tacos¡ªasada¡ªwaiting for me; already dressed with a drizzle of salsa roja with a lime on the side. Looking up, I saw that Nemesis had already returned to eating, and from the way rendered fat dripped from her fingers I decided to simply enjoy the meal, digging in myself. Tortillas tore perfectly, spilling onto my tongue exquisite charred meat, cut along the grain for easy bites, and dripping in their own fat¡ªrivers of condensed flavor. It wasn¡¯t Conceptual fare, but it was made with a Master¡¯s touch, and when I chewed, spreading salsa around my mouth, the acid cut through the fat before it ever became too heavy for my palate whilst the heat spread unevenly across my tongue like a dandelion¡¯s seeds; the uneven coating a beauty all its own. The tacos were gone before I¡¯d remembered to even squeeze the lime, and provide one final transformation.

    ¡°Why feed me?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯d think the last thing you want is someone¡¯s body churning up food before death.¡±

    Nemesis took my plate, stacked it atop hers, and set it to the side¡ªthey were the kind of plates a vendor trusted you to bring back cleaned. She leaned into the couch¡¯s back. Thinking she was contemplating something deep, I leaned forward, she grunted, I leaned farther forward¡­and catching me by surprise she burped into my face. It shocked me back into my own seat, as I plugged my nose, a futile gesture considering the scent¡ªbeef, acid, and the copper scents of blood¡ªhad already infiltrated my body.

    ¡°Seriously, I get I¡¯m executing you,¡± Nemesis said, ¡°but Nadia, try to appreciate the moment. You had a good final meal that encapsulated all of life.¡±

    ¡°Which you decided to bookend by belching,¡± I stated, my eye narrowing.

    She laughed, a loud bark of a thing. ¡°Them¡¯s the breaks, but consider it early payback for getting your future corpse-stink in my office.¡±

    I rolled my eye. ¡°Nemesis, I probably don¡¯t deserve it, but can you actually be honest with me?¡± I asked. ¡°I made a really hard choice banking on the fact that maybe I¡¯d get some answers here.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I can smell that you did. I¡¯m guessing Miss Redacted hit her gnostic boundary, huh?¡± Nemesis asked, and, clearing her throat to assume a professorial tone, explained after I looked like I¡¯d never heard the term before¡ªwhich I hadn¡¯t, ¡°The gnostic boundary can be understood as the back-edge to every gnosis shard a summoner acquires as they ascend the Chain. While said gnosis can be empowering, it is also inherently constraining, necessitating the forward-thinking summoner consider how their own power might one day harm them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the same voice Amber would use,¡± I said, recognizing the tone and cadence before actually processing the answer.

    ¡°Not surprised, we all copy Eeny¡ªshe¡¯s the only real researcher among us,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°Anyways, all you gotta know is for every one of your understandings¡ªthe gnosis shard¡ªit becomes a noose eventually. You can¡¯t break it, so you live around it¡­until you can¡¯t.¡±

    She gestured at me as she finished explaining¡ªI was the one who pushed Amber to her boundary. The recognition of her helplessness should¡¯ve made it easier to crack the door to my forgiveness in terms of her lack of answers; allow myself to just trust that she wasn¡¯t lying to me or being intentionally withholding, that it was something beyond her control, beyond sense. Yet, if the roles she took¡ªfar as I barely understood them¡ªlet her masquerade as Baron then why not find a role that let her tell me the truth? I took the lime, bit into it like it was her throat, and fixed my mind on the fruit¡¯s sour juices as they wiped all remnants of flavor from my mouth.

    ¡°All I wanted were answers,¡± I said, face scrunched from sour mood and fruit.

    ¡°Apparently,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°You turned down the easiest escape the New World ever saw.¡±

    ¡°Was that a bad idea?¡±

    ¡°Alls below, I don¡¯t fucking know,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°Getting executed sucks¡ªdoesn¡¯t get my blood boiling the way I want¡ªbut running off with Miss Redacted, eh. She couldn¡¯t give a straight answer before we found out we liked girls, and she sure as shit couldn¡¯t now.¡±

    ¡°Meaning?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Whatever you take from it,¡± she said. ¡°I tried running away with her once¡­didn¡¯t work out, and now, eh, I doubt I¡¯d even get the option. Especially with her ducking me all the time despite leaving her scent across the city.¡±

    Nemesis hopped off the couch, and meandered toward a liquor cabinet, withdrawing two glasses and a tall cylindrical bottle of tequila. Hands full, she tapped the cabinet closed with her head before returning to the couch where she placed a smooth glass in front of me. Then placed an ornate glass in front of herself that was beautiful, and all too recognizable.

    ¡°Is that Venetian glass?¡± I asked.

    Nemesis smirked, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s even from Venice before¡ª¡±

    ¡°It got destroyed,¡± I whispered. ¡°Amber had one just like it. She said her siblings had the others in the set. Why do you have one?¡±

    Nemesis glanced from the glass to me, groaned, and poured a double of tequila into her glass and mine. Slammed the bottle on the coffee table, meeting my eye with her own as the biting rumble of a chainsaw filled the room¡ªshe was growling. Instinctively, I tried to stand¡­

    ¡°Sit,¡± she stated, flexing her spirit in a manner that exerted enough pressure to slam me back into my chair, pinning me. ¡°This is all happening out of order, normally I like to give you guys a good meal, chat about how your choices led you to this place¡ª¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Most executioners can¡¯t handle the mental burden of seeing the condemned as a person,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°Violence being my nature¡­I lack that problem. So, I can treat the condemned humanely, feeding them one last meal, listening as they tell me whatever they want to tell me, and then I give them their dream death.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you fed me,¡± I said, earning a nod of agreement. ¡°Since you said, ¡®normally,¡¯ what¡¯s going to be different about my execution?¡±

    ¡°Not much, except I think I will be giving you some of those answers you want,¡± she said, folding her spirit back inside of herself, ¡°and I¡¯ll be asking some questions of my own. We go until we¡¯re both sated¡ªyou, knowing everything I can tell you so you die with no regrets, and me, knowing exactly how much shit I have to beat out of Miss Redacted¡¯s fucking body.¡±

    Stunned, I asked, ¡°Who goes first?¡±

    ¡°Me,¡± she declared, ¡°since I fed you and gave you my good tequila. Why¡¯ve you been trying to kill me?¡±

    ¡°Simple,¡± I said, sipping the tequila first and enjoying the life-assuring burn as it tumbled down my throat, ¡°I was led to believe you killed my parents.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she hummed, ¡°I can understand that. You wouldn¡¯t be the first to try killing me for that¡ªit¡¯s how I get most of the secretaries¡ªbut I take it you don¡¯t think I did it, now do you?¡±

    My mouth twitched, caught between a scowl and a smile, scorn and bemusement rippling across my face, clouds of mood. I shrugged, drinking more, letting the burn build inside in the hope that it could surmount everything else mixing in me. Nemesis waited, patiently, and when my glass was empty she even refilled it.

    ¡°No, not think,¡± I said. ¡°I know you didn¡¯t do it. Only found out, ironically, when you went to go fight Marduk¡ªyour mask was wrong. Different from the five.¡±

    ¡°Alls below, who¡¯re your parents?¡± Nemesis asked, giggling while she sipped her drink. ¡°Most of us Black Wombs would kill each other on sight before we¡¯d work together, let alone five of us.¡±

    I swirled the tequila in my glass, appreciating the micro-tornado of liquor that formed, violently rotating with nowhere to go, nothing to destroy or consume. When I placed the glass on the coffee table, it dissipated from the shock, becoming nothing but bubbles.

    ¡°City Killer and the Sovereign of Upheaval,¡± I said.

    Nemesis coughed, liquor spilling out the sides of her mouth. ¡°Fuck!¡± she screamed, rearing back her arm to hurl the glass at the wall, stopping just before release as the awareness of what would shatter returned to her.

    Sighing, she drained the glass before setting it back down.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t realize their death would make you that upset,¡± I said, briefly sympathetic to the shock I saw on her face.

    ¡°Of course it would,¡± Nemesis whined, ¡°those assholes knew how much I wanted to fight City Killer! I¡¯d been saving that fight for when I got bored of being a Duke and was ready to graduate to Sovereign. It was my dream to be the one to kill him.¡±

    My jaw dropped, and with it my sympathy and no small amount of guilt waterfalled out of me.

    ¡°You¡¯re mad because you didn¡¯t get to kill my dad?¡± I asked, earning a pitiful nod from Nemesis. ¡°What the fuck did my parents do to you guys to deserve that?¡±

    Nemesis¡¯s brow furrowed, ¡°Hmm, not surprised Miss Redacted didn¡¯t tell you, but it¡¯s pretty simple. Your parents killed us¡ªwell, thought they¡¯d killed us, and alls below they were pretty thorough. Killed all ten Black Wombs, myself included, and destroyed the Cradle, though I blame Waycarver for that one¡ªfucker just had to cheat on the warlord queen of the Moon.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, as this one answer shoved other clues and half-truths into place, ¡°so that means you¡¯re all hybridae?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°I¡¯m the Black Womb of War, Marduk¡¯s the Black Womb of Seas, and Miss Redacted¡ªyour Amber¡ªthe Black Womb of Caverns. One of us per principle.¡±

    My eye flit across the shape of her words; ten principles meant ten people I¡¯d have to search through, technically eight since I knew Marduk was one and Nemesis wasn¡¯t, but that still was a lot of people with motive; Amber had motive. The burn in my gut sputtered as the realization fell, a sobering rain onto my inner fire. So I drank more, trying to preserve the liquid equilibrium of tequila to tears so I didn¡¯t fall apart¡ªI¡¯d wanted answers.

    ¡°What did you guys do?¡± I asked, thinking that there had to be some reasonable explanation.

    Nemesis refilled her glass, and sighed nostalgically, ¡°What didn¡¯t we do? The Changeover was a period of no rules, infinite possibility, and¡ª¡±

    ¡°You had so much ¡®fun¡¯ that you became the Ten Cruelties,¡± I said.

    ¡°We became the ¡®Ten Cruelties,¡¯¡± Nemesis said. ¡°Might¡¯ve been forgotten if Waycarver didn¡¯t write his stupid book, Folktales and Fairymyths¡ªdidn¡¯t even get my name right, what¡¯s up with that? Anyways, calling us that was just people being jealous because we rarely lost.¡±

    ¡°There were ten of you,¡± I said.

    ¡°Not all at once,¡± Nemesis argued. ¡°Though, despite being called ¡®The Ten Cruelties¡¯ like we were the final boss of some video game, it wasn¡¯t why your dad killed us. If I was generous, I¡¯d blame the Godtenders more than him¡ªhe was only their sword.¡±

    Is it weird that I smiled at that? Is it less weird if I say it was only on the inside? It¡¯s just the strangest thing to hear something that should be kind of sad, and have it turn out to bring you closer to someone. Especially when that someone wasn¡¯t around to make the connection himself, but it was made and it made sense; the daughter of a sword would be a knife.

    ¡°Did they go after you for being hybridae?¡± I asked, a minor paroxysm striking my drinking hand.

    ¡°Worse, it was that rule of theirs, ¡®No Carrying the Thread.¡¯ We¡ªall of us Black Wombs¡ªwere in violation just by breathing,¡± Nemesis said, her voice growing quiet. ¡°The consequence of who made us, raised us, and not a single Godtender asked us how we felt about all of that. They just swung the sword and slew us all. Made a holiday out of it.¡±

    ¡°The Declaration of Thunder festival,¡± I gasped.

    ¡°Mhmm. The fireworks you all do,¡± Nemesis said, ¡°is even about mimicking the way our home¡ªthe Cradle¡ªblew up as it re-entered the atmosphere.¡±

    She raised the bottle¡ªempty¡ªand set it aside, and let herself slip sideways to lay across the couch. I offered her the rest of my tequila¡ªI¡¯d stopped drinking as she spoke¡ªbut she turned it down, so I pushed my cup to the side as well.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, and I was. ¡°That¡¯s pretty unfair.¡±

    Nemesis deflected my apology. ¡°Eh, nothing to say sorry about. It was the best fight I ever had, Nadia, your dad was a genius on the battlefield, with spells and a sword; crazy bastard dueled me on a chunk of debris as it burnt up in the air. I¡ªI have nothing against him, but I guess I wouldn¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°War¡¯s your nature,¡± I said, to which Nemesis winked.

    Her smile fizzled, as she rolled onto her other side¡ªback to me, and groaned. ¡°Nadia, what did Miss Redacted say about me?¡±

    I bit my lip, air slipping out in a sharp wheeze. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡ª¡±

    ¡°You asked your question,¡± she said, ¡°and this is mine. Just tell me, I can take it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, um, she said you were her first love. That you were capable of subtlety, and she was furious and hurt that¡ªas she put it¡ªyou employed subtlety to take advantage of that love, cursing her and her siblings. Made them¡ª¡±

    ¡°Alls fucking below!¡± Nemesis screamed, rolling over. ¡°She¡¯s still on that?¡±

    I held up my hands, defensively, ¡°I mean, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Let me set the record straight,¡± Nemesis stated, pounding her fist against the coffee table, ¡°what I did was a prank. Everyone kept mocking and judging me for not being able to hold back, which isn¡¯t my fault. I was born to War, and the program directors made me bond when I was twelve!¡±

    ¡°Twelve?¡± I gasped. ¡°That¡¯d fuck up anyone.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, clapping her hands. ¡°So, I tampered with the masks Miss Redacted had made for us. Next time they all wore theirs, they got a taste of what it was like to be me, and lo¡¯ and behold, it wasn¡¯t long before every problem was a tree and they only had chainsaws for hands. Not like the curse even makes you do anything. Only gives you a pleasure incentive, a fact none of them ever want to own up to being unable to resist; easier to blame Little Nemmy!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not as if she¡¯s free of sin,¡± Nemesis snapped, continuing her tirade. ¡°I don¡¯t hold it against her that she steals from all of us all of the time! Took my fucking railgun¡ªI ripped that thing off the back of a mech with my bare hands¡ªand she never asks to borrow it. Bubo even texted me earlier this week. Said that her plague-sword went missing and I¡¯d bet good tokens Miss Redacted stole it.¡±

    Her outbursts spent, Nemesis flopped onto her back and tapped the coffee table before pointing at my glass, I want that now. I slid it over, watching her down it like water. While I did my best to not let it slip that I¡¯d tossed Prick of Plague into the ocean.

    ¡°You can keep going,¡± she said, deflated.

    ¡°Not much else to add,¡± I said, ¡°though Amber did say that out of everyone who wanted to kill you, there¡¯d be a small number in this world that¡¯d want it more than her.¡±

    I doubt I¡¯d ever be able to predict Nemesis; the news of how Amber presented her and the curse wounded her, but the idea that Amber wanted to kill her more than almost anyone in this world, made her smile. She was sincerely touched by the statement¡ªeven covered her face, squealing and kicking her legs in the air in excitement.

    ¡°She better do it,¡± Nemesis muttered. ¡°Barely anyone else could in this world. Anyways, you have any more questions for me?¡±

    If I did, my mind went blank, I¡¯d gotten so comfortable that I forgot she was going to kill me. She sat up, and I scrambled to come up with any other thoughts, any other questions, anything that could let me live a little bit longer. Nemesis stood up, twisting at the waist¡ªshe was stretching before executing me.

    ¡°Can you tell me who did it?¡± I asked. ¡°I know Marduk was one, but there were four more. A mask with ram horns, one bursting with color, a plain one with a long veil beneath it, and one with mushrooms bursting from its eyes.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, not the team I would¡¯ve expected,¡± she said, ¡°but that does explain some of the visits I got a few months ago.¡±

    ¡°So you know?¡± I asked.

    She smiled, ¡°I do, but while they suck¡­they¡¯re my siblings. It¡¯d be fucked up to betray them.¡±

    ¡°That¡­makes sense,¡± I said, stunned and somewhat unsurprised that that question would remain unanswered for me.

    ¡°Thanks for being understanding,¡± she said and walked around the coffee table. ¡°Now, stand up, let¡¯s push your hair out of the way.¡±

    She slipped loose curls behind my ears. Guided my shoulders down so I¡¯d be relaxed. Walked me to the cleared floor space in her office, and pulled a card out of her pocket for me to take. I turned it over and saw that it was a Lodgemember card.

    ¡°How¡¯d I¡­I don¡¯t¡­why?¡± I asked, figuring it was a good enough question to stall.

    ¡°Because you passed the exam,¡± Nemesis said. ¡°You actually swung your way to the #1 slot after orchestrating this entire mess¡ªreally, I haven¡¯t had this good a time since Redacted kicked off the destruction of Tokyo.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m getting executed for causing this mess,¡± I said.

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± Nemesis hummed. ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean you aren¡¯t deserving of #1, Nadia. See, the entire Lodge is a honeypot for summoners of incredible skill, drive, and very low moral compunction. Most folks who fail out of the exam do so because they either lacked skill, drive, or had too many morals to make them be something worth worrying about. Of course, there are the rare few that slip by, like uh, that Knitcroft girl¡ªhorrible fit.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°So the rankings are¡­how dangerous we are?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Nemesis said, ¡°and how close to the execution threshold you are. I end up killing almost every first place examinee¡ªoutside of the years where there¡¯s no one really that bad. That top rank requires someone to be almost as bad as¡­¡±

    ¡°One of the Ten Cruelties?¡± I offered.

    Nemesis grinned, ¡°Mhmm, and I couldn¡¯t have done a better job myself. Now, you have a way you want to die?¡±

    I looked up from the card, past Nemesis¡¯s shoulder, and saw one of my Barons leaning against the open window behind Nemesis¡¯s desk. It wasn¡¯t Isolating, Unmaking, or Questing which meant¡­Living, Revelation Living. She looked like me, but with her hair cut low on the sides¡ªit showed off my sharp-angled ears¡ªand unlike all the others she didn¡¯t speak, in fact, she was faded, the world visible through her body. It was distracting, and I almost missed the hand motion she made, two fingers snipping vertically, bisection; a brutal image, but the sight of her, Living, infused hope into my limbs that there was a way out¡ªthrough the window maybe, a vertical slash was easy to dodge if you knew it was coming. I returned my attention to Nemesis.

    ¡°Can you bisect me?¡± I asked, only then noticing I¡¯d briefly fallen into a Godtime¡ªand Living was gone.

    Nemesis cocked her head, ¡°Eh, sure, kind of messy but if it¡¯d put you to ease. Just, stand still so you¡¯re nice and even.¡±

    She raised her arm, conjuring from her field-spell an axe of crystallized Bloodlust. Moved her arm back and forth, lining up the cut, and I watched her breathing, timed it so I¡¯d know when to move. Though Nemesis, in her inadvertent kindness, made it easier.

    ¡°See you around, Nadia,¡± and swung.

    I leaped right.

    Duke¡¯s, as I¡¯d already known, were fast. Their bodies moved according to something quicker than synaptic responses. It was a hopeless measure of mine, dodging, and though I¡¯d ruined Nemesis¡¯s hopes of a perfect symmetrical cut¡­I was still cut.

    Down my left ruined eye. Severing the left-lobe of my brain. My right eye went dark¡ªbrains are kind of shitty that way, left controls right and right controls left, makes no sense.

    Sense¡­it spilled out behind me as a pressurized blood wave ripped through me, flying off in the splatter. I hoped it was a big splatter, the kind that took a massive cleaning crew and lots of time.

    Time¡­was a thing that I suppose didn¡¯t matter anymore. My dad had been around for a long time, but he¡¯d died. I was around for a pretty short time, and I was dying. No idea how long Amber, Marduk, Nemesis, the other Black Wombs were around for¡­hopefully they¡¯d die someday¡­well, maybe not Amber¡­if she didn¡¯t kill my dad.

    Dad¡­left his mark on this world, but he never told me about it. He never told me a lot of things, and I wished I didn¡¯t have to hear it from books and killers. Though, perhaps, he¡¯d left me what mattered to him, demonstrated the marks I was meant to learn from, loving and not killing¡­yet who can say that one doesn¡¯t beget the other¡­that they aren¡¯t sisters.

    Sisters¡­are interesting. Melissa grew up in the shadow of hers. Amber hated and dated hers¡ªthough they don¡¯t look blood-related, Nemesis has a face. I¡­never got to know mine¡­from my memory, it seemed like we were friends once¡­my sister-self and I. We never had a chance though, children of City Killer, loved by a Black Womb, a hybridae walking the Canonical Path¡­we were torn so many ways, by so many fates. Unable¡ªI was unable¡ªto relinquish what ripped us in two. What¡­

    ¡­gave me the last bits of the name that spoke to us, defined us, and Sphinx had made so clear if I¡¯d looked more deeply. More broadly. As my life leaked onto the floor, carpet teasing two halves of a body that had fallen in separate places, I knew my spirit still connected both¡ªthe base for two trunks, the screw that bound separate knives to create scissors¡ªand I opened my eyes. Spoke with two halves of the same spiritual mouth, as I strummed the whole of me.

    Singing my name, DIVISION.

    * * *

    Amber looked up from the sand wet with her tears, and spun around in confusion¡ªmy heart had stopped, my spirit was¡­singing? When it happened, she had no answers for what it meant and so turned to prayer for the temple that enabled her rebirth. While Nahey tittered, joyous that the story wasn¡¯t done.

    * * *

    Melissa¡¯s head was resting in Ina¡¯s lap, the summoner of Suppression playing with her hair and trying to distract her from my death. Though she couldn¡¯t see Melissa¡¯s face¡­the growing disgust at Ina¡¯s touch, not for anything the small woman had done, but because she happened upon the same lock of hair I¡¯d play with so reflexively. When it happened, she¡¯d looked to the window as the light bleached out the colors of Ina¡¯s hotel room. While Ina, proving how much she cared, tried to curl her tiny self over Melissa to act as cover¡ªI guess she wasn¡¯t that bad.

    * * *

    The Angler Knight stood against the side of a building in complete defiance of gravity. Below were Lodgemembers that¡¯d come to hunt him down, and interrogate his master who sat sleeping within himself. It would be a four-on-one fight, at an even link, and though he was the Everlasting Night, a part of him did consider what it would mean if he lost. When it happened, and the Lodgemembers¡ªreliant on vision meant for photoreception¡ªwere blinded, he smiled as he fell upon them, gleeful that he¡¯d not have to answer that question.

    * * *

    Tsumugi, leaning against a wall as she called a superior, was frustrated. The battle she¡¯d barely survived  may have been a clue, but there¡¯d been nothing definitive. An apocalypse was more than a brawl between a Marquis and a Duke, right? So, when it happened, her jaw fell in awe of the vision granted to her and the city. While Swordbearer, already facing the direction of ascension, dropped to her knees and bowed.

    * * *

    #2 and #3 were finishing up paperwork, I¡¯d made a big mess with my plot, even though it¡¯d failed. Though what slowed the two of them was what I¡¯d said, a name, #2¡¯s name¡ªthey weren¡¯t supposed to know it, they still lived. It wasn¡¯t like #3 judged them though, but they didn¡¯t know how to reassure #2; it¡¯d been #1 who kept the three of them together for so long, and neither wanted to take their place. However, when it happened they rushed to each other, stated in the rapidity of psychic communication everything they should¡¯ve said, and then smiled as their hearts were light. Of course, they didn¡¯t die as a carmine blur moved them and every secretary in headquarters down to the beach.

    * * *

    Nemesis smiled when it happened, this was something new and very interesting, but her Bloodlust told her that touching it would be death, so Nemesis became a blur, rescuing every secretary in the building. Then she went back for every Lodgemember with a threat rating below five-stars and weren¡¯t fast enough to get out on their own. Then once more, for all the civilians whose link was too low to even process what was happening. When that was done, they¡¯d invoked The Infinite Slaughterhouse¡ªnot that it was good for defense, but it was better than nothing¡ªand bellowed in pain as their aspect was tested by the potency of my ascension.

    * * *

    Across the city people saw their shadows undergo Division, slipping away from them in the wind. Lodgemembers collapsed as the radiant light of Division fell upon them, splitting Nemesis¡¯s curse from their spirit. Children who stared in awe didn¡¯t notice as Division split their eyes, granting eternal sorcerous sight into worlds Real and Conceptual. While those caught in the throes of death, left behind by Nemesis in her evacuation or safely kept but still reachable by Division¡¯s light, felt a burning line stretch above them that asked the question: Will you be or not be. Those who chose the former, felt Division¡¯s line swipe in one direction removing all wounds, and those who chose the latter witnessed that line move in the opposite, hastening wounds to completion bereft of the attendant pain as they underwent life¡¯s cessation.

    * * *

    I was dead, yet I lived. I was mortal, yet I was eternal. My corpse was consumed in the fires of Revelation as votive, yet my spirit towered over the city; a four-pointed star whose top half was the azure of the sea and whose bottom was the gold of brilliant heaven, radiating the misty light of a far horizon¡ªnature¡¯s Division. From my dual position, though largely my spiritual one, I witnessed ten thousand stories¡ªmost not notable to me, for my sight was broad and my care minimal, a division between capability and intentionality¡ªand I felt the clouds, the atmosphere burst around me as I, the blazing star, grew vertically, becoming a sword much like her father had used to strike down the Old, the cesarean needed for the birth of the New.

    As those present looked upon my magnificence, they spoke first of Dreams, ideas of what I might be or herald¡ªfitting for my circlet was hammered in possibility. Though amidst those dreams were worries of War, conflicts thought dead, changes they¡¯d never conceive¡ªappropriate for the bloody gems of delineation, of which conflict was but one avenue, provided great beauty. This composed my crown, and though it was brief I felt its touch on my brow. Though brief, I opened an eye, seeing from both heaven and earth, what perhaps I could be. Unveiled by the mask of clouds and causality¡ªmortal screens that neither I, nor all of Brightgate, need concern.

    * * *

    The Blazing Line Between Is and Not. She Who Makes Two of One. Sleeping Yet Awake.

    * * *

    In the sky was a fetal form. A sleeping woman. Beautifully dreaming. Eyes weeping blood. Tail slashing fitfully, the violence that precedes creation. In her grasp is the world that could be, which she holds covetously until it is time. And¡ªmost don¡¯t stare too long, quick to avoid Underside exposure despite this not being the Underside¡ªthose that look away, but don¡¯t look down, witness the procession of the dead spiraling into the clouds, mirrored by their living counterparts who dance in the streets at death having been denied. This should be comforting¡ªmost cry because it is not. It is New, but they are New, and now they ask if they are Old. Now they ask if they will die, slain by a divine sword, and so they pray to their tenders, alerting them en masse of what has come to pass.

    And lo¡¯, while gods make little concern of mortal motions, their tenders make many plans.

    * * *

    All of this happened in moments. In the eternities between one second and two. When it¡¯d passed, as did I, my brief glimpse of transcendent being was revoked, leaving me a tumbling spirit in the rush of the many dead. They fell over me, liquifying into a current, melding with other branches, pressing down on me until I felt consciousness drift away¡ªcould the dead die again?

    I didn¡¯t get my answer. A hand, flat and wide as a ship¡¯s deck, scooped me from the flow and deposited me on a shore of rocks. Stumbling to my feet, I opened my eye to discover I was naked, though my skin had washed away to reveal my spiritual musculature, and despite how familiar I was with it I couldn¡¯t help but slide my hands over my body again and again¡ª

    ¡°You need a room?¡± an old woman asked.

    Looking up, I saw the woman who¡¯d shared with me a bag of donuts, whose face I couldn¡¯t place, and who currently wore wading pants. She sported a grin, laughing internally at her joke.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°I think it¡¯d be a shame to keep all this to myself.¡±

    She snorted, ¡°Glad you still have that quick wit of yours. The River of the Recent Dead has a way to strip that from a person if they aren¡¯t careful.¡±

    I glanced behind me¡ªa river stretching wide as the ocean, its other bank unseen, surged through the air in one coruscating sheet. The light, coming from somewhere unknowable, played upon the shifting compositions of every spirit¡¯s musculature. I wanted to know how it worked, where the river would go, what existed on the other side¡­

    ¡°Really kid,¡± she groaned, before wrapping a hand around my eyes and hauling me up the shore and into the tall grass where she dropped me. ¡°Don¡¯t you know the first thing about Underside exposure safety?¡±

    Blinking, I said, ¡°Didn¡¯t know I was in the Underside.¡±

    ¡°Where else would you be?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Dead?¡± I offered.

    She rolled her eyes, ¡°Don¡¯t you read the gospels?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember I¡¯d never been in a palace before we met?¡±

    ¡°Touche,¡± she said, tilting her head. ¡°Get up, I¡¯ll explain.¡±

    Finding my feet, for the second time, I hurried after her¡ªfor a fellow dead person she was really fast¡ªand kept my eyes blinking to avoid staring at the marvels around me¡­

    She said, ¡°So, if you studied any liturgy, you¡¯d know that part of dying involves your spirit being unable to remain in Realspace.¡±

    The upside down stygian city that replaced the sky¡ªblink.

    ¡°Now, plenty of people are curious about this,¡± she said, ¡°but I posit it¡¯s largely because your spirit isn¡¯t really Real. It¡¯s Conceptual. And the body¡­¡±

    Phantom birds that sang languages long dead yet never lived in human history¡ªblink.

    ¡°...makes it so that it¡¯s safe from the degradations of Realspace,¡± she stated. ¡°Now, what this means is that your spirit has to go somewhere and¡ª¡±

    The pod of whales who swam the waters of death between the fields I was traipsing through and the city above¡­

    ¡°Are those whales?¡± I asked. ¡°Like, normal whales?¡±

    The old woman paused, looked up, then to me, ¡°Yeah. They cut through here all the time.¡±

    ¡°Whales can do magic?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Kid, the amount of things and ways to do magic would leave us in this field for way too much time, and you have a train to catch.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean a train?¡± I called after her.

    We crossed fields of flowers, where the specters of children spun about and chased each other. Passed through an orchard of extinct fruits, some who lived on in ones I¡¯d recognized, and others that had no counterpart. Eventually, we¡¯d arrived near a set of tracks, where the woman made a sharp left and led me to a train stop with a bench that she dropped down onto, huffing softly, the only sign that she¡¯d suffered any exertion; while I panted and felt my legs give out.

    ¡°Where was I,¡± she said, not really asking, ¡°oh yeah, so yadda yadda your spirit can¡¯t exist in the Real yadda yadda it has to go somewhere yadda yadda River of Recently Dead. There we are, so the river carries all the recently dead¡ªlike you¡ªdown here to the deepest part of the Ghostlands.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, concern rising, ¡°the deepest part should kill me, right?¡±

    She shrugged, ¡°Eh, you¡¯re already dead, wouldn¡¯t make sense. Though if you were alive, that¡¯d be another story.¡±

    ¡°What about curses, they should be terrifying down here,¡± I said.

    ¡°They were when I first took over,¡± she said, ¡°but I prune them pretty regularly. Have to keep things tidy for those not ready to sail the river past Afterlife¡¯s Gate.¡±

    I stared up at her face, still unable to really place it, ¡°What do you mean ¡®took over¡¯? Marguerite Ghost-Sheperd¡¯s the Godtender of Ghosts¡­¡±

    At the sight of my dawning realization, Marguerite raised double ¡®peace signs¡¯ as Dad called them. Finding energy I thought I¡¯d lost, I bolted¡ªthe Tenken-bumon were hunting hybridae for the Godtenders, so as a hybridae I decided to make myself scarce, or at least I tried. As I ran, I glanced backward to find I¡¯d made a good distance, but when I looked away I discovered that I¡¯d only run toward the train stop.

    Before I could try running again, she yelled, ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill you.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked, skeptical. ¡°You¡¯re one of the¡ª¡±

    ¡°Godtenders, yes, I know,¡± she said, ¡°and you¡¯re a hybridae. We should be mortal enemies, muahahaha, but I don¡¯t give a shit. I have my opinion on you guys, and you have your opinion on us Godtenders. However, unlike the others, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re that bad¡ªas a people. Though you really fucked up with that plot of yours. Even after I warned you not to.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t warn me,¡± I argued.

    She scoffed, ¡°I left a note in the donut bag. It said, ¡®Don¡¯t do it.¡¯ Very simple.¡±

    I scrunched my face in disbelief; the entire reality-bending power of a Sovereign was in her hands, and in the possibility of a scheme I hadn¡¯t even dreamed of implementing yet, opted to leave a note. A note, at the bottom of a bag. My frustration with godtenders and their ineffable nonsense, surged.

    ¡°Why only one?¡± I asked. ¡°At least have a back-up note!¡±

    ¡°The back-up note should¡¯ve been common fucking sense and decency,¡± she snapped. ¡°Now sit down, I hate looking up at people. Hurts my neck.¡±

    I settled back onto the bench. Allowed the quiet wail that served as a rustling breeze in the Ghostlands to wind through the air and the silence. While I turned over great questions in my mind, letting them bubble up and die, and emerge changed, trying to find the best way to ask¡ª

    ¡°Yes, I knew your dad,¡± Marguerite said. ¡°Yes, he helped us end the Changeover. No, I didn¡¯t and still don¡¯t agree that killing the Black Womb kids was a good idea.¡±

    ¡°You can read minds?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Go the fuck to a palace, like once,¡± she said. ¡°The Court of Ghosts doesn¡¯t only cover the dead, Nadia, it also spans the intangible leave-behinds of thoughts, actions, and those who¡¯ve moved us. When you keep killing and reviving so many variations of the same question, derived from the same previous bits of information, it makes a shit ton of Ghost thoughts¡ªthose I can read. Alls below, it¡¯s like he didn¡¯t teach you anything.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, and tried to defend my dad, ¡°well, I guess Dad didn¡¯t think it was that important since it¡¯d mean I was dead. He didn¡¯t tell me a lot of things, okay, but he taught me some good stuff; Temple and shrine architecture, how to get a good spin on a ball after kicking it, helped me develop a palate for tea and coffee.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Marguerite said, ¡°your dad lived a pretty peaceful life up to the end there. Fuck, I miss his coffee, did he still make it with the¡ª¡±

    ¡°Hot sand,¡± I said, ¡°yeah, until the very end. He¡¯d bother traveling merchants all the time to find anyone producing Conceptual sand, just for coffee.¡±

    Marguerite crossed her legs, rested her elbow on her knee, chin on her fist. She stared into the mid-distance of thought and memory, considering something. Only to flick her eyes in my direction, smirking as she said, ¡°It¡¯s never ¡®just coffee.¡¯ Depending on context, it¡¯s an amazing rush, a rich flavor, pour in some milk and it¡¯s decadent. Full of life.¡±

    ¡°Why not buy some?¡± I asked. ¡°Not like you¡¯d be hurting for tokens.¡±

    She chuckled, darkly. ¡°A Sovereign¡¯s a limited thing, kid. Very limited.¡±

    ¡°Gnostic boundary stuff?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I wish it was only that,¡± she said.

    ¡°No it¡¯s¡ª¡± and before I could deny it, point out that there was nothing in either unending direction, there was suddenly a train. When the doors parted, I was graced by the sight of Every Train and It¡¯s Rails, half-way smiling as she acknowledged me. Then, acknowledging Marguerite, she tipped her head in a shallow bow.

    ¡°Tender,¡± she said.

    ¡°Sovereign,¡± Marguerite replied, then turned to me. ¡°Well, this is my favor to your dad, fulfilled. Be good, enjoy the trip¡ªwherever you¡¯re going¡ªand please, sincerely, don¡¯t cause anymore mass death events. It¡¯s way too much work.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Sure, um, but I brought everyone back, well, Amber did.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know,¡± Marguerite said, ¡°but that just makes different work. Like meetings with the Nine about tracking down a rogue godtender we¡¯ve yet to interview, and most of us tried to conveniently ignore¡ªwhich we no longer can do.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt her,¡± I snapped.

    Marguerite leaned back, eyes wide in shock.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, realizing I was yelling at a godtender who wasn¡¯t madly in love with me. ¡°Please, don¡¯t hurt her.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s for her and the others to decide,¡± Marguerite snorted. ¡°Now, get. I won¡¯t have you causing the citizenry to lose access to their main way to come back to life because you delayed the big lady.¡±

    That raised even more questions, but Marguerite shoved me through the doors into Every Train¡¯s locomotive body. I leaned out the door, not trying to stall for time¡ªI could feel the train stirring, a beast stretching its muscles before racing off¡ªand asked.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you look like the art in your palace?¡±

    Fwoom. The train took off, the landscape melting like it was painted onto the surface of a pool that someone decided to stir up, but somehow Marguerite¡¯s answer found me, a cognitive specter at the back of my skull: Gnostic boundary stuff. Found this one when I saw how many spirits were haunting you. It¡¯s the face of what the first person you killed would¡¯ve looked like if she hadn¡¯t died. Neat huh?

    As the Ghostlands receded, swirling like water down a drain, Marguerite was beyond any response I could give though none congealed, the rumble of the train and my heart preventing peaceful cohesion of thought. I did my best to put her words from my mind, choosing instead to join Every Train at the chairs in what served as her lobby. She held her chin between her two middle fingers, while she chewed on the interior of her cheek in concern, but did her best to hide it once I sat opposite of her.

    ¡°It¡¯s been awhile since last you rode me,¡± she said, ¡°and I can tell you¡¯ve changed. Quite a bit in a week¡¯s time.¡±

    While Marguerite¡¯s words implied something darkly cosmic, it was Every Train¡¯s that hit the hardest¡ªa mundane statement driven into the core of myself. Only a week had passed, maybe a bit longer, and I had changed. She¡¯d stated this fact without judgment, but I could easily provide enough for the both of us. I curled up in the chair and tried to smile only for tears to roll down my cheeks. The sight perturbed Every Train; she looked everywhere but me, and quite frazzled at that, unable to determine what course of action would calm me.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said, trying to pacify her. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    She exhaled, ¡°Thank you, I¡­worried. You¡¯re a complicated thing, royalty and not, and you placed the edge of the covenant against my throat, just then.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± I asked, eager to escape from self-reflection.

    ¡°¡®A train must be accommodating and comfortable,¡¯¡± she answered. ¡°Such is one of many terms in my covenant, and it is decidedly true that you carry discomfort like a shroud.¡±

    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m a poor rider,¡± I said.

    She shook her head, ¡°No such thing as a poor rider lest they fail to observe my rules or insist on stretching my covenant.¡±

    I nodded, looked around at how unchanged Every Train¡¯s interior was, and settled back on her.

    ¡°I thought your covenant was in Realspace,¡± I said. ¡°What are you doing in the Underside?¡±

    ¡°A common conclusion,¡± she said, ¡°but an inaccurate one. I am every train, not only Real trains. The lines that pass through the Underside, ascend from Earth to your Moon, and currently see us hurtling beyond Causality¡¯s Rim¡­all are me, and in that truth distinctions like incarnation, Real versus Unreal, they¡¯re meaningless.¡±

    That term, Causality¡¯s Rim, struck my heart, emitted a clear tone that I realized was the sigh of my own voice, the weight of my worries melting away. I¡¯d never heard of the place, but something in me had¡­maybe that eternal thing that I was and was not, recognized it. The clink of a mug against the table between us returned me from inner considerations¡ªEvery Train had placed hot chocolate in front of me, and nursed her own.

    ¡°What¡¯s Causality¡¯s Rim?¡± I asked.

    Every Train sipped, lowered the mug to reveal a foamy mustache. ¡°It¡¯s something of a fence, I suppose, for this playpen mortals refer to as reality. It separates them from where we live, the motherland of All That Is.¡±

    Sipping my hot chocolate, it tasted like a blend of Dad¡¯s and the kind Melissa¡¯s mom made, I inquired, ¡°And why am I going there?¡±

    ¡°Royalty, no matter how distant a branch or far from their throne, should make the trek at least once, I would say,¡± Every Train answered. ¡°However, in this matter, you¡¯re going there because someone asked me to ferry you.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    Every Train lowered her mug. ¡°I hesitate to say, it might make you uncomfortable to know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more uncomfortable not knowing,¡± I stated. ¡°I¡¯m a big girl, I can handle it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she hummed, ¡°from my position, both in measurement and chronology, you are quite small. However, I must also be accommodating, and defer to your judgment. The favor was from your mother, specifically for when you suffer your first death.¡±

    The mug tumbled from my hand. ¡°Mom asked you to do this?¡±

    Every Train, looking down at the shattered mug on the ground, answered, ¡°Yes. She wanted me to bring you to her post-haste, to share words with you, schedules permitting¡ªwhich they do. Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I must find a broom.¡±

    She lifted herself from her chair, and sank into the floor that was herself, seeking out a broom¡ªthough at the time I didn¡¯t consider that she could easily absorb the shards in the same manner she¡¯d absorbed herself. She¡¯d given me my privacy to process the fact that¡­I was going to visit Mom; talk with Mom.

 Chapter 60

    In comparison to Every Train¡¯s interior, ornate and solid with marble carved from the night sky, my interior¡ªthat of my thoughts and concerns¡ªwas simple, fluidly shifting between anxious conjurations in a cycle that churned my stomach. Would Mom recognize me with all my changes? If she did, would there be any love waiting for me¡ªI¡¯d shattered her gift, her smile, and isn¡¯t that portent enough for how far I¡¯d fallen from favor? If I had, is the end of my journey the reception of punishment?

    Finding the strength to tear away from these thoughts, I decided to seek out Every Train for company and confidence. Through the lobby¡¯s exit, I entered a car¡ªmunicipal, given the style of its seats¡ªwhich was replete with phantoms, hazy projections of people and animals, whose appearance pointed to nowhere and everywhere in the world. Most of them were overlapping with one another; limbs pierced limbs, a child phantom could be seen beneath the haze of the larger adult inhabiting the same space, and despite the many languages moshing in my ears neither their speech nor expression denoted awareness of this fact.

    In the car after that, the phantoms were lesser than those in its municipal predecessor given the private compartments that strangled the wide pathway into a passage only a cat could feel comfortable passing through. It was in peeking into those compartments, the glass serving as porthole into the private dramas and comedies of their lives, that I witnessed the phantoms take on a fullness, both of color and solidity, as well as a silence, their compartment withholding any sound which might provide context or butcher security.

    It was from one of these compartments that a man, clad in stormy gray armor which shifted like an orrery built from razor blades, emerged. Over his shoulder was a sword, single edged and larger than even Sinaya¡¯s old steel, whose usage and age could be read in the striations of bloodstains running from edge to spine. This man was a killer, a naked sword with empty eyes who¡¯d wandered over a hundred battlefields¡ªthis man was my father.

    I didn¡¯t know where he was going, but I¡¯d pushed aside thoughts of finding Every Train for company to chase this vision instead. My dad had died, I was sure of it, but here he was, locking up his compartment and heading to an elevator¡ªI followed. As the floors dinged past, their associated bulbs snapping to brief brilliance, tracking the elevator¡¯s motion through the geometric spiral above the doors, I kept staring at my father¡¯s face. How it could look so bereft of kindness or humanity when that was all I¡¯d ever seen in his expressions¡ªwhen I¡¯d kicked a ball into his face he¡¯d laughed, amused by how his bloodied nose stained his beard. This version of him lacked even hints of a beard.

    When we arrived at our floor, the doors opened to a ballroom whose splendor made every surface seem shaped with sunshine, conferring upon the dancers at its center in what was ultimately a pale attempt at their divine glory. Every Train and my mom were alone, yet the way they moved, flickering like candles between positions, killed any idea that the ballroom was ¡°empty.¡± Using every inch of space, they twirled and dipped, threw each other, danced through each other in ways only entities could move. It was impossible for a human being to ever approach such elegance, and I wished for it to go forever.

    ¡°Ishi, it¡¯s time,¡± my father¡¯s phantom barked.

    The two royals, my mother and Every Train, turned to regard him and his message. My mother took it calmly, curtsying to Every Train with the non-existent hem of a dress, before going off to join him. While Every Train, at least briefly, flashed an expression that traced the apocalyptic wrath a Sovereign, even one to a Court as peaceful as Wanderlust, could employ. When her eyes found me beside him, any vision of doomsday evaporated into a blush of shy guiltiness. She stepped forward, breaching the water-like surface of space, and hurried over.

    ¡°I left you in the lobby,¡± Every Train said, pushing me through a separate pair of doors.

    ¡°And I left,¡± I said. ¡°Was searching for you.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯ve found me,¡± she said, accessorizing with a scrawled-off smile. ¡°Now let¡¯s return to the lobby or the deck, and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Were you time traveling?¡± I asked.

    Every Train looked back toward me, relief in her face that I¡¯d not asked a harder question of her¡ªnot that it was any question she was in love with Mom. You only look that mad at a man¡¯s interruption when you loved a woman. Though as she walked swiftly down the hallway of a sleeper car filled with snoring phantoms, and me doing my best to keep pace, her relief evaporated into a hazy guardedness.

    ¡°No,¡± she answered.

    ¡°Then how were you dancing with Mom?¡± I asked, racing to cut her off.

    The pulsing glow of her tattoos quickened, she was nervous. As she tried to step past me I danced into her way, this went for four quick hops before she exhaled and let herself sink into the floor of the car. I hurried into the next car and the next, trying to locate the runaway entity, before remembering what she¡¯d told me of her covenant.

    ¡°You¡¯re not being very accommodating!¡± I screamed.

    Immediately the train rattled, the screech of snarling winds and tearing metal painting fear onto every phantom¡¯s face, and bringing Every Train running as she dropped from the ceiling of the library car. She stood before me, looming larger than I¡¯d ever seen of her, with eyes that glowed the furious yellow of an artificial light at night as seen from the shadows beyond the window. It was an attempt at intimidation, but I was already dead and thus free from lethal consequences.

    ¡°Take it back,¡± Every Train ordered.

    I snorted, ¡°Tell me the full truth then.¡±

    ¡°Fine, you obstinate child,¡± Every Train snapped.

    I said, ¡°Thank you Every Train, you¡¯re grand.¡±

    I held the feeling of gratitude and having my needs met in the atriums of my heart, so whatever magic ruled Every Train¡¯s covenant could tell that she¡¯d held up her side of the bargain appropriately. Then, the screaming and rattling ceased, as her covenant found her back in its good graces. Smirking, I extended my hand palm out, come on, tell me.

    ¡°It is not ¡®time travel,¡¯¡± Every Train stated, holding up a hand to preempt my interruptions. ¡°It would be better to refer to it as a sort of, chronological embodiment. I step into the scenes of my past not as an extra, but rather as an actor re-assuming an old role I¡¯ve long outgrown.¡±

    She led me by the arm to another car, this one with a bar, red floors with the illusion of spider lilies, and stools alternating in gold and silver, where a phantom in a red suit sat drinking whiskey. Beside her, a girl¡ªme¡ªwore a nighty and sat in the stool next to her. The two of them leaned in as if sharing a conspiracy. Every Train pursed her lips, and raised her hand to cover my eyes¡ªI stopped her. The memory tore as I walked around the two phantoms, re-assessing another happy memory¡ªAmber knew we were on the wrong track, had all the answers, and looked even more like the moment was staged with me being the audience that fell under the tide of her charisma.

    ¡°How do you have these?¡± I asked. ¡°Why have them?¡±

    Every Train opened her arms, vulnerable but honest. ¡°I¡¯m every train, Nadia. Not just in the Underside, Earth, or the Moon, but in time as well. Everything that happens within me may as well be happening in a forever state of ¡®right now.¡¯¡±

    Taking my hand in hers, Every Train led me through another door out onto a deck, one of smooth wooden floors and silver railings that had the appearance of twisting track. She guided me to a chair, set me down, and then crouched beside¡­her hand never leaving mine as she guided her thumb over palm. Gentle probing moments of pressure that hunted down pockets of anxiety and popped them, eliciting from me dry, shuddering sobs.

    ¡°As for why I keep them,¡± Every Train said, ¡°they¡¯re my memories¡­to put it in a fashion mortals might comprehend. To wander is more than eternally facing the next bend in a road; it¡¯s the appreciation of where you are, where you came from, and sometimes doubling back to see the same sight with new eyes.¡±

    ¡°But this is more than memory,¡± I muttered, ¡°you¡¯re entering the actual moment. You could change things, right?¡±

    She sighed, nodded, and let go of my hand. ¡°It¡¯s not worth going down that path, Nadia.¡±

    ¡°Why not? Y-you love my mom,¡± I said, grasping for an example. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you do more than have one dance? You could tell her how you feel, and maybe¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yes, I could,¡± Every Train admitted, ¡°and then I would lose everything I¡¯ve built here. All the people who have come to love me, rely on me and my Court¡¯s sorcery and entities, and every person who¡¯s ridden me from a doomed situation to blessed salvation would be betrayed were I to attempt what you propose¡­despite knowing it¡¯d never come to pass.¡±

    ¡°Sanctions?¡± I asked, remembering that there were rules even for the Courts.

    ¡°The Parliament of All That Is, is a strict and petty body, Nadia, and Time has already been sanctioned heavily for what should otherwise be their remit,¡± Every Train said. ¡°Even if sanctions were evaded, I¡¯d perhaps see my Court razed by foes and rivals¡­¡±

    Like Revelation suffered.

    I turned my head from her, staring out into the black of the Underside¡ªwe¡¯d long passed anything so recognizable as to be called a domain, instead hurtling toward a horizon of some sort, rapidly growing but almost infinitely far. So similar to memory itself, how it could bloom to the point of obliterating all other concerns, but be untouchable by your fingertips. My own ¡ªfingertips that is¡ªfound my lips as tens of memories fluttered past my thoughts; other paths I should¡¯ve taken were I to know now what I lacked then.

    ¡°Sounds like torture to me,¡± I said, turning back toward Every Train. ¡°Abandoning any hope of joy to safeguard a love that¡¯d be revoked if you step beyond the frame they¡¯d fixed you in.¡±

    She patted my hand like Melissa¡¯s grandmother would do when her sister would complain of their troubles yet reject the wisdom garnered over years. It made my response, which I¡¯d thought intelligent, feel so small, childish. Though nothing in her face actually said so, the masculine softness instead stretching like a blanket to hold me.

    ¡°Maybe love then,¡± she said, musing with me, ¡°lies somewhere between what we owe the self and owe one another. One can¡¯t always precede the other, but that doesn¡¯t mean they have to be enemies. It¡¯s why, for me at least, I enjoy stepping into those memories even as I remain helpless to the passage of events.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the joy in that one?¡± I asked.

    Every Train rose, stretching though they had no need¡ªthe horizon had expanded into something akin to a smile of teeth, though the white that it¡¯d been when so far away had broken down into a waterfall of psychedelic hues that budded within one another like a cancer, colonizing with furious malignance the surrounding chroma before ultimately being consumed by a new upstart color. She held her chin between her middle fingers, this time with the pleasant smile found in the appreciation of a good tea, and drank in the memory.

    She said, ¡°It was my last dance with your mother. Her and Kareem were getting off at the¡ªup until then¡ªsecret stop at the Cradle.¡±

    ¡°Where the Black Wombs hid?¡± I asked, despite already knowing.

    ¡°The very same,¡± she said.

    ¡°Is that it then,¡± I asked, ¡°the joy was one last dance?¡±

    ¡°It was a good dance,¡± she said, ¡°but no. The joy comes from when I saw them next, my lovely Ishi carrying a little life within a womb she¡¯d crafted inside herself. A little life that she was adamant on keeping safe, so much so that we couldn¡¯t dance like we used to, so much so that Ishi, proudest Sovereign I know, got on her knees and begged me to keep that little life in mind if anything happened to her. In that one request, the first she¡¯d ever made of me, I received confirmation that I was more than an occasional dance partner, I was someone she trusted¡ªmore than any other incarnate Sovereign¡ªto look over and defend her child.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The pulses of light along her rails quickened, making lanterns of her eyes, and shaping heroic shadows across her face. There was a quiet happiness in how Every Train spoke of her responsibilities to the world and her Court, but in the service she promised to Mom¡­to me, was a look of transcendent fulfillment. The sort that many sought their whole life never to find, easily outstripping whatever meager joy could be gained from confessing one¡¯s love; Mom had seen all that Every Train was, her measured nature, her bent toward service, and dedication to her responsibilities and awarded her with a station no one¡ªnot even in my hometown¡ªhad received, capable only because of the way she lived every day of her infinite life.

    ¡°Every Train¡ª¡± I began, on the cusp of saying whatever unconsidered and ill-fit words would plop from the heavens of random thought in my mind. Saved only by the fortunate and sublime terror of ego-obliterating darkness overtaking us and the train the moment we speared through the prismatic wall that I took to be Causality¡¯s Rim.

    There was no pressure to this darkness, save that which I made for myself as primate terror¡ªa sign that I was still something of a human, a person¡ªrattled the cage of my skull. It brought up every other terror of the dark, especially my time in The Lightless World where I¡¯d lost everything, everyone, and¡­then there was a light, almost autumnal, yet so very stalwart. Twin lanterns, headlights, unblinking and unfearing of the ebon hold that surrounded us, challenged us to prove that we were greater than Real. Those golden lights, eyes as I remembered that I wasn¡¯t challenging this dark by myself, were connected to pulsing tracks of light, so fast that they blurred into unbreaking lines of resplendence.

    ¡°I¡¯m right here, Nadia,¡± Every Train said, her voice thick as her arms and just as firm.

    I groped out into the dark, finding her shirt, clutching it, then pulling toward me¡ªmy lighthouse¡ªwhere I wrapped my arms around her waist. She didn¡¯t laugh at me nor smirk at the sight of me reduced to a child¡ªEvery Train knew how hard it was to pass Causality¡¯s Rim, to have the whole of your being fanned out like a deck of cards, each piece lifted out and examined to confirm that you were meant to cross a line intended for only the eternal, the divine. I¡¯m not going to say how it felt to have every piece of me lifted up like that, how I could almost see without seeing the hand that held me as I was investigated, the lidless eye from which nothing of my nature was hidden¡­I¡¯ll be trying to forget that experience, mask it with the sheer fixation on how it felt to die¡ªthat was easier, and briefer.

    ¡°We¡¯re here, Nadia,¡± Every Train whispered.

    At some point in the process, I¡¯d buried my head into Every Train¡¯s shirt, the firm plushness of her stomach, and like a sleeping child, needed to be gently roused once we¡¯d arrived. With the nails of her fingers, Every Train gently scratched my scalp, teasing me into a building alertness in much the same way as she¡¯d popped my anxiety from just holding my hand. Lifting my head from her stomach, I noticed a thin line of drool to a spot on her shirt and felt my face flush.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, ¡°can I¡ª¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, you¡¯re young,¡± Every Train said. ¡°The fact you approached a state peaceful enough to drool on me is a good sign¡­Causality¡¯s Rim is not a gentle thing to face.¡±

    ¡°You face it all the time,¡± I said.

    She winked and wobbled her hand. ¡°All the time is a bit of an exaggeration, but I¡¯ve lived for a long time, Nadia. The scary things, the horridly impossible things, you find get more approachable in time. Always a bit scary, but not so much that you can¡¯t chew them out for taking too long to wave through your niece.¡±

    I nodded, happy that she was my aunt. Turning away from her I discovered that we were in something like a forest. There was a path, not paved or blazed down to the dirt, but a vague depression that the grasses and mosses of the floor hadn¡¯t returned in force. A concept that seemed rather possible, going off of the many trees that abounded and cast shadows across the forest floor, broken up by a kintsugi of sunlight. Despite the ever-present overcast, there wasn¡¯t the kind of darkness I¡¯d expected from a forest, especially one so quiet as this.

    ¡°One Sovereign is enough of a threat to make any present fall still and silent,¡± Every Train explained when I looked back toward her. ¡°Two, as it is with me around, likely caused everyone to run to the hills.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more surprised everything looks so¡­¡±

    ¡°Normal?¡± Every Train asked. ¡°This is likely the best interpretation your mind had for you. Most humans can¡¯t really pass into this place until they find themselves in the role of godtender. You¡¯re a special case, enough of an entity now to pass but still enough of a mortal to require mediation.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that you aren¡¯t actually just a tall soft butch of an aunt,¡± I said, the sarcasm dripping from the mask of mock surprise I wore.

    Every Train rolled her eyes.. ¡°Faster you climb, the faster you¡¯ll get to see my actual appearance. Now, stop stalling, go see your mom.¡±

    I let a nervous chuckle fly out the side of my mouth. Stalling, I was¡­I was, stalling. The anxieties and fears that were pressed down by the distractions on the train or just being held by Every Train had reared up in my head, their claws and hooves lashing out at every structure of my confidence. What remained of it after I¡¯d discovered basically everything I thought I knew was outright wrong or twisted until the light made it seem so.

    ¡°Are you going to come with me?¡± I asked. ¡°I know you don¡¯t want to mess with the past, but this is the present and¡ª¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be very long distance with your mother at that point,¡± Every Train said. ¡°Besides, she has eyes elsewhere and I¡¯m¡­busy with the responsibilities I have for myself.¡±

    ¡°Now who¡¯s stalling,¡± I said.

    We shared a smile, our anxieties, while different, still recognized the other¡ªto think that even deities could suffer from nerves of the heart. Every Train stepped backward between the doors of herself, a rectangular window into her interior overlaying the space of what should¡¯ve been unbroken forest. I almost ran back to hug her, try to steal a bit more of that light for facing the dark, but the only dark at this point lurked in a place no light could touch.

    ¡°Good bye, Nadia,¡± Every Train said, really meaning, Good luck, and I¡¯ll see you again.

    ¡°Bye, Auntie,¡± I said, shocking her with the casual designation she¡¯d more than earned. Myself meaning, Thank you, and you will, and I¡¯ll be so annoying next time.

    Her doors shut, and her departure was marked by the rush of a breeze that tousled my hair. I sighed, feeling the weight of my worries clamber up onto my shoulders once more, but I turned to face the path and set forth to meet my mother.

    * * *

    I finish telling her¡ªIshisaga-no-Maturama, or Ishi as she said I could refer to her¡ªthe story. We¡¯d caught up to the present, as much as that meant anything in a timeless place like this, and in concluding she smiles at me, proud that I got through the entire telling. I¡¯d been honest about every piece of the journey whether it was hard, made me look¡­less than noble, or would make her sad. There were a lot of pieces that made her sad. I tried to add some levity, but my life, my story, had been a sad one up until now. At that moment, waiting for her, I couldn¡¯t see a way in which it stopped being so, and while Ishi chose to putter, busying her hands with an attempt at hot chocolate to take advantage of our sweet tooth, I curl up on my chair. Toes curling beneath the wooden seat, again not like it was actually wood.

    Knock. Knock. Knock.

    I don¡¯t know how she does it, rapping her knuckles against the door in time to our beating heart. It¡¯s unnerving. I¡¯m not ready for this. Sitting there was the wrong choice, I want to run and hide somewhere else¡ªthe bed maybe, beneath the blanket where I can pop out when it seems appropriate.

    Ishi yells, ¡°It¡¯s unlocked.¡±

    I should¡¯ve locked it. Not that it would¡¯ve done anything, we both were masters of this place, and, if we felt need of it, it would unlock the moment we desired. All that is to say, the knob turns, the door opens, and while I snap the handle on my mug¡ªthe hot chocolate very much emptied from the stress and difficulty of storytelling¡ªshe¡¯s relieved, somehow. Her eyes don¡¯t land on me yet, maybe a result from practicing not to look into the mirror, and instead she sights Ishi first. Races to her, nearly knocking the mug of hot chocolate from her grasp, and squeezes her tight.

    ¡°Mom, I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s you,¡± she says¡ªwhat a moron.

    Ishi hugs her back, trying to be accommodating, unable to break the news as is needed. It¡¯s a stiff hug though, and Mom never gave stiff hugs. Hers were like a tornado, sweeping you up to spin you around, even if the gap between when she saw you last and saw you then had been a momentary break to get an item from another room. It gives things away more than any words could¡¯ve, which is probably for the best when it comes to her¡­she¡¯s so ¡°physical.¡±

    She asks, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nadia, I¡­¡± she tries to say the words, they¡¯re hard because it''s complicated. I make it easier.

    By saying, ¡°She¡¯s not our mom.¡±

    That¡¯s when she finally looks at me. She blinks a few times, as if this were the Underside, and staring too long at the truth would usher in a madness that¡¯d squat in her mind. While she processes, squinting and tensing every muscle in her body¡ªlikely deciding if she could kill me or not¡­if she should still try¡ªI keep explaining.

    ¡°Ishi isn¡¯t Mom,¡± I say. ¡°In fact, it¡¯s better to say that Mom was Ishi, before she spent enough time just being Mom. Amber got that part right at least.¡±

    She stalks away from Ishi, strafes around the table, and stands opposite me. Her feet spaced equal to her shoulders, one foot just a bit ahead of the other, readying for a burst of violence depending on however I answer the question she¡¯s going to ask¡­

    ¡°Why¡¯s your scar over the wrong eye?¡± she asks.

    ¡°What?¡± I ask.

    She points to her left eye. ¡°This is where the shard went through our eye and where Nemesis¡¯s axe struck. Yours is wrong.¡±

    How anyone with my face could say something so dumb, was beyond me. It actually made me start laughing, loosening every knot of worry in my back and stomach. She was so dumb. So, to help her get it, I stand up and pace toward her, the smile on my face just gently showing off my fangs, and I reach out to her face, my fingers feather-light as I stroke her cheek.

    ¡°Not wrong,¡± I say, ¡°just mirrored¡ªthough you have been avoiding those for awhile.¡±

    She slaps my hand away¡ªthe hard to my soft¡ªwhispering, ¡°My sister-self.¡±

    I shake out my wrist. Give her a shallow bow, and say, ¡°That¡¯s too many words. Call me Nadia.¡±

    Her eyes quiver like a bowstring drawn back but withholding fire. I shouldn¡¯t rile her up, but seeing her there implying that I was the copy¡­it settled poorly in me. Still, she retained most of the violent impulses between us¡ªbeast that she was and would likely always be¡ªso I took a few steps back to return to her some kind of personal¡­bubble in an attempt to engender a calm over her.

    ¡°I¡¯m Nadia,¡± she stated¡ªa copy copying, what a surprise.

    ¡°Mmm, no,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re better off being called Orchard, I think. That is the name you preferred Sinaya call you after all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because¡ª¡±

    ¡°¡ªI didn¡¯t want to be the Nadia that fought him as the Angler Knight,¡± I say, melding my voice with hers. I knew my story as she portrayed it, the actor wearing my corpus as a costume. My trick didn¡¯t earn me any points with her. Fine, I didn¡¯t want them from her anyways.

    I lean against the table¡ªIshi¡¯s already set the mug down, retaken her seat, and likely wanted us to do the same, but Orchard, as I refuse to call her Nadia, had other thoughts. Choosing to stalk toward me in pursuit, a new¡ªlikely stupid¡ªquestion on her lips.

    ¡°How are you already here then?¡± she asks, surprisingly not the stupidest question possible. ¡°I only died a few hours ago.¡±

    Gifting her another smile, in some attempt at magnanimity, I answer, ¡°Well, when you cut me out and evicted me from my body, you left me in a more Conceptual state. Surviving in the wasteland of mirrors and reflection, until you named the Court. At which point I was slingshot beyond Causality¡¯s Rim, and voila. Arrived before you, and given that we are beyond simple causality¡ªit¡¯s in the name¡ªtime doesn¡¯t work the same here.¡±

    ¡°Does it work at all?¡± Orchard asks.

    ¡°Maybe in the places where Time rules, or maybe it¡¯s worse there than here,¡± I say, shrugging.

    She turns to Ishi. ¡°Where do you come in?¡±

    ¡°I found you¡ªher¡ªwhile she was alone, and I took her in,¡± she says. ¡°When I¡ªyour Mom¡ªdiscorporated and gifted me the memories of her incarnation, I felt a certain maternalness come over me. Memories of raising you, protecting you, swept through me. It was a very impactful incarnation for me, but an incarnation is like being shown a photo album where every picture is a memory of you but you know you were never there. Though the feeling of seeing yourself transmits so much, and¡ª¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re not Mom,¡± Orchard says, more statement than question, as it finally sets in.

    Ishi says, ¡°If you want, you can call me¡ª¡±

    I applaud, which shocks Ishi and causes Orchard to whip her head in my direction. Her eye hot with rage that I was mocking this little moment of hers. As if it wasn¡¯t predictable, we knew the entities that incarnate are not necessarily the same that exist beyond.

    ¡°Nadia,¡± she snaps, pulling off the whip-crack tone every mom seems to know.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± we both say at once, then glare at the other.

    Orchard asks, ¡°What did you do while you waited for me?¡±

    ¡°Well, seeing as a lot happened to me post her ¡®death¡¯,¡± I say, ¡°she wanted to know who was. Asked me to tell a story of myself, to see who I¡¯d become in the first month of her absence.¡±

    Orchard¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°And what did you say?¡±

    ¡°My truth,¡± I said, ¡°the story of how I was born in the wake of their death, and concluding with my trip with Every Train where she deposited me here.¡±

    She shook her head, unable to accept what I¡¯d done, the fucking baby. As I roll my eyes at the tantrum I know is coming, Orchard, admittedly, shocks me¡ªrunning on me in a second, punch firing with the full force of her brief sprint. It smashes into my face, breaks my nose, and sends me tumbling into the chair from which I¡¯d narrated my life story.

 Chapter 61

    ¡°I¡¯m the one who died!¡± Orchard yells, stabbing her thumb against her chest as she stands above me, her fist speckled with my blood. ¡°All the fighting, and scrapping, and fucking dying happened to me! Not you, me. It¡¯s not your story to tell.¡±

    ¡°Really, okay,¡± I say, using the chair to help prop myself up, hiding with my body, the curling of my hand around one of the bars that forms its back. Orchard¡¯s too upset to realize her punch may have messed up my face, but like her entire identity¡­it was superficial. So she¡¯s not ready when I whip the chair at her. Sure, she has the reflexes to duck and does so, but not the awareness to be prepared for my knee ramming into her face. She tumbles onto her back, eyes swimming, nose very broken. I snort¡ªit comes out wet, with a little blood.

    ¡°Now we match,¡± I laugh, before I get serious, get cold. ¡°Let¡¯s amend this whole idea that it¡¯s your story. See, I was around longer, from the very beginning of our fucking quest! It was me. Me who pushed us into the Underside, me who assembled allies, and it was me who built everything up that you broke. You violent, little creature, who betrayed me and stepped beyond your purpose to hijack my body in a moment of simpering worthless pleasure.¡±

    I crouch low so she can hear me when I say, ¡°So fuck you, and fuck any idea of ownership you think you have. It is my body, and it is my story. You¡¯re just the actor in it, Orchard.¡±

    ¡°¡®You''re just the actor in it,¡¯¡± she repeats, making a brittle mockery of my cold fury. ¡°I¡¯m more than the actor. I¡¯m the whole character because while you were around in the beginning, I had to live with your choices. Teaming up with Amber, that was a choice that bit us in the ass; deciding to do the wild hunt and getting us cursed, was definitely an Earl-tier fuck-up on your part. I made every hard choice with the shit options you left me, while you got to hang out with¡­¡±

    She gropes the air for an answer. Ishi gives it, ¡°Ishi, you can call me Ishi. But girls¡ª¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Ishi,¡± Orchard says, cutting her off. ¡°You got to hang out with Ishi the entire time. While I was busy actually avenging Mom and Dad.¡±

    Her head snaps forward to find my face¡ªI turn in enough time to not let her fuck up my nose further. So it hits me in the cheek, rattles my jaw and head, as she shoves me off. Though at this point, we were both in our more combative mind states, with me rolling back to land on all fours, growling with every piece of emotional artillery that I had stored since her betrayal.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about vengeance, shall we,¡± I say, ¡°because you were close to giving it all up. In fact, if it wasn¡¯t for you trying to be the most fuckable and lovable piece of butch bait for Sinaya¡ªor his futch sis, Lupe¡ªyou¡¯d never have discovered that Marduk was under your nose the entire time. Wearing our father as an earring!¡±

    ¡°Take it back,¡± Orchard growls in reply.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m a baaaad liar,¡± I say, ¡°and so are you. Cause in your eyes, I can see how easily you¡¯d have given up on Mom and Dad, if it meant some cute girl gave you affection. Though I guess we saw how strong your commitment is to even them, especially after you get a bit peckish.¡±

    She pounces toward me, the same time I pounce toward her, our claws ready to rend the other and our fangs more than equipped to bring the fight to a swift close once one of us had proven the victor. However, Ishi, who¡¯d been the conscientious observer of our verbal fight up until now, chose to step in, quite literally I might add. Flickering from one side of the table to the other in the span of a single frame, and pointing upward with her finger. Orchard and myself fly up toward the ceiling, pinned in place by no power or force, but the raw redefinition of what up and down even mean.

    ¡°Nadia, both of you, stop fighting,¡± she says. ¡°There¡¯s no reason for it.¡±

    ¡°Oh there is,¡± Orchard hisses, ¡°I¡¯m pissed that you just listened to her telling my story. Who I am, what I¡¯ve done¡ªshe¡¯s probably already turned you against me.¡±

    Just like mom, Ishi presses her brow together with her thumb and forefinger. Phoenix eyes shut in frustration, pondering how she¡¯d ever get Orchard to understand. When she opens them, smiling softly, she points to¡­me?

    ¡°Nadia, no one¡¯s turned me against you,¡± Ishi says, ¡°and in fact, you should thank her. If anything, Nadia softened you. Small lies to make sure that you were seen in a charitable light.¡±

    ¡°W-what,¡± I say. ¡°I never lied.¡±

    Ishi tsk¡¯s. ¡°We¡¯re beyond causality, love. I can easily peek into reality to see everything that¡¯s happened or happening and verify for myself. It¡¯s much easier to be omniscient here.¡±

    I bite my lip, unable to deny that I colored the narrative some. Not to help Orchard, alls below it wasn¡¯t for her¡­but, we¡ªI¡ªhad it hard. When I glance her way, I see that she¡¯s covering her face with her hands. A useless replacement for a privacy that could never be found when your mother was omniscient, and seeing the truth of things was no harder than opening a window.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mom,¡± Orchard says, forgetting that Ishi isn¡¯t Mom¡ªI don¡¯t blame her, it¡¯s hard when she is so similar, so like her.

    Ishi coo¡¯s, ¡°Nadia, it¡¯s fine. I saw everything, but that means I saw everything. You went through everything without a buffer for yourself. I know that every blow hurt, physical and otherwise, and I don¡¯t judge you. Honestly, Nadia, for what Kareem and I have done¡­I could never judge you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nice,¡± Orchard says, ¡°but I¡¯m more sorry that you saw me having sex.¡±

    Her words briefly stun the role of ¡®patient mother¡¯ that Ishi had assumed, breaking it down into a tumble of laughter. She points downward, Orchard and myself floating back to the flower, while still laughing. ¡°Sweetie, you have no idea how many of my memories are of accidentally walking by your room, my tea room, or the bathroom as you and Melissa had sex. The amount of incense I had to buy for the house¡ª¡±

    ¡°I think we get it, Mom,¡± I say, blushing and hiding my face as well.

    She places her hands on her hips, assesses the damage done to the kitchen, and decides it¡¯d be better if we take this conversation by the fireplace. Orchard¡¯s eyes widen, her ears¡ªwolven like my own¡ªflick upwards in attentiveness, the place looks the exact same as when we¡¯d visited during the first exam. Like me, when I first arrived, she glanced at the bed, confused about why whatever had slept beneath the blanket was gone.

    ¡°It was that piece of us that¡¯s an entity,¡± I explain. ¡°The blanket put them to sleep.¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯re what, a trinity?¡± Orchard asks, and I chuckle as I¡¯m only able to give her a shrug.

    ¡°We¡¯re complicated,¡± I say, shrugging off further questions I can¡¯t possibly answer.

    Then the two of us pile into the plush chair on the opposite side of the fireplace. I slouch a bit, though largely sitting properly, and Orchard sits in my lap, her legs dangling over one of the arms while she nurses her hot chocolate. She notices me staring at it, and lets me have a few sips¡ªit¡¯s not that bad having someone who recognizes how important hot chocolate is.

    ¡°So, what did you want to say?¡± Orchard asks between chocolatey slurps.

    I swat her knee, ¡°Sorry, Mom, she¡¯s just really direct.¡±

    Orchard sticks her tongue out at me, and being the older one, I do my best to resist snatching it between my fingers¡ªI was fast enough to do it.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Ishi says, ¡°we don¡¯t have forever here, as much as forever is more normal than not in these parts. What I wanted to say is, I¡¯m sorry for leaving you both like this. It wasn¡¯t what Kareem or myself wanted for you.¡±

    She accompanies her apology with a bow, her body leaning past the arm of her chair. It¡¯s weird seeing her¡ªMom¡ªbow like that. Mom was a hilariously prideful person, never bowed but would maybe write you a card with the words, I¡¯m sorry, written inside. So I reach out to lift Ishi back up, but Orchard stops me, gently, with a hand on my wrist.

    ¡°What are you sorry for exactly?¡± she asks, still slurping from her mug. ¡°I mean, when you say ¡®like this¡¯ it can mean a lot of things: dead, alone, an awakened¡ªawakened?¡ªyeah, awakened hybridae. So, which is it?¡±

    My smile sputters, this is¡­not the kind of conversation I was ready for. It wasn¡¯t like Orchard didn¡¯t have a point, but it was still an apology. It should be enough. Right? When we shared a glance, her eyes said, wrong.

    ¡°All of it,¡± Ishi says, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for everything that you¡¯ve had to go through and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Pssh, I don¡¯t need an apology for all of that,¡± Orchard says, blowing off Ishi¡¯s second attempt. ¡°Least of all for being a hybridae. I¡¯ve seen the memories, Mom, at least what I¡¯ve been able to recover. You¡¯ve seen them too?¡±

    Her question is sent my way. Looking between Mom and myself¡ªOrchard, I give in to the truth with a tiny nod. I¡¯d seen them. I put them in the story, felt like it contextualized something for myself. Orchard strokes my face, again so softly, in a way that I hadn¡¯t thought she was capable of¡ªI¡¯d seen her kill with those hands so many times before. But, maybe it was because she was fresh from causal linear time, hadn¡¯t had so long to find a remove from everything, that the furnace of indignation still roared in her gut, fueling her through the winter of, maybe it wasn¡¯t that bad and they like had a reason, which came for every hot passion at some point. It was just too hard to keep in the mindset that¡­it still sucked.

    ¡°Mom, Ishi, whatever,¡± Orchard says, shaking her head from the confusion of addressment, ¡°we¡¯ve been hybridae since we were a kid. It was our normal, and you took it from us. Did to us what you were pissed another family had done to their kid to prevent them from transitioning.¡±

    Ishi raises her hands, trying to ward off the anger radiating from Orchard. ¡°This is different, we did it as a safety measure for you. Nadia, you were casting Division sorcery at a rate that expanded faster than we could believe. You were cutting things, splitting your very ego in half¡ª nearly destroyed yourself because a piece of you was in the Underside¡ª¡±

    ¡°You said I made it up,¡± I whisper, my vision suddenly stigmatizing. Orchard pulls my head toward their arm, rubbing the back of my scalp¡ªshe¡¯s not as good as Every Train, but it helps.

    ¡°We needed you to stop thinking about it,¡± Ishi argues. ¡°You¡¯d gotten too hard to cover up. One agent of the Heaven Sword Administration had already found you, remember!¡±

    Orchard nods. ¡°I do, but what I don¡¯t remember was any actual help. Neither you nor Dad taught me how to control it!¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t matter if you could,¡± Ishi yells, ¡°we didn¡¯t want you to have a hard life. Dodging the Tenken-bumon forever, dodging anyone who¡¯d see you not as our little girl but a treasure trove of sorcerous scientific insights to read in your entrails.¡±

    Orchard sets the mug down on the side table. When I peek up from her arm, she¡¯s glaring at Ishi without a care that our Mom¡ªwhat was sort-of Mom¡ªwas a Sovereign. I nearly laugh; Orchard never cared about even tilting her head in a bow toward power, not really. What was wrong was wrong, and what was right was right. If the powerful fell on one side or the other, then that was what mattered.

    ¡°Fine, we didn¡¯t turn out how you and Dad wanted,¡± Orchard says, ¡°but let me ask you, at what point did you ever think about us? What we might¡¯ve wanted. You saw what we were once I named us?¡±

    That last question was a volley toward me again, to say my thoughts, and all I had to say was, ¡°Yes, I saw. We were powerful, awful, and so very beautiful.¡±

    My words came through like someone who¡¯d seen the face of heaven, and I suppose I had¡ªwe¡ªhad. Ours was a face that I couldn¡¯t get out of my mind, couldn¡¯t stop the ache in my heart when I realized that¡­I could be something more than I was. Orchard¡¯s words, in her beautiful brutish fashion, destroy the last dam holding back the truth in my own heart.

    ¡°Mom, you¡¯re listing problems that are just, so fucking small!¡± I scream. ¡°Alls below, we can be eternal, more powerful than every problem and¡ª¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re never more powerful than every problem,¡± she hisses, ¡°or did you forget that I also died? Sovereignty is not everything you dream it to be. It won¡¯t solve every problem. You could die before ever reaching it, I mean, girls you did die!¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean you get to deny us any choice in being who and what we are!¡± I scream. ¡°For all you know, what if I¡¯m meant to split apart? Orch¡ªNadia¡ªNadia and I could¡¯ve split around the axe, circled the desk, and gone out the window. Maybe use each other as Godtime targets. Don¡¯t know if that works, but maybe we¡¯d be more capable if we just knew. If we had a lifetime of learning and being. Maybe¡­¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Ishi says, throwing her hands up, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being a terrible mom. I¡¯ve never done it before you. Alls below, I¡¯m a deity of War and Death, for whom the demise of old ways and ancient mores, the supplantation of order through brutal violence, has been the only thing I¡¯ve known across countless iterations of reality and existence. Nadia, I did the fucking best I could, you were not an easy child.¡±

    Nadia and myself, grow still, Ishi¡¯s words could¡¯ve been tossed aside as not coming from Mom, but in so many ways she was Mom. If the two of us were both Nadia, split apart in something of a hack job admittedly, then she was our Mom¡­and our Mom thought us difficult. I look up, the first time I try to meet her gaze, make her see how much all of this hurts. The slow pressure on an oozing emotional wound that had so much pus to expel.

    ¡°Mom, did you know we were going to be a hybridae?¡± I ask.

    She meets the challenge of my expression, her pride rising and then falling at the sight of my burning tears¡ªin my own eyes she was an impression of herself, splotches of color.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she answers, ¡°I knew.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­¡± I wheeze in, catching a sob, ¡°...why have us? Why bring us into a world you knew would hate us? Why!¡±

    Before she could answer, there was a zipping sound behind us, the undoing of reality on countless levels. In my spirit and Nadia¡¯s, we felt a harmonization on the deepest level, and then we felt fear once we heard her honey-coated voice. A sweetener for sharp knife-words.

    ¡°Nadia, girls,¡± the Sovereign of Revelation says, ¡°don¡¯t be too hard on your mother.¡±

    She pulls Nadia¡¯s head back¡ªI and Mom can¡¯t help but watch¡ªas a cloud of four-pointed stars brushes close to Nadia¡¯s face. Briefly consuming it by the measured radiance of each poppy-sized astral body, hiding visually the very wet and hot makeout that she granted Nadia. I do my best to breathe, and not pant, thinking about how I don¡¯t want her to kiss me right now. Yet also thinking, I miss Sphinx. I wish I could kiss her right now.

    ¡°Remember Nadia,¡± the Sovereign of Revelation says, ¡°Sphinx is me. At least, an index finger¡¯s worth. Do you want to make out with that, Nadia?¡±

    She releases Nadia, and from the flock of stars stretches out a single arm, extending a single finger tipped with a long nail¡ªalmost a claw, but nothing so brutal or base. She¡¯s teasing me, I know she¡¯s teasing me, and¡­fuck, I miss Sphinx. My mouth parts, opening to receive her¡ªuntil Nadia forces my head forward. Her eyes are still wide, nearly manic off of the high that must happen when a Sovereign tongues you nice and deep, but she focuses on me, being there for me. As if to say, we¡¯re in this together against them all. Her brow knits tight, making me believe.

    ¡°Hmm, shame,¡± the Sovereign of Revelation says. ¡°However, I¡¯m sorry, I just had to visit my bondmate. It¡¯s been so long.¡±

    Ishi¡¯s jaw clenches, she asks through gritted teeth, ¡°Nadia, did you really¡­bond to Revelation?¡±

    ¡°We did,¡± Nadia and I say together, it was easier that way.

    Revelation laughs, adding, ¡°She even swore an oath to me¡ªthe contents of which, should probably stay between us, I think. Though, I¡¯m sorry for interrupting, please, Ishi¡ª¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me Ishi,¡± she snaps.

    The cloud of stars obfuscating Revelation¡¯s body drifts to Mom¡¯s chair, settling on its arm. I can hear her eyes rolling as she says, ¡°Fiiiine. Ishisaga-no-Maturama, please, enlighten me and my bondmate. Why did you have her, when you knew her stock?¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°I wanted to¡­¡± her voice trails off, when Revelation extends an arm again, this time settling her hand on Mom¡¯s head, stroking her hair. Mom starts again, ¡°I wanted to nurture the last remnant of an old friend, to be a mother, and Kareem needed a change.¡±

    ¡°Interesting reasons,¡± Revelation hums, before her voice bounces toward us. ¡°Thoughts, girls?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I say, finding that Nadia¡¯s rage had finally conducted into me, making a brand of my heart, ¡°you didn¡¯t think about us even once.¡±

    ¡°Nadia¡ª¡± Ishi tries to say something, but I am done listening.

    I snap, ¡°You don¡¯t get to worry about how our life would be ¡®hard¡¯ when you knew it would be. Alls below, you made it harder with that fucking solution of yours. I remember, not perfectly but I remember in my fucking muscles and in my teeth, how it felt to have a war going on in my skull. How often my feelings would spin around in chaotic swings that devastated everything around me!¡±

    Nadia can tell I want to get up, my feelings want me to get up, and so she slides from my lap. I rise on the updraft of my rage. Standing, now taller than my mother¡ªeven if not really, I point at her with all the fury I¡¯d used in pointing Atomic Glories at my foes. She gasps, able to tell from my stance and the tone in my voice.

    ¡°The only benefit of what you did to us, choking us for so many years¡± I growl, words slipping through my fangs ragged and torn, ¡°was that you made us so good at trying to be what other people want us to be. So much so, that in the absence of you, of Dad, there was no life we could envision for ourselves save the cool embrace of a deathly void.¡±

    I¡¯ll say this, it seems gods can cry. Tears, probably so potent that you could destroy a continent with a droplet, well in the corner of Ishi¡¯s eyes. Her hands cover her mouth, a drawbridge to the wail that escapes, muffled slightly, from her throat. Nadia looks at me, stunned, but doesn¡¯t gainsay me¡ªshe knows it¡¯s true. It was true when Amber asked us what came after vengeance, it was true when we tried to blow up Marduk, and it was true when we sought our answers in the jaw of that awfully honest beast, Nemesis. We don¡¯t know what we want to be, we live according to our desires in the moment¡ªlike an animal¡ªbecause we never got to actually grow into a person, as we were so busy having to play catch-up to a normalcy that was never ours.

    ¡°I-I wish I could do more,¡± Ishi says, ¡°but I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry, Nadia, I just¡­¡±

    Nadia nods, slurps her hot chocolate, and says, ¡°That is the apology I think I¡¯ve always wanted, Mom.¡±

    She finishes the last of the hot chocolate, sets it on the table, and stands beside me. Though where I face Mom, she faces the photo of Dad that sits over the mantelpiece¡ªthe photo of our family, where Dad carried us on his shoulders, and we held a sparkler in our hand, our first Declaration of Thunder festival. She doesn¡¯t turn around, but sighs hard, the feelings in her chest heavier than air and harder to evacuate from her lungs.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Dad?¡± she asks. ¡°I didn¡¯t see him in the Ghostlands, and I doubt he¡¯d pass beyond the Gates of the Afterlife without talking to us. If this is apologizing time, then where is he?¡±

    Ishi¡¯s hands fall, as she looks away. ¡°Nadia, he¡¯s not dead.¡±

    Nadia whirls around, grips my hand for support¡ªI don¡¯t cry out even though her claws are digging into my palms; I need the pain to stay stable.

    ¡°What?¡± she asks. ¡°I saw him die, crushed into a diamond and¡ª¡±

    ¡°Nadia,¡± Ishi says, ¡°you also saw Nemesis lose her entire body remaining just a head, she told me that part of the story. There are many ways to defy death, and there are just as many ways as to render unto someone something akin to death. When Marduk crushed your father, he destroyed his body by mortal standards. In truth, Marduk just turned Kareem¡¯s body into a diamond cage for his spirit.¡±

    Revelation adds, ¡°Abyss, my dear bondmate, can be a cold and unchanging place, where even Death, fundamental element though it is, can find it to be a recalcitrant kingdom. Fitting, as its Sovereign is quite the same.¡±

    ¡°Marduk did this,¡± I say, new depths to my disgust for the man being hollowed out for fury to decorate.

    ¡°If it helps,¡± Revelation says, ¡°Marduk did it by accident. He likely has no idea that nearly every foe he¡¯s crushed is imprisoned in those diamonds of his. A great torment constructed by an idiot.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t¡­help,¡± Nadia says. ¡°Mom, how¡¯d they even kill Dad in the first place? Nemesis told me defeated all ten of the Black Wombs at once, before.¡±

    ¡°He should¡¯ve been able to win, right?¡± I ask, equal in my confusion.

    Ishi rubs her hands, nervous about how we¡¯ll receive the answer.

    ¡°Just tell us,¡± I say, and Nadia punctuates with a grunt of agreement.

    So she does, and says, ¡°Kareem did beat them, but that was before he abdicated. Girls, every mortal does not handle Sovereignty well¡ªmost actually hate it, finding it to be a trap more than anything¡ªand in that way, abdication is an option many take. They hand over their crown for us, their incarnate bondmates, to hold onto. Relinquishing all right to the sorcery of their Court, but also finding a freedom as the gnostic boundary no longer chains them to the shape of their power.¡±

    ¡°Girls,¡± she explains, ¡°Kareem was dying as City Killer. He¡¯d become a hollow version of the boy I¡¯d bonded to nearly a century ago, but he also needed a task, a push that could let him make the choice and choose rest compared to the lifetimes of service he¡¯d envisioned would define his immortality.¡±

    ¡°We were that push?¡± Nadia asks, her voice soft like powder-snow. Though her actual feeling, the words that echoed in her spirit¡­that I could hear, sort of, in my mind. We made him weak?

    I squeeze her hand, drive my claw into her palm this time. Tears well in her eyes as she looks at me, and I shake my head. This isn¡¯t on us, I say, watching as her eyes close, squeezing off the valve of sorrow inside of her¡ªI think she heard me.

    Before Ishi can answer Nadia¡¯s question, I ask, ¡°Did Dad know the Black Wombs would come back?¡±

    It would make all the difference if he did. He¡¯d have chosen knowing the risk, decided to do this to himself, and it wouldn¡¯t be our fault. My heel taps against the rug, repetitively, as I need this to not be our fault.

    ¡°No,¡± Ishi says, and Nadia bites down an invective that bounces into my head¡ªI was in more than minor agreement. ¡°We knew we had enemies, so I held onto you Nadia, kept you from growing for a couple years as Kareem and I tied up loose ends, settled old scores. We wanted to make the world safe for you.¡±

    ¡°But the Black Wombs didn¡¯t die,¡± I say, only for Revelation to hiss, drawing attention to herself.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she says, with nary an apologetic tone, ¡°but Nadia, you¡¯re better than this. Think about it, what happened when you fought that White Womb?¡±

    ¡°It¡­came back,¡± Nadia says, realizing. ¡°After every death, it came back, until we burned it.¡±

    ¡°Good girl, I¡¯d give you one of my stars but I need them so your brain doesn¡¯t explode,¡± she says. ¡°Now, while the White Womb reformed Conceptual muscle and flesh over a Real skeleton in Realspace¡­what do you think Black Wombs do?¡±

    Then it fell into place, so many things fell into place and most of it was because of Amber. She¡¯d said that we gave her a reason to live again, that she¡¯d experienced death, and had little fear of it. She quibbled about ¡®true deaths¡¯ like someone for whom a partial one was nothing. Implied that you could even keep score¡­

    Nadia speaks first, ¡°The Black Wombs automatically resurrect as well.¡±

    I speak second, ¡°Forming from the spirit in the Underside, like where we first encountered Amber. They¡¯re immortal?¡±

    Revelation wobbles a hand, swirling it to hold a platter of ideas. ¡°Conditionally, perhaps, but do understand Nadia, no one truly knows the depths of what the hybridae are capable of. They¡¯ve never shown up in any iteration of reality the Parliament has constructed. You, my dear, are one of a very small kind. In fact, you¡¯re one of a kind even for your kind.¡±

    Our heads hurt, the infinite implications of what Revelation was saying were too much, digressions from what matters. Dad, how did they kill? Why did he die? This was our focus, and all of that could wait. Had, to wait.

    ¡°So Dad takes the crown back,¡± I say, ¡°couldn¡¯t he just un-abdicate and then abdicate again.¡±

    Ishi shakes her head. ¡°Abdication is a reprieve from responsibility,¡± she says. ¡°You get to put away power, once, and if you take it up again then you take it up for forever or until death.¡±

    I let go of Nadia¡¯s hand, I can¡¯t fucking do this. For every option and question that we come up with to make this make sense, there¡¯s some stupid fucking rule or clause that prevents it. As if fate itself was screwing us over. Was Dad¡¯s death that unpreventable? Hammered into place by a hundred little choices, and any singular nail removed would never be enough?

    ¡°Why us?¡± I ask, to the two gods in my weird fucking paracausal cabin. ¡°Why us!¡±

    Ishi shares a look with Revelation.

    ¡°What?¡± I ask. ¡°What aren¡¯t you telling us? Did you and your stupid Parliament plan for Dad¡¯s death? Was that his fate, did he have some bad karma or something¡ª¡±

    Nadia wraps her arms around me, stopping me from storming over to Mom, to Revelation, my fists clenched as if I could batter answers out of heaven¡¯s jaw. She says words to try and soothe me, to keep me from going off the deep end, but why try¡ªshe was our cold pragmatism, our burning righteousness, and held all our capacity for violence. I was the fucking deep end, and I need an answer. I look to these supposed gods and want an answer. Why did we have to lose Dad?

    ¡°Kareem, he¡­¡± Ishi fails to put the words together.

    So Revelation tries, her voice lesser in glibness¡ªthis for some reason, she takes seriously.

    ¡°He could¡¯ve lived if he wanted to,¡± she answers, ¡°but not as your father. He would be City Killer, a mass murderer, the greatest swordsman since you mortals abandoned the blade in truth, and if he assumed his true crown, you would be dead. Your town would¡¯ve been wiped from the Earth. Their battle would¡¯ve been immense, and while your home was small, if any news made it out, the devastation would cast a shadow over even the destruction of Tokyo. And his slaughter would not cease, he would seek out new things to overthrow, to send into violent unrest and upheaval. His sword would turn against the Godtenders, and though they would strike him down, Nadia, many of them would first fall. The Changeover would begin anew.¡±

    Revelation rises from her place on the chair¡¯s arm, and joins Ishi where she stands, just past the rug and almost in the kitchen, and wraps her arms around her. Tears flow from Ishi¡¯s face, as she nods along to every point Revelation speaks. Nadia and I are quiet, we don¡¯t consider arguing against their omniscience.

    ¡°Kareem, the first godtender the world ever saw, had a bold heart and made bad bad decisions about how he climbed,¡± Revelation states, regret dimming her stars. ¡°The gnosis shards he gathered were vile, born of your broken disgusting Old World, and he knew that. He made bad choices for the best reasons, and while most will likely always remember City Killer as a monster, well, who says heroes can¡¯t be monsters? So, it wasn¡¯t fate or karma that caused his death. He made choices, those had consequences, and in the face of the end of the world or the end of his life¡­Ishi, what did he think about?¡±

    ¡°Nadia, he thought about you,¡± Ishi says. ¡°He wanted to die as Kareem, your father, more than he wanted to live as City Killer, and destroy this beautiful world he¡¯d fought so hard to build for you. The Black Wombs may have fought him, but Nadia, he chose his death.¡±

    We both find that fact hard to swallow, and it¡¯s to no pride that we respond poorly. I kick over the table that stands between both chairs. Nadia knocks the photo from the mantelpiece. We flail, whirl to face each other, fangs bare, and sob, as we see in each other the face that our father saw when he died. He didn¡¯t just quietly accept death, but he tried to fight in whatever mortal means he had yet when the end came he¡­

    Nadia and I, us, had thought we knew that night so well. That we remembered it perfectly and would never forget, but I had colored the story. I knew I did. In Revelation and Ishi¡¯s words, I could close my eyes and see that night. Dad was still surrounded, his wounds were no less awful, but I wasn¡¯t the distraction that caused his death. No, Dad had seen me and mouthed the words, I love you, Dreamdrop, before choosing to lower his sword, make that opening, so they would kill him. So they wouldn¡¯t pay attention to the girl hiding on the steps, or turn a baleful eye to our town.

    Our town, I was so mad at them for not helping, but¡­Dad chose to build the temple so far away. Far enough that you could see everything. He hadn¡¯t known the Black Wombs would be back. He only knew someone would come, some day, whether for him, or me, or some other reason. So he¡¯d made sure to move the target away from anyone to be caught up in whatever battle occurred. I can¡¯t say for sure, but maybe everyone back home who needed to know had some sort of warning. Maybe I just didn¡¯t listen.

    The realization of memory¡¯s fallibility drove me to my knees, where I cry without wailing. My mouth just opens so wide because I know there¡¯s a sound in me, a sound that would express everything, but it is too big to come out, to vacate me. My claws drag against my arms, skittering against my scales, and I realize that I am not my father¡¯s daughter. I am an incapable beast, kin to City Killer perhaps, but I am not¡ªmaybe never¡ªworthy of Kareem¡¯s legacy.

    Nadia doesn¡¯t like this realization. She paces, a beast much like myself, and howls her rage, gnashing her teeth, demanding, ¡°One reason, give me one reason to not go after them! Dad may have accepted this, but they made him make the choice!¡±

    Ishi tries to hug her, but Nadia swipes the air as if brandishing a knife. Needing comfort in the simple promise of violence¡¯s Dividing stroke, to sever right from wrong, heroes from villains. In this, Revelation laughs at her and her pain.

    ¡°I can give you ten reasons,¡± she says, eliciting a look of terror from Ishi.

    Ishi says, ¡°Please, no, for anything we may have had¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re cute when you beg, you do it so rarely,¡± Revelation states, ¡°but it is not my Court to keep secrets, whether they be mine or yours. Nadia, put the facts together, Every Train last saw your parents on their way to destroy the Cradle, you were not allowed to properly gestate for two years, and you are a hybridae. Similar more to Marduk, Nemesis, and Amber than you are the White Womb with which you battled. So where, or rather what does that leave you, my beautifully emotional and stupid summoner?¡±

    Nadia argues, ¡°Nemesis said there were ten of them, herself included.¡±

    ¡°She did,¡± Revelation concedes, ¡°but she also said there was one of them per Principle. There are eleven Principles, Nadia, you explained this to Sphinx. When you named yourself, you knew what you were composed of.¡±

    ¡°Dreams and War,¡± I mutter, able to admit the defeat I saw on Revelation¡¯s rhetorical horizon.

    ¡°Good girl,¡± Revelation purred. ¡°Now, Ishi, dear that she is, is Upheaval which is War and Death. Division, which is you, is Dreams and War. I can clearly see where you gained War, but Nadia do you see where you gained Dreams?¡±

    She backs down, the logic in Revelation¡¯s words swatting at her nose. Over nothing at all, Nadia trips, falls to the floor, her arm rising as if to shield from truth. Both of us, bowled over by awful woeful Revelation. We do not and can not see her expression, but we feel it. This moment, so painful and horrid for us, was for her sumptuous in a way that the greatest meals could rarely compare. So many secrets were laid atop us, intended as blessings to ward away foul fate, but instead, baleful curses that sunk into our bones and being.

    I had thought us torn due to the love of a Black Womb and needing to avenge our father, but there was no vengeance to be found for us¡ªhe¡¯d chosen his demise¡ªwhile we were unable to see the web, for a spiral was far too simple, of red strings that entangled us. I came, at some point, from mortal stock but was nurtured in a divine womb. Our foe was family, and there was no weapon we could cleanly turn to find otherwise. As a hybridae, we were something New, but crafted by something Old and awful, condemned by the Godtenders.

    ¡°There it is,¡± Revelation says, ¡°true enlightenment. You don¡¯t walk the Canonical Path because you¡¯re just a hybridae Nadia. You walk on countless levels, you are a Divided being, the Divided being, incapable of ever falling off the path and failing the Sovereign beauty you can become. Now, our jaunt is over and your time is done.¡±

    The cloud of stars opens, shifting with the mathematical precision of a kaleidoscope, the beauty of spinning dancers seen from above, shaping into a frame for the infinite dark that extends beyond her astral rim. Nadia and I crawl away from that maw with which we know, in our spirits we know, leads back to life, to reality, to pain and the awful horrid legacy we¡¯d left for ourselves in what we¡¯d done.

    ¡°Please, don¡¯t send us back,¡± I beg. ¡°I can¡¯t do it again. Let me stay here.¡±

    In a voice of power, of quasars scouring face of the void with their destructive brilliance, Revelation says, ¡°Sorry Nadia, but the lands beyond Causality¡¯s Rim are for entities. Mortals such as yourself, can not stay long. Though, if you work hard, nurture your spirit and climb to my throne, walk the path and ascend to your own, then you won¡¯t have to worry about any pesky mortality preventing you from claiming what¡¯s yours.¡±

    Nadia cries out, free of self-reflection, ¡°Mommy, please don¡¯t let her take me. Let me stay with you!¡±

    While Ishi was not our mother, she also was, and she made a valiant effort¡ªyet for the first time I saw a depth to Revelation¡¯s schemes, as they trounced Mom¡¯s maternal fury.

    ¡°No no, Ishisaga-no-Maturama,¡± Revelation says, wielding Mom¡¯s Coronation Name like a sickle, ¡°they may be your daughters, but they are walkers of the Canonical Path. Theirs is a journey that must be sacrosanct, save for those bidden to walk with them, such as their bondmate.¡±

    She froze, and in that instant Revelation unleashes a stellar gale that sweeps her into the kitchen, slamming her into the sink. From around the rim back to life, I watch as my mother does her best to fight to reach us, even as she knows there is nothing she can do.

    So she yells, telling us, ¡°Nadia, your father and I made every mistake, but it was never a mistake about loving you. If you can¡¯t let go of vengeance for you, then please do it for us, for me! Instead, just live girls, live. Live with every stubborn bone in your body. Live to laugh, to eat good food, to fall in love, fuck people, fuck up, and alls below, fuck the Nine, the gods, and everyone! You¡¯re my daughters, Kareem¡¯s daughters, and your life is yours alone!¡±

    The stellar winds reverse, sucking us toward our revival, and in our last attempt to plead with a god more selfish than us. We say, ¡°We¡¯ve died. Let us stay dead.¡±

    To which Revelation replies, ¡°I already told you, I won¡¯t let you stop; not for exhaustion nor love nor even death! Now say goodbye, you won¡¯t be seeing her again, most like.¡±

    Our bodies lift from the ground, and we cry out, not goodbye, but, We¡¯ll see you again. The first brick in our resistance to whatever Revelation¡¯s plan for us was. Then, we fall from this place beyond causality. Past Causality¡¯s Rim. Down into guttural reality, where everything is lesser, and in our descent we know we¡¯ll climb our way out.

    As we fall, the stars around us open to reveal eyes in the shape of four-pointed stars. They rippled in the prismatic flames of a hundred colors, the lines of which oscillated as we were bombarded by the Sovereign of Revelation¡¯s divine voice.

    ¡°So, what have we learned, girls?¡± Revelation asks.

    I cry out, ¡°Fuck you!¡±

    ¡°Maybe one day,¡± she purrs, ¡°but that¡¯s more a given than a lesson.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve learned about who we are,¡± Nadia answers, ¡°where we come from, and that you¡¯re a massive bitch!¡±

    ¡°Alas, Revelation Bitching is not one of my Barons,¡± she chortles. ¡°Your trial is coming to an end, and you must choose.¡±

    Nadia and I look into the other¡¯s face, we know our answer.

    ¡°We won¡¯t let you isolate us,¡± I scream.

    Nadia yells, ¡°We won¡¯t let you unmake us!¡±

    Together we bellow, ¡°And we renounce our quest!¡±

    ¡°Then what becomes of us?¡± Revelation asks.

    We answer, ¡°You¡¯ll be beside us while we live.¡±

    Nadia says, ¡°But our hearts are ours.¡±

    ¡°Despite what you think, our futures are ours.¡±

    We answer, ¡°We won¡¯t climb for you, but for us.¡±

    ¡°To seek answers in the small things,¡± I say.

    ¡°In the big things,¡± Nadia says.

    ¡°We¡¯ll find the answer for who we want to be,¡± we say. ¡°For ours is a living Revelation. Heard in the beating of our heart, stolen in every breath, and you can take this or fuck off!¡±

    Our answer resonates, compounds on itself into an echoing significance that I doubt I could truly understand¡ªthis was my first graduation trial. It must have been a good answer because Revelation¡¯s eyes smile. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s one of sadism, inflicted because we¡¯d jumped through her noose, or an appreciation that we¡¯ve found some new awful path only readable in the omniscience of a god. Either way, I stick by my answer, and while she¡¯s sometimes a bit stupid¡ªlikely thinking just as harshly as me¡ªI can tell in her eyes that she¡¯ll stick by me.

    ¡°Then live you shall,¡± Revelation declares. ¡°Live Nadia, live until you sit two thrones, until you have interred every mystery. Live you beautifully wretched girl, and kill all who¡¯d seek to keep it from you. I pronounce you, Baron!¡±

    From there, it all goes black.

 Epilogue

    ¡°Come on little brute, you can¡¯t sleep forever.¡±

    The voice delivers the words perfectly, likely to torture me, but I can¡¯t find it in myself to resist them. Opening my eyes, I discover myself and Nadia are curled up on our sides, arms crossing as we hug a girl? Maybe yes, a girl in some gender way, but not a mortal woman. Her skin is a glossy black¡ªin fact it¡¯s rather slick to the touch¡ªpatterned through with speckles of red reminiscent of the ¡°eyes¡± in Sphinx¡¯s fur and feather patterns. In thinking of wings, I note that what I¡¯m laying on is soft, so soft. I look down, my eyes focusing, and see that we rest on wings. Great wings stretching from her back, another set from her waist, and even her hair forms together to make yet another pair; six in total, shimmering in the rich golds and crimsons of fire. The rest of her hair, cut in a swoopy semi-irregular manner, hides her face. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Up up, little brute, consciousness is still yet in hand.¡±

    So I push to my knees, and look up toward consciousness, toward the voice, and I can¡¯t believe it. Looming above me, is Secretary as I left them, a gaping gory hole in their chest. Though they smile at me with a curdled love, as they say, ¡°There we go, little brute, now wake them up. We have a lot of work to see to.¡±