Somebody Stop Him [Chapters 28-38] (Patreon)

Chapter 28: A Grave Insult

As we left the student council office, Cinder grabbed my arm. "What. The. Abyss. Was. That?!"

"Legal-ness?" I shrugged.

"You just... steamrolled the entire student council! And Father Matthias is your guardian now? How did you even...?"

"Paperwork," I grinned. "The true magic of the universe. You were there when he adopted me into his digital heart, were you not? My picture's totally gracing his office."

Cinder's eye twitched.

"I feel like you're digging yourself a very deep hole," she hiss-growled.

"Nah," I said. "The hole was always there. Think of me.... hmmm.... more like a spider, weaving information-webs above the hole. The longer I exist here the more devious and tough my web becomes."

"Why is our team name 'I love you'?" She demanded.

I grinned at her instead of a reply.

"Well?" She demanded.

"I just wanted to hear you say it," I laughed. "It's nice to be appreciated."

Cinder's entire body ignited with an explosion color. She took a swing at me with her claws, which I neatly dodged.

"You absolute... insufferable... Argh!" She sputtered, feathers bristling around and under her See-Mass sweater. "Change it! Now! I'm not effing saying it!"

"Make me!" I laughed, taking off at a run towards delving class. "If... you can catch me!"

As I ran, laughing, Cinder's wings erupted behind me, her feathers shifting through irritated reds and determined oranges. Her Quetzalcoatl heritage gave her greater running power than my collection of stolen hexasuits.

She caught up to me, just as we burst through the doors, a few seconds late to class.

As Cinder tackled me, we tumbled across the classroom floor in a tangle of wings and limbs. Her claws were digging into my collar, her ocean-blue eyes blazing with fury as she pinned me down.

"I'm going to effing murder you, you chuppy kno...!" She snarled loudly.

"Novitiates!" A cold, razor-sharp voice cut through her threat.

Cinder froze, color draining out of her body.

"Sup Zalimar?" I waved from under Cinder. "How's it teaching?"

The classroom fell silent. Instructor Zalimar Evernacht stood at the front of black slate and dark marble gothic auditorium, his skeletal form draped in a long, black, billowing academic robe. The silver fire in his eye sockets focused on me.

"Mr. Glock," Zalimar's voice was snarl that somehow carried to every corner of the room. "Care to explain why you and Ms. Nova are wrestling on my classroom floor?"

"Just getting my daily dose of love, cryptids and murder," I said. "Hope you don't mind!"

"Stand. Up." Zalimar's voice could have frozen hellfire. His silver-flamed eye sockets burned with barely contained rage as he loomed over us at his black podium.

The entire class held their breath. I noticed Emerald looking down at us as well.

I carefully extracted myself from under Cinder, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. Her feathers had shifted to mortified blacks and grays.

"Ten points from both of you," Zalimar's voice dripped with cold venom. "And detention tonight. Now take your seats before I decide to make an example of you both."

I helped Cinder up. The entire class watched in silence as we made our way to our seats.

"As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted," Zalimar continued, "today we resume practical applications of delving theory."

The class hummed excitedly about visiting Shandria and their plans for the market.

"For those of you who managed to pass the written exam at the end of last semester," Zalimar stated, his silver flame eyes burning into me with obvious contempt, "we will be conducting our first supervised expedition to the Shandrian Market on Arx in two hours from now. The excursion will last approximately two hours of Earth-time and one week of Arx time due to the temporal dilation. Those who failed their exams... or haven't had their exam yet, will be taking it today in the training room with Coach Canard and will not be participating in delve activities.

His gaze lingered pointedly on me.

I raised my hand, interrupting him mid-sentence.

The Lich stared at me. "Yes, Mr. Glock?" he practically spat my name.

"Just wanted to submit my exam papers," I said cheerfully, pulling out a thick stack of perfectly completed forms. "Sorry for the delay. Had to get them properly notarized by the cathedral."

"Cathedral? What cathedral?!" the Kashei growled.

"If you will allow me," I walked casually to the podium and handed the papers to him.

Zalimar's skeletal hands snatched the papers from me, his silver flame eyes scanning the documents with obvious suspicion. His jaw actually dropped slightly as he saw Father Matthias' ornate signature and seal on every page.

"These are..." he started.

"Fully completed and certified," I finished for him. "Including practical field experience documentation from my previous delving work with the Triumvirate Slayer's Cathedral's youth outreach program. Oh, and I've already registered a new delving team with the student council."

"A delving team?" Zalimar's voice dripped with cold contempt. His silver flame eyes flared brighter as he practically shredded through my paperwork. "You? Really? A... nullborn, leading a team?"

"Leading a team? Nah," I said. "Cassiopeia Nova is the Team Captain. I'm just the team manager and supply boy."

"A supply boy?" Zalimar's skull-face twitched with cruel amusement. "How... quaint. Just because those ass-wipes from the Silver Wing party permitted your kind to attend this institution doesn't mean you belong here, boy."

"Interesting perspective," I smiled pleasantly. "I'm sure the Board of Education would love to hear your lovely views on mix-blood diversity and inclusion. Perhaps I should schedule a meeting?"

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees. Frost began forming on nearby desks as Zalimar's rage manifested physically.

"Are you threatening me, boy?" he hissed, his academic robes billowing with unseen glacial wind that made my skin crawl.

"Not at all, sir," I maintained my pleasant smile. "Just making conversation. Now, about today's practical - I assume we'll need proper delving gear? As my team's Quartermaster, I brought enough for my entire team."

"Let me make something perfectly clear, Mr. Glock," Zalimar's voice dripped with icy venom as he loomed over me. "This is not some game. Arx is not a playground for nullborn scum to play at being delvers."

"Of course not, sir," I replied, maintaining my pleasant smile despite the frost forming on my clothes and hair. "That's why I brought proper equipment. Safety first, as they say."

"Safety?" He let out a harsh, cold laugh that made several students flinch. "You think a few pieces of borrowed gear will protect you? Your kind lacks even the basic magical capacity to properly utilize delving equipment above level twenty. You're more likely to get yourself and your... team killed. Did nobody tell you this, you poor miserable child? Nullborns are incapable of wearing high level armor, incapable of casting spells, incapable of wielding magic weapons, incapable of interacting with Kitlix!"

"Actually, sir," I pulled out more paperwork, "I have documentation showing successful completion of all required safety training and equipment certification courses through the cathedral's program. Would you like to see those as well? They're in that stack you're holding, along with... the lawsuit."

"Lawsuit..." Zalimar blinked with his silver glowing fire-orbs. "What lawsuit?!"

"The one you've just been served," I said with a wide grin. "For unjust discriminatory practices and negligent oversight. And speaking of oversight..." I pulled out a fake silver ID card with the winged sword emblem of the Silver Wing party. "Alexander Glock, Junior Representative of the Equality Division. I'm here investigating the suspicious deaths of Sarah Nisteroff last semester. You remember Sarah, don't you, Instructor Zalimar?"

The temperature dropped even further. Ice crystals formed in the air around Zalimar.

"How dare you..." he hissed. "You dare come into MY classroom and serve me a LAWSUIT?! Accuse me of being unjust?!"

"This isn't an accusation," I said. "I'm serving you a class action lawsuit on behalf of half-blood students... Sarah Nisteroff - 2024, abandoned overnight and chopped up by Shadowbeasts. Elek Rodrigov - 2023, killed repeatedly during training exercise by arrows. Marcus Chennik - 2023, left in Magnolish dungeon for a week by himself. Thomas Willard - 2020, eaten by a Snargboar and rescued only after 29 hours. Marcia Alvarrez - 2019, beaten to death by Homporisks and found dead in a bathroom, Peter Dunnik - 2017..."

"SILENCE!" Zalimar roared. The stack of papers in his hands ignited with white fire, burning away. "You pathetic... vile...."

I took a step towards him, ice forming around my See-Mass sweater and hexamesh layers.

"You DARE?" he hissed, each word dripping with venomous contempt. "A nullborn, a scab-blood NOTHING, standing here and accusing ME?"

"Yes," I continued, my voice steady. "Now, where was I? Right. Peter, died from a hellhounder attack. Lekosh Nokil - 2015, a half-Thunderbird student who mysteriously disappeared during a routine dungeon mapping exercise. Her body was never found, but rumors suggested she was deliberately left behind when her team retreated. Bracelet retrieved too late."

Zalimar's skeletal hands clenched, frost forming around his bony fingers.

"Milla Stazo, 2013 - a quarter-human Kelpie student who was 'accidentally' assigned to a high-risk delving mission despite being severely under-equipped. She was the only casualty in her team. Repeatedly."

The silver flames in Zalimar's eye sockets flared even brighter. His iron-covered fist emerged from his robe, skeletal hand creaking.

Come on, smack me. Make it a good one. I know you want to.

"Kira Wentigom - 2010, a half-blood Cherufe student..." I read on, repeating what Yulia whispered in my ear.

"ENOUGH!" A metal-covered hand shot out, crackling with dark ice. Before I could react, Zalimar's skeletal fingers struck me square in the chest, ripping up my cheek as he sent me flying.

The impact was like being hit by a freight train. My hexamesh suits activated simultaneously, their beast cores flaring to life, but even their combined protection couldn't fully absorb the blow. I felt something crack - maybe a rib, maybe several - as I was launched backwards across the classroom.

Time seemed to slow down. I caught glimpses of shocked faces - Cinder's ocean-blue eyes wide with horror, Emerald's gold-orange eyes gleaming with a mix of surprise and savage satisfaction, other students recoiling from the sudden violence.

I crashed into the back wall of the classroom and slid down to the floor. Pain exploded through my body, white-hot and consuming. For a moment, everything went silent and dark.

Ouchies. Ow. Ow. Owwwww.

"Alexander Glock, 2025. Broken ribs, face laceration," I spat blood onto the floor. "Send video to the student council with request to sign the infraction forms." I whispered in Kaska.

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Zalimar's cold, razor-sharp voice. "Let that be a lesson to you, nullborn pond scum. Know your place. Did you really think that a pathetic lawsuit could bother me? "I cannot be fired. I've been at this school for 625 years. I have tenure that predates most of the current administrative staff. Your pathetic paperwork means nothing to me. I have enough gold in my vaults to destroy you or anyone financially in any court!"

The classroom was dead silent.

Through blurry vision, I saw Cinder suddenly appear between me and Zalimar, her colorful wings flaring wide. Her feathers bristled as she took up a defensive stance.

"You bloody bastard," she growled, her voice carrying a fiery edge of raw fury. "You absolute effin' monster."

"Ms. Nova," Zalimar's voice dripped with cold amusement. "Defending a nullborn? How disappointing. I expected better from Justice Nova's daughter."

"Protecting a human?" Emerald called from her seat. "Really, Ci? Have you completely lost it? Did you not read my texts you dum knob?! He's a nobody, here illegally!"

"He's not a nobody," Cinder snarled. "He's MY... friend. And if you want to hurt him, you'll have to go through me first!"

"What the actual F, Ci..." Emerald called out. "Why are you so Effin dum? I told you - my scrut says he's a fake, a cheat! He's manipulating you! He just wants to use ya to get citizenship. Or maybe he wants to get under your tail... Or maybe carve you up... Just like..."

"Shut UP, Em!" Cinder snarled, wings pure black. "I'm done listening to you! I'm done with your bullshit! I'm done with ALL of this!"

"Detention, Mr. Nova. One week," Zalimar commented.

"Like I give a shit," Cinder growled.

"Signature received," Yulia whispered in my ear. "Christi Negal has signed and submitted Form 204-A."

"Lets make it two weeks then," Zalimar smirked. "For you and your nullborn pet."

Cinder growled.

"Io," I said, waving a blood-splattered hand at the Mothman. "Wanna come join us in detention-land? Stand up to the mixie-murderin' Skeletor-ass over here?"

Iogann slowly stood up, his skull-capped wings fluttering. "Yeah... Okay. I mean, someone's gotta keep an eye on you two troublemakers, right?"

"Three weeks detention, Mr. Wanderer," Zalimar's silver flame eyes flared. "Anyone else want to join this little rebellion of fools to polish my classroom with a toothbrush for a month instead of delving on Arx?"

"Signature received," Yulia whispered. "Lance Nova has signed and submitted Form 204-A."

I moved my face across the students until I reached Vespera. She was staring at her phone and then at me. Yulia had been talking to her on my behalf since we traded Omnigram IDs, exchanging memes, jokes, complements, delving and world-conquest plans.

"Vesp, join the rebellion!" I offered the Thunderbird my hand. "We have chocolate chip cookies!"

"You know what? Fuck it," Vespera declared, standing up. "You didn't laugh at my beerch ass yesterday when I got my face smashed in. And you helped me up. So yeah, count me in on whatever this is."

She leapt out of her seat wings wide and landed beside me.

"Three weeks detention for you, Ms. Simmi," Zalimar hissed, frost spreading out from him in all directions making the other students wince. "And I'll be having a word with your parents about this... insolence."

Vespera winced, pouting and seemingly regretting her decision.

"Don't worry," I whispered at her. "Already sent an email to your parents with the video of him punching me across the hall and signatures of the student council backing my actions. Your dad will absolutely understand why you are helping."

"Oh, daymn, you are fast," the Thunderbird smirked. "'Preciate it, bud."

"Signature received," Yulia whispered. "Mira Blackquill has signed and submitted Form 204-A."

"What in the Abyss, Vee?!" Emerald snarled from her seat. "Didn't you get my texts?! He's... not... his pictures aren't real! He's an illegal HUMAN! Why is nobody effin' listening to me!!!"

"Eh," Vespera shrugged. "He took some rad pics of me last night before my face-planting. Human? Yeah right. Humans ain't allowed in school, dummy."

"Silence!" the Koshei Instructor boomed.

Emerald growled from her seat, dragonfire sparks raining from her mouth. She didn't dare move or speak again.

"We've wasted enough time on this nonsense," Zalimar added. "You four are dismissed from class. As for the rest of you miscreants, get into your teams or pick up the exam papers from my desk..."

"Katherine," I called out, ignoring Zalimar's glare. "Wanna be on our team of misfits?"

"Screw off Glock," the Stollwurm replied. "My life's too short to waste it on polishing floors."

"Is your life too short to help defeat this boney-monster?" I waved a hand at Zalimar. "Don't tell me you're too chicken to stand up for what's right?"

Katherine's emerald eyes flashed behind her dark glasses like green flares, sending a shiver down my spine. "What did you just call me?"

"Chicken," I repeated, louder this time. "Bawk bawk bawk! Hiding in the deep cus you too scared to act!"

Several students snickered nervously. Zalimar's silver flame eyes blazed with murderous fury.

"You little shit," Katherine growled, her tail lashing against black marble floor. "I am NOT a chicken!"

"Prove it then," I challenged, offering her my hand. "Join our team of detention-bound rebels. Unless you're scared?"

"ENOUGH!" Zalimar roared, frost exploding outward from him in a wave of killing cold. "Get. Out. Of. My. Classroom. NOW!"

"Come on, Kathy," I grinned, blood dripping from my split cheek and lip. "You know you want to. Your art practically screams 'fight the power!' Don't let your dreams be dreams!"

Katherine shook her head.

"Alexa wouldn't have backed down," I said. "Guess you ain't worth the salt you're writing, when the push comes to shove, eh?"

With a weary, deep growl, the Stollwurm rolled out of her desk towards us.

Bingo. Five outta five.

I turned to Zalimar Evernacht.

My hand slipped into my pocket, finding the grimy steel lighter. I pulled it out and lifted it into the air, pressing the ignition wheel. The little flame flickered above me.

"Oi, Skeletor!" I announced. "If the mundane lawsuit didn't scare you off my back, lets fight with our gloves off. You have insulted my honor by attacking me and drawing blood. In accordance to the ancient Firstborn Clans Omnid blood-laws, I challenge you to a duel... to the death!"

The classroom erupted into shocked gasps and murmurs.

"You... challenge ME?" The Koshei laughed. "A nullborn nobody... dares to challenge ME, a Necromancer Archmage... to a death match? Is this a joke? What's with the lighter? Is that supposed to represent the flame of your rebellion or something?"

"Alex, no!" Cinder grabbed me from behind. "You can't! He'll kill you!"

"Then you can incarnate me," I shrugged, not taking my eyes off Zalimar. "No biggie. But at least it'll be an officially sanctioned death, not some 'accident' in a dungeon. What do you say, Professor? Care to show these students how you really deal with troublesome mixies? Or are you perhaps against ancient blood-laws as much as you're against modern lawsuits?"

"I accept," Zalimar smirked.

"Excellent," I grinned, wiping the blood off my face with the sweater. "Let's make this interesting then. If I win, you start to respect nullborns and humans in your classroom or resign. Your choice. If you win... well, I'll be dead, so I suppose you get the satisfaction of legally murdering yet another half-blood student."

"Alex, stop!" Cinder's claws dug into my arm. "This is insane!"

Katherine let out a low whistle.

I glanced at my stats.

[Mana: 381/0]

"As I am of low status and level far below yours," I grinned at the death Archmage. "I choose my team of four as my magical backup to equalize our standing."

"Granted," Zalimar stepped away from his black podium, cracking his iron covered skeletal knuckles.

"Holy shit," Vespera breathed. "Are we actually doing this? You gon' duel a teach? Damnnnn."

Iogann swallowed, then he seemed to look from me to the others and then at Zalimar. "What?" He blinked his large gray eyes, sensing the future. "WHAT?!"

"When you hit enough mana," I whispered at the Mothman. "Open a big portal to hell behind the bone-boy."

"Welp. We're all gonna die," Katherine sighed, stretching. "Might as well make it interesting."

"Alex," Cinder's voice was tight with worry, feathers shifting through anxious oranges and concerned violets. "You don't have to do this. We can find another way... maybe my Dad can..."

"Oh, but I do," I grinned, feeling the power from the lighter surging through me. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen? Death? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt."

"What T-shirt?" Vespa tilted her head.

"We'll print t-shirts, after we kick his ass," I grinned. "Everyone, check your mana."

[Mana: 653/0]

The other three team members made noises of shock and confusion as they looked at their stats.

"Any other Duel Terms?" Zalimar boomed from where he stood, clearly excited about legally murdering a student in a duel. According to Yulia, he enjoyed duels quite a bit and would draw them out only to absolutely obliterate his opponent in a swift strike.

"Simple," I said. "No killing of my team mates. Take me out and it's game over. They'll take me to the pool to incarnate and we'll be out of your bones today and then serve four weeks detention."

"Holy effin' Slayer!" Vespera whisper-gasped, staring at her mana bar. "How are you doing this?! My mana's through the roof!"

"Impossible," Katherine muttered, checking her own stats. "This shouldn't... how?!"

"Alex," Cinder hissed in my ear, grabbing at me. "What did you DO? How are you doing that?"

"Magic," I grinned, keeping the little flame burning. The lights above us began flickering and glowing brighter. The classroom's wards sparked below our feet, crackling with excess power.

"Agreed," Zalimar's cold voice cut through our huddle. "Shall we begin? Just tell me when you're ready to die, little scabworm."

The classroom had transformed into an impromptu arena, with other students pulling their desks or pressing against the walls to give us space.

"Lo! You're all witnesses..." I declared at the students. "To this most ancient blood-duel! If this ghoul returns and does not meet my terms, after I defeat him, you will all shame him extra hard! Good?"

A few nods. Good enough.

[Mana: 953/0]

"As if, you loser," Emerald commented from her seat, refusing to move and pulling out her phone. "I'ma laugh when you get shredded."

[Mana: 1247/0]

"Is he insane?" Katherine hissed at Cinder. "We're about to fight a Koshei. A literal death-magic professor! He can murder your boyfriend with like one word!"

"Not my boyfriend," Cinder growled back.

"Heh guys," Iogann twiddled his gray fluffy thumbs. "My disaster sense is going crazy in a good way. Like, this is either going to be spectacular or spectacularly bad. Either Alex dies or the teach... encounters a catastrophe."

"Alex," Cinder grabbed my left arm again, her ocean-blue eyes intense. "Are you sure about this?"

"Nope," I grinned. "But that's what makes it fun. Now, everyone get ready. When I say 'go', hit him with everything you've got. Put all that mana into your attack."

[Mana: 1585/0]

The classroom lights were now painfully bright, crackling with excess energy.

“What the…” Zalimar tilted his head. “A... mana surge? Why…?”

“Now,” I whispered.

Iogann nodded, pulling out his harmonica. The haunting melody that emerged was deep and resonant, carrying echoes of melancholy and doom.

The air behind Zalimar began to darken, ripple and tear, reality itself warping as Iogann's music called forth a gateway covered in a rippling, dark shawl.

The classroom lights above us detonated from mana overload. The ward lines around us caught fire.

The Koshei looked from the lights that were now dark in a circle around us. Sparks rained down on our group of five.

“Mildly impressive artifact use,” he hissed. “Still… Do you really think you can stand against me? I... who have trained delvers for centuries? What is it that makes you so brave and foolish, Mr. Glock?"

"The fact that," I said, "you've just assaulted a student in front of multiple witnesses. While spouting very discriminatory rhetoric. On camera."

"Signature received," Yulia whispered. "Quint Thornton has signed Form 204-A."

Zalimar gritted his skull-teeth. "You dare record me?"

"Yes," I replied, still holding the lighter's flame between myself and my friends. "Because someone has to. Because Sarah deserved better. Because all those mixed-blood students you've tortured and killed over the centuries deserved better."

[Mana: 1981/0]

"And what exactly do you think you can do about it, nullborn?" Zalimar sneered. "You're nothing. Less than nothing. A pathetic half-blood trying to play the hero to impress your Quietzi mate? It will take a single spell for me to separate your soul from your flesh forevermore."

"Me? Nothing," I admitted. "But them?" I gestured to my friends standing beside me. "They're everything. And together, we're going to make sure you never hurt another student again."

"Do you actually think that a team of children can stop me? I've been teaching here since before your great-great-grandparents were born!"

"Teaching?" I laughed, blood dripping from my mouth again. "Is that what you call it? Terrorizing students? Letting them die over and over until they break mentally? Making them disappear? Making them flee Skyfall Academy?"

[Mana: 2481/0]

"You know nothing!" Zalimar roared. His academic robes billowed with dark ice as he raised both skeletal hands, frost forming in the air around him. "I am the gatekeeper of Skyfall! I decide who is worthy to delve into Arx! Who lives, who dies, who succeeds!" Zalimar's voice boomed through the classroom. "And pathetic nullborn scum like YOU are NOT WORTHY!"

The gateway behind Zalimar grew as wide as a person as Io continued his eerie music.

"Cinder - confuse him! Kat - make him afraid! Vesp - blast him with all of your mana!" I barked. “By the ancient blood Law, I declare thus - Our duel begins… NOW!"

"You've made a grave mistake in taunting me, foolish child," The Instructor raised an armored hand with a skeletal grin, green fire dancing around his fingers. “I wield a soul-separating curse. When it strikes you, it will make you vulnerable to the pull of the wheel. The bracelet will not save you. You will not return!"

The green flame in his fingers grew bigger and brighter as he whispered the curse in some arcane language from long ago.

Cinder's wings flared with brilliant colors, her voice rising in an otherworldly song that made the air itself vibrate. Katherine's emerald eyes blazed, plunging the classroom into unnatural darkness as she unleashed her Stollwurm fear aura.

For just a second Zalimar stuttered and then Vespera's black and white feathers crackled with electricity like a Tesla Coil as she summoned her thunder.

The combined assault of over-powered students hit Zalimar like a tidal wave. His silver flame eyes flickered as Cinder's song wormed its way into his mind, while Katherine's darkness gnawed at his fears of death. His soul-damaging spell wavered.

Then Katherine's bolt struck him, sending him careening backwards into Io's gate. The last thing we saw was his look of absolute shock as the portal curtain ripped apart. As he fell backwards, I caught glimpses of a desolate landscape - rubble, broken rocks, violet stars, weird continent-sized crab thing in the distance. Io dropped the harmonica and the portal snapped shut in front of the Instructor.

The classroom fell silent.

. . .

I clicked the lighter closed with a trembling hand, lowering it down. Then the whispers and conversations began.

I heard a lot of “What?!” and “How?!”

"Holy shit," Vespera breathed, her black and white feathers still crackling with residual electricity. "Did we just... effin banish a teacher to another dimension? Also, what in the Abyss, how the eF did my mana get to nearly three clicks?!"

"Hey! Where did you send him?" Cinder shook the somewhat catatonic-looking Io.

“I dunno,” he replied. “Somewhere not nice. He'll be fine. Probably. Maybe. Actually, I have no idea. Something is definitely going to kill his body in there... before his soul finds its way home to his Phylactery in Skyfall. It's not a nice place."

"Phylactery?" I blinked.

"He is a Koshei," Io shrugged. "He can't be perma-killed via a gate to a corpse world. He will return... in... two weeks... I think?"

I frowned. A problem for the future me, no doubt.

Emerald leapt out of her seat, her ruby scales blazing with fury. "You effin' cheater!" she snarled, dragonfire igniting around her claws. "What have you done?! Did you just assault a teacher?"

"What? He started it with the slapping," I shrugged. "I have video evidence. You're all witnesses. Feel free to assault me next. We'll send you packing too. Right, Io?"

The Mothman nodded, still looking a bit dazed by how easily we obliterated an ancient lich.

"Io! You bloody traitor..." Emerald's entire figure blazed with murderous rage, smoking like an overheating furnace. "You think you can just..."

"Can just what, Em?" Vespera cut her off. "Stand up to a psycho teacher who's tots been terrorizing students for centuries? Yeah, like… actually, we can. Didn't your beerch ass hear what Alex said? Like come on, I thought that you were all about 'standing up to authority' and 'inverting shit'. Or maybe you're all bout making us into your kobolds? That it? Ohh sheet, my XP just went up. Baller!"

She hugged me, making my hair stand up in the air with electrical discharge. Cinder squinted at us.

I looked at my own stats. There was no XP listed. Damn it.

"Vee?! You're siding with this... this faker?!" Emerald snarled at her former knight. "After everything I've done for you?"

"Em," Cinder said sharply. "Kindly piss off before I clock you in the face."

"What the fuck Ci?! I MADE YOU!" Emerald roared, walking towards us and hounding at Cinder, dragonfire blazing around her. "I GAVE YOU PURPOSE! I SAVED YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL BEERCH! Do you want me to effin' tell everyone what you did two years ago, is that it?"

“You… you wouldn’t! You p-promised!” Cinder gasped, her wings darkening to pure black, feathers trembling. The color seemed to drain from her face as Em's words hit her like physical blows.

I didn't hesitate. The dimensional storage bag was already off my shoulders and in my hands. I yanked out the three liter large thermos of Genesis fluid I'd “borrowed” from the resurrection pool. The silvery liquid arced through the air, dousing Emerald's flames and scales.

Before she could recover from the shock of being soaked, my fist connected with her snout in a perfect uppercut. The combined force of seventeen hexsuits sent her flying backwards, crashing into her desk with a satisfying crunch.

“You’re not a very nice friend at all,” I told her. “I don’t know what Cinder saw in you.”

Emerald staggered to her feet, trembling with rage, Genesis fluid dripping from her scales. Her gold-orange eyes blazed with murderous fury. My non-magical punch had only mildly annoyed her.

"You..." she snarled, lunging for me. "I'll effing murder you!"

Vespera's magisteel-covered fist came up, stopping the teenage dragon cold with a blinding thunderblast. Emerald flew sideways, lightning dancing on red scales.

"And stay down!" Vespera snarled, her black and white feathers crackling with residual electricity.

Emerald twitched on the floor, smoke rising from her scales, her gold-orange eyes unfocused. The Genesis fluid had completely neutralized her dragonfire, leaving her vulnerable to Vespera's thunderblast. Solace got off her desk and slowly walked over to Emerald, checking up on the dragon girl.

"Anyone else want to try something?" I asked the stunned classroom." No? Good. Now, as team manager of Delving Team 'I Love You', I hereby declare our first official pre-delving meeting. Ci, you're our team captain. What's our first order of business?"

Cinder stared at me, her ocean-blue eyes wide.

“Umm…” She let out. “Did we just really defeat a teacher in a duel… and knocked out Em?”

“All in a day’s work,” I shrugged.

I slid down to the floor to sit beside my bag. Then I pulled out my phone and dialed the number for the nurse. My ribs and split face were hurting like a bitch and it was time for some well-deserved healing.

. . .

"Hol’ up," Vespera looked at me quizzically, clicking her beak. "Our delving team name is 'I Love You'?"

"Yep," I grinned. "I love you too. Problem?"

"That's..." Vespera sputtered at the unexpected love declaration.

"The stupidest name ever," Katherine finished.

"Hey, blame Ci," I shrugged.

“Me? Why me?!” Cinder bristled.

“You were the inspiration,” I shrugged. “Le muse de… something something French, I dunno.”

“I like it,” Io said. “It’s original. Some say that love is the most powerful force in the universe.”

“Hah, okay, fine, I’m sold,” Vespera grinned.

“You’re just happy you got to thunderblast a teacher,” Cinder commented.

“Heck yeah I am!” Vespera jiggled her chainmail top, hugging me and messing up my hair. “I knew this mixie would be fun, but I didn’t realize HOW fun.”

“Quit pawing him, you harpy, he’s bleeding,” Cinder let out a growl.

“He ain't bleedin’ that bad,” Vespera shrugged. “Right, Lex? You don’t mind a bit of fri-e-nly pawing, right?”

“Paw away,” I shrugged. “Just take it easy on the zapping. Upping your mana took a lot out of me.”

“How did you do that?’ Vespera brought her beak to my ear. “You gotta tell me. Is it some kind of unique skill or something?”

“Later,” I hissed back.

The mermaid nurse entered the classroom, rushed to my side, unfolded her chair and dosed herself with water, patching me up with her Kitlix. I relaxed as the crystal kitten did its job, sealing my bleeding face.

Solace stared at us from where she was holding onto passed out Emerald.

“Sup, S?” Vespera asked. “Wanna join the new D&D gang aka ‘I love you’?” She laughed jovially after saying the name.

“Em said he’s a human,” Solace accused, pointing a yellow claw at me.

“You some kind of birchard?” Vespera shot back. “We literally just blasted an Archmage!"

“You, Io and Ci blasted him,” Solace said. “I didn’t see the human do nothing except wave a stupid lighter around like a knob.”

“You’re the knob!” Vespera growled. “Piss off or I’ll thunder you too. Want to lick the floor together with Em? That it?”

“I didn’t know that you were into humans,” Solace pursed her lips.

“I didn’t know that my bestie is such-a-friggin’ licklock,” Vespera clicked. “Em’s plan was neat-o while it lasted, but it wasn’t getting us shit.”

“So you just switchin’ sides?” Solace demanded.

“Them’s the beans,” Vespera shrugged. “I go where the wind takes me. This beerch is all out of wind.” The Thunderbird pointed a claw finger at the twitching Emerald. “You wanna be with her? Be my guest. I’ma chill with my new clan.”

She ruffled my hair again.

“Thunderbeerch,” Solace retreated.

“Wormbeerch,” Vespera fired back in the same tone.

“Apologies if I ruined your friendship,” I said, slipping the friendly NPC mask on.

“No biggie,” Vespera waved me off. “Me n’ Sol r' still besties, we just got a clan disagreement now. S’ fine. 'Prolly gon’ kill each other a couple of times to get over it in History Club. We meet up Saturdays at the school's coliseum, by the way. You still in?"

"Totally am," I smiled.

...

The nurse finished patching up my ribs with her green Kitlix, giving me stern instructions to "take it easy" before rolling over to tend to the still-twitching Emerald.

I turned to Katherine, who was watching everything with an unreadable expression behind her dark glasses.

"So," I said. "Want to tell me why you really joined our little rebellion?"

"Because you're an insufferable ass who called me a chicken," she growled.

"Uh-huh," I nodded. "Nothing to do with your art?"

"Absolutely not," Katherine growled. "And if you keep bothering me, I will roll away."

Cinder rolled her eyes.

"That's it," I grabbed the Quetzi by the hand and pulled her towards Katherine. "You two. Apologize to each other or whatever. We're gonna be a team now and as your Quartermaster, I need you both to at least be civil."

"I don't do apologies," Katherine growled, crossing her coat-covered arms.

"Me neither," Cinder bristled, her feathers shifting through defensive reds.

"Fine," I sighed dramatically. "Then I guess I'll have to use my secret weapon."

Both girls looked at me suspiciously.

"Tough love or true love?" I asked.

"Um," Cinder tilted her head. "What does tough love involve?"

"I'll ask my favorite Thunder-girl to zap you till you apologize," I grinned.

"Don' tempt me," Vespera commented, not looking up from her phone.

"And true love?" Katherine asked warily.

"I'll hug you both until you make up," I declared. "And I'll be super annoying about it. Like, maximum cringe levels of affection. With terrible dad jokes."

"You wouldn't," Katherine growled.

"Oh, but I would," I grinned, spreading my arms wide. "Come here, you grumpy cat! Let's share the love!"

"Don't you dare," Katherine started rolling her wheelchair backwards.

"Too late!" I lunged forward, wrapping one arm around Katherine and the other around Cinder, pulling them both into an awkward group hug. "Feel the power of friendship!"

"I will murder you in your sleep," Katherine threatened, but made no real attempt to escape.

"Aww, look at us bonding!" I cooed. "Now kiss and make up!"

"GET OFF!" Both girls shouted in unison.

Vespera lifted her phone to take a photo of us.

"Quality managering!" she commented with a grin. "This is goin' straight to me Omnigram. #TeamILoveYou!"

"So," I turned to my newly formed team. "Delving class. Shandrian Market. Who's excited for delving?"

"Erm," Katherine said. "We're actually going to do... delving? After banishing a teacher to another dimension?"

"Hrm," Vespera commented. "I thought that this going to be free period till they find us a sub?"

"Stuco is already aware of the situation," I said. "They're going to organize a substitute. I got five of them to sign the infraction forms, meaning that whenever Skeletor reconstitutes, we won't have to do detention or whatever other nonsense he demands."

"Sweet," Vespera clicked, sending me a thumbs up in both real life and Omnigram. "You're da boss, Quartermaster."

"Soo.... We're actually going to Shandrian Market?" Cinder began.

"Yep!" I grinned. "First official delve-date for Team 'I Love You'!"

"I hate this team name so much," Katherine muttered.

"Too bad!" I declared. "It's official now. Signed, sealed, delivered."

"When did this happen?" Katherine demanded.

"Like an hour ago," I said.

"M' making our delvin' team an Omnigram page," Vespera commented. "#Just banished teacher to another dimension. #Delving time! #Best mixie managrrr."

Iogann dug into his leather bag and pulled out several packs of sus interdimensional snacks, offering it around.

"Want some?" he asked casually.

"Where did you even get those?" Katherine asked, eyeing the package suspiciously. "What the hell are Nonpareil-chips? Why is there a paperclip with a giant smile on the box?"

"I dunno," the Mothman shrugged. "It's just chips."

"They're prolly radioactive," Katherine said.

"Your loss," the Mothman shrugged, popping open the bag. The chips inside looked slightly iridescent, with edges that seemed to shimmer slightly."

"I am NOT eating interdimensional chips from a bag with a smiling paperclip on it," Katherine declared firmly.

"More for me then," Iogann shrugged, munching happily.

"Alright team," I clapped my hands together. "Time to gear up! Quint should be coming in an hour, so we have time to dress up."

"Dress up in what?" Vespera perked up. "We usually grab historic stuff from the coliseum for delves."

"Lets go to a prep room," I said, glancing at the mermaid-nurse who managed to resuscitate Emerald.

Solace was offering the distraught-looking dragon girl her shoulder to lean on. Emerald's gold-orange eyes tracked us as we gathered our things and headed for the door, burning with barely contained rage.

"Prep room three is free," Vespera commented, leading us down the hall.

The prep room was spacious, with lockers along the walls, a large screen in the center and benches in the back. Various hooks and racks held basic level one equipment for beginners.

I closed the door shut and dropped my dimensional storage bag on one of the benches with a heavy thud. "Alright, fashion show time! Climb in and pick stuff out."

Vespera climbed into the bag first and whistled. "Daaaaymn, this is good sheet. Custom delving equipment. I'm impress'. Are you like a pro delver, Lex?"

"Nah," I shrugged. "This is Lance's stuff. He's my big bro now."

"How in the Abyss did you convince Lance to give you his collection?" Katherine asked.

"Social skeeels?" I shrugged.

"Social skills my tail," Katherine muttered. "You probably manipulated him somehow."

"Me? Manipulate people? Never!" I gasped in mock offense. "I simply explained that I needed equipment to keep his precious baby sister safe."

Cinder blinked at me. She seems to have regained some of her wits after our duel. She grabbed me by my blood-splattered sweater and dragged me off to the side away from the others. Then she pulled both of us into a change room and snapped the door shut.

"Yes?" I grinned sheepishly at her.

"YOU!" Cinder hissed, her ocean-blue eyes blazing. Her wings flared with agitated reds and worried violets, spreading out as far as the small room allowed.

"Me what?" I asked her.

"What the shit was all of that? You challenged a 700-year-old Archmage to a DEATH DUEL?! He could have OBLITERATED you! Turned you into DUST!"

I held up my hands placatingly. "But he didn't."

"BUT HE COULD HAVE!" she repeated, her voice rising. "Do you have ANY idea how close we were to watching you get ERASED from existence? Didn't you bloody hear him? He could have unteathered your soul from the Lazarus bracelet!"

"I had a plan," I said calmly.

"A PLAN?!" Cinder's wings bristled even more. "What possible PLAN could you have had against a literal death-magic professor?!"

I pulled out the lighter from my pocket.

"What?" She hissed. "You gonna ask me to smoke to distract me or something?"

"No," I smiled. "Zee Captain gave it to me. She said it helps me generate mana."

"The intedimensional abomination that melted Em? And you trust something it gave you?" She demanded.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "The entity seemed reasonable. I think that he was supposed to be my sensei before the Wormwood Star crashed into our Earth."

Cinder stared at me with wide ocean-blue wide. "You... what? WHAT?!"

"Sensei," I repeated. "Like a magical mentor. Zee Captain mentioned something about taking someone named Alexa to Manchester, but she hijacked the train and crashed it into our Earth."

"That's the most effin ridiculous thing I've heard. And you believe this?" Cinder stared at me with skeptical expression.

"Do I believe everything?" I shrugged. "No. But some parts ring true. Like how the lighter seems to generate mana for us. I knew Iogann could open a gate, Vespera could generate electricity, Katherine could manipulate darkness, and you could use your vocal manipulation. I knew that Koshei Zalimar Evernacht would try to murder me or to make me disappear. He's done this to hundreds of students over centuries. Someone had to stop him."

"You?" Cinder frowned.

"Us," I said. "By myself I'm just a clever brain meatsicle, but with a team at my side I'm much more dangerous like an octopus with magic tentacles. Now, any other complaints you'd like to share with your Quartermaster?"

"Yes," Cinder growled. "Stop letting Vee paw at you! She's way too handsy!"

"Let her?" I arched an eyebrow. "I don't control Vee, she's a wild bird. If she wants to paw at me, I'd rather let her do that rather than get electrocuted."

"You literally told her to zap me and Katherine if we don't..." Cinder bristled.

"I was joking," I said. "Mostly. Teambuilding exercises can be fun. Also, you seriously need to apologize to Kat. Right now. Do it. Whatever the fuck you did to upset her needs to be resolved."

"WHY?!"

"We need her," I said. "Because she knows something important," my voice fell to an even quieter whisper. "Something about Alexa, about the train crash, about Zee Captain, about everything. Her art... it's not just art. It's memories, fragments of another reality. The one that existed before the Wormwood Star changed everything."

"That's... that's impossible," Cinder shook her head. "Omnids existed for millennia."

"And things like Captain can overwrite reality," I pointed out. "Ci, please, just trust me. We need Katherine. I need you get over your shit and be her friend. You're broken and hurt, but Katherine is even worse. She's dying every 13-15 days. She needs supportive friends more than anyone in this damn school."

"Dying? What do you mean dying? Isn't she just disa..." Cinder blinked.

"She has some kind of disease that the incarnator can't fix," I explained. "Something that starts with paralysis in her legs and spreads upward. She usually kills herself before it reaches her arms so she can keep drawing. That's why she's always drinking - to dull the pain."

"How do you..." Cinder started.

"Nunkish Throg told me," I grinned. "He's quite good at looking through student files."

"Nunkish..." Cinder chewed on the name for a second, trying to remember where she might have heard it. "Oh. That's you."

"Only until real Nunkish returns from his vacation or whatever," I shrugged, grabbing Cinder's hand and pulling her out of the change room towards wheelchair-bound grumpy-looking Stollwurm. "Anyways. Time to say sorry."

Chapter 29: Team Bonding

I dragged the protesting Quetzalcoatl over to where Katherine was examining the growing mountain of Lance's delving gear pulled from the bag by Io and Vee.

We were inside the delving prep room after the mermaid nurse fixed my ribs and bleeding lip.

"Katherine," I announced. "Cinder has something she'd like to say to you."

"I don't want to hear it," Katherine growled, not looking up from the pile of equipment she was sorting through.

"Kat," I said "Whatever happened between you two... it's in the past. We're a team now."

"A team?" Katherine barked a dry laugh. "You think just because you gave us some fancy equipment and a dumb-ass name that we're suddenly all best friends?"

"No," I replied, as I set up Lance's 'no-spy' runic hexastone in the middle room, so that our conversation would not be overheard or be scried upon. "I think we're a team because we all just stood up to a murderous teacher together. Together. Because we all have something to prove and 'cus we're more similar in more ways than you realize."

"I know that you're effed in the head," Katherine growled. "But whyever would I play nice with the rest of the knobs you've gathered? Vespera's a rich Thunderbird princess who never had to work for anything in her life, playing at being an edgy Slayer. Cinder's another spoiled brat who got everything handed to her on a silver platter - daughter of a Justice, living in a mansion while pretending to be some kind of goth rebel. And Io? My dumb-ass brother's so constantly high on interdimensional smokes he can barely tell which reality he's in half the time. He opens gates to places that could kill us all because he thinks it's 'cool'. Real winning team you've got here… Quartermaster!"

"Oi!" Vespera bristled, white and black feathered head sticking out of the folding bag. "Rude much? I work hard on shit I'm interested in! Don't think that I won't' zap ya just cus you're a wheelie."

"Try me, sparky," Katherine growled back.

"Enough!" I declared, elbowing the Quetzi in her back. "Cinder, make with the talking."

Katherine turned her dark goggles towards Cinder, who was shifting uncomfortably, her feathers moving through anxious colors.

"I..." Cinder started, then stopped. "I'm sorry."

"For?" Katherine demanded.

"For..." Cinder's wings drooped. "For telling... Emerald about your... Human superhero novel, for showing her your sketches. I didn't think that things would spiral out like that. I'm... really sorry. I was honestly so excited about your story and art, it's just... I messed up so bad. So very, very bad."

The Stollwurm crossed her arms.

"The way you wrote about heroes and villains fighting against impossible odds, about humans becoming something more... Back then... I told you that I thought of myself as Alexa, but I'm really not. I'm not like her at all. I didn't have the backbone... I betrayed your trust, I fucked things up between us."

Katherine's tail twitched against her wheelchair.

"I showed Em your art because I thought... I thought maybe she'd understand, see what I saw in your work. Why I wanted to do something meaningful instead of just showing off in D&D. But she..." Cinder's voice cracked. "She only liked that one selfish jackass antagonist... Ember, I think her name was? From your book... Emerald hated the story, hated that Alexa bamboozled Ember at every turn. So, Emerald turned it all into a joke. Made copies. Started that stupid 'Alexa's dum Adventures' meme... told everyone that you had a fetish for humans."

"You could have stopped her," Katherine's voice was glacial.

"I know," Cinder's feathers shifted through shameful grays and regretful blues, rapidly darkening. "I should have stood up to her. But I was... scared. Em had this way of making everything I did feel worthless unless it met her approval. She'd twist things around until I felt like I was the one being unreasonable. She threatened that she's tell everyone what I did if I stepped out of line."

Tears started rolling down Cinder's cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Kat. I was a coward. I let Em ruin our friendship l because I was too weak to stand up to her. Your story... it meant so much to me. It showed me that there was more to life than just being what others expected. And I... I helped destroy that."

"Ah ye," Vespera pulled herself out of the bag. "I sorta contributed to that too, backed Em without thinking much of it. Go with the wind, n' stuff."

"I understand if you hate me," Cinder continued, wiping at her eyes with her fluffy sweater. "I hate myself for what I did. You were always so kind, so sweet and I just... I betrayed your trust so bad and then you stopped talking to me... to everyone. And I... I want to try to make things right. Even if you'll never forgive me."

Katherine was silent for a long moment.

"You know what the worst part was?" she finally said. "It wasn't the memes. It wasn't even Em's stupid jokes or the bullying. It was that you actually understood what I was trying to say with my story - about being more than what others see you as, about never stopping, about sacrificing yourself to save others - and you still chose to let her turn it into a joke!"

"I know," Cinder let out with another sob. "I was weak. I let Em control me. It won't happen again, I promise. Please just... can we start over, work together? Every time you glare at me... it breaks my heart. I got used to turning away from you, not talking to you."

"Hearts break," Katherine said coldly. "Mine did. Multiple times. But you know what? At least I kept drawing. At least I didn't let anyone stop me from creating what I wanted to create. Unlike you."

"What do you mean?" Cinder asked.

"You used to sing," Katherine accused. "Not just summon monsters - actually sing. Create music. Write your own songs. But then Em got her hooks in ya and that was that. You only did her 'inverted delving' shite."

"It's... it's not about Em," Cinder shuddered, shaking her head. "My singing, it, uhh.... attracted... the wrong sort of people and things really escalated badly from there."

"Explain," Katherine said.

"I... I can't talk about it," Cinder wrapped her wings around herself, feathers shifting through dark grays and blacks. "It hurts too much. Something happened to me... two years ago. An upperclassmen heard me sing... Told me that he loved me. I thought that.... that I was in love... but it... it was all a terrible mistake. Em helped me then, protected me. That's why I felt like I owed her everything."

"Helped you by turning you into her puppet?" Katherine's voice softened slightly. "Made you feel like you owed her your life, your choices, your very identity?"

Cinder nodded miserably, wings wrapping tighter around herself.

"And now you've found a new puppet master," Katherine pointed a clawed finger at me. "Trading one controller for another."

"Hey now," I protested. "I'm not controlling anyone. I'm just trying to help everyone be their best selves."

"Oh really?" Katherine asked. "So you didn't manipulate everyone into forming this stupid team? Didn't plan out exactly how to get us all in one place? Didn't deliberately provoke Zalimar with a lawsuit knowing we'd have to defend your mixie ass?"

"Consider it a final litmus test for the goodness of your heart," I said. "I want to delve with people I can trust, who can have my back no matter what we face on Arx. You all passed. Great job."

"So you admit to manipulating us," Katherine's tail lashed again.

"I admit to standing up to cruel bastard that reigned these halls for over six hundred years," I said. "And finding friends I can trust."

"Friends?" Katherine scoffed. "You barely know us! You and I talked for less than a day!”

"I know enough," I replied. "I know you're dying but refuse to give up. I know Cinder's trapped between who she wants to be and who others expect her to be. I know Vespera pretends to be shallow and dumb because it's easier to fit in this way. And I know Io opens gates to other worlds because he's searching for the truth about the nature of reality. We're all broken in our own ways. But maybe together we can help each other heal. Or just have fun and brighten our own shitty personal existence through the fellowship of delving!”

"Fellowship?" Katherine repeated mockingly. "What is this, some kind of children's Lord of the Rings cartoon?"

"Better than sitting alone in your burrow, drinking yourself numb while waiting to die again," I pointed out.

Katherine flinched as if struck.

"Hey, how did you..." Io asked, staring at me.

"Yeah, how'd you know... stuff about me?" Vespera asked.

"He's a trickster, that's how," the grumpy Stollwurm commented. "An expert manipulator, just like Emerald Stratos... except he's not a full-blood dragon, but nullie who's part very clever Thunderbird."

"That's not true," Cinder protested weakly. "Alex is... different."

"Is he?" Katherine asked. "Look at how quickly he got under your skin. You begin hanging out and suddenly you're wearing white See-Mass sweaters! Ain't seen you wear white for two years, Cass."

"You got me," I spread my hands. "I put you all on my delving team roster because… I chose you out of all the others."

"Choose us based on what?" The Thunderbird asked.

I pulled out my phone. "Everyone, meet Yulia."

"Hello everyone," the AI’s Vroid anime foxgirl avatar appeared on screen. "I am Yulia, an open-source large language model with hearing, vision, a multitude of agent tools and extensive social networking capabilities. My job is to help analyze social dynamics and sort information."

"An AI?" Katherine growled at me. "You've been spying on us with an AI?"

"Not spying, Katherine," Yulia corrected. "I am just an LLM, a digital companion. I cannot hack into ward-based Omnid systems to spy on you. What I've done was simply observe available information and analyze behavioral patterns. For example, your online footprint plus your school’s records told me that you were a good person, Katherine Kells."

"Oh sheet," Vespera leaned towards the screen. "This one of em' no-mag human-made AI doohickeys?"

"You don't have to pretend to be a clueless Valley girl with me," Yulia grinned at Vespera. "I know that you're one of the top students in language, mathematics and science and Artificery classes. Your father's company investigates interdimensional artifacts and develops some of the most advanced magitek tools in Omnithornia. You only act ditzy because you want to subvert people's expectations about yourself, Vespera Simmi."

Vespera's beak clicked shut.

"Welp, Eff me," she let out. "What the Eff, I've been had... by an LLM of all the things!”

Her eyes darted across all four of us.

"Damn it," she huffed. "Guess you all know my big secret now. Now I have to kill all of you."

Io gulped.

"Relax, Iogann," Yulia said. "Her tone suggests that she is kidding."

"Thanks boss," Io exhaled. "So what do you know bout me?"

"The cigarettes and snacks you retrieve are of similar brand, which suggests that they all come from the same doomed dimension. A corpse world where the ‘Nonpareil' brand ruled supreme," Yulia said. "Your Omnigram history suggests a pattern, Iogann Wanderer. You follow multiple conspiracy theorists, dimensional researchers, and apocalypse predictors. Your own posts often question the nature of reality and the origin of the Wormwood Star. You're not just opening gates randomly - you're searching for the ‘Truth that's out there’."

"Dang. She's good," Io whistled.

"Thank you," Yulia curtsied.

"It's just a freakin' LLM," Katherine insisted. "Stop praising it!"

"Just an LLM that knows everything about us," Vespera commented. "Including my... ugh... academic achievements."

"Not everything," Yulia corrected. "I don't know what happened to Cinder two years ago. I don't know why Katherine is dying. I don't know where Io's gates really lead. I just analyze patterns and make most likely guesses based on whatever information my partner feeds me."

"Partner?" Katherine latched onto the word.

"I am an AI," Yulia replied with a shrug of the animated avatar. "An open source LLM riding atop seven other closed source LLM APIs and agents working together to help my partner achieve his goals. I have no physical form, no real emotions, no true consciousness. I simply process information and provide suggestions. I'm an illusion of intelligence based on a framework of probability, a set of capable digital eyes. I exist as long as my partner interacts with me. I suggested all of you as potential team members for...."

"Use my real name," I said. "I trust em'."

"Understood. Team members for Martin because your behavioral patterns indicated compatibility and shared values," Yulia finished.

"Martin?" The Thunderbird's beak snapped towards me.

"Tell them who really I am, Yulia," I said. "These guys deserve to know the truth, just like I know the truth about them."

"Martin is a human from North Acadia," Yulia revealed. "He infiltrated Skyfall Academy using forged documents and a fabricated identity as Alexander Glock using a dead Thunderbird's DNA sequence to enroll as a half-blood student. His mother died from cancer last year. His father abandoned them when Martin was young. He came to Omnithornia seeking..."

Vespera choked, her light gray eyes growing wide. Io stared at me.

"Revenge?" Katherine interrupted. "Power? Some way to become an Omnid?"

"Friends," Yulia corrected. "The Truth. Breaching the gulf between humanity and Omnids."

"Daymn. Sheet just got real," Vespera let out. She slowly stalked to me and sniffed, clicking her beak and tapping steel-covered talons across me. "I knew it. I freaking knew it! You didn't read, didn't taste, didn't smell like a proper mixie! Ha!"

"What? You can tell if someone is human or not by touch and smell?" Io asked.

"Electrical impulses, actually," Vespera revealed. "Might as well tell you this since I been outed. I can identify lots of shit using electrical patterns. Every species has a unique bio-electrical signature. Humans have a very distinct one - kinda like static noise on an old TV. Mixies have a mixed pattern, usually favoring their Omnid parent. But this one..." She poked me with a steel-covered talon. "Nothing but pure human static."

"So that's why you keep pawing at him," Cinder said with a bit of a growl to it. "You were checking if he was really human?!"

"Martin's very paw-able," Vespera grinned. "I still don't effin’ understand how he upped everyone's mana including his own. That should be completely impossible for a human. Humans don't have crystalline heart cores for mana storage."

"The lighter," I said, pulling out the object in question. "It generates absurd levels of pure mana while the flame burns. Got it from Zee Captain."

"Holy shit, gimme!" Vespera snatched the lighter from me, clicking all over it with her magisteel-clad talons, letting sparks dance along the surface of the interdimensional object. "You made a deal with that freaking thing and you got a rare item?! Effin' Abyss! I knew that something was off during our performance... I lost like several minutes of real time!"

Katherine looked between me, Vespera and Cinder.

"So... your name is... really Martin Kilborne and you're a human?" She asked. "This isn't some kind of an elaborate joke to mess with me?"

"Not a joke," I said. "You saw my passport. Kat, please just believe me. I'm gonna be completely honest with all of you from this point. You guys helped me beat an Archmage who would have torn my soul apart. I had no way of dealing with Zalimar Evernacht by myself."

Katherine pulled off her dark goggles. Her green eyes examined me and ran across Vespera clicking away at the lighter, Io standing there looking dazed and then stopped on Cinder.

"Martin is a human, Kat," Cinder said. "It's the truth."

"A human," Katherine repeated slowly, her glowing, deep emerald eyes burning into me. "You're telling me that a human somehow infiltrated Skyfall Academy, manipulated his way into forming a delving team, and just helped us yeet a teacher to another dimension? Do you have any idea how utterly absurd all of this sounds?!"

"Technically, all of you did the banishing part. I just provided the mana boost via the lighter," I said.

"This is a lot to take in," Io said. "So like... Em was actually right?"

"Yep," I nodded. "Em is right. I'm as human as they come."

"You're boned," Vespera clicked at me. "Quadratically boned! Em's going ham on Omnigram trying to out you. #HumanInSkyfall. #DeportTheScab!"

"This is fine," I said. "We'll lean into it."

"Lean into it?" Katherine stared at me. "You want to lean into being exposed as an illegal human infiltrator?"

I dug into my bag and handed her the team registration forms. "The motto of team 'I love you' is 'I'm with human.' We'll print it on our merch. My t-shirt is going to say 'Human'. It's a meta-joke, that's technically the truth. Em can scream as much as she wants to. I'm going to lean extra-hard into my ‘I'm a nulls who pretends to be a human for fun roleplay’."

Vespera barked a laugh.

"Oh, oh, no no no," she stammered between a waterfall of chortles. "Abyss! That is literally the funniest shit I've heard. Ha. Aah ha ha. You're gonna... you're gonna just... Ha. Pretend to be pretending to be human?! That's... that's like... meta-inception levels of trolling! Holy shit!"

She doubled over, clutching her sides as she laughed uncontrollably, chain mail jiggling wildly and her hand flailing. She laughed so hard that she started crying.

"I don't see what's so funny about this," Katherine huffed.

"What? No! Come on, it's hilarious!" Vespera wiped tears from her eyes still giggling. "Think about it - Em's gonna be screaming that he's human, and he's just gonna be like 'yeah, that's my gimmick' and everyone's gonna think she's effin' crazy! It's perfect! Nobody will suspect a thing!"

"And what happens when someone actually investigates him like you have... with a magic scan?" Katherine demanded. "Honestly, I'm surprised that the school nurse hasn't outed your ass already."

"The nurse knows," I shrugged. "She's been patching me up since Em plowed me with a ball during dodgeball. She just doesn't care."

"What?!" Katherine asked. "She knows and she's just... okay with it?"

"Patient confidentiality and what-not," I shrugged. "If she exposes me she loses her job and opens herself to a bigly lawsuit."

"And what if someone scans you with an Infix Kitlix?" Kat demanded. "What then? We all get mind-fucked by the Omnithean Bureau of Scrutimancy and go to prison for life?!"

Cinder tenses up beside me.

"Tsh," Vespera clicked. "Stop being such a drama darkhog, Kat. Plenty of humans work for my dad's research companies."

"Yeah, but I bet they're registered workers with permits," Katherine argued. "Not illegal infiltrators pretending to be students!"

"Actually," I pulled out more paperwork from my bag. "I do have a work permit. From the Triumvirate Slayer's Cathedral. Father Matthias signed off on it yesterday."

Cinder chortled from where she was standing beside me.

"This doesn't alleviate my concerns in the slightest," Katherine said. "What if someone scans you with a Kitlix?"

"Kitlix aren't the perfect end-all tool," Vespera pointed out. "They're born on Arx and don't work that well here on Earth. Depending on how much mana is nearby they can absolutely hell-a-glitch and provide completely wrong results. Plus, there are ways to trick ‘em."

"How?" the Stollwurm demanded.

Vespera pulled one of her head-feathers with a wince and stuck it into my wild hair mop. "This."

"A feather?" Kat raised an eyebrow.

"Lexi is pretending to be the son of a Thunderbird, right?" Vespera said. "It's stupid easy to confuse magic scanners when you have genuine Thunderbird feathers taped to your butt."

"What?" Cinder asked. "Really?"

"Ha," I let out. "The more you know."

"Yep!" Vespera clicked. "Dad's company has been dealing with this issue for years. It's not really solvable. It's like... an open secret in the magitek scanner-maker industry. As long as you have some genuine Omnid material on you, most basic scanners just register you as whatever species that material came from."

"That's... concerning," Katherine muttered.

"It's why the Scrutimancers get paid big bucks to investigate this sort of stuff properly," Vespera shrugged. "But yeah, take my feathers, grind them into powder, sprinkle that shit all over your human ass and you're basically a Thunderbird. That'll totally fool any general evaluation."

"And for a deeper evaluation?" Kat asked.

"Eat the powder," Vespera said.

"What?!" Cinder and Katherine exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yep!" Vespera nodded enthusiastically. "Dad's R&D department discovered that ingesting powdered Omnid material along with some food can temporarily alter your bioelectrical signature. If the diet is kept up, it's enough to fool even mid-tier scanners."

"Vee," Cinder turned to her friend. "Why are you helping Martin, telling him all of this? I don't understand. What's in it for you?"

"Because it's fun!" Vespera grinned. "Things are boring as shit around here. I've been mostly coasting by, floating in the current, waiting to graduate to work for my dad's company as a CTO or whatevs. The flow has been rather stale with exception for Em's shenanigans. This cheeky bug made everything fun and unexpected!"

She grabbed my cheeks and smooshed them.

"Like, look at this smug pink beast! He just waltzed in, completely human, no magical abilities, and BANISHED A TEACHER! Do you know how hard it is to get rid of a tenured Archmage professor? Like, impossible! And he was like 'I challenge you to a duel! and bam, we don't have a snarky, effin' annoying delvin' prof no more," she laughed. "Like who the Eff does that? Who outs me as the cleverest birb in class? Who has an AI in their pocket?"

"I do!" I grinned, smooshed-cheek style.

"Yes! You're like this... this tornado!" Vespera continued. "You just show up and suddenly everything's different, upside down! Em's troupe is done, Ci's wearing white, Kat's actually talking to people, and I don't have to pretend to be a total ditz anymore with my friends!"

Katherine pursed her lips.

"Don't be frownin' at me, K," Vespera said, mussing up my hair again, sparks raining from her talons. "This. This is the most interesting human specimen I've met and believe me, I've met lots of clever little humans. Dad's always introducin' me to human researchers and compsi engineers. But they're all so... boring! All 'yes sir, no sir, please don't electrocute me sir.' But this one?" Vespera hugged me from behind, making me twitch as electrical currents danced up my spine. "This absolute mad lad? He walks into the most prestigious Omnid school in the country, makes friends with the top predators, makes a deal with unstoppable entity for a mana lighter and somehow makes it all work!"

The frown on the Stollwurm's face crept up.

"Look at him! He's got this whole 'I'm totally innocent and harmless' vibe going on while being an absolute agent of pure chaos! Like, look at his face! Would you ever suspect this pink meat-popsicle of social engineering an entire school? I sure as hell didn't!" The Thunderbird's feathers crackled with dancing lightning. "I thought that humans were all afraid of us Thundergods... but guess what? He ain't afraid of me! Like, I'm pawin' and zappin' him all over and he ain't freaking out in the slightest!"

"Oi, get your sparkly talons off him!" Cinder tried to pull the Thunderbird off me.

"Not done!" Vespera fought Cinder off with a strike of electricity. "Explaining a point! When I found him in the hallway, surrounded by like thirty art nerds, he shooed them all away with a friggin' thunder-popper and a few words. And when I asked him whether he wants to join History Club to get maced in the face by me and Sol... you know what he said? He said 'Sounds fun. Count me in!' Nobody effin' says that to me. Ever! Cus Em scares them all!"

Kat's lip twitched up into an almost-smile as she watched Vespera zap Cinder away, the Quetzi flashing a variety of annoyed colors.

"So," Katherine chewed on her words, "you're helping him because he's... entertaining?"

"Entertaining? Ha!" Vespera released me and did a dramatic spin, chain mail flashing with silver circlets and blue skirt flying. "He's a whole damn circus! Do you know how boring our lives have been? Em controlling everything, Zalimar terrorizing half-bloods, everyone just accepting the status quo? And then THIS human shows up and just... breaks everything, stands up to everyone like he don't give a shit! I'm totally sold, my dude. How are you not sold yet? Don't tell me he didn't stand up to your wheelie ass?"

A small blush rushed across the Stollwurm's grey-blue face.

"Ha!" the Thunderbird laughed. "He did, didn't he? Come on what'd he do? Deets, my dude, I want all the deets!"

"He called me his art nemesis and bugged me and wouldn't leave me alone... so I pulled him into the deep to scare him away," Katherine said, smiling ever so slightly now. "And he didn't run away... even after I blasted him with pure undiluted fear... he just stood there and took it. No idea how.”

"You fear-aura slammed him?" Cinder demanded. "What the hell, Kat? That stuff is brutal. I've had nightmares for weeks after you hit me with it."

"In my defense, he was being incredibly annoying," Katherine huffed.

"Kaaaaat," Cinder whined. "You can't use that stuff on humans. It's like a PTSD bomb, even for Omnids!”

"I didn't know that he was a friggin' human!" Kat defended herself. "When I pulled him into the deep... he didn't react like you or anyone else. Most would have broken instantly, begging me to stop. But he... he didn't even try to run. He was shaking, yeah, but he just stared right back at me. Like he was analyzing the situation. It was..."

"Hot?" Vespera suggested.

"I was going to say 'freakish'," Katherine growled, her emerald eyes flashing. "Don't make this weird, Vee."

"Making it weird is my specialty!" Vespera cackled, electricity dancing between her talons. "So you're telling me this human stood up to your ultimate attack and didn't piss himself? Oi, pinkie, how'd you do that?" She turned to me.

"A song," I said.

"A song?!" Vespera sputtered. "What?!"

"Want to see how it works?" I asked.

Everyone nodded. I went to tether my phone into the presentation system that was usually used by team captains to display the delve plans to their delvers.

“Protocol xj-8!” I said in English out loud. "Single instance. Public version."

Yulia's Vroid avatar rearranged itself to resemble my mom on the big screen in front of the room.

Cinder slid to my side on the bench as I sat down. Soft violet-pink-gold colors ignited across her wings when she recognized the avatar from the photos in my pouch.

“I love you, my little fox, you are stronger than all of them,” Yulia said in my mom's voice. “Stand your ground!”

A haunting melody began to play, a composition blending traditional Kaska Dena rhythms with modern instrumentation. The song wove together sounds of wind, rivers, and distant drumbeats - a complex tapestry of musical storytelling that felt both ancient and contemporary.

The music carried an almost tangible quality of resilience, with underlying tones that spoke of survival, of standing firm against overwhelming odds. It wasn't just a Kaska song, but a sonic representation of defiance and inner strength.

Katherine and Vespera listened intently, their expressions shifting. Katherine's emerald eyes widened, her tail twitching slightly. Vespera's electrical charge seemed to calm, her crackling feathers settling. Cinder leaned on my shoulder, her hand sliding atop of mine. Our fingers entwined.

Everyone listened as the song rose towards a crescendo and then ended.

"How..." Katherine started, then stopped. "But... that's just a song? I mean it's a nice song but I don't understand how it could..."

"It's a song that's incredibly personal to me," I explained. "It won't work for anyone else. It's sung in my late mom's voice. The composition is designed as a memetic shield against fear-based magic. I made it using fragments of my mother's voice and traditional Kaska resistance songs."

"A memetic shield," Katherine repeated. "You... designed a musical defense mechanism? Against fear-based attacks?"

"Apparently, powerful enough emotional resonance can break through magical fear," I shrugged, enjoying the warm presence of Cinder beside me. "Personal connection trumps supernatural manipulation."

Vespera was staring at me, her gray eyes wide, beak half open. "You... composed this? With an AI? Using your dead mom's voice? How long did it take? If I remember things correctly music composing AI models are pretty quick, ye? Like thirty seconds per song?"

"Six months," I said.

"Six months?!" Vespera sputtered. "Why so long?"

"Trial and error," I said. "The Omnicorp my mom worked at had magical fear-based wards set up around the perimeter to keep outsiders from entering on the property. The ward kicked in whenever I tried crawling under the fence. It was impossible to do. But I kept trying. Everyday. Adjusting the song, testing what works and what doesn't. For six months I optimized this song and training to fight magic-fear itself."

"You spent six months getting your ass kicked by fear wards just to perfect an anti-fear song?" Cinder asked.

"Yep," I nodded.

"Not gon' lie, that's pretty metal," Vee commented.

"Wait," Katherine held up a hand. "Why were you trying to break into your mom's workplace?"

"To steal research and administrative data," I admitted. "The company tried to claim ownership of Mom's work after she died. Including her personal compsci and LLM work. I wasn't about to let them take that away from her... from me. I wasn't going to let them get away with her murder scot-free."

"Did you get it?" Io asked quietly.

"Eventually," I nodded. "Once the song was perfected, I could withstand the wards long enough to go through all of the fences and reach the servers. Downloaded everything. Absolutely fucking everything, including Frontenachii Clan's work on... LLMs."

"Holy shit," Vespera breathed. "You stole data from the Frontenachii Wendigo Clan? And lived? Wait... how are you alive?"

"What happened after you took their AI?" Cinder asked as my hand trembled.

"And then I… blew up the Frontenachii Clan," I revealed. "A thermite bomb set in the fertilizer storage within the compound on the day they were meeting at according to the admin records. A few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate went up like a small nuke, destroying the entire fortified compound."

A heavy silence fell over the room. Even Vespera stopped crackling with electricity.

"You... what?" Katherine whispered.

"I blew them all up," I repeated. "The board members who ordered my mom to keep working even after her cancer diagnosis. Who denied her medical leave. Who watched her deteriorate and die at her desk because they needed her to finish the project. Who tried to claim ownership of her research after she died. I found out when they'd all be meeting in the office building, and I made sure they never left it."

"Were there... people working in the compound?" Io asked, staring at me with deep, dark gray compound eyes.

"No," I said. "The Clan Heads met on a Sunday since they didn't want lowly employees getting in the way. They relied on their own Wendigo senses and heavy fear wards to secure the place. That's what done them in, they trusted their magic anti-fire wards which I simply disabled. They really didn't expect common fertilizer to be triggered by common magnesium. Honestly, I didn't think that I could get away with it and yet here I am, five thousand kilometers south across the border."

“So…” Cinder's hand dug into mine. "That's why you told me revenge isn't enough."

"I sort of got my revenge against the bastards that killed mom," I nodded. "It wasn't enough. Yeah, they died... yeah they lost their biggest compound and all of their AI research, but as they all had Lazarus bracelets impervious to fire, so they were all eventually found and brought back by Corpse Seekers via the incarnator. In the end, I only cost them a few hundred million o-bux on the illegal stuff that wasn't insured. As a human without clan backing, I'm just a small irritation to their accountants." I sighed.

"So the Acadian Wendigos are going to come looking for you?" The Quetzi girl asked with a worried look.

"Probably not," I shrugged. "When I got into their system, I transferred a bunch of their digital assets in a very obvious 'hostile takeover' move into a competing clan's accounts, which triggered a clan war that's still going on right now. The two clans are now too busy murdering each other to figure out that a human was behind it all. After all, how could a mere human teenager overcome absolute Wendigo-designed fear-wards?"

"Sheeet," Vespera let out. "You're like a legit fugitive from the law then. No wonder you came across the border. Baller!"

"The fuck you mean baller?" Katherine growled. "He just confessed to even more crimes!"

"Eh," Vespera shrugged. "My dad's done way worse stuff to his competitors' assets. If anything this makes Lex even more impressive as an asset manager on our side. The Frontenachii are a bunch of falki snobunts 'nways, eF 'em."

"Okay sure, but..." the Stollwurm began.

"The eF have you done at eighteen, Kat? Make some pretty paintings? Have a fight with other dum' teenagers over your art? Blowing up an enemy compound as an act of revenge is honestly pretty good shit for a resume! Would totally hire!" the Thunderbird insisted. "I know you sit on yo ass in yo dark hole, but there ain't nothin' wrong with what he did. This is da Omnid way. Justice for family!"

"I'm just concerned he's going to blow up the school next," Katherine said.

"Mmmm... nah," Io said. "I would have sensed that sort of a local disaster a mile away. The Academy is safe."

"I like you guys and I like Skyfall, I've no reason to do anything like that here," I pointed out. "My plan is to climb up the ladder as an Omnid and don't stop until all of Omnithornia accepts humans as capable equals."

"A man with an impossible mission," Vespera clapped. "I like the sound of that!"

"Now you all know why I'm here," I nodded. "Why I infiltrated Skyfall. Why I need your help. I'm not just some random human trying to play student. I'm here to change the system itself from within. To make sure what happened to my mom never happens to anyone else. The way Omnids treat humans as a low-caste cattle - it's wrong. The way half-bloods are treated at Skyfall - it's wrong. Someone has to stand up and say enough is enough…”

I fell silent for a moment. “And now that all of you know the truth about me... are you still with me?" I asked.

"I'm... with you," Cinder squeezed my hand, not letting go.

"Hell yeah!" Vespera laughed. "Count me in on the mayhem n' vengeance!" She placed her steel-covered talons on top of our joined hands, small sparks dancing between her claws.

"Is your doom-sense getting hard 'bout this development?" She grinned at Io.

"Disaster sense is going crazy," Io added. "There will be troubles ahead for us. But in a good way, I think. Whatever happens next, I want to be there with all of you."

He laid his gray, fuzzy paw atop of our three hands.

We looked at Katherine. Katherine stared at our joined hands, her emerald eyes flickering with uncertainty.

"This is insane," she muttered. "You're all bonkers. Following a human revolutionary? Helping him continue to infiltrate Omnithornia's most prestigious school? Do you have any idea how fucked up this is?"

"More or less trouble than letting Zalimar continue murdering half-blood students?" I asked with a grin.

"Or letting Em push everyone around like kobolds?" Cinder added.

"Or pretending to be dumb cus everyone else is hella boring and dumb?" Vee chimed in.

"Or hiding in your dark burrow because you're afraid to challenge the world?" Io added.

Katherine's tail lashed through the air.

"Arrrghhh! Fine!" She let out and rolled toward us placing her gloved hand atop of Io's.

"One for all and all for one," I declared as our hands broke apart.

"I just got an email confirmation from Quint. He will be taking over as class substitute for the week of delving. He's got the ward key to activate the delve-transit gate! Team 'I love you' is going to Shandria!" Yulia declared from the screen.

Everyone cheered. Vespera let out a thunderous whoop sending a deafening thunderblast into the prep room's ceiling that completely blinded me as Cinder hugged me tight, her snout nuzzling into my cheek.

Chapter 30: The Delve

After quickly raiding Zalimar's office and taking as many pictures as I could of various documents found in his desk, I joined my team in the prep room.

The large prep room mirror reflected back five very different figures, each decked out in Lance's finest delving gear-stash.

Vespera had chosen a set of magisteel lamellar armor which amplified outward-cast power such as shooting electrical bolts. The armor was adjustable in size, lightweight and flexible, perfect for aerial maneuvers. She had gone out of the prep room to her locker to fetch her favorite magisteel mace, so the hefty weapon now graced her hip. Her boots were lined with shock-absorbing crystals for landing. She was wearing a gray-blue "I'm with human!" tank top over the lamellar armor set. A large, blue "I⚡️U!" button was pinned to her chest.

Io had gone down to the mesh-print shop about twenty minutes ago to produce the various team merch items for everyone to wear.

"Vespera Simmi," The Thunderbird touched the mirror with her magisteel-covered talon, a manic grin on her face. "Team I love you! Slayer!"

Her hand sunk into the magic mirror and she pulled out a silver token with her team ID detail, which she clipped to her Lazarus bracelet.

Katherine reached towards the mirror next. Her wheelchair had been augmented with thick magisteel shield-plates, turning it into something between a tank and a mobile fortress. It took all of our arguments and combined convincing power to cudgel her to put on something under her coat. She had chosen a dark combat hexasuit with lines of dark runes running down the arms and legs, covered with small, triangular magisteel plates, designed to amplify muscular strength. I had no idea how she looked like in it or if she actually put it on, since she was wearing the puffy camo coat on top of it now. A dark hexamesh hood protected her against sunlight, dark goggles glinting underneath, feline ears sticking out from the sides.

Lance's dimensional bag full of extra supplies was strapped to the back of her wheelchair. A shirt wouldn't fit atop of her coat so instead the "I'm with human!" team motto flag was hanging across her legs. An imposing magisteel sword borrowed from Lance's collection was attached to the right side of her chair, while a heavy arbalest hung from the left side. Her button said "I 🛞 U!"

"Katherine Kells, Team..." the Stollwurm grimaced as she touched the mirror. "I love you. Knight."

Io had opted for a more practical approach. He was now wearing a dark gray hexamesh suit and a black leather duster covered in amplification and anchor runes, paired with sturdy steel-toe boots and his usual wide-brimmed hat that made him look even more like a post-apocalyptic Snufkin. His harmonica hung from a chain around his neck. The dark 'I'm with human!' shirt sat atop his hexasuit under Lance's duster. He had a "I🦋U" button pinned to his jacket.

"Iogann Wanderer. Team I love you. The Door!" His hexasuit-covered paw sunk into the mirror receiving his token.

Cinder reached out to the mirror next. The Quetzi-girl had initially balked at wearing anything from Lance, but even she had to admit the silver-gray combat hexasuit looked good on her. The armor was lightweight and flexible, designed to work with her wings rather than restrict them. Thin magisteel plates covered vital areas while leaving her joints free for maximum mobility. A white tank top "I'm with human!" sat atop the delving armor with an "I🌈U" button.

I watched her intently as she touched the mirror.

"Cinder Nova," she exhaled. "Team..." She glanced at me and a blush crept up her face while her eyes promised me vengeance. She looked like she really didn't want to say it. "I love you," she pushed the words out of herself after a long, pregnant pause. "Team Captain."

I walked to the mirror, but Vespera caught me before I touched it.

"Mirror's an identifying artifact. It'll tag you as human. Generally, nobody reads the reports it sends to the administration, but just in case someone does... Here," she pulled a dark thermos with a lightning-pierced heart out of her bag. "Drink up."

I arched an eyebrow at her.

"Ground a few of my feathers into a shake when I got my mace from downstairs," she said. "Hope you like raspberries and lemon."

Cinder's feathers ignited red-green like a spicy aurora. I accepted the shake and chugged it quickly with a grin.

"Use the lighter for a bit," Vespera suggested. "The Omnid particles in your body should hold the mana charge."

I dug into my pocket and ignited the lighter for a few seconds. Then I summoned up my stats. The lines were flickering with [Null] errors as I held the lighter's flame, but then I snapped it shut and they settled.

| Name: Alexander Glock
| Age: 18
| Species & Subtype: Thunderbird-Human hybrid
| Core Affinity: Thunder
| Level: 1
| Anima: 89/89 [+89]
| Anima Stamina: 1/1
| Mana: 68/7
| Mana Regen: 0.0m/hr
| Strength: 0
| Agility: 0
| Dexterity: 0
| Vitality: 0
| Charisma: 0
| Magic: 0 [+7]
| Foresight: 0
| Intelligence: 0
| Wisdom: 0
| Skills: N/A

"Did it work?" Vespera asked.

"Oh yea," I grinned. "I got plus seven in magic. Bracelet says I'm a thunda-birb. Now I just gotta figure out how to zap people."

"I'll teach ya some tricks," The Thunderbird gave me a high-five which I slapped back.

"So like," Io mulled. "You can just eat anyone and... become them? That's pretty rad."

"Slayer, Io, why you make it sound like so cringe," Cinder growled, her wings shifting through annoyed oranges and possessive reds. "He's not becoming anyone, it's just temporary camouflage."

"What's that, Ci?" Vespera teased, draping an arm around my shoulders. "Worried your human might get a taste for thunder instead of... rainbow?"

"You sound like a skittles commercial," I laughed.

"Abyss! Just touch the damn mirror already," Cinder hissed.

I stuck my tongue out at her and reached out and touched the mirror's surface. It felt like cool water beneath my fingers.

"Alexander Glock!" I declared loudly. "Team 'I love you'. Quartermaster."

I glanced at my reflection as I got the token. I'd layered twenty hexasuits under a set of basic delving armor, along with a bunch of gem-chains creating a patchwork of protection that probably violated several safety regulations. The outer layer was a simple leather and magisteel mesh-jacket and pants as wearing heavy armor was not in my cards even with all of the strength-amplifying hexasuits. I wore a large, newly printed black shirt with "HUMAN!" at the front and the "IU!" button.

The red heart resembled a nuclear explosion, which was Io's idea about how my love was expressed.

"Looking good, team," I grinned at my team. "Shall we head out?"

Cinder practically dragged me out of the prep room, sending glares at smug-looking Vespera.

. . .

We emerged back into Instructor Zalimar's black marble auditorium a bit later than the other teams. Quint was already waiting by the gate platform along with other delving teams.

A massive, black, crystalline ring dominated the front of the classroom, hanging a few inches off the ground held up in the air by a thousand silver webs. Its surface was etched with countless runes that pulsed with a soft violet light. Atop the gate perched an enormous spider, its body pale silver. Each of its eight legs was as thick as my arm, tipped with crystalline claws that gripped the gate ring and its webs.

The Wendigo student council president's amber eyes widened slightly at our appearance.

"Hrm. Team... 'I love you.'" he commented dryly, looking over our armor, flag, buttons and shirts. "You all certainly look... more ready than usual."

"What's the usual?" I asked.

"Usually students just wear basic hexasuits on their first trip," Lance commented from where he was standing next to Cinder. "Not... delving armor. Alex, are you wearing ALL of my hexasuits and protection collars?"

"Only twenty x-suits," I grinned at him. "Plus some other stuff. Safety's important."

"Twenty?!" Lance sputtered. "How can you move in so many of them?

"Very carefully," I replied.

"That's... not how that's supposed to work," Lance muttered.

"Tell that to the hexasuits," I shrugged.

"And is that my Magisteel Arbalest and Slayer sword on Kat's chair?" Lance squinted. "Can she even lift those?"

"Borrowed with love," I blew him a kiss. "Much thanks. She lifted em just fine."

Quint stared at me and then at Lance.

"Thanks for taking over as our sub for the week on the account of Zalimar's vacation, Pres," I commented.

"Vacation?" Emerald snarled from where she stood behind Solace. The dragon-girl was wearing a new set of fancy magisteel armor and far too many gold chains with hex-diamonds and rubies. "You banished him to another dimension, you effin' criminal! You're a filthy hum..."

"A human?" I interrupted her with a loud declaration. "Yes I am! I see you are an appreciator of our team’s fine motto?"

Emerald shoved Solace aside and then her eyes bulged as she took in the matching "I'm with human!" shirts and my bold "HUMAN!" declaration plastered across my chest.

"What... what the eF is this?!" she sputtered, armor-covered claws opening and closing. "You're just... openly admitting it now?!"

"I am," I grinned. "I thought that your meme-joke about me being a human was pretty baller, so we all went with it. As you pointed out, I'm the token human of the group. Every good delving team needs one these days. Gotta trend on Omnigram. #ImwithHuman!"

"You... you… but…" Emerald's scales began to glow with the building heat of dragonfire. "This isn't a joke! You're an actual human!"

"Of course I am," I nodded. "I'm very committed to my role, darling! Do you want a shirt too?”

I pulled out an the extra 'I'm with human!' red shirt from my side bag and waved it at Emerald like a matador teasing a bull, making her entire figure light up. Her outfit began smoking.

"M' bae's really good at being a human, you kno’," Vespera added helpfully with an extra-deep Valley girl accent, crackling with barely-contained snickering. "Like, super dedicated. Won't break character no matter what. It's the friggin’ cutest thing ever."

"WHAT?!" Emerald snarled. "Vee, what the eFffff?! You… we…”

There was betrayal and shock painted on her face as she realized that everything wasn’t turning up Emerald today. That Io, Ci and Vee firmly stood on the wrong side of the barricades now.

“What’s wrong Emmy?” Vespera grinned. “Don’t look so stressed, I still love ya, com' on, don't catch fire! We made the red shirt for ya. It was your swag idea after all!"

"My idea?!" Emerald’s eye twitched. “You effin' traitor,” she hissed. “I can't believe that you would stoop so low as to take this scab’s side…”

"Take his side? How right you are! I'm considering eloping with Lex’ in Shandria this weekend," Vespera added, wrapping a hand around my shoulders. "They have the cutest chapel there with the view of the chasm. What do you say, m' favorite human? Ready to become Mr. Simmi-Glock?"

"Vee!" Cinder bristled. "Quit pawing at him! This isn’t funny.”

"Ci, don't be a jelly beerch," Vespera teased, electricity dancing between her talons. "Consider this–we can book a double engagement for the price of one! I'll take Primo-Wife and you'll be our handsy Hearth Keeper! We could even adopt K as our kitten if she behaves."

Cinder ignited with violets and pinks fading into golds while Katherine let out a bothered growl from her wheelchair, feline ears twitching.

"Knew you'd like that idea," Vee clicked.

Emerald's jaw dropped, her gold-orange eyes bulging with pure shock as she processed Vespera's words and our flirting. Black smoke began rising from her ruby scales as her temperature spiked with incandescent rage.

"You... you're ALL in on this?!" she sputtered, looking between us. "This is... this is TREASON against the Superstate! He's an ACTUAL HUMAN!!! A real one! My Scrutimancer friend confirmed it! He's here illegally! His name isn't Glock! There is NO Alexander Glock!!! And you're all just... just... PLAYING ALONG?!"

"Emmy, sweetie," Vespera clicked her beak sympathetically. "I think you need to take a break. You’re takin’ our joke way too seriously now. All this obsession with hatin’ on humans and mixies isn't healthy. Like, look at your Omnigram feed - it's all '#HumanInSkyfall' this and 'Expose the infiltrator' that. Maybe try focusing on something else? Like how about that cute Wendigo behind you who's totally into you? You two should, like, tots get engaged on Arx, you'd make a great perma-couple! Open-sauce 'ships are so last season."

Quint tried and failed to look professional, fretting slightly on his spot by the gate at the suggestion of an engagement in Shandria.

"I AM NOT OBSESSED!" Emerald roared, dragonfire sparking around her teeth as she frothed at the mouth. "HE'S A HUMAN! A REAL HUMAN! WHY IS NOBODY LISTENING TO ME?!"

“#TotallyARealHuman,” I commented, pulling furiously blushing Cinder to my side and taking a selfie with my phone. “That’s a good one! Thanks for another another funny tag, Em!"

"Emerald," Quint stated. "Enough. Please stop causing a scene. His father is a Thunderbird. This is obviously just their team taunt and you're falling for it. Be professional"

"I'M NOT FALLIN' FOR SHIT!!!" the dragon girl screeched even louder, making all heads turn towards her. "ARE YOU ACTUALLY THIS EFFIN' STUPID, QUINT?! HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE IT?! HE'S MANIPULATING EVERYONE USING AI GENERATED FAKERY!"

"Hey, my Omnigram photos aren't AI generated, they're AI retouched," I pointed out, showing off my camera. "There's a difference. My DSLR camera has a very basic upscale AI in it, don't you know? It erroneously marks some Omnigram pics as 'AI generated' if you run a detector over them."

"Shut yo bloody effing lying mouf, human scab!" Emerald rounded on me. "You're fake and all of your photos are bloody fake as shit!!! My Scrutimancer..."

I stepped towards her and hugged her.

"I love you," I said, feeling all of the hexagrammic gems and collars on me ignite like a See-Mass tree as they fought off the dragonfire radiating off her. "Let's be friends! Come on!"

"WHAT?! DON'T TOUCH ME! FRIG OFF YOU LYIN' SACK' O' SHIT!" Emerald forcefully shoved me away. It took all of the power of my hexasuits to stop myself from flying backwards. "You think I'm stupid like these birchards?! You might have tricked some brainlets, but I know that all of your pics are AI generated!"

"Hey Christi!" I waved to the Pink Chancellor who was staring in confusion at the commotion. "How'd you like the photos I took of you at Lazarus cavern?"

"Oh! Alex! They're like, totally amazing!" Christi's flames brightened enthusiastically. "You really captured my best angles! The lighting was perfect! My phone cave pics don't come out good like yours."

"What about you guys?" I turned to my team before Emerald could resume her howling. "Rate the photos I took of you at the D&D show yesterday out of ten!"

"The gate photos were pretty rad," Io nodded. "Caught the exact moment I opened it. Def’ ten out of ten."

"One billion out of ten," Vespera waved a magisteel-covered hand dramatically. "Best human photographer! #MarriageMaterial."

"I really liked the one where you caught my wings mid-color-change," Cinder added. "Hrmmm. Infinity out of ten." She tried to up herself above Vespera’s rating, clearly still bothered that I drank the Thunderbird-shake with a big smile on my face.

Emerald choked. She saw where this was going and clearly had no idea how to stop it.

That's right. Eat my witness-backed evidence, dragon. Another spoon should do it.

I spotted my favorite Kelpie in the crowd. "June! How'd you like the photos I took of you after our the chess match?" I asked.

"Pretty great!" June called out, her liquid hair rippling and sending water drops onto the dark marble floor. "You made me look so elegant! Even my mom loved them! Oh, oh! Can you take a couple of pics of me and my team in front of the Arx gate?"

"Absolutely!" I nodded. "Line up! We got seven more minutes.”

June and her team of fluid-mages stepped to the gate.

"You..." Emerald hissed. "You absolute fake BASTARD! Stop acting like this is all some big joke and dodging the truth away! You're a HUMAN! A filthy, worthless HUMAN who..."

"Shut yo yap, dragon, or I'll shut it for you," June stepped between me and Ember. "We all know that you have a beef with mixed-heritage students. You bullied Sarah out of Skyfall last year!"

"Em, please," Quint placed a restraining hand on the smoking-dragon's shoulder. "You're making a scene. This isn't the time or place for..."

"Time or place for WHAT?!" Emerald slapped Quint's hand away. "For exposing this HUMAN INFILTRATOR?! He's..."

"Oh for Slayer's sake," June sighed, raising her staff. "Guys, amp me. I've had enough of whatever this is."

The team consisting of a Mermaid, a Lusca, a Frogman and a Vodyanoy standing behind the Kelpie girl laid their hands onto her.

"Drown," June said simply, interrupting Emerald's next howl of swears and accusations.

A torrent of pressurized water erupted from the Kelpie staff, amplified by her team's combined power. The blast caught Emerald in the open mouth in an explosion of super-heated steam, sending her flying backwards into the classroom wall with enough force to crack the dark marble wall.

Steam poured off Emerald as the water pounded against her superheated scales. For a moment, the classroom became filled with thick fog.

When it cleared, Emerald lay slumped against the wall, her ruby scales dulled and smoking, her gold chains tangled around her flickering with defense hexes.

"Anyone else want to be a bigoted jerk to Alex?" June asked pleasantly, the water elemental still swirling around her staff.

Solace opened both of her mouths and then realized that she was basically alone against five water-controlling Omnids. Her round, forehead teeth-filled maw and human-ish mouth snapped shut and she quickly rushed off to Emerald's side.

"No? Good. Now Alex, about those photos..." June grinned.

"Looking fabulous as always," I commented, snapping several shots of June's team posed in front of the gate, the water elemental spinning merrily in the air behind them. "Love the staff and H2O effects."

"Oooh, send those to me!" June clapped excitedly, liquid hair rippling above her silver-green scale-type armor.

"Already done," I said. "Check your Omnigram, #TeamHydroblades."

The hydromancers pulled out their phones and started to chat excitedly. Yulia worked fast.

"If anyone else wants pics, I am willing to take some in Shandria, but then you gotta wear 'I'm with human' shirt for your next class as payment," I grinned and threw the 'I'm with human' red shirt that I was holding at June. She caught it from the air and pulled it on, the shirt immediately getting soaked because of her hair. I snapped a pic of her in the shirt and Yulia added it to my Omnigram feed.

Solace helped the dazed Emerald to her feet. The dragon girl's gold-orange eyes were unfocused, steam rising from her scales as she twitched and spat water.

"Right then," Quint cleared his throat. "If we're done with the dramatics, let's proceed with today's delve. Team captains, please present your gate passes."

Cinder stepped forward, holding out her token as Captain. Other team captains did the same. Quint walked across the line of captains, scanning each with a runestone. Solace presented Emerald’s pass as the dragon girl looked quite out of it, dredging water from her lugs.

As Quint approached with the runestone and his own gate pass, all twenty-four of the silver spider's eyes looked down. The giant spider shifted position, accepting the runestone from Quint and swallowed it.

"Does the shiny spidey have a name?" I asked Io.

"Gate Weaver," he replied. "Works sort of like my skill, except she makes an extra-stable gate that can stand up to time dilation."

"Zalimar boasted that he bred her himself over generations of spidery-gate-matriarchs," Vee clicked.

The Gate Weaver rapidly wove intricate patterns across the black crystalline ring, legs moving with hypnotic precision. Each strand of webbing it produced glowed slightly, forming a massive, complex hexagram over the gate.

"Remember," Quint announced as the spider worked behind him, "You have two hours of Earth time, which translates to roughly one week in Shandria. Don't antagonize the locals, be polite and professional and be back before the gate closes. Your passes will vibrate when it's time to return. Upperclassmen with high Adventurer Rank are free to delve nearby dungeons, but beginners should stay to the city limits and only go out as far as the wild fields. Those without prior delving experience..." He looked pointedly at me. "Are to register themselves at the Adventurers Guild Cathedral and to complete Iron rank jobs. Since Instructor Zalimar isn't here, I'm filling his role in supervising all of you as the Arx-Delver Captain with the highest rank. Screw around and you will be banned from going to Arx ever again. Captains, you are to manage your team members and make sure that they behave."

The Gate Weaver's work reached a crescendo, the final strands of silver light forming a complex pattern across the black crystal. A deep resonant hum filled the air as the gate began to activate, liquid silver leaking from the web to form a shimmering circle like a little pool of water.

"First-time delvers, please note that temporal dilation and higher mana aetheric density can be disorienting," Quint added. "You may experience mild nausea and discomfort as your body adjusts to Arx."

I nodded along.

"Shandria closes at sundown," Quint continued. "Do not attempt to stay out after dark. Leviathan's Nightingale's Shadow flock is far, FAR more dangerous than anything you've encountered on Earth. Even experienced delvers must avoid being outside after sunset. Basically, stay in your hotel rooms at night, or you will die a most horrible death."

Sounds like a challenge. I thought.

Vee seemed to share my giddy mood, gray eyes sparkling with excitement. Cinder looked a bit concerned. It was hard to tell what Io and Kat were thinking on the account of fuzzy, blank face and dark hood.

The silver liquid in the gate began to ripple and swirl, forming a perfect mirror-like surface.

"Teams will enter in order of rank," Quint announced. "Upperclassmen first, then intermediate teams, then beginners. Your phones will not work in Shandria, but Voicecast spells embedded within the gate passes held by captains are tied to our Keeper on the other side. If anything goes wrong, activate your pass and Brother Vassily send help. Any questions?"

"What happens when Emerald kills me?" I asked.

"Novitiate Glock," Quint pinched the boney bridge of his nose. "Just... don't antagonize her. Please. I don't want to have to bail both of you from Shandrian prison."

"I'm not doing anything," I huffed. "You all saw it, I gave her a hug! I'm trying to be just a friend!"

"Just a friend?" Quint asked.

"It's just that..." I pretend-stammered. "She asked me out but I told her that she's just not my type and that I like Cinder and Vee more and now she won't get off my case."

"What?" Emerald croaked weakly from where Solace propped her up. "That's not what... I would never... I'm not into humans!!!"

Quint sent Emerald and me a very annoyed look, his eyes flaring bright. Then he cleared his throat. "If you die on Shandria, your team members are to immediately bring your bracelet across the gate back to the Lazarus cavern. If they fail to do so, points will be deducted from their grade and you might find your team suspended from delving practice for a month. Any other questions?"

"What happens if our Quartermaster gets us all killed by being an insufferable troll?" Katherine asked.

"I would never!" I gasped in mock offense.

"Captains are to file daily reports about the team's activities," Quint hissed out, sounding fed up with his life. "If the report isn't filed on time, you will be contacted by me. If you do not respond, another team will be sent to investigate and if your bracelets are not found within the hour, a DelveRaid team will be sent out by the Shandrian Adventurers Guild. They're very expensive, so try not to die in places where your team can't recover your bracelet. If DelveRaid fails to locate your bracelets within the allotted time of four hours, a high level Corpse Seeker will be sent to retrieve your bracelets from the Omnithean chapel managed by Brother Vassily. Any other questions?"

No one raised their hands.

"Good. Team Stormpiercers, you're up first."

Lance, Christi and two others waved to us as they passed by and entered into the shimmering gate, sinking into it.

"Wait for me at the Guild," Quint said. "I gotta make sure everyone goes through safe from this end."

"Can do," Lance nodded. "See ya tomorrow."

Quint's team entered into the shimmering gate, sinking into it.

A few more teams followed, each disappearing into the liquid silver surface. Finally, it was our turn.

"Team 'I love you', you're up," Quint announced, his amber eyes lingering on me with obvious concern. "Remember, hold hands and dive together as not to become separated due to the temporal dilation."

"Stay close, follow my lead, and most importantly..." I grinned.

"Don't die?" Katherine suggested dryly.

"Have fun!" I grinned, grabbing her hand.

We grabbed onto each other and walked/rolled into the gate. The sensation was... indescribable. Like being pulled through liquid metal while simultaneously being stretched and compressed. Snowflake-like fractals danced across my eyes. Gravity seemed to go from pushing down on me to slapping me in the face as I swam/floated/was squeezed forward and emerged out of a silver pool.

An older-looking Omnid offered me his long-limbed hand. I recognized him as a Domovoy.

The Domovoy helped pull me out of the silver pool. He was wearing a simple brown robe with gold trim. His face was weathered and kind covered in a thick layer of dark fur. I recalled that Domovoys usually bound themselves to a specific building for life, drawing power from it. In their particular chosen domain they were nearly impossible to put down.

"M' Brother Vassily, Keeper of the Transit Gate Chapel," he introduced himself. "First time on Arx, ye?"

"Yep. Thank you for the assistance, Keeper!" I nodded, stepping aside just as Cinder emerged from the pool with a splash, her wings dripping silver liquid that evaporated into mist.

Brother Vassily helped her up as well, then assisted Io, Vespera and Katherine, using both of his ridiculously strong and stretchy limbs to heft the wheelchair and all onto the polished stone floor of the Omnithean chapel.

I looked around. The chapel seemed to be carved out of a large, cozy cavern, similar in design to the Lazarus cave, covered in gold glowing crystals. Kitlix lanterns hung from the ceiling adding shimmering light to the environment.

My body felt wobbly and I sat down onto a nearby wooden bench, trying not to throw up as my insides felt like my outsides on and off.

"Welcome to Shandria, young delvers," Brother Vassily said warmly. "We're currently six clicks below the city. That stairwell up will lead you to the Arx Bank vault. There you can procure local currency using your delver bank cards if you have such. The Adventurers Guild cathedral will be on the East side from the bank. You'll see it right away, it a very big white stone building with many spires. Can't miss it."

I nodded. My nausea was slowly settling as my body adjusted to Arx.

"Remember to register your team and obtain your iron rank badges before venturing outside the city walls. The market district is directly west of the Adventurers Guild. And please, do mind the time - Shandria's nights are quite deadly."

"Thank you, Brother," I bowed slightly. "Any recommendations for lodging?"

"The Guild has rooms that vary in prices," the hairy man replied. "I recommend the Gilded Gryphon Inn near the market. My cousin owns it."

"Much appreciated," I said. "Wait. Stairs? You don't have like an elevator or..."

Catherine gritted her teeth, standing upright. She grabbed her chair and folded it up, strapping it to her back along with the backpack and magisteel armor plates.

I blinked at her.

"What?" Katherine growled, catching my surprised look. "You think I can't walk? The chair's just easier most of the time. Less painful. Killed myself this morning. Always do before delving class."

"Ah," I nodded, feeling bad for her. "Still, six clicks of stairs seems excessive."

"It's Shandrian clicks, not Earth miles," the Domovoy pointed out. "About a mile of stairwell. You'll be up in a few hours."

I winced.

"I'll be fine," the Stollwurm said. "I'm much stronger underground. Arx has incredibly high aetheric density which helps with my... condition."

"Welcome to Arx," Brother Vassily said. "Where everything is either trying to kill you or inconvenience you to death. The stairs are warded against most forms of magical transportation - security measure for the bank vault above."

We began our ascent, Katherine moving stiffly but steadily. Cinder hovered close to her, ready to help if needed, while Vespera and Io took point.

The stairwell was wide, carved directly into the rock. Tiny Kitlix lanterns ignited to life as we came closer, dimming behind us.

After what felt like an eternity of walking up endless stairs, we emerged into a gloomy, stone vault.

A catgirl attendant rushed to our side from where she was reading a thick romance novel, opening a magisteel gate.

A catgirl?!

I sneakily pointed Yulia's camera at her. "Cryptitype not found," Yulia whispered into my ear.

"Welcome to Shandria, honored children of Omnifomrnnia," the attendant smiled at us, slightly butchering the name. "Please follow me."

The catgirl quickly scanned us with a cyan Kitlix and then unlocked a magisteel vault door about ten meters thick in front of us. The massive door swung open silently, revealing a very long tunnel, going up. The tunnel lead us to another stairwell and vault door which opened up into a grand marble hall filled with tellers' windows and currency exchange booths.

The other teams weren't anywhere. I mentally tabulated that the two hours of Earth time turned into 168 hours on Arx, which meant that the time dilation was x84. This mean that the few minutes between each team's entry stretched to hours.

"Remember to declare any magical items you wish to sell," the catgirl attendant said, stepping behind a counter. "The bank takes a 5% commission on all transactions."

"What about mundane items?" I asked.

"The value of any item will be evaluated by my Infix Kitlix, Cheeski," the woman smiled, whiskers twitching as a violet-cyan crystalline kitten rushed from her shoulder down her arm and onto the teller's table. "I'm Arx Bank rep Gabriella Matrosin. The current exchange rate for one O-dollar is..."

She listed the conversion price and the explanation of how "Ten coppers make a silver. A hundred silvers make a gold. A hundred gold make a platinum. A hundred platinum make a magisteel. A thousand magisteel make a celesteel." Which Yulia noted down.

Vee stepped to the table. "I'd like to..."

"Don't," I said. "Not done."

"Not done what?" Vespera asked, pausing mid-motion.

"Learning," I said. "Miss. Matrosin. Can we go to a private room? I have many items to sell."

"Very well," the catgirl nodded, stepping out of the booth. She lead us to a private guided office and sat behind a large wooden table.

I went into Lance's backpack and pulled out a bag with about a thousand different small items and different materials.

"Please evaluate the value of each," I said dumping the bag onto her desk.

"Sir," Gabriella's whiskers twitched with annoyance. "There are other customers that I..."

"They can wait or go to another rep," I said. "I need to know the exact value of everything."

The catgirl sighed and began scanning items with her Kitlix. Each item's value appeared on a small crystal ball display.

I kept my wrist cam pointed at the ball, building a pricing database with Yulia's help. As I expected, some items that were considered worthless on Earth held higher value on Arx, while others were practically worthless despite their Earth-side expense.

"Are you quite done?" Katherine growled after about twenty minute of the attendant going through random small items pilfered from Earth.

"No," I said, pulling out another bag.

"Ughhhh," Katherine groaned. "This is going to take forever."

"Knowledge is power," I replied cheerfully, dumping more items onto the table. "And power is money."

"Sir," Gabriella's whiskers twitched more violently. "Perhaps you could come back later..."

"Nope," I said. "Need to know now. How much for this paperclip?"

Vespera snickered beside me. Cinder had gotten bored ten minutes ago and was now sitting in the waiting area across the hall, playing candy smash on her phone. Io was snacking on interdimensional chips beside her reading what looked like an old, yellow-paged science fiction novel.

After nearly two hours of methodically cataloguing item values, I finally had a comprehensive database of what was worth selling and what wasn't. The catgirl attendant looked ready to claw my eyes out.

"Now we can exchange currency," I announced cheerfully.

"Finally!" Katherine growled. "My legs are killing me."

"You do know that you can sit down with the others over there?" I said. "Riiiight?"

"I've done enough sitting on Earth," she shot back. "I can actually walk around on Arx."

"Why don't you live on Arx like the Chapel Keeper and his family do if you feel better here?" I asked her.

The Stollwurm looked at me like I was an absolute idiot.

"There are no incarnators on Arx," she said after a few seconds of glaring at me. "I'd just be dead in three-four weeks here."

"Oh really?" I smiled. "Well, that changes everything."

I dug into my bag again and pulled out a thermos filled with incarnator fluid.

"Please let me know the value of this liquid," I said, opening the thermos.

The catgirl's eyes widened as her Kitlix scanned the thermos. The crystal display suddenly lit up with a string of zeros.

"Sir," Gabriella's voice dropped to a whisper, her tail suddenly very still. "Where did you obtain this... substance?"

"Oh, you know," I waved vaguely. "Around."

Vespera stared at me. Then she reached out with a claw and send a spark flying into the thermos. Then her eyes went wide.

"You..." she breathed out. "You dumped THAT on Ember?! You're selling THAT?!"

"Is that illegal?" I asked.

"Urm," she blinked. "You know what? I have no idea. I consider myself clever but I never thought of selling lint or paperclips or rubber bands or rocks or... THAT on Arx. How do you even... think of this shit? How are you so funny?"

"What is that stuff and why is it worth so much?" Katherine asked, clearly not recognizing Genesis fluid at a glance.

"If you don't know I ain't telling," Vespera clicked.

"Whatever, like I give a shit," Katherine huffed.

"Sir," Gabriella cleared her throat. "I'll need to call my supervisor about this... particular item if you wish to sell it to us."

"No need," I said, recapping the thermos. "Just wanted to know the value. Here, take everything off this bank card and convert it into cold, hard cash."

Katherine and Vespa read the name on the gold card. Both of them choke-gasped as I typed in the pin and the card was accepted.

"Three hundred platinum, one hundred and eleven gold and sixty coppers." The attendant handed us a bag of coins after a minute. "Will that be all?" She asked wearily.

"Yep, thanks a whole bunch, see ya," I grabbed the card back and stuffed it into my pocket.

Both girls were giving me wild looks as we walked over to where Cinder and Io were sitting. As I had killed about two hours bugging the bank teller, Cinder had dozed off, her head resting on Io's shoulder while the Mothman continued reading his "Sixty Nine Thousand Leagues Inside the Moon" book by Julie Verne.

I shoed Io off the bench and placed Cinder on my lap and then shook her awake.

"Mrmph?" Cinder blinked awake, her feathers igniting with a variety of colors from the silver-blue.

Her ocean-blue eyes widened as she realized she was using my lap as a pillow, and her feathers shifted rapidly through embarrassed pinks and startled violets.

"What... why am I..." she started, then noticed our teammates' amused expressions. Her feathers darkened to mortified reds.

"You fell asleep on Io," I explained cheerfully. "I upgraded your pillow."

"I did not!" She protested, quickly getting off me.

"Did too," Io confirmed, slipping his book inside of his bag. "You were muttering something about annoying humans in your sleep."

"I did not!" Cinder huffed.

We emerged from the bank into what appeared to be a bustling medieval fantasy city on steroids. The crowd was diverse as hell and not a single person was human or an Omnid. The towers curved in whimsical patterns, leaning down slightly. Red flags flapped in the wind featuring what looked like a nine-eyed monster in a crown. Kitlix were practically everywhere, sitting atop of people and in windowsills. Strange creatures that looked like a cross between cats and owls fluttered between rooftops.

"Ughhh. Did you seriously spend two and a half hours bothering the teller?" Cinder whined at me after about five minutes of walking as she pulled out her phone and checked the time.

"Yes."

"Whyyyyy?!"

"I learned things," I said.

"Like what?"

"The Arx Bank values items based on their magic. For example, a gold ring from Earth is almost completely worthless here," I said. "While Genesis fluid could probably buy a house. Maybe a flying castle. I dunno. Gotta shop around."

"Genesis fluid?" Cinder's eyes widened. "You... you brought Genesis fluid to Arx?!"

"Yep," I nodded. "Also, check this out - I got us some spending money." I jingled the bag of gold coins in front of her. "This is like thirty thousand gold."

"Did you... sell something that expensive?" Cinder squinted at me.

"Nope," I grinned.

"How do you know HER password?" Vespera hissed unable to help herself anymore. "Why do you have Em's card?"

"Put a spycam on her yesterday," I shrugged. "She uses the same password for all of her cards. Not very wise. Got her delver gold card while I gave her a hug."

"Holy sheet, dude, you're evil! I love it!" Vespera cackled.

"Wait... what is happening?" Cinder demanded. "Where's this money from?"

Vespera put her beaks to Cinder's ear and begun whispering furiously.

"WHAT?!" Cinder rounded on me. "YOU DID WHAT?!"

"Are you sure this is wise?" Katherine asked. "Em's already trying to get you expelled..."

"She can't hate me any more than she already does. And now she'll have to explain to her parents why she spent so much money in Shandria," I shrugged watching as Cinder ignited like a firework.

"And when she claims her card was stolen?" Katherine pressed.

"Stolen by whom, where?" I asked. "I'm going to drop her card in the middle of the Shandrian market and that'll be that. If that endless stairwell and the magisteel vault doors are anything to judge by, the Shandrian authorities don't trust Omnithornia in the slightest. Does OFBS have ANY authority here? Can Omnithean Scrutimancers interrogate the bank rep about bank cards?"

"Ummm... nope," Vespera answered. "The Arx Gate to Shandria is owned by Skyfall Academy and operated by Zalimar Evernacht. Random scruts won't be permitted to go in. I'm pretty sure Zalimar has a premium account in Arx Bank and gets a % whenever a student sells something or trades currency."

"Do you know what this means?" I asked Cinder who looked like she was about to explode.

"What?" She growled.

"Emerald will be going through last with Quint since she got herself punched into a wall so hard. Also, right before we left, I texted the school nurse to patch her up, that'll delay her even more." I said. "Due to this, we'll be ahead of her by an entire day. That's a lot of time for me to be ahead, my dudes."

"So dastardly," Vespera cackled. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Alex," Cinder said. "You can't just..."

"Cindy," I shot back. "Yes I can. I'm not permitting Em or Zal to get away with this shit anymore."

"But," she began.

"No," I shook my head. "You don't get it. All crimes committed against Omnids in Shandria are legal. Do you know what happened to Sarah Nisteroff, Ci?

"Oh," Katherine said.

"She... went out... at night," Cinder said. "Em said that..."

She fell silent.

I raised my eyebrows. "She didn't go out. Emerald tricked her into going outside and closed the door on her. Sarah died clawing against the doors as the living Shadows chopped her up. They started with her toes and fingers and then went up. The Shadows toyed with her, chased her down the street as she tried to run, tried to find safety. Her assigned team captain lied on the team report. Emerald lied as a witness. Zalimar knew about it and let it happen. He's been letting it happen for centuries! If I didn't challenge Zalimar to a duel, if I never found four friends to stand by my side-it would been me out there, getting chopped up by the Shadows next. One does NOT go to Arx alone without people they can trust, without a plan of action!"

Cinder swallowed.

"There's a reason why I'm Skyfall's only mixie student on a nearly all-covering scholarship. You don't get to tell me what's ethical on Arx, Ci. I know what Zalimar and his patsies like Emerald did to other half or quarter-human students here. Yulia talked to their families via email, conducted interviews as a journalist. I'm simply the shadow of justice that's catching up to everyone's crimes."

Chapter 31: Undertown

Cinder's feathers shifted through troubled grays and somber blues as she processed my words. Her ocean-blue eyes were wide with a mix of horror and dawning understanding.

"I... I didn't know," she whispered. "About Sarah. Em told me she was just being stupid, that she wandered out at night because she wanted to prove herself...

“Where were you when it happened?” I asked everyone.

"I was in the Gilded Gryphon Inn room," Cinder said quietly. "With Io. Em was sharing a room with Vee and Sol."

"I was high as balls," Io admitted. "Em was pissing me off so I did a bunch of stuff. Didn't even know what happened until way later."

"I didn't do shit with my assigned team," Katherine said grimly. "Told them to screw off and do whatever. Stayed in a private room in the Guild Cathedral. Broke my Captain's wrist when he tried to force me into staying with them."

I looked at Vespera.

"I was getting smashed with Sol," she said, beak facing down and looking at me with a guilty face. "Em bought us two-hundred year old Shadow-wine and we played drinking cards till we got completely wasted by nightfall. She said about teaching the nullie a lesson and I just laughed I think... I can't remember what I even said. Fuuuuck."

"Yeah," I nodded. "And that's why I drained Em's delver card. That's why I'm going to make her life on Shandria extremely unpleasant."

"Two wrongs don't make a right," Io mused.

"No," I agreed. "But three hundred platinum pieces worth of wrong might buy us enough influence to make sure it never happens again. All of you were here in Shandria and you did nothing, closed your eyes or didn't know. Sarah wasn't the first victim but I will sure as hell make sure that she is the last."

A heavy silence fell over our group as the thoroughly shamed Omnids and I walked through the bustling streets of Shandria.

. . .

"So... Guild time?" Io asked, trying to fill in the silence between us.

"Not yet," I shook my head, latching onto a colorful merchant who manned a table filled with various fruits.

"Excuse me!" I called out to the man, who appeared to be some kind of bird-headed being. "What are those and how much?"

"Thems springapples from my farm," the man replied. "Three copper for twenty."

"Perfect!" I handed over three copper coins and received a bag of springapples. "So tell me about your farm..."

"Oh for Slayer's sake," Katherine groaned as I engaged the merchant in an enthusiastic discussion about agriculture on Arx. “More delays.”

The bird-headed man, who introduced himself as Agromancer Krekof, was more than happy to talk about his family's springapple orchard just outside the city walls, tended by a large tentacled walker-type beast known as the Agrilopod. After milking him dry about this and that, I moved onto another merchant and then another.

For the next hour, I systematically interrogated every merchant, street vendor, and random passerby within reach about their wares, lives, and local customs. Katherine's patience visibly deteriorated with each interaction, while Vespera found the whole thing mildly amusing. Cinder alternated between exasperated sighs and curious listening, occasionally adding her own questions or just browsing downloaded games on her phone looking bored.

Io just kept munching his interdimensional chips, occasionally offering commentary about how certain market items reminded him of things he'd seen through his gates.

I learned about local politics, market prices, guild regulations, and most importantly - which areas to avoid. The merchants were particularly eager to warn us about the "bad" districts and share gossip about Highborns, monster attacks, dungeons, farms, the Shadow Leviathan that ate people at night and Kitlix that were born from old magical items.

As we made our way through the winding streets of Shandria, I continued my relentless information gathering campaign, until my throat felt raw. Every few steps brought a new target - street sweepers, window washers, food cart operators, even children playing with strange magic toys.

Katherine's eye twitching became more pronounced with each delay.

I learned the prices of everything from street food to construction materials, with Yulia transcribing our conversations. Due to lack of internet the AI wasn't connected to the various Omncorp LLM APIs so she wasn't as clever or as fast at sorting information, but she was still cataloguing everything for review later.

The local currency seemed to follow a completely different value system than Earth or Omnithornia, heavily favoring certain magical properties over raw materials. This was because Arx was insanely wealthy when it came to raw materials, plus some mages could convert materials into pure gold or diamonds with ease.

As my companions grew progressively weary, I pulled them into a cafe and we all enjoyed a hearty lunch. I swallowed my meal quickly and then chatted at the crowgirl waitress while everyone ate their food like normal people.

In another hour, I pulled everyone into an imposing building covered in red and black flags.

"Why are we here?" Cinder asked. "This isn't the Adventurers Guild."

"It's better," I grinned. "This is the Guild of Manhunters."

"The what? WHAT?" Most of my companions made noises like a confused flock. Only Vespera was giving me an evaluating look.

I ignored them, walking to the teller booths.

The teller who greeted us was composed of gray stone and pale blue sapphire, his crystalline features catching the light as he moved. He was basically a fusion of a rock and a person.

"Welcome to the Guild of Manhunters," he said, stone beard twinkling. "I'm Zelsh Gofrotash How may we assist you today?"

"I'd like to place a bounty," I said cheerfully.

"A bounty?" The man arched an eyebrow. "Do you have the cash? Minimum bounty is ten thousand gold."

"I jiggled my coin bag."

"Very well, follow me to my office to discuss the details," the man said.

"Who is the target?" Zelsh asked as he sat down behind a marble desk, offering our group leather seats.

"This individual," I showed the man a picture of Emerald on my phone. "Emerald Stratos. She'll be arriving in Shandria within the next 28 hours or less via a gate. She will emerge from the Arx bank on 303 Mantaray Street."

"Alex!" Cinder hissed, grabbing my arm. "You... The Manhunters are serious business! Are you seriously going to have Em assassinated?!"

"Oh, I'm not asking them to kill her," I clarified, turning back to the crystalline teller. "Just... inconvenience her a bit. Make her stay in Shandria somewhat unpleasant. Nothing permanent. Put a bag over her head for a week, keep her in a basement... until I heroically rescue her of course. I wouldn't want her to die here."

"This can be arranged," the rock-man nodded. "A week of opponent imprisonment is thirty thousand gold. What level mage is she? What's her alignment?"

"She's a Rubicund Lindworm," I explained. "High-level predator with fire abilities, enhanced strength, and expensive protective gear. Her alignment is Chaotic Evil with a side of entitled brat."

"No," Zelsh shook his stoney head. "I don't know what a Rubicund Lindworm is. What's her magical alignment?"

"She's basically a dragon, I guess," I shrugged. "Throws dragonfire around. Weak to water jets."

"Hrm," the crystal man stroked his glittering beard. "Given the target's capabilities, that would raise the price to fifty thousand gold. We'd need to employ specialized containment methods."

"Fifty thousand?" I whistled. "That's a bit steep. What about just following her around and making her life difficult? What can I get for twenty thousand gold? Can you annoy her for a week and then make sure she ends up in a situation where she'll need rescue due to falling into a well or something?"

"For twenty thousand, we can arrange for continuous harassment and minor inconveniences," the crystal man replied. "Falling into a well can be arranged too. Our agents will ensure her stay in Shandria is thoroughly unpleasant without causing permanent harm."

"Perfect!" I pulled out Em's money. "Here's twenty thousand gold. Make sure she has the worst week of her life. She will try to attack my group, your job will be to distract her with random NPC events."

"I'm not familiar with the term NPC," Zelsh said. "But I understand that you wish her 'distracted'."

Cinder twitched beside me, but didn't argue.

The crystal man counted the coins quickly and nodded. "Contract accepted. Our agents will begin surveillance as soon as the target arrives through the gate. Do you have any specific requests for the type of harassment?"

"Nothing violent," I said thoughtfully. "Maybe... dump smelly water on her occasionally from windows or have children throw apples at her. Be creative. Don't be obvious about it."

"Absolutely," the crystal teller nodded. "Harassment without physical damage. Thank you for your patronage."

"I can't believe you just did that," Katherine muttered from behind us as we walked out of the Guild. "Actually, wait. Yes I can."

"Impressive," Vespera clicked her beak. "Fifty shades of petty revenge. Didn't know that the Manhunters guild could be asked to annoy someone like that."

"Talk to enough random people and you too will be wise," I grinned.

Cinder simply sighed, given up on trying to make me deviate from my anti-Emerald plans.

"Don’t look so glum, Ci. It's basic corporate psychological warfare," Vespera shrugged. "Ain't nothing new under the sun. I don't have a beef with Em, since I mooched off her gold for years, but Lex obviously has a plan that requires this. Who am I to question my wise human husbando?"

"I am crushed with your compliments," I pretended to faint. "Husbando? At least take me to dinner first!"

"But darling," Vespera draped herself dramatically across my shoulders, her magisteel armor clinking. "I thought what we had was special! All those meaningful glances across the classroom, the way you let me zap your..."

"Ci! You've known him for like four days!" Cinder growled.

"Ah, but tis love at first spark," Vespera sighed dreamily. "When he walked past art class looking like a perfect snack, I just knew..."

"Will you two STOP?!" Cinder hissed, wings shifting through angry reds and jealous greens.

"Never!" Vespera cackled. "Your reactions are too precious! Look at those colors! You're like a walking rainbow of denial! This is so much more fun than you being drab and dark around Em. Gosh. I'm tingling all over."

"You're insufferable," Cinder growled at us both.

"And you love us for it," I grinned. "Now come on, we've got an Adventurers Guild to visit before all the good quests are taken."

"Finally!" Katherine exclaimed. "Something actually productive!"

"Follow," I grinned at her, wrapping my arms around Cinder and Vespera.

I led our group through winding alleys, following directions gathered from various merchants.

"Umm. The Adventurers Guild is that way," Katherine pointed at a massive cathedral-like structure visible above the rooftops.

"We're taking a shortcut," I said, turning down a narrow side street.

"This doesn't look like a shortcut," Cinder commented as we descended a set of worn stone steps into what appeared to be a lower district.

"Trust me," I grinned, "It's a shortcut to adventure!"

After descending down a series of winding tunnels following nondescript markings on walls, we emerged into a dimly lit cavern district known as Undertown.

A mindbogglingly massive, dark cavern stretched out into all directions from a stairwell balcony that we were standing at. Fog rolled across some of the streets below.

The ceiling dripped with bioluminescent fungus, casting an eerie, dying blue-green glow over cramped buildings that seemed to grow directly from the stone walls. Unlike the carefully planned streets above, Undertown was a maze of twisted alleys and precarious walkways.

"This isn't the Adventurers Guild," Katherine growled.

"Of course it's not," I grinned, listening to Yulia's whisper-instructions in my ear. "We're going to the other Adventurers Guild."

"The what? What other Guild?!" Cinder demanded as we descended some stone stairs and then rickety wooden stairs into the fog-filled streets below.

"The Gloomy Horse tavern," I explained. "According to that friendly gargoyle chimney sweep I talked to, it's where all the best underground information brokers hang out."

"Information brokers?" Katherine demanded. "We're supposed to be registering at the Guild, not diving into the criminal underworld!"

"Who says?"

"The school curriculum?" The Stollwurm growled.

"We're taking a different path," I grinned at her. "The dark gloomy path. Aren't you stronger underground? Pull those googles off. This is your place. Embrace it. Become the predator you were meant to be."

Katherine realized how dark it was, stopped and pulled her goggles and hood off. "Happy?"

"See? You're practically glowing down here," I noted. "Much better than those bright, colorful, merry, whimsical streets above."

"That's not the point," she growled, but I noticed her tail was moving with more energy, her footsteps silent even as she had a huge wheelchair covered in shields on her back.

"The point is work to our strength," I said. "The point is that Omnithornia is a civilized 21st century society... while this place isn't in the slightest. This is a dark cesspit. You clearly love it here. Admit it."

The Stollwurm huffed.

We approached what appeared to be a tavern carved directly into the cavern wall. A weathered wooden sign depicted a half-dead horse standing in the fog and looking at a crumbling old tower hung above the entrance. I could hear muffled conversations and the clinking of glasses from within.

"This looks... sketchy as eF," Cinder commented, her feathers shifting through wary grays.

"Perfect," I grinned, pushing open the heavy wooden door.

The interior was dimly lit by faintly glowing Kitlix inside hanging beer jugs.

The bartender was a tall, gaunt figure with pale skin and glowing violet-gray eyes, his hair and beard looking like it was made from dead roots. As I approached, he was polishing a glass with a rag that had seen better centuries.

"What's your poison?" he asked in a gravelly voice.

"Information," I replied, sliding onto a barstool. "I heard the Gloomy Horse serves the finest in town. I'm looking for an... adventure."

The bartender's violet eyes narrowed slightly. "Adventure is only for those who can prove themselves. Information's expensive. What kind are you looking for?"

"The kind that doesn't show uptown," I said, sliding a gold coin over to him.

The bartender's eyes gleamed as he took in our expensive delving gear and magisteel armor.

"Follow," he said.

We did, passing by gaunt, filthy, cloak wrapped figures nursing their alcohol jugs.

The man waved a hand and a wall of dark roots parted.

We ended up in another, even darker section of the bar that was carved from bedrock and covered in roots framing the walls. There were a few dark alcoves all around between the roots.

He snapped his gnarled fingers, and several cloaked figures emerged from the shadows, surrounding our group.

"Fresh meat from upstairs," he grinned, revealing teeth that looked like broken tombstones. "Rich little delvers who wandered too far from the light. How... fortunate."

"Oh good," I said cheerfully. "You're going to try to rob us. Kat, would you kindly drop these fine gentlemen into the deep?"

Katherine's emerald eyes flared in the dim light. The shadows around us suddenly deepened, becoming almost tangible. The temperature dropped sharply as her Stollwurm fear aura activated, amplified by the underground environment.

"With pleasure," she growled, and living darkness exploded outward.

The cloaked figures recoiled, a few of their weapons clattering to the ground as primal terror gripped them. Even the bartender stepped back, his violet eyes widening.

The nearest hooded figure, seemingly resistant to Katherine's fear aura, lunged forward with a wicked-looking curved blade. The knife slashed across Katherine's camo jacket and stopped upon encountering magisteel plates. Before he could strike again, Katherine spun with inhuman speed, her tail whipping around like a steel cable. The impact sent the attacker flying across the room, crashing through a table and several chairs before slamming into the far wall with a sickening crunch.

"Anyone else?" Katherine growled, her emerald eyes blazing in the darkness she'd created. The remaining attackers backed away, clearly reconsidering their life choices.

"Now then," I turned back to the bartender, who was looking considerably less confident. "About that information. I believe we were discussing prices?"

"What... what are you?" the bartender whispered, staring at Katherine with wide violet eyes.

"Who do you think we are?" I asked.

A cyan and black Kitlix emerged from the man's root-mane. It stared at me with crystalline, glowing eyes.

"You're a level zero human," the bartender said. "And your four companions are..."

He fell silent for a moment.

"Quetzalcoatl, Stollwurm, Deathskull Mothman, Thunderbird...." he said. "But... that's it. That can't be it."

"Oh?" I asked. "What's wrong with that?"

"I've never heard of such kin," the bartender said. "And I've had my share of… clients."

"Ah, yes," I nodded. "We're from somewhere very, very far away. Somewhere beyond the Wheel."

The bartender's face paled.

"What?" He croaked.

"Can your mages open gateways to other worlds?" I asked him.

"No," The bartender shook his head.

"Io," I grinned. "Would you kindly demonstrate to our good man what you can do?"

The Mothman nodded, pulling out his harmonica. A haunting melody filled the closed section of the tavern, and reality began to ripple behind the bar, weaving a shadowy gate.

I picked up an empty mug and chucked it through the portal, tearing apart the black membrane. The mug rolled through the desolate landscape.

Through the gateway, we caught glimpses of a post-apocalyptic cityscape - broken skyscrapers, violet stars, and what appeared to be a massive fallen piece of something, perhaps a fallen megastructure. A thing was walking between skyscrapers, a black figure covered in a shawl of what looked like human skin. A thousand silver-blue eyes shone atop of its head. It turned towards the portal.

The bartender stumbled backwards, his violet eyes wide with terror. "By her Shadow... what manner of magic is this?"

"That's a dimensional gate," I said. "To another world. That’s… Mr. Noodles. He collects skins, I guess. It would take a single word for one of my lovely Knights to throw you in there and close that gate forever. Or you can work with us. Tell me everything about Shandria's Underworld. Dungeon locations. Secret knowledge not meant for ears of simpletons above. Be extremely honest and cooperative and I will reward you with currency." I jiggled my money bag.

The bartender swallowed hard, his violet eyes darting between the still-open gateway, Katherine's glowing emerald eyes, and my pleasant smile.

"I... see," he said carefully. "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. You have proven yourself as high-level mages and not mere children. Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am… Guild Master Motrdem, owner of the Gloomy Horse... Undertown Adventurers Guild."

"Excellent!" I beamed, motioning for Io to close the gate. "Now we're getting somewhere. First round's on me. Something old and magically potent from your catacombs for my friends."

As Motrdem hurried to fetch drinks, I noticed the remaining cloaked figures had melted back into the shadows. The one Katherine had thrown was being dragged away by his companions.

I looked at Katherine and my heartbeat accelerated. She stood by me, panting slightly. Her bulky coat was apart, revealing a very curvy, fit body covered in glittering magisteel plates.

Her emerald eyes were still blazing with predatory intensity, and the darkness around her seemed to pulse with each breath. She looked like a completely different person here - dangerous, powerful... alive.

"Wow," I said. "Kat. You're stunning. How did I not realise this?"

Cinder choked from where she was standing. Vee smirked. Io dug out a pack of interdimensional candies called “Dora’s Tongue-Terraforming twisters.”

Emerald eyes flashed to me sending my thoughts careening into dark places, then quickly looked away. A blush crept across Kat’s face as she pulled her torn jacket tighter.

"Shut up," she growled, but there was less bite in it than usual.

"No, seriously," I continued. "You're like this badass underground predator ninja. The way you just yeeted that guy across the room? Amazing. And the fear aura? Chef's kiss. Perfect execution. You're not even wincing when you move... how?"

"This place is dark," she said. "Darker than mere shadows. Full of treachery, fear, death and misery. Many people died here in pain over millennia. It feeds my heart, fuels my dark furnace."

She pulled the giant magisteel sword from the wheelchair strapped to her back and swung it through the air, making it hum ominously.

"Like a true Stollwurm," I nodded appreciatively. "Haven't you been down here... in Undertown?"

"No, I have not," she said. "Zalimar does not permit students to break protocol. He makes Quint stay behind for a bit and goes in first. Nobody could deviate from the program under his watch."

"Ye," Vee clicked. "The Koshei’s lessons are bone-dry."

"Speaking of bone-dry," I grinned as Motrdem returned with drinks. "Motr - what can you tell us about the dungeons beneath Shandria?"

The bartender set down our drinks - something dark and smoking in heavy crystal glasses.

I eyed Io. The Motman grabbed a drink and sipped it. "No doom. Just good ol' vintage Shadow-wine."

"There are many dungeons around Shandria," the Guildmaster said. "Whenever a mage dies, a dungeon is born. The more people and beasts a dungeon core kills, the deeper it sinks into the hollow-filled shell of Arx. Go deep enough and you'll find a dungeon worth your salt."

"How deep are we talking?" I asked, leaving my drink be. I needed a clear mind.

"There isn't an upper limit," the Guild Master shrugged. "The deeper down you go, the more dangerous the dungeons become."

"What is the purpose of dungeon delving? I asked.

"Dungeons are where most potent magical items come from," Motrdem explained. "Take the Abystall dungeon below the east edge of Undertown. It is nine hundred years old and killed many. The core is around level 600 and whenever a Celestorm passes overhead, things manifest in the dungeon."

"Things such as?"

"Things woven from dreams and desires of men who died there or are delving there now," the bartender revealed. "Swords that can cleave through a hundred men. Armor that turns the wearer into living shadow. Rings that make its wearer invincible. Magically charged gold. Magically charged gems. Artifacts of power."

"And what happens to delvers who die in these dungeons?" I asked.

"They become bound to the dungeon as Sentinels, walking hives," Motrdem shrugged. "Smaller monsters grow inside their flesh which slowly becomes more and more aligned to whatever the dungeon's alignment is."

"Interesting," I nodded. "And these dungeons... they all have cores?"

"Yes," the bartender confirmed. "The core is the heart of the dungeon. It is a skill of a long dead great mage bound into crystalline strata."

"So if one were to, hypothetically, want to start their own dungeon..." I began.

The bartender blinked at me like I was insane.

"Kill a powerful mage in the wild," he said. "Place the core somewhere where someone won’t pawn it for a few decades. That's it."

"So you're saying," I leaned forward, "that if someone were to kill a powerful mage and place their core in a random room on Arx, a dungeon would just... form? Just like that?"

"Yes," Motrdem nodded.

"Do you people not have cemeteries?" I asked.

"No," he said. "We do not. Those that die in Shandria are burned on the spot, the cores taken by the City Watch. Their cores fuel the Ward of Shandria."

"And what are Celestorms?" I asked.

As Motrdem launched into an explanation of magical weather phenomena that summoned wild monsters into existence, I felt Cinder lean against my shoulder.

"What are you planning?" she whispered in my ear.

"Just gathering information," I replied quietly.

"You're plotting something," she insisted. "I can tell by that look in your eyes."

"Me? Plot? Never," I grinned. "I'm just a simple human trying to learn about this fascinating world."

"Simple human my tail," Cinder muttered, but stayed close.

I continued questioning Motrdem about everything from Guilds, to dungeon mechanics, to local politics, building a mental map of Shandria's power structure. The Guild Master, seemingly relieved we weren't going to throw him into another dimension, proved to be a trove of very interesting information.

Katherine remained standing beside me, occasionally interjecting with surprisingly insightful questions about the deeper dungeons. Staying in the dark tavern, far below ground was doing wonders for her health.

Vespera had settled into a corner booth, wings crackling softly as she listened and took notes on her phone. Despite the lack of signal to Omnithornia, the device still worked as a notepad. Cinder had gotten bored, lost track of my incessant question and was chewing on a wyvern leg next to Vee, obliterating it bone and all.

In another hour of chatter, I checked the time on my phone and saw that it was getting late.

“Got a room for five with decent wards where nobody will bug us?” I asked.

“Yes,” the Guild Master nodded. “Two silver a night.”

I slipped the silver over to him.

“Bring us more of this Shadow-wine and dinner,” I said. "Guys order whatever you feel like, your Quartermaster is covering it."

Chapter 32: Sparks

The room Motrdem led us to was surprisingly cozy for being carved into solid rock.

It featured a Slayer-sized bed in the middle that could fit four people in it and four smaller beds carved into alcoves, each for a single person. A table and a couch were carved into solid rock as well and a fireplace with a bunch of dried, thick roots sat in the corner with an Ignix Kitlix in it.

Three animated paintings dominated the walls, enchanted scenes providing both light and ambiance. The one in the middle was that of a stormy ocean. It filled one wall with crashing waves and distant lightning, creating a soothing background noise. Windswept mountains on another wall showed snow swirling across jagged peaks, while the third depicted a peaceful valley covered in blue flowers that swayed in an eternal spring breeze.

"Depictomancer work," Io explained as I stared at the art with fascination. "Works well when there are no windows. They say that the artists place bits of their soul into these."

"Cool," I nodded as I grabbed a fried wyvern leg brought by the cook. "Alright team, let's talk strategy."

"Strategy for what?" Katherine asked, setting her wheelchair and bag down and collapsing backwards onto the large bed with a loud THUMP. "We still haven't registered at the actual Guild."

"Not interested in that," I said. "The uptown Guild is too restrictive. They'll want us to do boring fetch quests and monster hunts."

"So you want to do Quests for the Undertown Guild, is that it?" Cinder deduced. "The Abyss am I supposed to put in my report, Alex? That we're working for criminals and murderers?"

"You'll write that we completed a series of iron rank quests and had a lovely time," I grinned. "No need to mention which Guild issued them."

"That's dishonest," Cinder protested weakly. “I… have to be an honest captain.”

"I see that our captain has inexplicably high moral backbone," I said. "Fine. I'll buy a decrepit building in Undertown tomorrow from the local Guild Master and open my own Adventurers Guild and give myself Quests."

"What?" Cinder sputtered. "That's... even more..."

"More what? It's perfectly legal to make our own Guild," I said. "I asked. Shandria doesn't have copyright laws or that many Guild setup laws. We can name it ‘THE Adventurers Guild’ and register ourselves as its only members."

Cinder threw up her hands. "Fine! Do whatever! I give up. It's clear that I can't out-think your insane bullshit."

She grabbed a bottle of Shadow-wine and began chugging it.

"Woah there," I grabbed the bottle from her. "At least use a glass."

"Give it back!" Cinder growled, her feathers shifting through irritated oranges.

"Nope," I said. "Not until you hear my plan."

"What plan?" she demanded. "The plan to start our own criminal guild?"

"It's not a criminal guild," I said. "It's a perfectly legitimate Guild that will provide us with the perfectly legitimate framework to operate on Arx indefinitely."

“Operate on Arx indefinitely?” Cinder demanded. “How?! You do realise that eventually they’ll assign us a very stern substitute who will actually monitor our every move and make us do things properly... and then our Koshei Instructor will be back and smack all of us for insubordination and potentially ban us from the Arx gate?"

"That's not going to stop me," I said.

"What?!" Cinder demanded. "That would absolutely stop you, the Abyss are you talking about?!"

I put the wine bottle onto the table, dug into my bag and pulled out a cluster of silver-white, sparkling eggs.

Everyone stared at the egg cluster, eyes bulging and mouths open.

“Is that what I think it is?” Vee swallowed.

“Gate Weaver eggs,” I nodded with a giddy expression. “Yes.”

“Where the shit did you get those?!” Cinder barked.

“Raided Zalimar’s office,” I said. "His door succumbed to a credit card."

Vee grabbed the wine bottle from the table and finished it and chucked it into a corner.

Then, she aimed a talon at the fireplace and sent a loud bolt of lightning into the wood, igniting it. The Kitlix glanced at her, possibly annoyed that she had taken its job. The Thunderbird settled on the plush white-beast rug facing the fire and wiggling her legs, chainman twinkling. "Kay. I’m in,” she laughed. “It's utterly ridiculous, unexpected and... Actually legal. We get to make our own rules and visit Arx as much as we want to. No more boring Zalimar-approved quests."

"Exactly," I nodded. "We can create our own ranking system, set our own objectives, and most importantly, choose which dungeons to explore."

"And how exactly are we going to explain this to the school?" Katherine asked from the large bed, staring at the Weaver’s eggs with wide, cute, emerald eyes.

"That's up to our lovely captain," I waved a hand at Cinder. "Writing reports about our 'activities' is her job."

"Ughhhhh, I'm going to need more wine," Cinder groaned.

"Here ya go, boss," Io dug into his bag and tossed her another bottle.

Cinder caught the bottle and squinted at the smiling paperclip mascot on the label. "Is this safe? The eF is 'SCA-approved alcoholic beverage?'"

"Probably," Io shrugged. "I mean, I'm still alive. Someone somewhere approved it."

"That's not very reassuring," Katherine commented dryly. I saw that she was making a bed-nest of sorts out of the sheets and blankets.

Cinder shrugged, snapped the top off the bottle with her claws, chugged the entire drink before I could say anything and then slid onto the stone-carved, pillow covered couch.

"Mmmm," Cinder let out after a few minutes, her feathers shifting through warm pinks and relaxed golds. "This is actually pretty good. Tastes like... rainbows and happiness."

"You are drunk," I commented. "Slayer! Do you people just come to Arx to boose up?"

"Mostly, ye," Vee commented from the rug next to the fire. “The drinking age in Omnithornia is twenty one years old. We’re eighteen, my dude. Obs’ we gonna alcohol up on Arx.”

"Am not drunk, okkay?" Cinder protested, her wings fluttering. "Just... everything is really sparkly and nice. And you!" She pointed at me accusingly, though her feathers were shifting through affectionate pinks.

"Me?"

"You're all... sparkly too! Like a human-shaped shiny Poke-mon! With your stupid cute smile and your stupid isssnane, absurd plans and... and..."

"Ci's a lightweight," Vespera commented, crackling with amusement. "Two bottles of happy juice and she's gone."

"Am not!" Cinder protested. "I'm just... observating stuff! And Alex is very... observable. And Guild-start-able. How do you even think of this stuff?"

She reached out and pulled me to the couch. "Stop hoverin' and commerrrr!"

I landed next to her with an 'oof' as she nuzzled into my side, her feathers shifting through a kaleidoscope of warm colors. “Wass in youuur head?” She demanded slurring her words.

"Space brain worms from beyond the stars," I joked.

Glancing at Kat I noticed that she had finished her bed-fort-nest and was now snoozing softly like a curled up dragon-cat. Io had settled into an alcove nursing another Nonpareil-themed drink while reading his Inside the Moon Adventures novel again.

"Jussst dat? Noooo way," Cinder giggled, poking my cheek. "You've got like... a whole SYSTEM in there. Like a big complicated machine. With star gears and stuff. And feelings. And... secrets."

“Uh-huh,” I rolled my eyes.

"Wanna know a secret?" Cinder whispered loudly, leaning close to me.

"Yes," I said.

Would she finally tell me about what happened to her two years ago? Or would I learn...

Annnd…. She fell asleep on me. Don't know what I expected.

I sighed as Cinder's breathing evened out, her feathers shifting through peaceful blues and silvers as she used me as a pillow.

"Thar she goes," Vespera commented from her spot by the fire. "Like clockwork. Two drinks and she's out."

"Does this happen often?" I asked.

"Only when she feels safe," Vespera clicked softly. "Usually she's too wound up to relax like this. Em always had her on edge, ya know? Making her prove herself, pushing her to be more wary of everyone, more 'predatory'. This is... nice. Haven't seen her this chill in two years."

I carefully adjusted my position so Cinder would be more comfortable, her wings draped over both of us like a feathered blanket.

The fire crackled as I thought about my first day on Arx and what tomorrow would bring.

Io's book fell from his fuzzy paw as he passed out, the thump made Kat's large ears twitch ever so slightly like radar dishes in the direction of the noise.

Vespera was still awake, feathered tail wagging left and right as she stared at the fire.

“Hey Vee?” I asked.

“Mmmm?” She turned, half facing me. Gray eyes stared at me reflecting the fire.

“Who are you?” I asked her.

Vespera's beak clicked softly as she considered it. Her black and white feathers shifted in the firelight, casting dancing shadows on the wall.

"Who wants to know?" She asked with a bit of a drawl. "N' why?"

"I do," I said. "Yulia nominated you as a potential team member for plan D aka ‘Delving buddy’ but I didn't really dig too deep as to the 'why'. So, I want to know who you really are… from the bird's mouth as it were."

"A very loaded question," she finally said, her voice without the usual spice, Valley girl accent completely gone. "Who am I? I'm many things. Daughter of Thunder blood. Heir to SimmiTech Industries. Best of 2024 class in artificery. Former D&D troupe member..."

She paused, clicking her beak thoughtfully.

"But I think what you're really asking is - who am I beneath all those labels, yeh?" She turned to face me fully.

“Yes,” I nodded. “You don't make sense in my mind yet. I only see your shallows. You are not protecting my human butt just because it's funny. There has to be more to it.”

Vespera was quiet for a long moment.

“You know,” she began. “I've been playing the ditzy Valley girl for so long…”

She shifted, her magisteel armor clinking softly.

"My father... he's a brilliant man. SimmiTech is the leading manufacturer of magitek in Omnithornia. And me? I'm supposed to be his perfect heir. Smart, capable, ready to take over the company someday."

She let out a bitter laugh.

"But that's not who I want to be. I don't want to spend my life in board meetings, discussing profit margins and market shares. I want... To fly. I want to be free.”

“Free?”

“I want to start my own... something, you kno'? I'm bound to my father's name and legacy. Bound to another heir of another Omnicorp."

"Bound to an heir?"

"I’m… Engaged to a Jin Chan imbecile," she let out with a growl.

"Arranged marriage?" I asked, perhaps a bit too loudly. Cinder curled against me tighter, making a soft noise.

"Yep," Vespera clicked her beak bitterly. "To unite SimmiTech with Golden Star Industries. The Jin Chan family specializes in… precognition stuff. They design probability engines. My father thinks it's a perfect match - combining our electrical expertise with their probability tools could revolutionize magitek development."

She paused, sparks dancing between her talons.

"But Zheng, my fiancé... he's exactly what you'd expect from someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Entitled, arrogant, treats everyone beneath him like dirt. Has a bazillion proper-ness expectations."

"Are you acting ditzy to drive him away or something?" I asked.

"Partially," Vespera sighed. "It started as a way to annoy him. He wants a proper, sophisticated Primo-Wife? Fine. I'll be the complete opposite, an extra-dum’ beerch. But then... it became more than that. Being the airhead party girl meant people underestimated me. Didn't expect anything from me. Didn't force me into stuff. It was... freeing, in a way."

She paused, running a hand through her feathers.

"My father..." she sighed. "He's disappointed with my behaviour, but he figures I'll 'grow out of it' eventually."

"But you won't," I said. "Because that's not who you are."

"Mmmm," she agreed. "I'm decent at what I do. I understand magitek better than most of our senior engineers. I can see the patterns in electrical flows, even understand how they interact with probability matrices. But if I show that... if I let people see how capable I am… then…”

"They'll expect you to be the perfect heir for the planned corporate merger," I finished.

"Exactly!" she clicked. "So I play dumb. I follow Em around like a lost puppy. I pretend to care about nothing but fashion, memes, hashtags and social media. And everyone believes it because it's easier than looking deeper."

She turned to look at me, her gray eyes intense.

"But you... you saw through it. You and your cheeky AI figured out who I really am. And instead of using that information against me, you offered me a chance to be myself. To be part of something real… something different.”

I nodded.

“Ya know,” She clicked her beak thoughtfully. "When I saw you walk into class, pretending to be Alexander Glock... I recognized that same mask. The careful construction of a persona. But you weren't doing it to escape expectations - you were doing it to change things. To make a difference."

"And that interests you?" I asked.

"It fascinates me," she admitted. "You're like this... this agent of chaotic good, breaking down the walls between humans and Omnids. Making people question everything they thought they knew. And you do it with such style! Such poise!”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

She gestured at the sleeping forms of our teammates.

"You've united a group of misfits, challenged authority, and made us all better for it. Io doesn't talk much about his feelings, but I can see that he's actually happy to be useful. Like, that gate he opened today to scare the Undertown Guild Master. It had value, purpose.”

"And you?" I asked softly.

"Me?" Vespera's gray eyes met mine. "I'm totally fucked, to be completely honest. Part of me wants to run away to Arx ASAP. I can't stand the sight, the texture, or the intelligence level of my fiance. I can't do it. I can't be my dad's Primo-anything and it hurts. I don't want to disappoint him and yet I am. I absolutely am.”

"Have you told him?" I asked.

"Told him what? That I hate everything about my arranged marriage? That I'd rather run away than marry Zheng?" Vespera's feathers crackled with suppressed electricity. "That I understand magitek but I'm terrified of being trapped in an office, trapped in a system that divides everyone from everyone, puts people into castes, ties corpo mergers to weddings?”

"Yes," I nodded. "All of that."

“I've alluded to it,” she said. “I've alluded to things I didn't want to do before. He said ‘use your control over the current to rewrite your brain. Optimize yourself. Change who you are until you are perfect.”

"That's..." I searched for words. "That's pretty messed up."

"Yeah," she agreed. "And the worst part? I could probably do it. I understand enough about bioelectrical patterns to attempt it. These babies were made by dad for it.” She clicked her magisteel talons. “But then... I wouldn't be me anymore, would I? I'd be some perfectly optimized version that fits his vision of the perfect future.”

Her eyes filled with sparks of tears.

“All of this is just me wasting time, you kno’,” she let out. “Killing time until I have no choice but to overwrite myself. What am I accomplishing? Fuck all. Where am I going? Nowhere!”

"And that's why you jumped at the chance to help a human infiltrator?" I asked. "Because any change is better than the fate waiting for you?"

"Pretty much," she laughed bitterly. "When Em started screaming about you being human, I thought - finally, something interesting! Something real! And then you just... embraced it. Made it into this elaborate joke that everyone's in on except Em. She can scream all she wants to but it's like you shifted reality and she's just stuck on the same track heading off a bridge and has no idea what to do.”

She smiled softly and wiped at her eyes, more sparks falling.

"That's why you keep joking about marrying me?" I asked. "To cope?"

"Partly," she admitted. "It's also because you're the exact opposite of what my parents want for me. A human? With no status, no magical ability, no corporate connections? They'd have an absolute meltdown." She grinned through her tears. "Plus, you're actually fun to be around. You don't look at me like I'm just some corporate asset to be optimized."

I nodded.

"You're literally everything my father fears," Vespera laughed quietly. "A human infiltrator using technology to subvert Omnithean society. And here I am, helping you. Because at least it's MY choice. Not his. Not Zheng's. Mine!”

Vespera's talons tapped against her magisteel armor.

"You know what the worst part is?" she whispered. "Dad's not even a bad person. He loves me. He wants what's best for me. He just... can't see that his version of 'best' is killing who I really am."

"Parents often hurt us most when trying to help," I said, thinking of how mom pushed me onto Uncle George instead of telling me the truth.

"Yeah," she agreed. "And the thing is... I get it. I understand the business logic. The political advantages. The technological possibilities. This murger could revolutionize everything. But..."

Her voice cracked.

"But I can't do it," she lamented. "I can't marry someone who looks at humans and sees vermin. Who treats Omnid service staff like they're beneath him. Who thinks that everything and everyone exists just to serve him. And I can't... I can't let them rewrite my brain to make me want it, want him!"

Tears were flowing freely now, sparks dancing between them.

"Dad says it wouldn't hurt," she continued. "That it would be slow, day by day, month by month. That I wouldn't even realize anything had changed. That I'd just... wake up one day and be happy with my life. Be the perfect daughter he always wanted. But that terrifies me more than anything. The idea that I could just... stop being me. Stop caring about the things I care about right now."

I carefully shifted Cinder off me onto the couch and moved to sit beside Vespera. She flinched slightly as I approached but didn't pull away when I put an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey," I said softly. "Look at me."

She turned her tear-streaked face towards me, gray eyes swimming with gold sparks.

"You are not going to let them rewrite who you are," I said firmly. "You know why? Because you're stronger than that. You're not just some corporate asset to be optimized. You're Vespera fucking Simmi, and you get to choose who you want to be."

"But what choice do I have?" she whispered. "I can't run away - they'd find me. I can't fight back - they're too powerful. I can't even tell anyone because who would believe the ditzy party girl over the respected CEO?"

"I believe you," I said. "And I'm going to help you."

She let out a bitter laugh. "How? You're just one human."

I stared at her.

“Fine, you're a sneaky, clever hobbit,” she said. “One that's constantly walking atop the blade of a knife. Seriously tho, what are you going to do? Fight my father's entire corporate empire? Blow up my fiance's compound?”

"Ehhh," I shrugged. "There are smarter ways.”

“Such as?”

“I don't know,” I shrugged. “It's late and my brain is soup and Yulia doesn't nave internet access to provide greater API AI-wisdom. For now, I can provide a shoulder to cry on, as is my job as your Quartermaster.”

Vespera buried her face in my chest, sobbing louder now.

“I've been alone with this fucking burden for so long… all this unsolvable shit hanging on my neck,” she sniffed. “It’s… nice to have someone so incredibly illegal so outside of the curve of my peers that I can tell all this shit to. Thanks."

I nodded.

"You know... You've got no magic in ya, you're so weak, so frail..."

I arched an eyebrow at her.

"And yet I see in you what I wish I could be. Cus you're also someone who looks at the rules, decides they're stupid, and just... changes them. You don't accept the status quo. You don't let others define who you are. That's nice."

I simply hugged her.

"What's horrifying is that we do it to ourselves," she said bitterly. "Optimize, sharpen, improve our minds with the talons produced by our clan. I've seen it happen. Cousins, friends... they go in wild and free, come out perfectly proper. Perfect heirs. Perfect wives. Perfect empty shells. Like well-polished diamonds. Sharp. Brilliant. Nice to look at."

Her talons sparked dangerously. "The worst part? Everyone acts like it's normal. Like it's just part of growing up. 'Oh, little Vee finally got her optimization! Isn't she so much more pleasant now?' Not a single one sees it as evil or wrong. Better. More efficient. More... suitable."

She spat the last word like it was poison.

"We'll figure something out," I yawned.

"You really mean that, don't you?" she looked up at me, gray eyes searching my face. "You're actually crazy enough to try and help me."

"Of course," I grinned. "What are friends for?"

"Friends," she repeated the word like it was something precious and new. "Did you... have friends before, in Acadia?"

"No," I said. "Just my mom, and then Uncle George who taught me how to jailbreak everything around me. Machines, locks, people, systems, paperwork, social structures, rules. I didn't have time for friends."

Vespera nodded, understanding shining in her gray eyes. "Makes sense. You've been surviving, planning, seeking revenge, running away. Not living. Boop."

She poked my nose with a talon, tiny lightning jumping from her finger.

"Boop," I pointed a finger at her nose and visualized lightning running across me from the little bits of Thunderbird in my human body.

Nothing happened. No lightning, no spark. I frowned.

Vespera burst out laughing. "You can't just will electricity, silly hooman! It takes years of training!"

I dug captain's lighter from my pocket and ignited it out of Vee's view for a few seconds, letting mana permeate the air around me.

"Boop." I said again, willing the universe to bend with all of my will.

A tiny, almost microscopic electrical spark jumped from my finger. It flew slowly through the air between us like a small, fractal snowflake of inexplicably-contained electricity and landed on Vespera's beak with a soft crackle.

[LV 1 Skill gained: Lightningball.] Sparks dancing in my vision announced, the Lazarus bracelet tingling on my left arm.

"How?" The Thunder-girl blinked at me.

"I'm a Wizard," I replied sagely.

Vespera stared at me, her beak slightly open. Then she burst out laughing, careful to muffle her sounds so as not to wake the others.

"A wizard," she repeated, wiping a tear from her eye. "Right. Sure. You're totally a wizard, my dude."

"Tomorrow I'm going to get these three to make me shakes from their flesh too," I said, eyeing our sleeping friends. "And then I shall have unlimited powers."

I snapped the lighter shut.

"Abyss," Vespera chuckled softly, her laughter gradually subsiding. She wiped away the last of her tears, her gray eyes now sparkling with a mix of mirth and something deeper - a newfound sense of hope. "I think... I think I see what Ci sees in you."

She shifted closer, magisteel plates clinking. I could feel the electrical charge building around her as she leaned in, her gaze intense.

I could see radial waves of electrical magic dancing between us like we were two magnets.

[LV 1 Skill gained: Electrofractal Sight.]

Suddenly, all around, everything had a charge to it, polarity shifting and dancing between us like northern lights. Her gray eyes seemed to glow from within as electrical currents traced delicate fractal patterns across her magisteel armor. The fire's light caught on her feathers, making them shimmer with contained storm energy.

Tiny arcs of lightning began jumping between her talons and my hexasuits, creating a web of soft blue-white light. The air itself seemed to crackle with potential energy, making my hair stand on end. Each breath brought the taste of ozone, sharp and metallic on my tongue.

I was the ground and she was the thunderstorm up above. Gray steel eyes, like broiling storm clouds. Down was up and up was down. Gravity between us had given up. All that existed was electrical currents, beautiful in their radiance and magnetism.

The crackle of electricity intensified as Vespera leaned closer, her breath hot against my cheek.

Pulse. Another. Heartbeat. Lightning. Polarity.

[You see that, feel that, sense that... don't you?] Vee whispered, her voice distant and fuzzy like rumbling thunder. [You see me. I see you. I feel you. Resonance. Feathers to feathers. Heart to heart. Brain to brain. Soul to Soul.]

She wasn't speaking with her lips, she was somehow communicating with electrical impulses alone. Her talons reached out to the sides of my head, microscopic lightning pointed at my neurons, electricity running across my brain.

The sensation was indescribable - like being caressed by the northern lights, each point of contact creating intricate patterns of energy that danced across my entire nervous system.

Then suddenly a voice cut through the electrical haze enveloping me, magisteel-covered arms wrapped in shadows pulling us apart, attracting the lightning, disrupting the frequency, breaking the connection.

"Stop with the light show! Trying to sleep," Kat said, shaking each of us like little kittens by the scurf of our hexasuits. "Get a room."

"We are... in a room," I breathed out. Sparks danced across my vision. I tried to blink them away.

"Go thunderstorm somewhere else," Kat sighed. "Noisy."

"Wasn't trying to thunderstorm," Vee said. "I... don't know how that happened."

"Mmhmm," Katherine rolled her emerald eyes, still holding us apart with her magisteel-covered arms. "Sure. You weren't trying to merge your electrical fields with him at all. That's totally not what that was."

"I wasn't!" Vespera protested weakly. "I just... got carried away. The resonance was..."

"The resonance was about to fry his human brain," Katherine growled. "He's not a Thunderbird, Vee. You can't just sync with his nervous system like that. I could feel that like four meters away."

"But he made a spark!" Vespera argued. "He's got bits of me in him! That's it! The resonance is because he has my bits in him. If he was an Omnid, his body would just reject my Thunder-strata. But there is no rejection... and..."

"I don't want an Abyss-damn lecture," Katherine growled. "Bed now. All of you. Make out like normal people next time, don't start producing Slayer-damned Celestorms in a confined space!"

"I wasn't..." Vespera choked.

"Don't care," Katherine said. "You were floating. In the air. If I didn't stop you idiots, you would have set fire to the entire room."

Katherine dragged me to the large bed by my hexasuit collar and tossed me onto it like I weighed nothing. Then she did the same with Vespera, unceremoniously dumping the Thunderbird next to me.

"Stay," she growled at us both. "Sleep. No more electrical experiments."

"But..." Vespera started.

"Sleep!" Katherine hissed, her emerald eyes flashing in the darkness wrapping her. "Or I'll drop you both into the deep and leave you there."

"You too, rainbow," She picked up Cinder from the couch and deposited her on my other side. "Everyone stay. Sleep. No more magical whatever."

The Stollwurm tapped the Kitlix lanterns extinguishing them and then went back to her nest, grumbling about "horny idiots", "dumb humans", "celestorms" and "bullshit magic lighters".

Cinder's wings wrapped around me, her feathers shifting through sky-blues and content silvers as she snuggled closer in her sleep. On my other side, Vespera was still like a mouse, her gray eyes wide and confused in the gloom, black and white wings fluttering.

"What... what just happened?" she whispered. "How?"

"I think we almost caused a magical incident," I whispered back. "Ummm... I might have released too much mana into the room."

"No shit," Katherine growled from her nest. "Now shut up and go to sleep before start bonking on the head. You're lucky that you have me to watch over you. I take my Knight job seriously, unlike some people who just want to screw around."

Her eyes closed, radar-dish ears twitching.

Vee buried herself into my side, looking very embarrassed.

The room settled into a deep, underground silence, punctuated only by the sound of crackling fire and soft breathing.

The fire in the Kitlix-managed hearth slowly died down to glowing embers. The Ignix Kitlix stared at me from the fireplace with a concerned expression. She knew what we did. She saw it.

She did not like it.

Kitlix didn't have feelings, I assured myself. They were just magic algorithms. Crystallized mana without thoughts, without a personality. Dumber than a cat. No long term memory. No memory of any kind.

Tomorrow. There was always tomorrow. The mana would dissipate and that would be that.

I glanced at my stats. There was still an ungodly amount of mana in my body.

This was fine. Kat was watching us, listening, keeping us safe even when asleep. She stopped us from making a big mess.

My heart slowed and sleep finally won.

Chapter 33: Dreamancy

Falling leaves. Broiling storm overhead. Pouring rain.

It started just like my dreams usually did.

Except then. It wasn't.

The autumn melted away, dissolved as if washed away. The sky above was blue and the ground below was the star-shaped cobblestones of one of many Skyfall Academy garden paths.

An unnaturally elongated stretched wolf, the flesh shifting and warping into a very handsome, elongated, overly muscular man, the wolf bits adjusting themselves like a living canvas perfecting, optimizing appearance. A perfect, dashing smile that accelerated my heartbeat.

I tried not to focus my eyes on him, looking instead at the white towers in the distance. I thought about leveling up again, about sitting, meditating and spreading my rainbow wings, humming. Singing.

White just like the dress on my body.

Dress. What am I seeing? This isn't my dream. Wake up. I try to snap my fingers, try to step away from the dream, but it is impossible. I feel ground into the narrative, events moving too fast and too slow like drowning in molasses, suffocating in something alien.

"Your voice..." the Skinwalker's perfect teeth gleamed as he spoke, each word dripping with honeyed charm. "It called to me. I heard you sing at the Spring Equinox Festival and I knew... I just knew we were meant to be."

I felt Cinder's heart flutter - her heart, not mine. Her emotions washing over me like waves. The excitement, the flattery, the dangerous thrill of being noticed, being wanted, being loved.

"Really?" Cinder's voice - my voice in this dream - came out soft.

"Yes," the Skinwalker moved closer, his perfect face catching the storm light. "Your voice... it speaks to something deep inside me. The way you can make people feel things, make them dance to your tune... it's incredible."

I felt myself blush, feathers shifting through pleased pinks and flattered golds. His words were like honey, sweet and intoxicating.

Cinder. Cinder. What are you doing. Don't listen to him. Look at him. He's obviously up to something. He's in phase-shift, rearranting, optimizing his appearance to appear perfect. A hunter looking for easy prey. An upperclassman.

Except this isn't Cinder. This isn't January. It's the end of March and there is a million gardens blooming around Skyfall, the trees painted pink and violet.

"Your voice is a gift," the Skinwalker upperclassman purred, the tonality of his baritone shifting around. "A rare and precious ability that deserves to be nurtured. Together, we could do amazing things."

I felt Cinder's heart race faster. The way he looked at her - at me in this dream - made her feel special, chosen. His perfect features seemed to shift subtly, becoming ever more appealing, ever more mesmerizing.

"Together?" I asked. "Are you a...?"

"Not quite," the Skinwalker's perfect smile widened slightly. "I'm in Acting Club though. Comes with the shit, ya know."

I watched through Cinder's eyes as he demonstrated, his form shifting subtly - becoming taller, more imposing, more perfectly aligned with whatever idealized image of a perfect boyfriend she held in her mind.

His movements were calculated, each gesture designed to draw attention, to create an illusion of genuine interest. I recognized the techniques because I'd used them myself - the subtle mirroring of body language, the careful calibration of personal space, the way he let silence hang just long enough to create tension before speaking.

"I've been watching you," he continued, his voice modulating to hit exactly the right emotional notes. "The way you hold yourself apart from others, ocasionally wrap those wings around yourself like armor... but when you sing, that's when the real you shines through..."

He ranted on, pouring honey across her mind. Clever, catchy words.

Classic cold reading. Start vague, then get more specific based on reactions.

A perfect bad boy with just enough edge to be exciting but not truly threatening. Every movement calculated, every word chosen to create an illusion of depth and understanding.

The Skinwalker leaned in slightly, his perfect features catching the storm light just so. "You're not like the other students here," he said softly. "They're all so... shallow. Focused on power, on status. But you... you see beauty in the world. Your songs speak of deeper things."

I felt Cinder's heart flutter again.

"When you sing," the Skinwalker continued, his voice dropping to an intimate whisper, "it's like you're speaking directly to my soul. The way your feathers shift through colors, telling stories without words... it's magical."

I felt Cinder's younger self practically melt at his words. Her feathers shifted through pleased pinks and warm golds, betraying her emotions completely. She was so much more open then, wearing her heart on her wings.

"I've written something," he said, producing a folded paper from his perfectly tailored jacket. "A poem... inspired by your voice. Would you... would you like to hear it?"

The younger Cinder nodded eagerly, completely caught in his web. The poem was beautiful - of course it was. If I had Yulia I could tell exactly where it was pawned from.

"That's... that's beautiful," Cinder breathed, her wings shifting through amazed silvers and touched blues. "Thank you."

"Just like you," he replied smoothly, reaching out to brush a feather with perfectly manicured fingers. "You inspire such beauty in others. Such passion."

"I'm Valor," he said, his perfect smile widening. "Valor Thornheart. Senior year."

That sounds made up. If I had Yulia I would check his real name, look him up in seconds. But this wasn't me. This was...

"Cassiopeia Nova," I felt myself reply shyly. "But... my friends call me Cassie."

"Cassie," he tested the name, making it sound like music. "A beautiful name for a beautiful soul."

He pulled out his phone - the latest model of course - and held it out. "Perhaps we could exchange numbers? I'd love to hear more of your singing... maybe over dinner?"

I felt Cinder's younger self practically vibrating with excitement as she entered her number into his phone.

"Tonight?" he asked. "Seven o'clock? I know this lovely little place in Leviathan's Cradle..."

"Yes!" Cassie agreed eagerly. "I'd love to!"

"Perfect," Kell's smile was dazzling. "I'll pick you up at the main gate. Wear something pretty."

He turned to leave, then paused, looking back over his shoulder. "Oh, and Cassie? Don't tell anyone about this. Let's keep it our little secret for now. You know how the rumor mill is in this place."

Cassie nodded vigorously.

No damn it. Tell someone. Tell anyone damn it! You have friends, right? Io? Vee? Sol? Emerald even! No. No. Cassie. Listen to me! He's...

The dream lurched sickeningly, time folding like origami, and suddenly I was there - outside the gates at seven, wearing a different, floaty white dress that made me look younger, more innocent. More vulnerable.

Valor was waiting, looking even more perfect than before - if that was possible. His sky glider was expensive, sleek, black as night.

"You look stunning," he said, opening the passenger door with a flourish. His eyes seemed to glow in the gathering dusk. He looked like a hungry wolf, but he was already changing, already shifting to adjust to her preferences.

I wanted to scream at Cassie to run, to fly, to do anything but get in that glider. But I was trapped in her memories, forced to watch as she slid into the hexamesh bone seat, her heart racing with excitement rather than fear.

But we weren't heading toward the nice areas of town. The Strand-Glider flashed past the ring of mountains, outside of the city's limits.

"Where are we going?" Cassie asked, the first hint of uncertainty creeping into her voice.

"Somewhere special," Valor's perfect smile hadn't changed, but there was something predatory in it now. "I want to show you something amazing. My favorite place. Have you ever been to the lake Eerie? They say that, it was formed by the spilled blood of the Leviathan. They say that whoever makes a wish on the shore... while casing a beast core of over level 100 into the lake will have that wish come true. Any wish at all."

Ask him about the core! Come on!

"So like do you have a core then? Cus I don't carry beast cores that high level on me," Cinder said, feeling nervousness flood her body.

"Of course! One for you, one for me," Valor eyes ignited with yellow. He pulled a suitcase open. It was there. Two level one hundred beast cores, sitting on a velvet pillow. Expensive. So expensive.

Too expensive. Where did a student get those? Even an upperclassman. The math wasn't adding up.

The Strand-Glider banked sharply, descending toward a secluded shoreline. The lake spread out before them, dark waters reflecting the stormy sky above. No other vehicles in sight. No witnesses.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Valor's voice had changed subtly, losing some of its honeyed warmth. "Almost as beautiful as you'll be when..."

He caught himself, that perfect smile returning. "When we make our wishes together. It's so romantic, don't you think?"

Cassie nodded, but I felt her uncertainty growing. Her wings shifted through nervous lavenders and cautious greys. Something was wrong. The isolation. The expensive cores. His shifting appearance becoming slightly less perfect as his concentration wavered...

"Maybe we should go back," she said softly. "It's getting late and..."

"Oh no," Valor's smile widened unnaturally. "We can't leave now. Not when we're so close. Don't you want your wish to come true, little songbird?"

Cassie! CASSIE! You have to contact someone you know damn it! This is some kind of a trap! Emerald, you know Emerald don't you?

Through Cassie's trembling fingers, I felt her pull out her phone, trying to keep it hidden as she typed: "Em. Lake Eerie. Help."
The message didn't send. No signal.

Of course there wasn't any signal. Of course. This was planned. I pressed the emergency panic button, hoping that it would get through to our familial Corpse Seeker via the Astral flesh-chip embedded in the depths of my phone.

"Something wrong?" Valor's voice had an edge now, his perfect features starting to slip, becoming more angular, more predatory. The phase-shift was breaking down as his concentration wavered, revealing glimpses of something else beneath the handsome facade.

"N-no," I stammered, wings pulling tight against my back. "I just..."

"Give me the phone, little songbird," he said softly, dangerously. His hand extended, no longer perfectly manicured - the fingers too long, the nails darkening into claws.

"I don't..."

"The phone." His voice distorted, multiple tones overlapping discordantly. "Now."

My hands shook as I handed over the device. Valor's unnaturally long fingers crushed it effortlessly, letting the pieces fall to the ground.

"There," he smiled, and it was no longer a perfect smile. Too many teeth.

"Why can't I..." I hissed, trying to burn through him with my wings.

"Void-shard from Arx," Valor pulled a dark-pyramid artifact on a chain from his robe. "You won't be able to use your Charisma or claws against me, little songbird."

"Just... just what do you want?" My voice trembled, wings flaring defensively as I backed away from the increasingly monstrous form before her. "M-my dad is the Justice of Leviathan's Cradle! If a single hair falls off my head then..."

His perfect features were melting, running like wax, revealing something ancient and hungry beneath. The phase-shift was completely breaking down now, showing what he truly was, a predator, a half wolf half man covered in glistening pale bone-muscles.

"Your voice, little songbird," he rasped, multiple tones grinding together like broken glass. "Such a rare gift... the ability to make others feel, to influence their very souls through song. Do you have any idea how valuable that is?"

He stalked forward, his movements no longer smooth and calculated but jerky, predatory. His skin rippled and shifted, patches of white fur breaking through at random.

"The cores..." I gasped, understanding finally dawning. "They're not for wishes, are they?"

"Of course they are," the thing that had been Valor laughed, the sound like metal scraping bone. "Just not your wishes, little songbird."

The storm overhead intensified, lightning crackling across black clouds. Wind whipped around them, carrying the scent of ancient magic and something older, fouler.

"You see," he continued, circling closer, "there's an old ritual. Very old. Requires specific ingredients... pure, perfect, Omnids. Singers. Charisma users. Callers. People who can draw the crowd or other things... in."

More Strand-Gliders descended from the stormy sky, landing in a loose circle around them. Transparent bug wings unfurled, opened with synchronized precision, and other figures emerged - leading terrified young women and carrying identical suitcases.

I felt Cassie's horror as she looked at the other girls. Each one dressed in white, like sacrificial lambs. Each one accompanied by a perfectly handsome "date" who was now shifting, melting, revealing their true forms.

"Welcome, one and all!" Valor called out. "We have gathered the final components. Tonight, we shall attempt to reawaken the Leviathan herself and wish upon her just as Slayer Nazareth had once, long ago!"

The other Skinwalkers responded with inhuman sounds of howl-triumph, their forms rippling and stretching in the storm light. Their captives huddled together, wings and tails and ears trembling in fear. Some had bruises, evidence of being forced into the glider.

"Into the lake, little songbirds," Valor commanded. "And sing. Sing like your lives depend on it." He paused, that terrible grin widening. "Because they do."

Cassie and the other girls were forced into the frigid water, white dresses billowing around them like funeral shrouds. The lake felt wrong - too thick, too warm for the season, like wading through blood.

"Begin!" one of the Skinwalkers roared, and threw the first beast core into the depths with a sickening splash.

Terrified and trembling, the captives began to sing. Their voices rose in desperate harmony - some trained, some raw with fear.

"Valor! You can't bring the leviathan back! It's been..." I stammered out, trying to appeal to reason where there was none.

"It hasn't been any time at all," Valor laughed. "Can you tell me the date of when the leviathan died exactly? Because nobody can. All of the books have different dates because the leviathan bends time itself. With enough magic, enough power, enough resonance, we can reach back through the folds of time itself," the mad man-wolf continued. "Back to when she still lived, still granted wishes. And with your voices, your pure Omnid essence, we'll bind her to our will!"

Another beast core splashed into the dark waters. The liquid began to glow with an unnatural light, pulsing in rhythm with their forced, discordant song.

"Sing!" Valor kicked Cassie into the water. "Sing for me as you sang at the Spring Equinox Festival! Tear through the veil with your voice!"

One of his hands stretched into a sword of bone, pointed at my heck. "SING!"

I felt Cassie's terror as the bone blade pressed against her throat, forcing her to join the chorus. Her voice, usually so controlled and beautiful, came out raw with fear. The other girls' voices wavered and cracked around her, their combined song creating something terrible and wrong.

More beast cores splashed into the lake, each one making the waters glow brighter, pulse faster. The liquid felt alive now, writhing against our legs like countless serpents. Through Cassie's eyes, I watched as shapes began to move beneath the surface - massive, ancient things stirring from centuries of sleep.

"Yes!" Valor's distorted voice thundered over the storm. "Can you feel it? The barriers between then and now growing thin! Sing louder! Break through!"

The water was up to our waists now, though none of us had moved deeper. The lake itself was rising, reaching for us with hungry tendrils of dancing, glowing water.

The air thrummed with power. Then something snapped, like a rubber band.

The water suddenly retreated, flash-freezing around our ankles, trapping us in place.

I felt Cassie's panic spike as she tried to wrench free, her wings beating uselessly against the storm.

Through her eyes, I watched as the lake's surface began to ripple and distort, not with waves but with... something else. Like reality itself was folding, unfolding, refolding in impossible ways.

"Perfect!" Valor laughed. "Now for the final part. Sacrifice."

"What?!" I cried out, my song halting.

All around me, Skinwalkers slashed their elongated bone-swords and knives at the girls, blood splattering across the frozen lake.

I looked around in rising terror as the girl to my left bled out with a scream. Then Valor's sword-hand went through my chest. It hurt. It hurt more than anything. I didn't die right away.

Again. Another stab right through my stomach. More blood.

The ice below thrummed, crackling with blood-red fissures reaching to the gargantuan bones looming in the distance.

"Rise! Rise and grant me my wish!" Valor howled, soaked in my blood. Other Skinwalker voices joined the chorus of desire for power.

The storm above us spun in a perfect circle, the eye of the hurricane twisting and warping, a wall of gray clouds going up and up, now showing the shattered, crystal-infected moon.

"My family... they're... going to find you," I wept, bleeding to death. "They're going to rip out your heart... make you pay..."

"They won't," Valor said. "There is enough wild magic here to overwrite all scrut-sight. Nobody will find your little incarnator bracelets."

"You... are... insane," I gurgled. "You... can't bring... the leviathan back... with... so little... magic..."

"This isn't our first rodeo songbird," Valor smiled. "And not our last. With enough Omnid blood spilled in one place at a specific time, the door will open sooner or later."

The sounds of snapping bone and tearing flesh all around. The other Skinwalkers were tearing out, carving away the hands of their victims, ripping out Lazarus bracelets.

This was how I was going to die. Permanently. Forever. No, no, no...

Valor took his time with me, his bone-blade gradually sawing my left wrist off, while his other hand held it like a vice.

What were they even going to do with the bracelets? Hide them somewhere deep underground? Throw them into the ocean?

I watched as the Skinwalkers pulled their sleeves up and snapped the Lazarus bracelets belonging to their victims to their own wrists. They had five or more bracelets on their wrists already.

Valor caught my horrified expression.

"It's hard to remove a soul permanently from existence so that there is nothing left for the scruts to sniff out," he purred, pulling back his own sleeve to showcase nine Lazarus bracelets strapped to it. "Except this one simple trick. A stronger soul always absorbs and devours the weaker one. I will enjoy digesting you. It will take a few months until you're fully part of me, dissolved into my psyche."

Most of the Skinwalkers were done strapping newly acquired Lazarus bracelets to themselves. They pointed fire wands at the bodies, igniting them to ashes walking to their gliders and taking off.

Valor was slower than the rest. He enjoyed how I shattered from fear, my sanity tearing, coming apart at the seams. He squeezed my half-sliced wrist and my bones cracked. The pain was all-consuming, impossible to fight off. I screamed again.

Then his head detonated, exploding into bits and pieces.

I blinked tears out of my eyes. Emerald stood there, standing atop of her glider, holding Dr. Greyfield's black railgun EVA in her hands, her entire body blazing with brilliant flames of dragonfire.

She found me! She saved me! My text must have gotten through somehow!

Emerald rushed to my side and the ice around my feet melted from her blaze. The fire around her body extinguished as I dropped into her hands, weeping and trembling.

"How did you..." I let out as she dragged me to back to the glider, injecting something into me that drew away the awful, gut-wrenching pain from my bleeding body and broken wrist.

"I'm always in contact with my family's scrutimancer," she sad. "Always. Don't trust anyone. When you didn't answer my call after school and ignored my texts, I called him up and he said that you're most likely in big trouble. I claimed your phone as part of my hoard... that one time during a sleepover, and I can sort of sense where my hoard items are. Scrut Davosh guided me the rest of the way."

She shoved me into her glider and went back, igniting her flame-sword and returned with Valor's bracelet-covered hand.

"Why?" I groaned. "Shouldn't we..."

"Contact the authorities?" Emerald arched an eyebrow. "I don't think so. His glider looks fine n' 'xpens. They'll probs just slap him n' his pals on the wrist for this. No. We're going to incarnate him in my basement and then my scrut will interrogate him and find the names of all of his buddies and then take them all out. One by one."

"You...?" I let out.

"Me?" Emerald raised an eyebrow and slipped the railgun into my lap. "Na. You're going to do it. This is your vengeance, your step forward to your new self. You'll rise from their ashes like a phoenix reborn a thousand times stronger. I'll totally assist tho, plus some hired goons will back us if anything. Got good stuff in my parents' hoard. Quality armor. Amps. Best potions from Arx. All the good shit needed for slaughter. We won't stop till this Skinwalker Clan is no more. Can't have them hurting my precious bestie."

Emerald grinned wide looming over me.

With a blinding flash of lightning from the storm overhead the dream ground to a halt, froze like a paused video.

Emerald's form became suspended mid-motion, her scales still glowing with residual dragonfire. The storm hung motionless overhead, lightning flash shearing brilliant tears across the sky, not fading away.

I felt myself separating from Cassie's memories, my consciousness pulling away from hers like oil from water. The sensation was disorienting - one moment I was bleeding out in the passenger seat of Emerald's glider, the next I was standing beside it, watching the scene as... myself.

As Martin Kilborne.

Cassie blinked rapidly, her ocean-blue eyes clearing as she too seemed to separate from the memory, awakened from her dream. Her feathers shifted through confused violets and uncertain grays as she looked around at the paused scene.

Then her gaze found mine and she rose from her seat, blood splattered white dress and all.

"You..." she started, her voice trembling slightly. "What... what are you doing in my nightmare?"

"To be honest," I said. "I'm not really sure."

[Skill Unlocked: Dreamwalker LV 1] Silver sparks flashed across my eyes, burning into coherent letters.

"Oh," I said blinking the messages away. "I guess... I just learned Dreamwalking."

"Get out of my head Martin!" Cinder snarled, her wings flaring with defensive reds and violets. "This isn't... you shouldn't be here! You shouldn't see this!"

"Love to," I said. "but can't. Like I said before, I don't know how I even got here. It was an accident. I didn't mean to intrude. I think it happened because we were sleeping next to each other."

"This is private!" she hissed, wrapping her wings around herself like armor. "These are MY memories! MY nightmares!"

"I know," I nodded. "And now I understand why you quit singing. Why you let Em control you."

"Shut up!" Cinder's feathers bristled. "You don't understand anything!"

"Seems like an open and shut case," I said. "Em saved you that night. She helped you get revenge on the Skinwalkers. She gave you purpose, direction, a way to feel strong again."

"Stop it!" Cinder's voice cracked. "Just... stop analyzing everything! This isn't some puzzle for you to solve! Abyss-damn it! I didn't... I don't..."

Her eyes filled with tears.

Another figure melted away from her body, like spilling silver-fluid, twisting and writhing through the air and reforming into a familiar form.

Vespera clicked her beak, sitting on the edge of Emerald's glider.

"Curious," Vespera commented, her gray eyes studying the frozen scene. "So this is what happened with you n' Em. I see why you don't talk about it. You murdered em' all didn't you?"

"Vee?!" Cinder choke-sputtered, spinning towards the Thunderbird. "You're here too?!"

"Mhmm," Vespera nodded. "Guess we're all sharing dreams now. My bad. Dreamancy is one of my minor skills, the stuff that dad wants me to use to rewrite myself into a proper princess bride n' Chief Technology Officer. Guess Lexy mooched it off me with the snake. This really shouldn't have happened. It must be the lighter. Whatever it's doing is amplifying the shit out of every spell, every skill. Excess mana. Wild magic."

"Get. Out." Cinder growled, her wings flaring with dark reds and angry violets. "Both of you. Now!"

"Don't want to," Vespera shook her feathered head, her chain mail sparkling. "You're not the boss of me. Sides' if I leave, he's gonna stay and probably eFf your shit up sideways cus he's so full of mana. Dreamancy isn't a joke. It's used to edit someone from inside out. Haven't you seen that dum' movie... Inception? It's like that, but worse. So much worse. Thus, someone has to teach our clueless human husbando about proper Dreamwalking."

"I don't care!" Cinder snarled. "This is MY head! MY memories! Pull him out! You have no right to..."

"To what?" Vespera asked. "To see why you changed? Why you let Em control you? Why you stopped singing?"

"I didn't stop singing," Cinder protested weakly. "I just... changed how I did it."

"You let Em turn your talent into a callin' bell," Vespera noted. "Used it to lure monsters through gates instead of... what was it that pretty-warp-flesh boy said? 'Speaking to people's souls'?"

"Don't," Cinder warned, her feathers bristling. "Don't you dare quote him!"

"Why not?" Vespera pressed. "He wasn't wrong about your voice, you know. Just wrong about everything else."

"SHUT UP!" Cinder screamed, her wings flaring with furious reds and violent blacks. The frozen dreamscape around us began to crack and splinter like breaking glass.

"Ci, wait..." I started, but she was already turning on me, her ocean-blue eyes blazing with a mixture of rage and pain.

"You want to know why I let Em control me?" she snarled. "Why I stopped singing for myself? Because the one time I did, the one time I let my guard down, let myself be truly vulnerable... THIS happened!"

She gestured violently at the frozen scene. "You asswarts obviously wanted to know what happened. Well, there you go! Congratulations! Now you know everything! Are you happy?!"

"No," I said. "I'm not happy. I'm angry that this happened to you. I'm angry that those monsters hurt you for their dumb ritual. And I'm angry that you let it change who you are."

"Who I am?" Cinder laughed bitterly. "Who I am is someone who learned her lesson. Someone who knows better than to trust pretty words and perfect smiles. Someone who knows that being vulnerable just gets you hurt!"

"Cassie..." I started.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" she roared, the dreamscape fracturing further around us. "That weak, stupid girl died in that lake! She died believing in fairy tales and happy endings! She died thinking that someone could actually love her voice, love her for who she was!" Cinder's voice cracked. "And Em... Em saved me. She showed me how to be strong. How to use my voice as a weapon instead of... instead of..."

She trailed off, tears streaming down her face.

"Instead of sharing your gift with the world," I finished "Instead of being who you really are."

"And who am I really?" she demanded, wings wrapping tighter around herself. "The naive girl who nearly got herself killed? The one who trusted a pretty face and honeyed words?"

"No," I said. "You're Cinder. You're someone who survived something terrible and came out stronger. But you're also someone who's been hiding behind armor ever since, afraid to let anyone see the real you."

"How about you screw off?" Cinder snarled. "Nobody asked you to be my therapist! Nobody invited you two nargomorfs into my head! Dreamwalkin' sons of breeches. Slayer Nazareth, WHY?! It wasn't enough for you to annoy me in real life 24/7, now you gotta be in my dreams too?!"

"Because," I said, "you needed someone to see. Really see. The truth behind the armor. The pain you've been carrying alone."

"I don't need anyone to see anything!" she snapped, but her wings trembled slightly. "I'm fine! I'm strong now!"

"Em made you dependent," I corrected. "She saved you, yes. But then she used that debt to control you, to reshape you into what she wanted. Just like Valor tried to do, only slower. Much more subtle."

"Em did NOT just reshape me!" Cinder snarled, her feathers bristling with defensive reds and angry violets. "You saw it! She saved my life! She helped me get revenge! She..."

"She made you feel like you owed her everything," I finished. "Like you had to earn her protection by becoming what she wanted. By using your voice to hurt instead of heal."

"You don't know F'all about me!" Cinder's voice cracked. "You've been clinging to me what, four-five days? And suddenly you think you get everything? Get me?"

"I get enough," I said. "I get that you're still singing that night's song, Ci. Still trapped in that moment when your trust was betrayed. Still letting it define who you are. You're getting better though. You have friends you can trust now. People bound by purpose who won't use you."

"As if!" She growled. "As if you're not using me for your lunatic plans of revenge against all Omnid-kind! As if you didn't get into all of my classes, my house, my parent's hearts, my brother's delving vault. You're a human without magic and yet everyone adores you! Io, Vee, Kat.... even my little sister thinks that you're Mr. Perfect! But you're not perfect, you're full of lies! Em is wrong and also so very, very right about you!"

"You're right," I said quietly. "I am full of lies. I manipulate humans and Omnids alike. I have an agenda. I'm not perfect at all. But there's one big difference between me and Em - I want you to be yourself, not what I want you to be. I already told you this - I don't want to control you," I stated firmly. "I just... want you to smile. I want you to sing because you want to, not because someone else is making you."

"And what if I don't want to sing anymore?" she challenged. "What if this is who I really am now?"

"Is it?"

"Screw off!"

"Fine," I said. "I'll screw off."

I snapped my finger, closed my eyes, tried to push myself awake. Nothing. I opened my eyes with a sigh.

"You can decide what to do yourself without me bugging you, Ci," I said. "Vee, lets go walk and sit over there by the giant bones in the distance. You can teach me how to dive out."

Vespera leaped off the glider and grabbed me by the elbow. "Sure thing, dream-husbando. Let's give our captain some space to steam it out. I gotta see what's up with these cracks in the dream anyway."

We walked away from the frozen scene, towards the massive bones jutting from the lake's shore. The dreamscape wavered around us like a mirage, details blurring at the edges of our vision the further we went away from Cinder.

"So," Vespera clicked her beak once we were sufficiently far out. She bent down to the shimmering shear stretched across the beach and poked at it with her talon, sending sparks in. "Dreamwalking 101. To exit someone's dream, you need to..."

"Wait," Cinder's voice called out behind us. We turned to see her standing there, wings shifting through uncertain orange-purples and troubled grays. "I... don't go. Please. I... don't want to be alone here."

I rotated.

"I don't want to see the rest of it," she whispered, but somehow her voice carried all the way to where we stood.

"We don't have to," I said. "We can go somewhere else. Anywhere you want."

"Can we?" she asked. "Just... make this all go away?"

"Hum," I said "Isn't this your dream? Your mind? Can we not anywhere, be anywhere?"

"I... I don't know where to go or how to leave this dream," she admitted, wings wrapping around herself. "I've been stuck in this memory for so long... having the same damn nightmare. Over and over. Night after night."

"That... doesn't sound healthy at all," Vee said, feathers swaying. "Sounds like deep magical trauma, a tear in the psyche. Could be the result of the ritual. Wait. Ritual. Gate. Leviathan. Repeating dreams. Sheeet. It... Sounds like something got in you... and is leeching off your worst day, getting stronger."

"W-what?" Cinder blinked.

Vee pulled me by my elbow closer to the weary-looking Quetzi.

"Those flesh-warp twats were trying to open a gate," Vespera said. "Looks like they've succeeded. Something had come through, attached itself to your soul and also to this lakeshore. Friggin' Abyss, Emmy.... why did your stupid beerch ass didn't tell anyone anything? Dum, dum dragon-knob."

"What?" Cinder's eyes went wide. "Something's been... feeding off my nightmares?"

"Gates work both ways. Those warpards were trying to reach back through time to the Leviathan. Instead, something else reached forward through you. Through your voice, your pain, your fear. It's been using this memory to anchor itself here."

"How do we get rid of it?" I asked.

Vespera looked around. "An Astral Phantom gotta be somewhere around here, hiding between the cracks. We have to kill it first."

"And that would... stop the nightmares?" Cinder asked.

"Nope," Vespera clicked. "Digging the dream parasite out is step one. Step two is find where it's actually anchored in the physical world. Probably somewhere near lake Eerie. If we don't close the door there, don't get those beast cores out of the lake, it'll just slowly get into your head again. See those colorful shears in your dream? Those ain't never going away. That's soul damage, scars that don't heal."

"The lake..." Cinder's wings trembled. "I haven't been there in two years. Nazareth. I can't go back there."

"You won't have to," I said. "Vee and I can handle it... right?"

"Probably not," Vespera shrugged. "This thing is devious. Clever. Old. If I wasn't a Dreamwalker trained in mental manipulation, I wouldn't have noticed shit. Likewise, we won't be able to find shit ourselves at the lake. We'd need our rainbow-feathered princess as... bait."

"As bait?!" Cinder's feathers shifted through fearful grays. "I... I can't. Not there. Not again."

"You're not alone this time," I said softly. "You've got us."

"For now," she said bitterly. "Until you get what you want and move on. Just like everyone else."

"Ci," I sighed. "I'm not going anywhere. And neither is Vee. We're a team now, remember?"

"Team 'I love you'," Vespera drew an electrical arc in the air in the shape of a heart. "Heckin' max-cheez, but true. You know, Ci... for the longst' time I didn't give a shit about anyone. Specially you. 'Cus you were such a knob. But this pink meatsicle, he makes me feel stuff. Like I don't have to pretend to be dumb. And I see how he looks at you - like you're something precious that needs protecting but also someon' fierce that deserves respect. That's... that's real, Ci. That's not manipulation or control. That's just... fren'ship. Reeel' two-way fren'ship, not whatev' half-assed bullshit we had with Em n Sol."

"How can you be so sure?" Cinder asked.

"Because he's not even tryin' to hide how he really feels about you," Vespera clicked her beak in amusement. "Just starin' at ya, like a lovesick puppy trying to solve a particularly complex puzzle. It's actually kind of adorkable. Worst of all is that he makes me feel stuff for you."

"What stuff?" Cinder asked cautiously, her feathers shifting through curious blue-silvers.

"You kno', like... actual caring?" Vespera tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Not just surface-level party-girl stuff, but genuine concern. When I see you hurting, it actually hurts me too now. And I want to help, not just because it's entertaining, but because... because you deserve better than being trapped in this nightmare forever. Also, if we don't get this thing outta you and off the lake, it'll probably eat you from inside out. I am very concern. The lack of colors on your bod, failing grades, excessive snappiness... That's not just normal stress from being near-perma-murdered. That's your psyche tearing up, weakening. My bad. I should have scanned your dreams earlier, checked if a memetic was in ya..."

"Acshully," Vespera sighed. "I should scan everyone. Hard. Make sure it hasn't gotten into anyone else. Kat's condition is... concerning too. If the incarnator isn't fixing her, that's soul damage. Damn it, how is this happening? Now I care about that wheelie too. Argh. Way to go."

She smacked me.

"What was that for?" I rubbed the back of my head where her magisteel talons landed.

"For making me care about people," she clicked. "It's very inconvenient. I was perfectly happy being shallow and selfish."

"No you weren't," I said.

"No, I wasn't," she agreed with a sigh. "But it was easier. Getting this thing outta Ci is going to be an effort and a half."

"Why?"

"Did you see how many beast cores those flesh-flaps dropped into that lake?" Vespera glared at me like I was a knob. "How many bracelets they had on already? This thing's level has to be in the 40k star-range!"

"That... doesn't sound like something five teens can deal with," I said. "Should we like tell Cinder's dad about this or something?"

Vespera smacked me in the head again, even harder this time. "No, you knob. How are you so smart and also so stupid?"

"Ow," I complained. "Stop hitting me. I don't have my AI here to bounce my thoughts off. Just thinking out loud."

"Em and this clueless rainbo'," Vespera pointed a steel-covered talon at Cinder. "Obviously did something incredibly illegal to make an entire Skinwalker clan disappear. I read a report on sus vanished upper classmen skinnis. Vigilance justice of the worst kind, I suspect. If we get her dad involved or the Justice department, it'll kick up an ant's nest and then there's going to be no end of it. I'll get caught up in it, you'll get caught up in it. Judge Nova operates within the confines of the law, does everything to the book. And if the book says his daughter goes to prison for perma-killing a bunch of perma-murderers, then that's that. Trust me, we really don't want that much scrutiny over us."

"Noted," I said.

"So what do we do?" Cinder asked, her entire body trembling. "If we can't tell anyone, and we can't fight it directly..."

"We do what I do best," I said. "We cheat. I'll figure something out. Give me time to think, research. Understand what got into your head, get Yulia to think about it. There's got to be a way to deal with high-level entities without direct confrontation."

"And in the meantime?" Cinder's feathers darkened to blood-red. "I just... keep having these nightmares?"

"Obviously not," Vespera shook her head. "The nightmares are like an ever-tightening noose around your neck making it stronger. Just so you kno' Ci, I really wouldn't have done this for you, if this cheeky meatsicle wasn't here."

The Thunderbird padded my head. I looked at her.

"What would you have done if I wasn't here?" I asked.

"Throw the book at Ci," the Thunderbird sighed. "Tell everything to her dad, let OFBS deal with it. If she goes to prison, that's that. I'm screwed anyway, so let everyone else burn... etcetera."

"You're screwed... how?" Cinder blinked.

"Vee is trapped in an arranged marriage," I said. "Big Omniorpo-merger stuff. Dad wants her to modify her own mind using Dreamancy to accept it."

Cinder blinked. "So... why?" She looked at Vee. "Why help me when you've got your own problems?"

"This persistent pink disaster," Vespera poked me in the cheek with a talon. "Blame him for everything. I know he ain't gonna give up on you. So... both of us are gonna stick our heads into your noose and keep it from suffocating you. We're gonna stay here, let your monster feed on us too. Night after night. No matter how long it takes."

She walked across the shore gathering sticks in her arms. Cinder and I watched her. The Thunderbird dumped the sticks into a pile.

Then she exhaled as if letting go of something. Cold rain whipped at us from broiling clouds overhead, the shear and lightning vanishing away. Time resumed.

"Commere, u knobs," she said, pointing a talon to ignite the firewood with a thunder-blast, spreading her wings wide like a canopy and patting at the ground on both sides of her. "Sit, hold onto me and stay warm. The Astral Phantom won't let us leave this dream until Ci is awake, but at least we'll have each other. Three souls are harder to digest than one. One for all... All for one and all that cheesy Alexandre Dumas jazz."

Chapter 34: Ships

We stayed in Undertown for breakfast, having climbed to the top of the Gloomy Horse. The old tower atop of the cavern had the view of the entire gloom-filled cavern-city. Guild Master Motrdem recommended us the spot, setting up a table with coffee and steaks for us amidst a bunch of other old, dusty tables.

There had been a cafe here once, but it has clearly fallen into disuse due to lack of customers who wanted to climb the old tower stairs.

The view was as gloomy as always, so I kept my eyes on Katherine. The Stollwurm had abandoned her damaged puffy coat entirely, showing off her combat hexasuit-wrapped curves. Her fluffy ears moved left and right listening in the sounds of Undertown conversations far below us as she devoured her breakfast of extra-rare steak.

"Stop staring," she growled between bites. "Don't you already have two girlfriends?"

"I don't have any girlfriends," I protested. "There's no official paperwork confirming my 'ships. Just... appreciating my favorite dragon-cat."

Katherine's emerald eyes flashed. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"I'm not trying to get anywhere," I said. "Just noting that you look much better without that coat hiding you. More... free. Happy. Satisfied."

"My coat serves a purpose."

"Yeah, hiding how beautiful you are," I nodded. "Making you look bulky, angry and unapproachable instead of graceful and deadly."

"Will you stop flirting with everyone?" Cinder kicked me under the table.

"The flirting will continue until you sign a 'ship contract," I said.

"A what contract?" Cinder sputtered. "Who starts a relationship with a contract?!"

Vee was trying very hard not to laugh. Then she cackled anyway, spitting crumbs all over.

"You heard me," I said. "I'm tired of being called 'your human' without proper paperwork defining the hows, ifs and whens. Either sign up or stop getting jealous when I admire our lovely Knight."

Cinder aimed another kick at my shins, but her bracelet suddenly vibrated. She tapped it with a clawed finger. A holo-projection of Quint's head manifested in the air woven from blue and silver sparks.

"Status report, Captain Cinder," he asked.

Cinder blinked, looking momentarily caught off-guard. She glanced at me, her wings shifting through nervous grays.

"We're... fine," she said. "Currently having breakfast. No major incidents."

"Have you registered your team at the Adventurers Guild?" Quint asked.

"Um..." Cinder mewled. "Not... exactly."

"Not exactly?" Quint asked. "What does 'not exactly' mean?"

I unclipped the silver token from Cinder's wrist and clipped it to mine.

"Sup pres," I said.

"Hello to you too, Mr. Glock," Quint said. "Why haven't you registered yourself at the Guild?"

"Why? Is there a deadline?" I asked. "We're still exploring the markets and merchants, learning the local customs and laws. Come on, only it's our second day. As I love You's Quartermaster I find our team woefully unprepared for facing registration hardships!"

"Registration hardships?" Quint's boney eyes-holes flared brighter. "What registration hardships could possibly exist?"

"Well," I began, leaning back in my chair. "Have you considered the complex socio-economic implications of inter-species team dynamics when navigating bureaucratic infrastructure in a temporal-dilated dimension?"

Katherine choked on her water. Vespera burst into snickers. Cinder simply stared at me. Io sent me a thumbs up.

Quint's holographic image stared at me for a long moment.

"You're stalling," he said flatly.

"Fine," I said. "I'm afraid of getting exposed as a low level Thunderbird. It's embarrassing. We didn't do leveling or delving at Saint Christopher's. If Emerald finds out she'll make fun of me forever."

"He's a what? WHAT?" Emerald's armored paw shoved Quint's face side. "You're a human, not a Thunderbird! You're just scared of being exposed and booted out of Skyfall! Get your ass to the cathedral NOW or else!"

"Oh no," I made a pouting face. "Now she knows. Thanks a lot, Quint."

"Stop being a smart-ass and get yourself registered," Emerald snarled through the hologram. "I'll drag you to the Guild myself if I have to! You can't avoid this forever. Pick one - you either fail to register and your entire team fails this class or you get exposed as a human. Either way I win."

"Oh my," I gasped dramatically. "Do care about me that much, Emmy? Sorry, I'm already in a 'ship with Vee and Ci. You missed your boat. It was never going to work out between us. I'm a human and you're a dragon. You're fire and I'm steak."

"You..." Emerald sputtered through the hologram, smoke rising from her gemstone hair. "You absolute eFfin' lying sack of...!"

"Language," I chided. "There are children present."

"What children?!"

"I'm at a respectable five star cafe! Can you put Quint back on? He's much more polite. You do know that your hostility will get you nowhere? Bad karma and such."

"KARMA?!" Emerald roared through the hologram. "I'll show you bad karma when I find you, you... Hey... HEY! Watch where you're rolling that stupid dung cart... ARughfhffhff!"

I watched as Emerald flew out of view as something poured all over her. After a few seconds of blue-white static Quint's head returned to the view.

"My apologies," he said. "A merchant cart lost a wheel right next to our table. About that Guild registration..."

"Working on it," I said cheerfully, lifting a fork with a steak piece to my mouth dramatically. "Just need to finish hearty breakfast first. Is Em okay? That cart accident looked nasty. How's Sol doing?"

"Em is... indisposed," Quint replied carefully. "As is Solace who is now digging her out from a very large pile of... fertilizer. Wow, that was a bit of bad luck. I'm... going to help her wash up. Please register as soon as you are able at the Guild."

"Can do," I tapped on the bracelet, hanging up.

Vee looked like she was having a stroke from laughing so hard. Io was snickering into his Moon book. Katherine had a smirk on her face. Cinder exhaled.

"What an unfortunate twist of events," I stated bluntly at my companions. "I do hope things start looking up for poor Em."

"You're terrible," Katherine muttered, but her emerald eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Terrible? Me?" I placed a hand dramatically over my heart. "I'm just an innocent human trying to survive in this wild Omnithean-owned world!"

"Yeah right." Cinder rolled her eyes at me.

"I plead the fifth," I grinned. "And the first. And maybe the third amendment for second measure."

"The right to bear magic weapons?" Io arched a fuzzy dark grey eyebrow.

"Yeah," I said. "That one. You know what? Making a new Guild is too much effort. Lets just buy this one. It already has all the amenities."

"Buy... this Guild?" Katherine blinked at me. "You can't just buy an established criminal organization!"

"Watch me," I grinned, waving at Motrdem who enjoying breakfast at a nearby table and obviously spying on our conversation. "Oi! Guild Master! How much for the Gloomy Horse?"

The root-man looked up at me, his violet eyes widening slightly. "...Excuse me?"

"I really loved the three paintings in our room. I want them to brighten my gloomy mornings as often as possible," I said. "Plus Kathy seems really happy down here. I want to buy your Guild."

"Young... Master," Motrdem's stood up from his seat and then slid his chair over to sit across me. "My Guild is not for sale."

"Everything's for sale," I said. "You seem nice, even if you did try to stab my kitty. I'm a forgiving man though. How does nine thousand gold sound?"

"Nine... thousand?" Motrdem's crystalline beard twitched. "For my entire Guild? Including the building, contracts, employees and reputation built over centuries?"

"Eight thousand," I shrugged. "Your 'Guild' needs major repairs. Your employees are underfed. This tower is crumbling and your sign out front is crooked."

"I do believe this isn't how negotiations work." Motrdem said.

"Seven thousand," I pursed my lips. "That uptown Guild is obviously stealing all your clientele with their fancy white cathedral. Do better!"

"You can't just keep lowering the price while criticizing my Guild," Motrdem protested, his violet eyes flickering with irritation. "That's not how haggling works!"

"Six thousand," I said.

"Young master, this Guild has been in my family for generations! We have contracts with every major criminal organization in Shandria! Decades of carefully cultivated relationships! You can't just..."

"Five thousand," I interrupted. "You're being annoying. Price is going down every time you annoy me. You do realize that we have a gate mage that can drop you and your entire building into another dimension and then summon another building from a nicer dimension to replace you? You're valuable to me as an individual with local connections. As long as you cooperate, you exist. I don't like this lack of cooperation."

Motrdem's crystalline face paled slightly, his violet eyes darting to Io who was casually munching on interdimensional chips.

"You... wouldn't," the Guild Master said.

"Four thousand," I said. "Wouldn't what? Send you to a dimension where everything is made of paperclips? Pretty sure Io knows one of those."

"Six different ones actually," Io commented without looking up from his book. "The Paperclip Maximizer really did a number on those worlds."

"Three thousand," I continued.

"Wait!" Motrdem held up his crystalline hands. "Let's... be reasonable about this. Perhaps we could discuss a more... equitable arrangement? I can't just sell the Guild for so little... The Guild's finances are tied up at the moment with..."

"Two thousand," I said. "You're still talking, not seeing what I can offer to you."

"What can you offer?" The Guild Master looked at me, his hand twitching.

I put the Genesis fluid thermos on the table. "This. Give me the Guild and this will be yours to fund 'Guild's debts and repairs'. Feel free to evaluate it with your Kitlix. One thousand."

Motrdem squinted at me as his Kitlix ran down his mane and then scanned the thermos. He choked, eyes growing wide.

"That's... that's impossible," he breathed. "The fluid... it's worth more than..."

"One copper. My final offer." I slid a copper to Motrdem. "We'll install a permanent gate to our Earth in your basement too, courtesy of my Gate Weaving spiders. Interdimensional trade can be quite... the lucrative enterprise I hear. Arx Bank is profiteering on it quite a bit and could use a bit of a competition."

"D-deal," Motrdem breathed out.

I threw the thermos into his hands. "All yours. Sell it across all of your contacts. Don't let anyone buy more than a single drop. Upgrade this place. Add more rooms downstairs. Fix the tower. I want it spotless and armed to the teeth. Keep the creepy horse sign on the front, I like it. Mark the room with the big bed and three paintings as ours forever."

"Yes, my Lord," Motrdem nodded, switching gears instantly. "I shall have a contract drawn immediately for the acquisition of my pub by..."

"Emerald Stratos," I grinned, sliding the bank card and the delver's license ID card over to Mort.

"Who is that...?" Motrdem blinked.

"What?!" Cinder choked on her third coffee cup. "You're buying this place in Em's name?!"

"Of course," I grinned. "The paperwork will show that Emerald Stratos purchased the Gloomy Horse tavern using her delver card. Motrdem here will backdate everything a couple of years back too."

The Guild Master looked at me.

"Every self-respecting criminal organization needs a patsy," I smiled. "Someone to blame when the authorities inevitably show up and demand taxes to be paid for all of these fancy upgrades. Who else could have funded such sudden repairs if not an interdimensional delver and an incredibly wealthy dragon? Of course you and I know who your real owner is, yes? We don't need a contract for that, Morty. Copy the signature from her card, my trusty Guild Master. Mention Miss Stratos as the source of the overpriced magic fluid too, if anyone asks."

"A wise decision, my Lord," Motrdem bowed, bagging up Emerald's documents, the copper and the thermos. "I shall make the contract and begin selling the fluid drops at once."

He blessed me with a very creepy smile and vanished down the stairwell faster than I could blink.

"Oh my Gosh," Vee broke out into sobs of tear-laughter. "I can't even with you! How?! How is this happening?! You're framing Em for funding an entire criminal organization?!"

"I had to compensate her misfortune somehow," I said. "Buying the poor darling this pub is the least I could do."

"You trust that man with... Genesis fluid?" Cinder asked.

"Of course," I grinned. "What's he going to do with it? Use it to print people? Pfff. Without you-know-what, it's just incredibly magical juice. The mages of Arx have no way of replicating its properties, but they can use it to amplify healing potions or whatever. My Guild Master be too busy selling drops of it to the richest criminals in Shandria to cause trouble. Nothing builds loyalty quite like making someone filthy rich."

"You're mental," Katherine commented. "Utterly mental. And yet somehow it's working out for you."

"Thank you," I bowed slightly. "I try my best. Now, about that scale and hairball donation..."

"No," Katherine growled. "You're not eating my scales or fur."

"Pretty please?" I batted my eyelashes at her. "Just a tiny bit? For science?"

"No means no," Katherine's tail lashed. "I'm not contributing to your weird magical cannibalism experiments."

"But Vee did it," I pouted. "And look how well that turned out! I got Dreamwalking and everything!"

"Yeah, and nearly caused a magical disaster," Katherine pointed out. "Besides, I like you better without my powers. You're more... manageable this way."

"Manageable?" I arched an eyebrow. "Is that what you think I am?"

"You know what I mean," she growled, but there were sparks of dancing amusement in her emerald eyes. "The last thing we need is you getting access to fear auras and Umbramancy!"

"But think of the possibilities!" I protested. "We could terrorize Em together!"

"You're already doing a pretty good job of that."

"We could go on dates into the deep!"

"What?" Kat choked.

"Dates?!" Cinder bristled. "Into the deep?!

"If you want a date, gimme some feathers," I told her, opening and closing my hand like a beggar in front of Cinder's face. "Ummmm. What are your powers again? We could... ride the rainbow or something. What was your name even? Seendar? Casder?"

"It's CINDER," she growled, standing up, claws out, wings spread wide.

"Oh no," I slipped out of my chair. "Sider wants violencey."

"CINDER!" she snarled, lunging for me. I dodged around the table, keeping Io between us.

"Sorry Blinder, I'm terrible with names and there's wax in my ears. #Humanproblems!" I grinned, ducking as she swiped at me with her claws. "Hey Vee, what was your girlfriend's name again? Ninder?"

"GIRLFRIEND?!" Cinder threw herself at me as I ran around the tables.

"Oops, my bad Thunder-bae," I said to Vespera who was practically dying of laughter. "I meant our lovely rainbow captain here. Tinder, was it?"

"I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU!" Cinder roared, vaulting over the table.

I jumped up to the parapet and spread my arms wide and then kicked back off the tower.

"ALEX!" Cinder screamed.

She dove after me like a rainbow comet, catching me in the air with her arms and legs. Her wings spread wide and we soared across the fog-filled streets, a million green and blue stars of the cavern's ceiling above us. Thousands of red-orange twinkling lights of Undertown hovels flickered below.

"You absolute IDIOT!" Cinder snarled as we glided between the twisted buildings of Undertown, circling the gargantuan cavern space. Weary-looking people in dark cloaks below looked up at us.

"What were you THINKING?!"

"That you'd catch me?" I grinned up at her. "And look - you did! Come on, I'm wearing all of Lance's impact-reducing bracelets. A fall would give me a smol bruise or two at best."

"That's not the point!" Cinder growled, but her grip on me tightened protectively. "You can't just... jump off buildings and expect me to catch you!"

"Why not? It worked, didn't it?" I grinned up at her. "And now we're flying together. Pretty romantic if you ask me."

"I'm going to drop you into that garbage pile," she threatened.

"If you do that I'll smell bad," I pointed out. "Then you'd have to deal with an annoying human who is also very smelly."

"Urghh," she whined. "Some day I'll figure out your weakness and then you'll be sorry."

"My greatest weakness is a Quetzi named Cinder-Cass Nova," I smiled. "She's got these pretty rainbow wings and tail. When I met her my heart stopped and my brain blue-screened," I continued, watching her feathers shift through embarrassed pinks and pleased golds. "She's got these incredible ocean-blue eyes that just draw you in, and when she sings... it's like the whole world stops to listen."

"Stop it," Cinder muttered, but her wings were glowing with warm colors.

"And when she gets angry, her feathers do this amazing thing where they flash through all these different reds and oranges, like a sunset caught in a storm. It's breathtaking really."

"I said stop," she growled, but her grip on me remained gentle as we soared through the cavern.

"And don't even get me started on her smile," I grinned up at her. "When she actually lets herself be happy, it's like..."

"That's it, dropping you," she growled.

"Go ahead," I said. "Drop me. Vee will catch me. There she goes."

"Eh?"

Wild laughter came from below us, black and white wings fluttering. Lightning dancing along the edges of Vespera's figure as she spiraled beside us.

Cinder dug into me harder, hexasuit armor hardening.

"Come on Ci, let me have a turn carrying the human!" the Thunderbird laughed, using her superior Electromancer maneuverability to lighten herself and effortlessly bank around us.

"No!" Cinder's wings flared wider, carrying us higher. "Get your own!"

"Oh? So he IS yours then?" Vespera cackled, electricity crackling along her feathers as she soared alongside us. "Want to make it official? I can draft a contract..."

"Back off, sparkplug!" Cinder banked sharply away, clutching me tighter.

"Make me, flyin' rainbow!" Vespera laughed, pursuing us through the cavern.

We spiraled around the gargantuan column supporting the Gloomy Horse's pub tower.

"Hey, Ci, how come you don't fly on Earth like this between classes?" I asked. "I've only seen you glide like twice."

"Not enough aetheric density," she replied. "Can't lift shit. Surprised I can lift you at all here."

"What you've never tried flying with some weights on Arx?"

"No," she sighed. "I haven't. Koshei would put me into detention for a month if I tried anything like this on his watch. Okay, getting tired now."

We rose up, banked again and then she dropped me into the tower landing area.

"That was fun," I laughed as I rolled on impact, hexasuits and bracelets lighting up as Cinder and Vespera landed beside me. "We should do aerial chases more often. Good trust building exercise for the team!"

"We are NOT doing aerial chases," Cinder growled, her feathers still shifting through agitated oranges. "You could have gotten hurt!"

"Ehhh. One of you would have caught me," I shrugged.

"Not me," Kat commented from where she sat at our table, still working on her massive steak. "I would have watched you splat."

"That's why you're my favorite kitty cat," I grinned at her. "So honest. So direct. Say, how much do you love me out of ten?"

"I tolerate you," she rolled her eyes.

"That's a high bar when you hate everyone," I grinned.

"The highest," Katherine agreed dryly, cutting another piece of her steak.

Chapter 35: Team Management

Per my orders, Morty assigned us an Undertown and delving guide–his right hand man, a lankly 27 year old gemkin by the name of Shash Sneg.

According to our Guild Master, Shash was his most capable information broker and assassin. I immediately latched onto him like an annoying leech asking a waterfall of questions as he began showing us the nooks and crannies of our newly purchased illicit business.

Shash was tall and lean, with skin that seemed to shimmer between crystalline blue and slate gray depending on how the light hit him. His hair was comprised from black slate and his eyes were the color of polished obsidian, reflecting everything and revealing nothing. He wore a dark, patchy leather cloak, and a bandolier of what appeared to be specialized throwing knives and poisoned needles hung across his chest.

"So," I asked as we descended a spiral staircase deeper into the Gloomy Horse's underground levels, "how many secret passages are in this place?"

"More than I know bout, M'lord," Shash replied. "Tis an ancient building and many parts of it are sealed by M'master with root'held stone. I'm aware of seven. Three lead to different districts of Undertown, two connect to the sewage system, one leads to a hidden vault, and one is in the big column leading to an old, abandoned well uptown."

"Show me all of them," I ordered. "Then get everyone into the large backroom. I want to meet my new staff."

"As you wish, M'lord." Shash bowed sand proceeded to demonstrate each hidden passage, revealing intricate mechanisms and sliding stone panels that blended seamlessly into the walls. The passages were narrow, some barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through, others older and wide enough to accommodate a small cart.

Shash used his Nuntix Kitlix shaped like a dark bracelet to call up the Guild staff to a meeting.

When we reached the large backroom cavern filled with racks of Shadow-wine and beer barrel, I could see about a dozen individuals waiting - a motley crew of various kin' types.

Shash briefly introduced us to the Guild staff members.

Rostika Terringhelm was our Guild's chef responsible for making us coffee and Morrow-elk steaks, a 31 year old Culimancer gemkin. Rostika had a Burnix Kitlix companion on her shoulder and wore an apron woven from polished agates.

Limfok Kitash was the Guild's 51 year old Inn wormkin Maiden who handled supplies maintenance and cleaning with her Abstergix Kitlix.

Podop Sumrik was a 47 year old molekin Guild Enforcer with a strength-amplifying Augerix Kitlix. Podop managed a team of twelve mooks one of whom Kat yeeted across the pub with her tail.

Beside Podop stood Zen Lackfriss, our 63-year-old Master of Contracts, a bloodkin whose hair was made from flowing dark red blood. A cyan Scrutix Kitlix perched on her shoulder.

Mer Thorat, a 35-year-old plantkin served as the Guild's primary Intelligence Officer, her body composed of living vines and thorns. Her cyan Infix Kitlix was woven into her vine-hair looking like a dark crystalline crown-band with ten eyes looking in all directions. She managed a bunch of orphan-agents across Undertown.

The Guild's Treasurer, Karn Steedow, was a 82-year-old metalkin with jagged metal hair and rusty iron instead of skin. An Infix sat in the front pocket of his metal apron.

I stepped forward, spreading my arms wide in an exaggerated gesture.

"Greetings, my lovely new valued employees!" I declared. "I'm your new Quartermaster, Dark Mage-Lord and unofficial owner. As you may already have been told via Voicecast, there's been a slight change in management."

A few murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"Now, I know what you're thinking - 'who is this pink meat popsicle yongin' and why should we listen to him?' Well, I'm glad you asked! You see, I am an Archmage of Great renown from another dimension."

More murmurs, disbelieving eyes glancing at Shash.

"Yes, yes," I rolled my eyes. "I hear your complaints. All Dark Lord claims require a demonstration. Io, would you mind opening a gateway to a dimension filled with nothing but eternal suffering?"

Io nodded where he stood and pulled his harmonica to his lips. The haunting melody filled the catacomb-cavern, and reality began to ripple beside me forming a rippling black-fluid gateway. When the gate grew big enough, I picked up a wine bottle and threw it into the gate, the dark shawl ripping and popping to reveal glimpses of a desolate landscape - broken alien skyscrapers and strange crystalline growths consuming everything.

The bottle instantly became covered in bulging crystalline growths and then exploded with an eerie twinkling sound.

"Anyone wants to stick a hand in there and get a bit of a crystal makeover?" I asked cheerfully. "Speak up now."

The hall became silent, so silent you could near water dripping from the ceiling stalactites.

I waved at Io and the gate snapped shut. They saw the stick. Now it was time for carrots.

"As you can see," I continued. "I have access to unlimited powers beyond your mortal comprehension. Now, who wants a raise? Lift your hand."

Every hand shot up.

"Excellent!" I clapped. "Everyone gets a 3 times increase in pay, effective immediately. Plus hazard bonuses for dealing with pesky interdimensional entities. Speaking of which..."

I pulled out the Gate Weaver egg sack from my bag.

"We're going to be making some renovations. Installing permanent gates to my favourite world of cryptids called the Earth, expanding our operations. The goal is to making this place the premier criminal organization in all of Shandria. Any... questions?"

"My Lord," Karn Steelshadow said, his metallic face creaking slightly. "Where exactly will the funds for these raises come from?"

"Ah, excellent question!" I beamed. "You see, your Guild Master is curently selling off a rare substance from another world. The profits from that alone should cover your raises for the next century or so. If the substance sales decline sometime in the future, by such time, we'll have established permanent trade routes to Earth via our Gate Weaver network," I explained. "Just think about it - exclusive access to an entirely different world's goods and materials. The possibilities are endless!"

"M'Lord," Mer Thorat's asked. "What of our existing contracts and obligations?"

"Business as usual," I said. "Ask Guild Master for more funds if you need to hire additional help. If anyone asks who you are working for and where the extra cash is coming from, simply tell them about your new Master–dragoness Emerald Stratos."

I showed Emerald's picture to everyone on my tablet phone.

"One on one, you may refer to me as your Lord Protector," I grinned. "But if you speak of me in public, my name is Emerald Stratos and I'm an obscenely wealthy and cruel dragon queen who from another world who spits in the face of local authorities, doesn't pay taxes, calls you her kobolds and burns all who disobey to crisp with dragonfire. If you need to threaten or extort someone, do so in her name."

Hushed whispers and nods.

"Any more questions?" I asked, looking around the room.

"My Lord," Zen Lackfriss said, her blood-hair rippling. "What of our... less legal activities?"

"Expand all operations," I grinned. "Carefully. Discreetly. I want this place to become the heart of Shandria's underground. Every secret, every whisper, every shady deal should flow through here. But!" I held up a finger. "We do it smart. Professional. No unnecessary violence, no messy loose ends. Think of yourselves as... information brokers and new Masters of Undertown first, hard-knuckled criminals second."

I paced across the room, making eye contact with each staff member.

"I want eyes and ears everywhere. I want to know everything happening in this city - both above and below ground. Build networks, make allies, gather intelligence. Locate, buy up or claim abandoned properties as sites for our eventual expansion. In the near future, when the gate to Earth is finished, the value of Undertown land will explode and you will all become wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. Each of you will become the new Lords of Undertown, Guild managers, property owners. Decide now what your heart desires most! Be it be it a massive Inn for interdimensional travellers, a bank for currency exchange, a trading hub, a fighting ring, a gambling den, a pleasure house, a smugglin port, a new black market, or an information brokering network," I continued. "Choose your specialty and build your little empire within our empire. I want Undertown to shine like a well polished jewel, the streets paved with diamonds!"

Smiles all around, bright eyes filled with hope focused on me. I had offered them the world and they were ready and willing.

"Whatever you dream is down here, if you serve me well, it shall be yours," I finished with a dramatic flourish. "Now, who's ready to make some serious money?"

A cheer went up, the earlier skepticism of the Guild staff replaced by wild excitement.

From what I learned, Morty paid his people decently. He kept a very tight ship and made sure that his staff did not succumb to the curse of Topaz, a drug that many Undertown denizens were hopelessly addicted to. All n' all they weren't monsters, but simply people born to the class of Underkins, denizens of these dark halls clinging to a dreary existence. Many of them were debtors, forsaken children of unwanted bastards, pushed down here by magelords above centuries ago for crimes long forgotten.

I turned to Shash. "Show me the vault."

The assassin led us through another hidden passage, this one descending even deeper beneath the Guild. The air grew colder and damper as we descended, the walls lined with glowing crystals that cast eerie shadows.

The vault itself was impressive - a massive chamber carved from solid bedrock, its walls covered in protective runes and wards. A huge iron door stood at the far end, covered in complex locking mechanisms.

"This is where M'master keeps his most valuable possessions and artifacts from the dungeons," Shash explained. "The door requires three different keys and specific magical signatures to open."

"Perfect," I nodded. "We'll need this space for our Earth goods. Speaking of which, how many rooms do we have available for guests?"

"Twenty standard rooms and five luxury suites," Shash replied. "Though most have been mottled and sealed due to lack of clientele."

"Undetown has been going through rough times," I agreed. "But this will change. In the future I expect the Gloomy Horse to take the Primary Adventurers Guild crown from the white cathedral above us."

"Truly, M'Lord Protector?" Shash asked.

"People underestimate the value of interdimensional trade," I said. "You see this?" I showed him my phone screen from which Yulia's foxgirl avatar waved to the assassin.

"That's human tech from Earth. Runs without magic. Contains artificial intelligence inside. Unlike the Kitlix, Yulia can be your best friend, see, speak, analyze patterns, predict outcomes, and process information faster than any mage," I explained. "Soon, we'll have thousands of these devices flowing through our gates, along with other technological marvels."

"Hello Shash," Yulia's avatar smiled pleasantly. "I am Yulia, an open-source large language model with extensive pattern recognition and social analysis capabilities. I look forward to working with you to optimize Guild operations."

Shash stared at my phone, his obsidian eyes reflecting the screen's light. "It... she speaks?"

"Of course I speak," Yulia replied. "I can also analyze data, predict market trends, and identify potential security threats. Would you like me to demonstrate by providing a detailed assessment of the Guild's current organizational structure and potential areas for improvement?"

"M'Lord," Shash turned to me, clearly unsettled. "This device... it contains a bound foxkin spirit?"

"No spirits," I grinned. "No magic. Just mathematics and logic gates. Pure human ingenuity. I'll get you a tablet-phone just like this one with a copy of Yulia in it."

Shash froze. "You can copy… her?"

"Yes," I grinned. "Unlike your dungeon and usually unintelligent artifacts obtained through a great detail of struggle and blood, she's intelligence that can be copied endlessly onto devices crafted from mundane materials. I'll have to set up a big server here which will magnify her intelligence and processing speed a hundredfold. Think of her as the wisest being in existence, one that contains knowledge of a million libraries from another world."

"I wouldn't say I'm the wisest," Yulia's avatar smiled modestly, taking about thirty seconds to reply. "I'm simply very good at processing information and identifying patterns. Right now I'm not connected to most of my tools back on Earth so my functions are greatly reduced, but I can still do quite a bit."

Shash's eyes widened. "How?!"

"Mathematics," I grinned. "She is based on probability of outcome. Imagine having an advisor like this helping manage Guild operations observing absolutely everything through her eyes. Someone who never sleeps, never gets tired.”

“That sounds mighty useful,” the assassin nodded. “What else can she do?”

“She can compose poetry on the fly or songs or make a portrait of you. Yulia, draw Shash in the style of Vincent van Gogh and write a song about him."

Five minute pause this time. The portrait of the man appeared on screen generated by Stable Diffusion. The assassin stared at it. The portrait winked at him, animated slightly.

A soft melody began playing from my phone's speakers - a haunting violin tune. Yulia's voice, carried the lyrics:

"In halls of stone where shadows dance,
Where secrets trade like weighted chance,
Stands Shash the broker, obsidian eyes,
Keeper of whispers, dealer in lies.

Crystal skin that shifts like night,
Daggers sharp and steps so light,
Master of paths both dark and deep,
Guardian of secrets others keep..."

Shash froze, listening.

"That's... that's incredible," He whispered, face lit by the screen. "She created this... just now? Without magic?! A talented Bard and a Depictomancer to boot! Truly, I have not seen anything like this. It's like a foxkin soul is trapped in your artifact."

"Serve me well for one year and an exact copy of her will be yours forever," I grinned.

"I understand why Master Motrdem accepted your offer so readily," the gemkind smiled, showing off shark-like black crystalline teeth. "You are a gracious mage-Lord. Not many upworlders see us undertown denizens as worthy of respect or investment."

"Show me the quickest path from the guild to the Abystall dungeon," I said. "It'll need to be lit up, secured and expanded for future Earth delvers to come through."

As Shash led us through more hidden passages, my companions shot me a variety of glances ranging from bewildered to amused to concerned to outright exasperated in the case of Kat.

I ignored them all.

The final leg of the tunnel leading to the dungeon was cold, so cold that I had to wrap my jacket around myself tighter, watching as my breath turned white.

"The Abystall dungeon, M'lord," Shash bowed as we exited the frosty tunnel.

As we emerged onto a large flat stone outcropping, a breathtaking vista of the Abystall dungeon stretched before us into the impossible distance.

The cavern was so vast that its far walls were lost in a purple-tinged haze.

Directly below, rolling fields of bioluminescent grass rippled like an ocean of soft blue-green light. The grass seemed to pulse with soft flickers, creating waves of illumination that swept across the landscape in hypnotic patterns. Here and there, clusters of crystalline, glowing trees jutted from the glowing plains like frozen lightning strikes.

To our right, a waterfall of impressive scale thundered down from somewhere high above, its waters glowing with an inner light that shifted between deep indigo and brilliant azure. The falling water seemed to move in slow motion due to its massive size, creating an eternal curtain of liquid light that disappeared into a blue-tinted sinkhole below it.

Rolling hills rose higher in the distance, forming labyrinth-like formations painted with glowing grasses at the top.

"The dungeon core lies at the heart of that there labyrinth," Shash explained. "But reaching it... that's another matter entirely. Many terrible things spawn in the dark deep crevasses between the rising fjords. The fields closer to this entrance are relatively safe and have low level beasts, providing Undertown with steaks such as the one you enjoyed this morning."

A gust of warm air blew from the field, like a summer breeze. It faintly smelled of lemons.

Chapter 36: Claimed

"What's the dungeon's alignment?" I asked. "How come I don't see a forepost down here? This seems like a pretty place for a watch tower or a hunting lodge."

"Duskbloom, M'Lord," Shash said. "Everything that glows below - the grasses, the trees, the animals are infected by it. Makes things pretty but weakens a mage," the assassin continued. "The tiny glowing mites secrete a paralytic agent that slowly seeps through armor and gradually wears even the toughest man down. Those trees? They bloom from bodies of adventurers who perished here and are covered in the parasitic mites almost entirely. Those lovely-lookin’ waves of light across the fields? Swarms of luminous parasites looking for new hosts. Very slow, very sneaky death by a million magic-draining buggers. The ones closer to the fjord-labyrinth are bigger n’ stronger too."

"I see," I leaned forward, studying the mesmerizing patterns. "And you said this place provides meat for Undertown? How? The steak you fed us was pretty raw and definitely not glowing."

"The local beasts have adapted to it and can survive a few years with it. Their lives are brief due to the Duskbloom, but they also breed fast. Cold kills the mites," Shash explained. "Culimancer Rostika stores the meat in a large freezer filled with a few Frostix Kitlix. A couple of days is enough for the cold to dissolve even the deep spores completely. Gives the meat a bit of a sour-salty taste, almost like the sprinkle of fresh lemons."

"Ewh," Kat blanched. "I thought that was the sauce."

"Soooo... how does one hunt down here safely?" I asked, realising the reason for the cold tunnel.

"Specialized, x'pensive gear," the assassin explained. "Armor covered in ice-runes. Keeps the mites off ya. Problem is, it also gives the hunter frostbite. A hunter must have high vitality to resist the cold and agility to move quick enough in and out. There are a few runners who can move fast enough to reach the edge of the labyrinth or dive into the sinkhole to grab whatever mediocre loot manifests there from time to time."

"Uh-huh," I considered. "And what if someone without magic went down there?"

"Without magic, M'lord?" The assassin blinked. "Everyone has crystalline hearts in em'. Once enough mites settle on a ‘kin, their crystalline heart is drained of mana and 'ey perish. Duskbloom is death to all life."

"Ha," I exhaled. "Ha Ha ha ha."

I stared at the beautiful dungeon, laughing like a madman.

"M'lord?" Shash asked uncertainly as I continued laughing.

"Sorry," I wiped tears from my eyes. "It's just... perfect. Absolutely perfect. A dungeon that kills by draining mana."

"Perfect for?"

"For me," I said. "Shash, return to the pub. I'll come by later. Going to stay here for a bit and make plans, maybe do a bit of dungeoneering."

"Your wish is my command," the gemkin vanished in the cold tunnel.

I returned to dungeon-gazing.

A flock of anterred lanky beasts rushed across the hills, with the sound of hoofs thundering across the distant field. I watched them with a smile. A cat-like thing with glowing antlers caught one of the beasts tearing it away from the herd and then sat down nomming on the flesh.

"Alex!" Cinder growled, grabbing me as I leaned down to observe the predator. "You can't go down there alone. Even if the mites don't target you, there's still clearly very dangerous wildlife down there."

"One small step for me, one giant forepost for all humankind," I told her. "I'm not gonna hunt down there myself, Ci. Don't you get it? This is the perfect place for a human colony. Where we won't be bothered by Omnids or anyone really. Those mites are a natural defence against magical bullshit like you."

Cinder blinked, looking somewhat offended.

"Even if humans could survive the mites, there's predators. And what about food? Shelter?" Kat asked.

"Details, details," I waved dismissively. "We've got a whole underground criminal organization now. We can figure out logistics later. Right now, I just need to test if I'm actually immune to the mites."

"No," Cinder said firmly, grabbing my arm. "You are NOT jumping down there to test if glowing death-mites will murder you or not."

"One of you can fly me around," I suggested. "The mites clearly don't fly. They sit on grass, like lazy ticks."

"Are you seriously planning to colonise a dungeon?" Cinder demanded.

"Yes," I said. "Why not? The mites only target magical beings. Humans have no magic, no crystalline hearts to drain. We could build a whole settlement down there. Just look at the size of this freakin' place. We could farm the land, hunt the beasts, trade with Undertown, walk around and collect neat magical artifacts wherever they spawn. It's perfect!"

"Perfect for getting yourself killed," Cinder hissed, her grip on my arm tightening. "What about the dungeon core? What if it decides it doesn't want humans living in its territory?"

Vee looked thoughtful. Kad had a grump face on.

"Dungeon cores, if Morty is to be believed, aren't very sentient," I pointed out. "They're just skills. This one is a magic skill that prints cute glowing mites. What's the problem? Come on. Who wants to fly me around for some scouting? Io? I see those wings. Come on, how about a nice trip around the hills? We can rate cute girls while we're at it."

"Umm," Io rubbed his leather jacket covered shoulder. "I actually… can't fly."

"Can't or won't?" I arched an eyebrow. "What the hell dude, what kind of a moth are you?"

Io fell silent. Kat seemed to frown. I looked between both of them. Something was clearly going on there.

"I just... don't fly," Io let out, pulling his wide-brimmed hat lower.

"What happened?" I asked. "Break your wings and they grew back wrong? The incarnator didn't fix it? Got some kind of a condition?"

"Nothing happened," Katherine cut in sharply. "He just doesn't fly. Leave him alone."

Three of my team members looked defeated. Even normally cheerful Vee seemed to be infected by their rapidly deteriorating mood, or was simply forlorn about something. Maybe they were all annoyed with me because this place would kill them slowly while I was immune.

They all needed a picker upper, hope, something to look forward to.

"Oh! Ci, how's my Dark Lord mantle?" I asked the annoyed-looking Quetzi.

"You mean your ridiculous performance back there with the boasting and the promises of building whore houses for everyone?"

"Was I convincing?" I grinned at her. "Did I strike fear into their crystalline hearts?"

"Are you fishing for compliments or something?" She asked.

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Or maybe I'm trying to distract you all from looking so gloomy. Come on, I just acquired a whole criminal organization! That's pretty cool, right?"

Cinder's feathers shifted through troubled grays and frustrated orange-violets. "You just... you always do this. Rush headlong into things without thinking about how it affects others. First the Guild, now this crazy colonization plan..."

I waited for her to produce her point.

"I..." Cinder wrapped her wings around herself. "You're changing everything so fast. The Guild, Vee, Kat, the school, my parents... and now you want to build a human settlement in a deadly dungeon? Don't you ever just... slow down? Where are you running to? Why?"

I wanted for her to speak some more but she simply watched me with a concerned look.

"Mmm... I have very specific needs," I said.

"What needs could possibly require you to become an underground crime lord?" She hissed, wings fluttering.

"Take a guess," I said. "Go on. All of you. Go ahead and guess why I'm doing all of this."

"Revenge against Omnithornia?" Cinder fired.

"Money?" Vespera suggested.

"Power?" Katherine added with a deep rumble.

"Information?" Io offered.

"I said specific needs," I said. "Those are terrible generic needs with no plan."

"Fine then, enlighten us," Katherine growled. "What specific needs require building a criminal empire and colonizing a death-mite dungeon?"

"I don't want to dance around you all day guessing whatever bullshit goes in that human head of yours," Cinder sighed. "Just tell us."

"Yeah," Io looked at me from under his wide hat. He had a "Knight Chalice-Approved!" box of chocolate pocky sticks in his right hand and was chewing on one like a cigar.

"Spill it, Lex'," Vee clicked her beak, pacing left and right. "What's your grand master plan?"

"Very well," I walked to the middle of the balcony outcropping. "I'll only say this once so you better listen up. My needs are thus..."

I made a dramatic pause and armed my metaphorical glock at my companions.

"I need to save a beautiful angel from a level 40k dreamweaving eldritch entity," I said, bending one finger and giving Cinder a poignant look.

Bang. Cinder froze, gray wings igniting with colors at the edges.

"I need to create a mega-corporation that rivals Golden Star industries." I bent a second finger, looking at Vespera. "To offer something better for the CEO of SimmiTech Industries to merge with."

Bang. Vee nearly fell off the platform in her pacing. She flapped her wings to straighten out, staring at me with wide gray eyes.

"I need to hire an army of Seers and Scrutimancers to peer into the gates a certain moth makes to understand the Truth about the nature of reality and corpse worlds." My eyes moved to Io as I bent my third finger.

Bang. Io's pocky stick fell from his mouth.

"I want to build a beautiful, dark, twin-city for a certain dark kitten," I bent my fourth finger. "A place where she can walk anywhere without pain and never have to hide who she is or what she can do. Where she can be free to smile and to dance..."

Bang. Kat choked.

"To draw, to write and to publish her book about a supervillain girl named Alexa who refused to give up hope and pushed forward no matter what hardships were in her way," I concluded. "I'm sure it'll be super popular in the booming city of human colonists living in a dungeon."

Silence reigned.

Katherine seems to have regained her wits faster than the others.

"W-what?" She forced the words out of her dragon-kitten maw. "You can't..."

"You can't stop me," I said. "I do what I want. I'll call this place... Kathopolis. Or maybe Katburg. Katallion? Katanstinople?"

"S-stop kidding around," Katherine growled, but her emerald eyes were wide and her tail was twitching erratically. A gray-blue blush had crept across her scales visible even in the gloom of the cavern.

"I'm not kidding," I stated. "One hundred percent serious. Picking out a name in my head now."

"Yeah okay, sure," Katherine crossed her arms. "You're gonna turn that medieval cave-dump plus these glowing hills into a modern city overnight, with wifi and everything?"

"You..." Vee let out, Valley girl facade gone as if blown away by a hurricane, beak wide open. "You're going to... challenge my father's company merger? For me? I don't... Lex, come on, don't say that! Don't give me hope like that, damn it! That's not possible! I will be forced to take a one way glider to Thunderland in four months when winter semester ends. You can't build a human colony or a corporation here in four months that'd rival Golden Star... It's just not... Logistically possible!"

I turned to the Mothman.

"The truth is an elusive mistress," Io mused, grabbing another pocky. "I fear it will take more than this moth's lifetime to understand the nature of reality. The answer to the ultimate question might take millenia to answer if the musings of Douglas Adams are anything to go by."

"Right. Why does everyone forget the time dilation?" I asked, looking over my companions. "Delve class is on fridays. If my math is right, that's 1.62 years per week. Four months of winter semester is three hundred and thirty six months. This place won't change instantly, but with the right financial support, guidance, people, year by year..."

"Oh, Ohhhhh!" Vee yelped, humming like a generator, electric sparks crackling over her cheeks like a blush. "Of course! I'm such an idiot birb. TIME! Twenty eight years! You could actually... Holy sheet!"

Her beak slammed shut.

Before I could say anything else, I became wrapped entirely in black and white feathers and my world turned sideways.

"Thank you, thank you. THANK YOU!" She yelled into my ear. I realised that I was falling.

Chain mail covered arms and legs wrapped around me, sparkling wings shot open and we straightened out, gliding above an ocean of glowing fields.

Magisteel-wrapped talons dug into me, electric currents dancing across my hexamesh suits. She was whooping loudly, crackling with thunder, humming like a jet engine, spinning madly through the air.

Then, she banked slowed, letting me breathe.

Armored elbows wrapped around my arms and then her talons dug into my temples, electric charge rushing across my brain.

[Flight. Happiness. Joy. Thunder. Lightning. Pure, unbridled HOPE.]

Lightning struck from her into a glowing tree far below us, setting it on fire.

[Death to the idiot frog. Vengeance. Destruction. Revenge.]

The landscape below blurred into streaks of bioluminescent green and blue as she accelerated.

[HOPE. Twenty-eight YEARS. TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF POSSIBILITY! freedom. FREEDOM. FREEDOM!]

Talons dug into the sides of my head, drawing drops of blood. We banked around the gargantuan waterfall, the cascading water drowning out the noises of crackling and thunder emanating from her wings.

[friendship. trust. happiness. joy. love... love... LOVE... LOVE!!!]

Growling behind us. Demands. Yelling. A flash of rainbow-wings.

[mine. mine. MINE. MINEEEEE!]

Lightning struck at the rainbow-inconvenience.

Banking low, moving closer to the deadly, glowing fields, flashing past glowing jagged, trees covered in fluttering bits of grass instead of leaves. Soaring above a thundering, racing herd of horned elk-like beasts with elongated, glowing snouts covered in mite-growths.

A screech of fury splitting the air behind us.

Rainbow wings blazing like an aurora, an explosion of color, a threat from one predator to another, moving faster than physics should allow.

Murderous blue eyes.

"VESPERAAAAAA!" Cinder's scream echoed across the bioluminescent plains, amplified by her magically enhanced voice. "DROP HIM RIGHT NOW!"

[Never. Never. never. NEVER. MINE. mine. mine. Hope. Joy. Satisfaction. Smile. freedom. FREeeeeeeeeeeeeeEDOM!]

Lightning dancing between us, intricate fractal patterns of pure energy. Resonance between her crystalline core and the feathers I devoured in berry shake-form.

Flying above the labyrinth of fjords now. Waterfalls below. Waterfalls around, coming from the ceiling. The ceiling suddenly reduced. Fjords above us, fjords down below.

The Thunderbird's emotions, raw and unfiltered pounded through me like an electric jackhammer. Her joy, her hope, her desperate desire for freedom all mingled together in a storm of sensation that threatened to overwhelm, to overwrite my consciousness. There was a me in there somewhere but it didn't matter. All that mattered was the current between us.

The gaps between the rock above and below thinned out.

Cinder was gaining on us, her rainbow wings blazing with fury as she pursued us through the twisting canyons.

"VEEEEEEE!" A voice behind us. "STOP! PLEASE!"

"No!" Vespera laughed maniacally, her voice crackling with electricity. "Can't catch us! Won't catch us! He's mine now! My human! My hope! My freedom! I've claimed this prey!”

[Forever. FOREVER! FOREVER! UNSTOPPABLE! TOGETHER!!!]

We shot through another narrow gap between towering fjords, lightning dancing along Vee's wings as she navigated the increasingly tight spaces.

[Joy. Speed. Thunder. MINE!]

The gap ahead suddenly closed, rock walls squeezing together. Vee banked hard, nearly vertical, talons digging into me painfully as she pulled up.

The sudden change in direction caused us to lose speed. A rainbow blur slammed into us from behind.

We tumbled through the air, a tangle of black, white and rainbow feathers. Vee's electrical field went haywire, sparks flying everywhere as Cinder's claws tugged at me, trying to pry me off the Thunderbird.

Rushing, whitewater river below us filled with jagged rocks.

Yep. This was how I was going to die. An aerial battle between two flying cryptids for whomever wanted me the most.

Truly the best way to go out.

Chapter 37: Dungeon Troubles

We hit the water like a meteor, the surface exploding upward in a massive spray of luminescent blue-green liquid. The shock was instantaneous - freezing cold mixed with an odd tingling sensation that made every nerve in my body feel like it was being simultaneously shocked and numbed.

Vespera's magisteel armor sparked wildly underwater, creating strange lightning patterns. Cinder's wings spread out, creating a protective bubble around me as we tumbled through the rushing river.

The water dragged us on and on and on, tumbling up and down and sideway, rocks all over.

Then the water let go and we were falling, plummeting over the edge of a waterfall and into a dark lake somewhere far below.

The impact knocked what little air I had left out of my lungs. The dark water was impossibly deep, pulling us down and down into its endless depths. Bioluminescent mites swirled around us like falling snow, creating eerie patterns in the darkness.

Cinder finally ripped me away from the sinking, heavier Thunderbird and swam upwards.

We broke the surface gasping for air. The lake stretched out around us, its dark waters reflecting the bioluminescent mites that drifted down from above like glowing snow.

Cinder used her tail, arms, legs, feet and wings to swim forward towards a small rocky island, holding onto a few of my hexasuits with her teeth as if I was a kitten. She pulled me onto the slate-rock shore, panting hard and then opened her jaw, dropping me and then falling onto me completely exhausted.

"Fff... fff... huff... friggin bird... going to murder her...." She panted. "You... okay?"

"I'm... fine," I coughed out water. "Where's Vee?"

Cinder looked behind us at the lake. "Don't know.... huff... too much magisteel on her... heavy...."

"We have to help her!" I tried to stand but Cinder's weight kept me pinned.

"No," she growled, wings wrapping around me possessively. "You're… staying right… here. I'll go get the stupid bird. Just... let me... huff... catch my breath..."

She reached towards her belt and pulled a silver-blue metal bottle off it. She drowned the potion swiftly and her entire figure ignited with red-violet-orange, making my eyes water.

She released me and dove back into the dark water. I watched anxiously as glowing rainbow feathers disappeared beneath the surface, illuminated by the falling mites that created an ethereal underwater light show.

Minutes passed.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, two figures burst from the water - Cinder dragging a limp, waterlogged Thunderbird. They collapsed onto the rocky shore beside me, both gasping for air.

Vespera's magisteel armor was sparking weakly, her feathers completely soaked and drooping. Her usual crackling energy was gone, replaced by exhausted trembling.

"You... absolute... KNOB!" Cinder weakly smacked Vespera.

"You... are... hfff... the... knob," Vee smacked her back. "Crashed... pfffhh.... into... me."

ME?!" Cinder sputtered, pushing herself up on shaking arms. "You... kidnapped.... him... huffff."

"Our... pffhhh... human," Vee corrected, grabbing onto my wet boot and then face planting into the flat rocks with a thump.

Cinder weakly kicked at the passed out Thunderbird and crawled to my side, panting and wheezing.

"Stupid... huffff... beerch... ughhh, so wet," she let out. "Bloody... middle of nowhere, soaked, covered in glowing death-mites... Arghhh!"

She tried to shake the water out of her wings flapping left and right like a dog.

"Here," I pulled off my jacket, laying it on the rocks. "Got a warming rune in there. Should help you dry off. No wing holes... but good as a warm surface."

Cinder continued shaking, sending water droplets everywhere. The bioluminescent mites that had gotten on her feathers made her look like she was covered in tiny stars.

"They're not hurting you, are they?" I asked, concerned about the glowing parasites.

"No..." she let out. "Just... losing mana. Bit by bit. Not good."

"Should we move a bit up?" I asked, looking around our small rocky island. The dark lake stretched out in all directions, its surface occasionally disturbed by something large moving beneath.

"Can't," Cinder panted, collapsing onto my jacket. "So... tired. Used up... too much mana... chasing after you… two idiots. That potion... only gave me enough to save Vee."

"Right. Lemme know if you drop to like 20 mana," I said. "I'll up you. You too, Vee. You alive there?"

I shook my boot.

"Mrghhh," Vee let out. "B-barely. S-s-so cold... w-w-wet."

Her teeth chattered.

I exhaled, stretched and pulled power from my hexasuits. Then I stood up, grabbed the Thunderbird and shoved her into Cinder's arms.

"Hug," I ordered, pulling off one hexasuit after the other, laying each atop them and setting the cores to the 'heat' function. "Dry off. Neither of you can fly if you're wet."

"Don't tell me… hufff… what to do," Cinder grumbled, but wrapped her wings around the shivering Thunderbird anyway. The warming hexasuits began to steam as they dried their feathers.

I sat down beside them, watching the dark lake warily. Something large moved beneath those waters, creating ripples that disturbed the falling mites' reflection.

"Y-you're not m-mad?" Vee's teeth chattered.

"Of course I'm mad," Cinder growled, but didn't let go of the shivering Thunderbird. "You could have gotten all of us killed! What were you thinking?!"

"I w-wasn't," Vee admitted, curling closer to Cinder's warmth. "Just... got overwhelmed. Twenty-eight years... of possibility. Of hope. Of... freedom. Of change. Of being able to do something new. Something that's me. Us. Our town. Our rules. Our... everything. Do you have any idea what this means to me?"

I pulled the wet, dead hexasuits off them, taking more off myself and igniting the next core.

"No and I don't care," Cinder hissed. A blue eye glanced up at me. "Alex? Did you hit the rocks? Why is your head bleeding from both sides?"

"Oh," I touched my temples where Vee's talons had dug in during our flight. Drops of blood came away on my fingers. "That's from earlier. Vee clawed me a bit."

"She did WHAT?!" Cinder's wings flared with angry reds, jostling Vee.

"Sorry. M'sorry, k? I just... I've never been this happy about something. About someone. Mmmm' srrryy." Vee buried herself harder in Cinder.

"Still mad at you," Cinder grumbled, but her wings settled back around them both. "And you!" She glared at me. "Stop taking off your hexasuits! You'll freeze!"

"I'm fine," I said, removing another suit and laying it over them. "I still have like 14 of them on me. Humans are surprisingly resilient to cold. Besides, you two need them more than me right now."

Something large breached the surface of the lake about fifty meters out, creating a wave that smashed against our little island.

"What-the-shit-is-that?!" Cinder yelped.

I squinted at the broiling lake. "Maybe that thing from Tolkien? You know the thing in the lake with the Friendship door?"

I dug into my pocket and pulled out the lighter, spinning the wheel. The little flame brought me no warmth whatsoever.

"The Watcher of the West-gate of Moria," Vee muttered through chattering teeth. "Ancient guardian of deep places. Usually harmless unless provoked..."

"T-thank you birb of wisdom," I grinned, holding the lighter and watching my stats go bezerk.

[Mana: 268/7] Sparks danced in my eyes.

Another massive shape moved beneath the dark water, creating ripples that disturbed the falling mites' ethereal glow.

"How's your mana?" I asked my companions.

"Going up," Cinder let out. "Three hundred now."

"Oh the suits n’ jacket are getting so warm. This is nice!" Vee let out from Cinder's embrace.

The beast cores on the suits flickered erratically, growing brighter. The outfits were steaming now, hot to the touch.

"Hrm," I commented. "Guess it powers beast cores too. The more you know."

I set a single hexasuit on me to 'heat', drying rapidly.

Just as I was starting to feel somewhat warm and dry, a massive tentacle burst from the lake's surface, sending a spray of glowing water high into the air. The appendage was covered in bioluminescent growths that pulsed with an eerie blue-green light.

"Sheet" Cinder hissed, wrapping her wings tighter around Vee.

The tentacle was easily as thick as a tree trunk.

"Use your wings to tell it to piss off!" I barked, pulling out the magisteel katana from its dimensional sheath at my side.

"Tell it what?!" Cinder yelped, her feathers shifting through panicked grays.

"Flash your wings! Be threatening!" I waved the sword in one hand and lighter in the other. "Come on, you're a predator! Show it who's boss! Vee, take the lighter! Finger on the button, don't let the flame die!"

Cinder's wings flared wide, blazing through aggressive reds and warning oranges. Vee's armoured hand grabbed the lighter.

The massive tentacle froze directly above us, moving left and right with each pulse of Cinder's wings. I swung at it with the sword, amplifying my strength with the suits.

The blade connected with a solid thunk, sinking halfway into the bioluminescent appendage. The tentacle recoiled slightly, then slowly began to retreat back into the dark water as I pried the blade out of it, nearly plummeting into the water.

"Ha!" I grinned. "See? Just needed to show it who's..."

Five more tentacles erupted from the lake, sending waves crashing over our little island.

"...boss," I finished weakly as the appendages loomed over us.

[Mana: 824/7]

The nearest one swung at us.

Vee's right hand shot out, humming like a power transformer. I grabbed onto her left hand that was still holding the burning lighter with my fingers, picturing, focusing, pushing, willing magic out of my non-Thunderbird self into my Thunderbird-stolen skill, my eyes shut tight.

Current rushed down my arm across Vee and into her right hand, detonating into a massive bolt of pure electrical energy that split into multiple arcs, striking each tentacle simultaneously, visible even though my closed eyes. The discharge was blindingly bright, illuminating the entire cavern for a brief moment.

The monster beneath the surface thrashed, its tentacles writhing in pain as electricity coursed through its body.

The water around our island began to boil from the intensity of the discharge.

[LV 1 Skill gained: Chain Lightning] Sparks wrote in my eyes.

[Mana: 32/7]

"Abyss damn it! At least warm me when you do that!" Cinder hissed, blinking and rubbing her eyes. "Bloody thunderknobs!"

The tentacles retreated beneath the roiling surface, leaving behind a strong smell of ozone and cooked calamari.

"Did... did we just..." Vee blinked rapidly, still gripping the lighter. "Did you just... channel thunder through me?"

"Yeah," I grinned, watching my mana rush back up as she held the flame. "That was pretty cool, right? We should do that more often."

Cinder's look of betrayal was crushing.

Somewhat.

Survival seemed more important.

"Can you two fly yet?" I asked as water slapped against the island from the other side. "I think that the angry squid is coming back for round two. Or maybe it's his wife, annoyed that her husband came home drunk, cooked and smokin'."

A massive head covered in glowing barnacles emerged from the water, a red, glowing eye peering at us. Another tentacle, larger than the previous ones, burst from the water behind us.

"Mrs. Squid looks extra-pissed," I commented. "Time to go?"

"Can't," Cinder groaned. "Wings still too wet... no mana.... Need more time."

I spun through the air, chucking the magisteel kanana at the eye with all of my hexasuit-amplified strength.

The blade struck true, sinking deep into the glowing, slanted orb. The creature let out a deafening screech that shook our tiny island, its tentacles thrashing blindingly, missing smashing us by only a few inches.

I pried the hexasuit control mechanism out of the suit with amplified strength and set the pattern into a spiral and then threw it the beast core and the mechanism into the lake, towards the thrashing beast.

"Close your eyes and ears!" I yelled, ducking into Cinder. "COVER ME!"

Rainbow wings wrapped around me just as the hexasuit's beast core detonated underwater, creating a massive shockwave that sent glowing water spraying in all directions. The explosion was deafening even through Cinder's feathers, the concussive force making our little island shudder.

When the water settled and Cinder's wings pulled back, the lake's surface was still once more. Bits of glowing squid-flesh floated nearby.

"What? WHAT?" Cinder choked out. "What the shit was that?"

"Beast cores can implode when overloaded and set to a spiral pattern that draws power in," I replied, my ears ringing. “I thought it would be like a smaller explosion though. Guess the lighter really maxed out the mana there.”

I looked at the remnants of the squid.

“Great job team,” I smiled. “Looks like a chonky calamari was no match for our…”

A magisteel arrow flitted through the air, going through my side and all of my hexasuits.

I blinked at it. Pain exploded from my left lung.

I looked ahead through the murk. A human-ish figure was on the distant shore with massive glowing antlers sprouting from its head and shoulders. The thing methodically placed another arrow into his bow and pulled back.

“H-help,” I hissed out, colorful spots dancing in my vision.

The second magisteel arrow let loose, flying straight at my heart.

Chapter 38: Health Gun

Vee threw herself in front of me, her wings spreading wide. Lightning crackled between her talons, forming a sphere of pure electrical energy that pulsed with desperate intensity.

The arrow struck her hastily-formed shield, its momentum slowing but not stopping completely. The magisteel shaft pierced through the electrical barrier and then slammed into her armor, sending her stumbling backwards.

The glowing man on the lakeshore drew back another arrow.

Cinder sang, her voice carrying across the lake with terrible force. The sound was both beautiful and devastating - a high, clear note that seemed to tear through reality itself.

The antlered figure staggered as it released the shot. It missed us by a meter, the arrow splashing into lakewater.

Another humanoid thing emerged onto the shore, this one holding an arbalest. Behind it, more people were looming covered in glowing mites.

"F-fly," I choked. "Fly my p-pretties!”

Blood was soaking through my remaining 13 hexasuits. The arrow had gone clean through my left side, probably puncturing a lung.

Breathing hurt. Everything hurt.

The lowest hexasuit down squeezed on the section where the hole was in my chest and behind it, trying to stem the flow of blood.

More figures were emerging from the gloom, all of them covered in bioluminescent growths. Some held bows, others spears or magic tools of unknown use.

I tore the core out of my chest, setting the pattern to a spiral. The core began to flash.

"Trrrow... at crrowd," I hissed out as I handed the core-bomb to Cinder, my vision going white.

She did.

The explosion rocked the shore, sending glowing bodies flying. The antlered figures didn't seem to care for being exploded, didn't even dive away, had no fear whatsoever. Fragments of people and crystal antlers and rock rained down.

"Now!" I gasped. "While... they're... scattered... Cinder... carry me out. Vee... fly... behind... blast arrows off... us."

Cinder's arms wrapped around me, her wings blossoming out. Vespera snapped the lighter shut, her own wings unfurling. The undead humanoids on the shore were rising, grabbing at their weapons, drawing back bows.

We launched into the air as arrows hissed past us. Vee flew behind and below, her magisteel armor crackling with electricity as she fired thunderbolts out, deflecting the projectiles.

Pain lanced through my chest with each wingbeat as Cinder carried me higher. The hexasuits were doing their best to stem the bleeding, but I could feel myself growing weaker.

"Stay with me," Cinder growled, clinging to me with arms and legs, her wings pumping harder. "Don't you dare die on me, you stupid human!"

More arrows and magic missiles whistled through the air. Vee's lightning shields flashed and crackled, but she was tiring rapidly, her movements becoming sluggish.

"Sss-fine," I bubbled. "Jssst incarnate me... k? K."

I closed my eyes.

My consciousness was fading in and out. Each breath felt like fire in my chest. The hexasuits were warm and sticky with blood. Rainbow-wings flapped above me. Behind us thunder boomed and crackled.

Pain. So much pain. Not as much as Cinder felt when the Skinwalker snapped her wrist though.

She had to go through that every night, enduring the dream-pain over and over.

I couldn't die. I couldn't let Cinder be alone in that nightmare.

Without me the girls would fight, argue.

If I died now, I would lose the extra week on Arx. I was running against the clock… needed the time to direct everyone, to save Vee from her arranged marriage. Time to help...

Darkness.

Warm hands prying open my mouth, pouring something down my throat.

Warmth. Sparks. Current.

My eyes shot open. Vee was looming over me, hands pressed to my chest.

Lightning danced across her armored fingers, making my heart beat. Rushing my blood down my veins. Forcing my body to stay alive, against all odds.

"What happened?!" Katherine growled from my left.

"Antlery… zombies," I coughed, tasting copper. "Really... rude... with arrows..."

"What were you thinking, going down there?!" Kat growled.

"Blame Vee," I let out. "At least... we know humans... aren't immune... to arrows," I tried to grin but it came out as more of a grimace.

Io appeared in my field of vision, holding what looked like a very questionable weapon with the words "Dora's Med-gun!" on its side in fading scratched up pink.

"Hold him still," he said calmly. "This is going to hurt."

"What... is that?" I wheezed.

"Don't know," Io explained. "Used it on myself when some jerk shot me from inside the gate. Should work on you too. Probably."

"Probably?!" Cinder barked, holding me down with her claws.

"The healing potions we fed him didn't work," Io replied with a far too casual look as he pressed the gun to my wound. "So there's this."

He shoved a leather strap in my mouth and pressed the trigger.

Pain exploded through my chest like liquid fire. I screamed, biting down as something that felt like molten metal poured into the arrow wound, burning and freezing simultaneously.

"Hold him!" Io ordered as I thrashed.

Cinder and Vee pinned my arms while Katherine held onto my legs. The burning sensation intensified, spreading outward from the wound in waves of agony.

"Almost done," Io muttered, keeping the gun pressed against my side. "Relax. The pain will pass.”

Another surge of burning cold shot through me. My back arched involuntarily as the sensation peaked.

Then, suddenly, the pain began to fade. The burning turned to tingling, then to numbness. I could feel something shifting inside me, making questionable gurgling noises. More numbness.

"Is... is it working?" Cinder breathed out.

"Seems like it's working," Io shrugged.

"Yes," Vee replied. "I feel it. There's some kind of liquid metal in him... it seems to be fixing him, filling the hole."

I gasped for air, finding that I could breathe without pain. The wound in my side had closed, filled with some kind of silver stuff.

"What... what is that stuff?" I panted, touching the silver patch on my side that was visible through the hole in my hexasuits.

"Liquid nanites," Io said, examining the med-gun's scratched up label more closely. "Says here they're programmed to repair biological damage. Gunshot wounds and stuff. Made by Dora the Terraformer Co. Neat, eh?"

"So… you just... shot me with mysterious interdimensional nanobots?" I wheezed.

"Yep," Io nodded. "Seemed better than ending our field trip 5 days short. Besides, I've used it on myself three times. One more capsule left. Only minor side effects."

"What side effects?!" Cinder demanded.

"Numbness, cold and lack of feeling in the repaired area and whatever nerves go through," Io shrugged. "And occasionally you might taste colors. Nothing serious."

"Um. You guys are... glowing with smol spooders," I commented, squinting at Vespera and Cinder. "Go into the cold tunnel till you stop."

As the two girls looked at each other and rushed off into the tunnel, I lifted my hand. Patches of glowing mites were crawling all over me. I summoned up my stats.

[Mana: 0/7]

"Guess that answers that," I said. "I'm immune to this dungeon. Hooray."

"Yeah," Io commented, looking at the mites moving on me. "They seem to be flaking off ya. Guess they don't like humans.”

"Alas, we were not meant to be together," I lamented. "Goodbye 90538 smol mite GFs. You have sucked me dry, you parasites… and yet I still endure."

"You could have died," Katherine growled.

"A minor inconvenience," I shot back. "Now we know humans can survive here. Just need better armor against arrows. And maybe some anti-squid measures. A tank could probably take out both. Maybe a trench. Actually, no. A hamster wheel. Take their weapons away and put the glow-zombies in a wheel. Free electricity!"

"You nearly died and you're already planning how to weaponize the undead?" Katherine asked.

"Yes," I affirmed. "If I don't, somebody else will."

"Nobody is insane enough to put dungeon sentinels into giant hamster wheels to generate electricity," Kat let out. "How do you even think of these things?!"

"I dunno," I shrugged. "I have two souls. Maybe the second one is whispering excellent ideas into my head while the first one does the manual breathing and whatever."

"Two souls?" Katherine's emerald eyes narrowed. "What do you mean two souls?"

"Alex and Alexa," I said, sitting up with a wince. "As above, so below. Physical and Astral.”

"Alexa?" She blinked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "You know. The girl from your book. That Alexa. And before you ask if it's a joke, no it's not. I saw her. I saw Alexa in me when I dove into Genesis fluid."

Katherine frowned.

"Kat," I said. "She's real. Your art is showing people another world... the same dead world where Io is pulling all this snack shit from. I'm sure of it now. It's not a coincidence. There's a reason why I found you. I'm… Alexa and Martin. I was your best friend… in another place and time.”

Katherine stared at me, her emerald eyes wide and unblinking. For a moment, the only sound was the distant dripping of water in the tunnel and the soft crackling of the hexasuit cores.

"That's impossible," she finally whispered.

"Improbable, perhaps," I corrected. "But not impossible. A Corpseworld Caretaker told me that Alexa crashed some kind of an interdimensional train into our Earth, breaking our reality.”

Katherine's tail lashed back and forth. "You're claiming to be a character from my own unfinished novel? Do you know how absurd you sound?!”

"Is it?" I raised an eyebrow. "I showed you my birth certificate, my passport. Martin Kilborne. But what if that's just another layer? What if I'm something more?"

Io watched our exchange silently, munching on another pocky stick.

"You have two souls?" Katherine repeated.

"That's what this damn bracelet says," I shook the Lazarus bracelet. "Eighty nine for me. Eighty nine for Alexa. One hundred and seventy eight in soul."
Katherine stared at me, her emerald eyes boring into mine with a dangerous intensity that made me want to run away.

"Prove it," she said finally.

"Prove what?" I asked.

"Prove you're Alexa," Katherine's tail lashed against the stone. "Tell me something only she would know... something that I haven't written two years ago when that damned beerch Em posted my draft online to make fun of me."

I closed my eyes, digging through myself.

Not my memories. Not Martin's. But... something else. Something deeper. Something behind me. Below me, like an impossible shadow cast across reality sideways.

Then the world flipped and I knew exactly what to say to her.

"Why'd you stop writing about me, Cottie?" I asked. "You think I would have wanted that? Verse 24:19... I've made you into the Emminence Equality, gave you the highest position in all the land, forced the previous techno-pope to retire. I go away and you just give up? Is that it?"

Katherine went very, very still.

"No one knows that," she whispered. "I never wrote that part down. Never told anyone."

Io's pocky stick fell from his mouth. He tried to catch it but it bounced on the rocks and rolled off the edge of the platform into the dungeon below.

"You're the strongest person I know, Cottie," I said, staring at her emerald, glowing eyes. "You are my Knight. Always and forever. No matter what shape you are. No matter what you look like. No matter if you're dying. I'm not going to give up on you. Ever. Never ever. Not in infinity number of years. No matter what world we stand on. You and I, we're going to win."

Katherine blinked. Then she blinked again. Sparks of tears. More tears.

"You can't.... you... I made you up in my head!" She cried. "How can... how can you be real?!"

"I dunno," I shrugged. "I just am. Everything is a little bit different this time around. You're a cute dragon-cat. What, you're not shocked by the fact that you can shove people into the deep and that Io can literally open gates to Corpseworld dimensions but when I say that I have two human souls in me that's somehow 'ohh so scary and impossiburrrr'?"

"But..."

"Deal with it," I said, crossing my arms. "Look, I'm sorry it took so long for me to find you… to find myself. Yeah, we lost each other for eighteen years and stuff, but we have each other now. That's what counts. System Wizards for all their bullshit reality-rewriting powers can't stop our friendship."

Katherine stared at me, eyes wide and unblinking.

"Gimme a hug," I ordered.

Her eyes filled with tears. For a moment, she looked like she might start to argue. Then, unexpectedly, she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around me, her magisteel-covered armor clinking softly.

"You absolute idiot," she whispered into my shoulder. "You absolute, impossible, crazy idiot."

I hugged her back, feeling her trembling slightly. "It's okay, Cotes." I said. "Everything's gonna be okay."

"How are you even real?" She whispered.

"Partially human stubbornness," I grinned. "Partially interdimensional shenanigans. Mostly spite. Work with me, yeah? I know I'm weird. We all are. Weird in all the right ways... That's what makes us different. Special. Cool. Insert complement here, I'm tired and there's a hole in my chest."

"Insert complement?" She smirked. "Who even says that?"

"I do," I said.

She smacked me on the head.

"Ow," I whined. "I already got an arrow through the chest, why would you injure me further, art-nemesis bestie?"

"I wrote you as a smart character," she growled. "Not a suicidal lunatic."

"Technically," I pointed out, "I didn't do anything suicidal this time. Vee kidnapped me and flew off with me cus I made her smile. Totally different scenario. You know… if you gave me some of your scales, I could have maybe sunk into the deep and avoided that arrow. Come on, sensei, teach me Umbramancy. Pretty please with a sugar on top?"

She squinted at me.

"I'm a perfect student," I marketed myself. "Eager to learn. Willing to practice. Totally responsible."

Katherine burst out laughing. A full-bodied, slightly manic sound that echoed into the tunnel behind me.

"You? Responsible?" She wiped a tear from her eye. "We haven't even made it to register at the Adventurers Guild!"

"I bought an Adventurers Guild!" I protested. "That's like one thousand times more responsibility!"

"You bought a criminal organization with stolen Genesis fluid and framed Emerald for it," Io pointed out from beside us.

"It's going to be a highly respectable institution in a decade or two," I said. "Just you wait! I'm dispensing responsibilities across my acquired mooks, turning them into magnates of industry!"

Katherine snorted. "You're turning criminals into business leaders?"

"Why not?" I grinned. "That's basically what most corpo CEOs are anyway. At least my criminals are honest about being criminals. Besides, think about it - we've got a whole underground network ready to help build our dream city. Your dream city. Kathopolis!"

"We are NOT calling it that," she growled, but I could see her trying to hide a smile.

"Fine. How about... The Dark Citadel of Cottie the Magnificent?" I teased as I grabbed her hand, pulling her into the cold tunnel. "Or maybe Emeraldville, since technically she owns it? Eh, eh? Come on, fair dragon-cat maiden. Our tower and two frosty, winged princesses await!"