“Andrastia has fallen.” How much so few words could change. ‘Death to the Tyrant’, ‘I will never forget you’, or even ‘One last time’, though that was the weakest of these. Prime Mavar Helioc heard those words and saw a plan that had endured twists and bends of fate finally snap clean in two.

  He was the Prime of this collective, but only because she had been needed to keep the ghost of a god at bay. Her body had remained in stasis while she Astral Projected to guard the way back for Grave, should he ever find it. They’d known killing his mortal frame wouldn’t be the end, unlike for other gods. Grave was like a horror in that regard, he would only find true death in that place. It had only been the betrayal during the last Collapse, and the deal that had been offered, that had tempted the Illustrious into sealing Grave’s fate.

  Mavar had mourned Grave, after it was done. Of the eight, of the originals, he had been the most noble. His death had simply been unavoidable. Hammer, now, Hammer was a charlatan, one whose false promises, whose lies, were the basis of the Illustrious’ war today. It had been Grave to drive the main thrust of spiritual rehabilitation, he who would see the actions of the other gods redeemed by making right their sins. Only, to have bested Andrastia, he would have needed to commit that original sin too. Perhaps Mavar had been a fool to consider any god principled. No matter.

  “A new front has emerged,” Mavar declared to those arrayed in the fortress they’d built in and around the crater that used to be Eido. Only Sasha and Remir were not there among those who would be noticed absent, as they were working without rest on their latest acquisition. “The future remains shrouded to us. The effects of the Entropic Agent have made all long-form predictions pointless, everywhere, until its effects are fully understood. I fear this will not come to pass before we have resolved this conflict.”

  Fear and uncertainty before him, clear in those who dared break the silence before him. Mavar had never needed to raise his voice to draw attention. “The Astral Vessel, surely this is enough to shift our aims?” one asked boldly, Mavar’s eyes opening in anger. Yet, he honored the question.

  “No. Flight will not serve us until our task is done. Hammer’s death is the purpose of this collective first and foremost. My purpose.” He would have burned with his anger but the cost of his recent resurrection, use of his powers, still limited him. That weakness would not hold him back when it came time for his Fated Confrontation, the one piece of clairvoyance that would still hold true through its Karmic connection, but it stifled him now. “We continue. The work. Tragedy will soon befall Aughal, and that will provide us our opportunity. But when we march, it will not be to there but Rikendia’s corpse. Any who disagree may voice their opinion. Any who act upon that to subvert our goals will be silenced.”

  Mavar Helioc, paragon of truth, saw dissent be extinguished. He didn’t want to rule this way, but he would. He would do whatever was necessary until Hammer’s divine lifeblood spilled. The future, the Illustrious’ wider plans, even the emergence of a sullied Grave, all of that was noise to be dealt with later.

  Now, now was time for vengeance.

  …

  If there was one thing Daniel was sure of after leaving the ruins, it was that he was glad to be out of there. Before he’d been enthralled by the idea of getting Hunter back. He could delude himself that the promises of gods were worth the air wasted on them. Not that Cloak had lied necessarily, but he could have been more realistic about his chances.

  No, given the danger and presence of at least one high level enemy in the corrupted avianoid, he needed to be more prepared for next time. Find his friends and get the team up to just under level 3, assuming the ruins worked like that and weren’t basing the projections off of attribute total. Most importantly, enchant more ammunition after the ammo glutton that was Khare had used as much in the last minutes of the stairwell fight as he had the rest of the ruins. There was also his astral aegis shield formulae to experiment with now that he had a reason to defend against astral attacks.

  As for Hunter, he was of mixed emotions. Willow hadn’t seen him or Grave in days, but that was fine wasn't it? His friend couldn’t be safer anywhere other than beside the god of the Astral. At least, if something was going to go wrong it would have happened before now. Star had been decent as far as he remembered, and Grave had given Wisp to Willow.

  The only limit on when they’d have to return would be aggression from monsters that threatened to overtake the region, a real concern that could appear whenever those kidnapped in the earlier attack would return as elite monsters. That, and the whims of Soraso, for the Regent had sealed the way as soon as they’d left and given them instructions to return to Aurus for a full debriefing after they’d rested.

  That had left him with advancement potential to burn. He’d gotten two more from the second rift fight, and he was certain one had come solely from encountering the corrupted avianoid even if they had survived rather than won. Bravery and prudence and all of that.

  The decision of where to put his points had weighed on him, he still had several attributes in the low 20s and it would have implications for both his classes. In the end, Daniel had decided to go all in on intelligence to bring it to 29.

  Being one point away from level 3 had its benefits, especially with his ability to instantly reach it if things grew desperate in the ruins again. Cutting off the rifts from that avianoid was likely the reason they fled, but if they showed up at the beginning of another rift fight his team wouldn’t be able to handle both them and the projections.

  Of course, he’d also gotten a power, though only one. It was the last he’d receive from intelligence at level 2. Daniel wasn’t sure if this was sourced from the Artificer class, or if his Spoke had decided to play tricks again with his allotment. Either way, it was interesting.

  Elemental Onslaught (Ability, Intelligence, Spell, Domain: Destruction, Trance, Level: 2):

  You possess the Power to enter a trance that empowers Attacks: Elemental for a moderate Mana cost. Upon activation, Damage: Elemental you inflict on your next attack will be increased. The effect will persist if your next attack made does not include an element used in the prior one. This trance lasts for a short duration from the last attack, refreshing on the next one. The effectiveness of this power scales with your Intelligence, and the number of successive attacks made. When the trance ends, you cannot re-enter it for 10 minutes. This is a Magical Ability that does not work in an area of Magical Suppression, however the effect can be prolonged while qualifying attacks are made.

  There were a few ideas and tests he had on what at face value seemed a poor ability, considering no other powers belonging to him had elemental damage. In fact, the only thing he could borrow from Hunter to proc the ability was Lion Charge, which did not have the variety or repeatability to matter. It came down to what an attack counted as, something he was still determining, though happily his blast bow and its ammunition were included.

  One sticking point was the “Trance” keyword, and Daniel’s initial confusion on seeing it as an ability whereas both his forms had it in a feature (Craftsman’s Rest and Longstalker’s Stride). Summarizing the somewhat long Encyclopedia entry on it, trances were states one could enter that empowered part of what they could do. Some had certain conditions that needed to be met to activate such as the one that let him reduce his need for sleep during enchanting, and counted as a feature. Those that were activated as abilities on the other hand had more stringent requirements to remain active, usually something like a combo meter. Gadriel’s Momentous Strikes was the perfect example.

  The last noteworthy point was that trances that were abilities didn’t impede mana flow while active. You couldn’t enter one while concentrating on something else, or use two trances at a time, however. Daniel was skeptical about the limits of those rules given dual-channeling existed, but he had enough going on to test that hypothesis now.

  Three days after leaving the ruins, Wingcraft found themselves back in Aurus. Daniel had the contents of Padri’s letter in the back of his mind, as well as the mystery box which was more relevant. Soraso hadn’t exactly told them they were free to keep what had been inside in his rush to return to Aurus, and Daniel really wanted to.

  In attendance were Soraso, Daniel, Khiat, Sigron, Khare, Zolyra Rosescale, a handful of people he could identify but hadn’t met before… and Lagori Talongleam. The level 5 Hero’s son was nowhere in sight, but Daniel hardly felt comfortable about that. As far as Tlara and Willow, they were both still in the Hand’s church getting checked out. Shuni had only been a temporary part of the team and was back on regular duty in Pinion’s Point, but he hoped his intuition that both sides were amicable to cooperation in the future was correct. He certainly liked her, having been sold if by nothing else than her last minute save with the corrupted avianoid.

  With who was in the room he was a bit wary about going into details on their dice, but Soraso had told him to just go through everything. It would track for a high level Hero to know when he was lying, if only by higher attributes, and Daniel decided to trust the Regent. Obviously he left out what he’d admitted to Shuni and Sigron, but the rest was fair game.

  “After we recovered, I confirmed on my map that we could get to the entrance without running into any more rifts. We found more housing, what we’ve seen of the bottom layer so far is basically a small town centered around a rail line, but almost completely barren. If this is some kind of self-contained city, my guess is all the important stuff is on the top. That’s about it.”

  There had been questions during the proceedings, clarifying everything between the corruption to Tlara’s resurrection, but it wasn’t until the end that Lagori spoke up and made it clear he had an agenda. “That is all? Good. Will the Regent hear a formal address?” Soraso didn’t look too enthused in the light in his cloud face dimmed, but Daniel didn’t miss how several close to Lagori looked expectantly at him. This wasn’t a request, worded as one or not.

  “Yes,” Soraso answered simply.

  Lagori somehow found more height as he straightened himself, eyes as much on the rest of the room as the regent. That wasn’t a power, active use of them during a meeting such as this was a faux pas even back when blanket use of charm and theft powers in public was tolerated. Enhanced charisma was something else, though.

  “There are numerous issues I take issue with, both within the direct statements of your handpicked Blessed who have been given sole access to what may be a critical resource in this time of crisis, as well as actions taken by this current administration throughout it. Listing each and every one such would be a waste of precious time.” One of Lagori’s arms became as wing as he slashed it across in front of him, then pointed it at Soraso. Daniel raised an eyebrow, expecting some kind of reaction, but he only saw resignation on Zolyra’s face. “I give formal challenge for the regency of Threst. My position, my record of history, and my level, which I note is higher than yours, should be qualification enough, but I can raise sufficient petitioners were it not. You must accept, either way. I admit most of your regency has promoted growth and safety, but I judge you incompetent for what currently threatens us. It is time to put Threst back in the wings of its true people.”

  He really just said that. Daniel blinked and felt a chill as what was happening hit him. In one sense there was a joke to be made about Bards and Heroes, but this was not Octyrrum-based antipathy at play. Neither was the scale balanced. The Sword of Threst was power, it was a Spoke, but Daniel couldn’t imagine Soraso could use it during a duel like this, if that was what Lagori was asking for. Otherwise you’d have an easy recipe for a Tyrant in all but class.

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  Without that edge, he couldn’t see Soraso beating Lagori, not conventionally. Bards did gain combat powers that didn’t require others to work, like Evalyn’s Songbolt, but for a contest such as this Soraso’s winning move would’ve been to manipulate the game so that Lagori never reached this stage. As it turned out, that was exactly what he’d done.

  “I formally acknowledge your challenge, Lagori Talongleam,” Soraso began, before a slight smile formed in the clouds. “Unfortunately, there is another who has preempted you.”

  “What?” Those in Lagori’s camp shook their heads when a questioning eye was turned to them, showing that they’d all been blindsided. The Hero made an avian sound of disgust, one of the only non-Tlara noises the race could make that didn’t sound pleasant. “Threst does not serve whoever plunges first from the peak, but the one who can survive the landing. If it is your draconoid friend you intend to delay this rightful challenge with, then I assure you, level 4 or not, he is as less a match for me as you are. Put the two of us before the people and see which they would rather have lead.”

  I think Murdon could score some points, but yeah, they’d go with the bird, Daniel thought remorsefully before he picked up on something. Wait, Murdon hit level 4? Nice.

  The smile didn’t fall from Soraso’s face. “Ah, you misunderstand. Understandable given you focus only on what is right in front of you, but that is to be expected of a bird of prey.” The Regent didn’t fully break with the formal tones of Threst’s court, but he began to grow more relaxed. “I am, of course, referring to the leader of the Sojourn that has recently pledged to join Threst, given the condition of the world. As official members of state any Blessed among them would qualify, and surely by your own logic you’d agree a level 6 has enough merit on strength alone.” He tilted his head to the side and added, “That is one level higher than yours, correct? If you would like to prove yourself against them I would be more than happy to honor your petition, should you prevail.”

  “When exactly would you face Zozar if their challenge lay unopposed?” Lagori asked darkly.

  “Oh, three months from now? The beginning of spring has good symbolism to it. We could make that the official day for all contests of regency. It’s not like Rikendia’s customs are still being enforced.”

  “You…” Lagori turned to the room, away from Soraso. “You all surely see what he is doing? This is not the leadership we need, and if his class has changed-“

  “Daniel, would you be so kind as to identify me?” Daniel straightened at the request as all eyes went to him, but he saw where this was going.

  Soraso - (Gestalt: Air, Bard - 4)

  While the Regent hadn’t exposed information on his active features and abilities, that would’ve been enough to rule out him being a Tyrant. Ideally, Daniel should’ve known Heldren hadn’t been the Thormundz Tyrant all along because of the time the Hero had let him inspect him, but he’d just assumed the change had happened after that meeting. No, and there was some relief from seeing that the regent was only that.

  “He’s not a Tyrant,” Daniel affirmed.

  “We are to trust his word?”

  “Is he lying?” Soraso challenged back at Lagori. “I would also happily allow any from the church of Torch to replicate the effect. You don’t doubt the word of those following the divine, do you Lagori? Or do you forget that Cloak’s blessed will itself supported my rule through His Proxy?” Soraso’s words didn’t move Lagori’s deep beaked frown and the Regent noticed. “Perhaps I should mention this now before it incites any panic, or other moves. The former Sojourn will be arriving in Aurus within the month to allow its people to be integrated with us, and its Blessed routed to our defense. Take that time to reconsider your petition, and if it remains upon Zozar’s arrival I will happily schedule a duel between the two of you, Lagori. Was there anything else you’d like to say?”

  The Hero, who could have probably one-shot most of the people in the room, reverted his arm back and bowed his head, though the look in the eyes was no less fierce. “No.”

  …

  “Sorry about the surprise,” Soraso opened, far more himself now that it was just Daniel and Zolyra. She was the reason both were meeting in private. “So, you’re as faithless as Lagori are you? Well, you’ll have to get in line.”

  “I just have concerns,” she answered, recognizing the sarcasm.

  “It’s a bluff.” Soraso wearily took a seat in the small chamber of the Regent’s manor and detached a hand to grab a wide-brimmed glass which he then feigned taking a drink. “The challenge was real, but only in the way masks change your face. Otherwise Lagori would have been able to force through it. It’s only the part of his faction that can’t help but respect the rules holding him back.”

  “As if that’s a bad thing.” Zolyra remained standing, looking between the two of them. “From how it looks, Daniel isn’t too keen on this Sojourn returning.”

  “It’s just, uh, I think I know someone with them,” Daniel replied a little shakily. Claire was coming back to Aurus. Not that he would be here forever, he was taking a liking to Pinion’s Point and would return once the business here and with Padri was done, but the chance of running into her wasn’t one he liked.

  “That’s not your real issue with me, though, is it?”

  Zolyra grimaced, and behind her the tip of her tail curled closer to her legs. “I’m not trying to sound, well, like Lagori. It’s just a bit suspicious that of all things, Aughal finds itself led by an air gestalt Tyrant when all this trouble began.”

  Soraso laughed, which would have caused him to choke were he actually drinking. “You think this is some grand air gestalt conspiracy? Well, you’ll be happy to know the leadership of Kallical and Forola, as well as the rest, remains as windy as they already were. I also claim no kinship with that Tyrant. No one does, seeing as the rest of their sanctuary went up with Eido.”

  “You can see why people would have concerns.”

  “People like Lagori, you mean?” Soraso asked pointedly, and Zolyra sighed, dropping the matter and taking one of the seats. “It’s not like you or the flights would have any trouble if there was one, anyway. The avianoids of the region could take out Zozar if it came to it, strongest air gestalt in the Realm or not.”

  “They are the strongest?” Zolyra asked with some interest.

  “The path beyond level 6 is service in Incursion Armies. You should know that as well as I. Not many gestalt in those.”

  “Of course. There is one other matter.” She did what Daniel was expecting and turned to directly face him. “I can’t explain to myself the circumstances surrounding your arrival and influence over the ruins. There are rumors that have reached me after you left which raise questions as well, such as your temporary transformation into a full monster related by the Captain of Raven’s Call in Pinion’s Point.”

  “Nothing a Druid can’t do,” Soraso quickly cut in before Daniel could answer, though Zolyra’s level gaze made it clear she wasn’t looking for an answer from him.

  “I got captured by that thing and it forced a power onto me,” he answered after a few moments. The point of this meeting was to make sure the Commander’s support was still firmly in Soraso’s camp, and like it or not the Regent had closely associated himself with Daniel and vice versa. “It was activated when it threw me out, but I can control it now and I swear I am never using it again.”

  One of Zolyra’s claws wrapped up the side of her head to where an ear would be on a human, but she otherwise did not move. “When we first met I thought you were just another victim of the personal menace I call Kahvin Talongleam, though truthfully he has cleaned up his act over the past couple of weeks. But you? I can buy you having something special from the gods that allows you to control those ruins. It is an established fact you met with Hammer himself. But I have to know what it is if I am to fully trust either of you.” The hand left her face and gestured out a window. “We have monsters coming closer to settlements more frequently than if we left them unattended before the Collapse. Isolated incidents of some spawning within the boundaries of them, including that one horrible incident weeks back, which you were there for.” The hand returned to point at Daniel. “Now enemy gods are directing thinking monsters, laying coordinated siege to our region. I like you more than Lagori, Soraso, but this is not the time for letting emotion blind me to inconsistency and coincidence. I don’t have to take sides, just make sure monsters die. If you want my support, I need to know what you do.”

  Soraso set the glass down. “Well, at least you didn’t act on your suspicion by fomenting a damned coup. Honestly, I can’t explain what happened in the ruins either. Haven’t had a chance for this one to explain himself.”

  Daniel felt his heartbeat increase, but really, he’d made this decision already when he’d told Shuni. “It’s not something that everyone should know.”

  “Well that’s obvious,” Soraso replied before Daniel could continue. “Seeing as how you dodged the question when it came up earlier. Though honestly, Daniel, you can Trust Me, and Zolyra for that matter. We’re all on the same side. Whatever the gods gave you has become important enough that we should know about it if we are going to defend the region.”

  That was a fair point, and considering Daniel had told Shuni about this it wasn’t a big leap of faith to extend the courtesy to Soraso and Zolyra. Both had proved supportive of him in the past. “I don’t know for sure. But if we’re talking about what I think it is? The Spiritualists sabotaged the Thormundz Spoke, but they didn’t manage to destroy it. It somehow fused with me instead. That’s what protects me from the corruption, and the ruins recognize it as having administrator access, if that makes sense.”

  Zolyra blinked at him a few times, making Daniel squeamishly realize that draconoids had multiple sets of eyelids. “You’re trying to tell me you’re an Incarnate? Those are bound to whichever region they develop in.”

  “I’m not an Incarnate,” Daniel clarified. It was a common mistake that even Hammer had made. “Not technically. I have a soul, I’ve made bonds, it’s just that the Spoke is, well, contained in me. I managed to access it briefly to stop the Spiritualists in Aughal and that’s what got Hammer’s attention. I didn’t know about it until then.”

  Zolyra’s look of incredulity passed from Daniel to Soraso, who was idly inspecting his sword and nodding to himself. “Possible. Possible.” He didn’t sound as shocked or disbelieving as the other in the room. “Commander, if you’ve read what we know of that incident, there was a large thunderstorm that spontaneously emerged after the sandstorm cleared. Magic that affects the weather itself takes level 6 power at least.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “It makes sense.” Soraso shrugged in an odd way, his shoulders moving without the rest of him following suit. “The Thormundz had that elemental affinity, certainly. I’d almost ask if Daniel could tell me how to stick this inside of me, if only to keep it out of Lagori’s talons.” He dismissed the sword with a wave. “Kidding, of course. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s lying.”

  “I… don’t sense any deceit either,” Zolyra said carefully, eyes now moving to inspect Daniel more closely and along his whole body as if part of the Spoke might be sticking out somewhere and she just hadn’t noticed. “Taking only your actions into account, I find nothing that contradicts the story. The issue, putting aside the Spoke, is that I cannot confirm what occurred in the ruins. None of us can, and if both of you are to be believed, no one in a senior position can accompany you next time due to the enhancing effect it might have on these projections.”

  “It does seem like another excursion would be unwise thanks to all the mistrust,” Soraso added bitterly. “Just take a look at what they recovered at the end! Novel magical material, exactly what our Artificers need to produce new weapons to counter what Cloak warned us of. Imagine if we found a storeroom of the stuff.”

  Daniel certainly could. He didn’t broach what he’d get to keep at that moment, though, still wary at how the two would decide on what he’d said. “Look, Incarnate or not, I didn’t want this Spoke. I asked Hammer if it were possible to take it out and even he wasn’t sure.”

  Zolyra’s eyes sharpened. “There is that. You were present in Rikendia. What happened? We heard only that the capital city collapsed and the meeting place of the gods disappeared.”

  “I didn’t know that. My memories of that week were suppressed during whatever ended up happening. I tried asking Cloak’s Proxy after the monster raid but that went as well as you could expect.” Daniel was back to walking the line, a concept he honestly hadn’t thought about in a while, now dangerously balancing on the truth. Differences with the god aside, he did not want to reveal how vulnerable Cloak was to anyone. He trusted Soraso, but that went a bit too far. Nor was he willing to discuss more on what happened in the divine pavilion. “I’ve been slowly getting them back, but I’ve only recovered about half of them. When I came back to Aughal it felt like I had just left.”

  Zolyra rubbed a spot over one eye. “This feels like a longer conversation than I bargained for.”

  “Speak for yourself. A very interesting Artificer you turned out to be.” Soraso stroked a nonexistent chin. “Murdon knew nothing about this?”

  “Didn’t know until I unlocked the Spoke and he was already here.”

  “Well then I can’t blame him for holding out on good gossip. Zolyra, I admit I’m as surprised as you are by this development, but it’s not exactly monsters raining down on us and kidnapping people, now is it?” Soraso asked rhetorically, changing the subject. “My play with the Sojourn will work for a little while, but I doubt it’ll survive more than one monster attack. From what Cloak himself said they will get worse, nothing we can do about that. With you behind me, we can stop Lagori from putting resources that should be going to defense into commissioning a rope that can hang an air gestalt.”

  If there was one thing Daniel could admire about Soraso, it was his ability to ignore the living fragment of divine power supposedly in front of him to keep trying to seal the deal with Zolyra. Then again, he carried one himself at all times.

  The draconoid shook her head and stood up. “I need to think about this. It is too important to rush to judgment and despite what has been said, I am still finding reasons to be suspicious.” Daniel frowned at that. Were there? He couldn’t think of any. “What Daniel has said alone is… No. For now, the answer is no. The Hunter’s Guild remains neutral and will respect the rule of law. If Lagori manages to weasel his way into a direct confrontation with you, without breaking with established law, and I intervened, then what would the point of it be?”

  “Most of our custom and law were written when monsters weren’t bashing doors in!” Soraso fired back, unrelenting. “To say nothing of them being founded on our status as a satellite region of Rikendia. The fall of the kingdom is a reasonable pretext for re-evaluating our system of governance.”

  The conversation was beginning to get too civical for Daniel, especially because he had no idea what specific laws they were referencing. Fortunately, or not depending on how you saw it, Zolyra closed her eyes and turned for the door. “This isn’t a debate, Regent. I’ve made my position clear. I won’t say it won’t change, we are dealing with unprecedented times. But I haven’t given up hope yet that with the Octyrrum, we can preserve what we have without sacrificing who we are.”

  Neither spoke until she left the room, at which point Soraso turned to Daniel. “Huh. That could have gone better. Still, hard to argue with a line like that.”