The church of Cloak had shocked Daniel when he’d walked in. Each one had a gimmick that showcased the domain of the associated god. The church of the Hand had something useful in its clinics, whereas the church of illusion had put a lot of work into something superficial at best. Daniel wasn’t sure how they’d managed it considering it seemed more appropriate for a Builder to do, but it wasn’t like he’d interacted too much with the Cleric class outside of Thomas or Quala.

  When Daniel had crossed the threshold, he had for a moment been taken back to his home. Not the rural house in the mountains, but the local church he had grown up visiting. The illusion of stained glass windows and pews had quickly broken, both because it was incongruous to the space the interior should have held, and because Cloak had dismissed it with a wave.

  Such it was that Daniel found himself profoundly off guard at the beginning of his second clandestine conversation of the day. He almost suspected Cloak of setting that up if not for it being a known feature of the building.

  Rather than an examination room, Daniel found himself now in what appeared to be a small theater that could seat a couple dozen. Mind straying, he walked to and examined the stage. “Plays? I heard Aughal had those.”

  “Every society needs entertainment,” Cloak replied distantly while he did something to the door. Did the god have ‘True Illusion’ like Star’s words would suggest? He had somehow made a mirror from nothing but illusion magic earlier.

  One thing’s for sure, Star owes me a set of wings. If he’s still around. The other revelation of the most recent memory, the god’s offer to change Hunter into a more durable item temporarily…

  “You know where Hunter’s body is,” Daniel declared, finally biting into a topic he wanted to seriously discuss. “I need that to bring him back. Where is it?”

  Cloak turned away from the door with an air of resignation. “If I told you, you’d immediately forget and possibly lose any chance of remembering. Besides,” he added with wearisome spite, “I thought you couldn’t trust me.”

  “I can’t. Even if you can’t tell me, why not show me? Bring him here?”

  The god considered the proposal, running a hand through his borrowed hair before shaking his head. “How far did the most recent memory take you?”

  “Right before Star took me away from the Pavilion. I heard his offer to transmute the body, and you said you saw everything that happened to me, so you know what happened to it.” Unless I never went back to Pavilion? But no, Daniel mentally corrected. Cloak’s mentioned things that happened right up to the end as if I was there when whatever happened to the gods happened. Plus I was still cosplaying as Hammer’s son when I was sent back to Aughal.

  “Ok.” Cloak took a seat and propped his head into his hands, making it look like Daniel was giving a bad karaoke performance on stage. “You’re getting there. At this rate, you might only need two or three more nudges to fully reverse Torch’s mistake. I’d consider showing you Grave’s symbol again, but that bridge is probably burned.”

  “Hunter’s body,” Daniel demanded.

  “It’s better where it is now. I retrieve it and I undo what Star did,” Cloak replied irritably. The god didn’t want to focus on the topic. Daniel at least got some comfort from that as it confirmed Hunter’s body was indeed somewhere. Where it could be he couldn’t say. He’d thrown every marble that had been in his bag of holding at this point and seen the results, so it must have been something else. That weird crystal? He’d barely done anything with it because it was affected by unidentification, and he hadn’t been hurting for enchanting material after the wolves.

  Cloak’s right, Daniel eventually decided. If we have to clear even a small part of the ruins, it’ll take a while. No point wasting whatever Star did. “Ok. So, Grave. Why did you look like Aurus was breaking apart when his symbol appeared? You weren’t concerned when Willow got her class.”

  “There’s a difference between Grave being active in the Astral, and Grave returning to this world.” There was an older quality to Cloak now. The god’s mannerisms did fluctuate at times, from tending toward how people would expect his Proxy to act to what he was now. A full manifestation of ancient knowledge, or perhaps its counterpart. Daniel took a seat himself as Cloak started his own performance. “Souls pass on after death. Minutes, hours, days, at some point they become unrecoverable. Something happens to them. I’m not aware of the specifics, the fine details. It’s not my domain, and I-“

  “What?” Daniel asked as Cloak abruptly stopped speaking.

  “I can’t say.”

  “You’re starting to remind me why I hate talking to you,” Daniel bristled. “We could have all easily died in the ruins, not knowing what to expect. Without Shuni we probably would have. You made them out to be the silver bullet to getting Hunter back, but the only detail you vaguely hinted at turned out to be a thin hope at best. If you’d told me what you knew about the-“

  “I didn’t know,” Cloak interrupted, before he slightly reversed himself. “I know what the ruins are, but I didn’t know the conditions it’d be in. I’ve never been on one either. I’d assumed there’d be enough support to at least ensure your escape route wasn’t cut off like that, and with the Regent nearby?” Daniel was about to question some of Cloak’s phrasing and press for more information, though Cloak easily anticipated this and preemptively shot him down. “To answer your original question, it’s feasible that Grave remained in the Astral as a detached soul. We still have those, even as gods. But to come back, he would have had to have remained linked to his body. Returned to it.”

  “So? If my theory’s correct Resurrection was originally under the astral domain, which Grave controls,” Daniel reasoned. “I don’t see how this isn’t a good thing. Your whole point of how important I am has to do with regaining control of the Octyrrum, even if you still won’t tell me why, or what the ruins have to do with it.”

  Cloak elected to ignore the bitterness in favor of moving the conversation along. “The Grave I knew wouldn’t choose to return to a form corrupted to that extent. He died in the Crest. We never knew the full story until recently. Suffice it to say he was betrayed by the same agents that now work toward our mutual end.”

  “The monster gods and the Illustrious?” And the ‘him’ Cloak’s mentioned a few times. Top suspect is Hourglass but it would completely track if Cloak was saying the wrong gender to avoid provoking the unidentification. Or to just fuck with me. Daniel then fully considered the implications of what Cloak had said and frowned. “I know being in the Astral is bad if you can’t deal with the mana overload. I got a hit of that in the ruins and it wasn’t fun, but if he died, well, is the astral different there too?”

  “I believe so. Again, it is not my domain,” Cloak qualified. “But the issue is-“

  “Corruption?”

  “There are things that go beyond monstrosities which lurk in the deep reaches of that place. The gods of monsters aren’t the only threats that force us to retreat to the hub each time a cycle is broken.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Daniel stood suddenly. “You’re telling me Hunter’s soul has been next to a corrupted god this entire time!? We lost track of him when we entered the ruins. What if he’s, the bond I mean, would I only know if he died or ‘passed on’?”

  Cloak gave an exasperated exhalation and matched Daniel’s gaze. “I’ve been patient about this considering what your bond is doing to you. I see that was a mistake. This is beyond one soul.”

  “Not for me!”

  “Would you sacrifice this entire world for him!?” Cloak shot back, matching Daniel’s intensity. “If we can’t recover the hub, all human, humanoid, life here is dead. If Grave gets to it before the monsters? Far worse.”

  “You make it sound like I have to choose one or the other. Maybe you’ve sacrificed so many people it’s easy for you to forget that you’re supposed to care about those important to you.” The god actually looked hurt by the venomous comment but Daniel kept going. “Maybe the bond is doing things to me, but what about what your domain is doing to you? We have a saying on Earth, ‘When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail’. I’ve met Hammer, and I can tell you when it comes to you gods, it’s true.”

  “It doesn’t work like that.” The rebuttal was somewhat weak and Daniel realized he was putting the god under pressure. For all the advantage of his domain and knowledge he was possessing a body with lower charisma. With how worked up he was, Daniel was fully using his. The god rallied quickly, though he remained seated. “If this isn’t going to be a productive conversation, I don’t see a need to be here.” He said it more as a threat but Daniel wasn’t having it.

  “If I lost Hunter because you withheld information for no reason, I don’t see a need to use whatever’s in the ruins to help you.” The look on Cloak’s face made him smile. Finally, good leverage. “You need me because the Spoke gives me authority over that place, and you’re currently on the outs with the Octyrrum until you get the band back together.”

  “If you don’t work with me, you will doom this world!”

  “I could say the same.” The last conversation had ended this way, Cloak stalking off. They were in the god’s house this time, but Daniel had a trump card. He knew how Cloak needed him, if not the exact why, and circumstances with Hunter had grown dire enough the justify true threats. With Keen Senses he also had a good shot at beating the god if he got hostile, though that would quickly backfire the moment Cloak called on any of his nearby followers. “You know things that could help, and the unidentification isn’t getting triggered by most topics any more. I made the entire blast bow despite having figured out the spineshard trick in lost time. No matter what, I will have to go into those ruins again. To save Hunter or find whatever it is you want, so tell me what I need to know.”

  “It’s more complicated than you make it seem. It isn’t exactly like you’ve been careful with your secrets. Am I supposed to trust you with mine? The Octyrrum’s?” Cloak pointed an accusatory finger, the faintest shimmer in the air around it. “Someone tells you that they can bring your friend back and you’d do anything to help them. Tell them anything. Your judgment is compromised.”

  “Someone like you?” Daniel stepped off the stage and leaned forward on the back of one of the chairs. “You make a big deal about the lengths you’ll go. If my judgment’s compromised, then it’s you who’s taking advantage of it.” He looked to the side and then bowed his head. “We’re done. I should have seen it sooner, but then again you were always dangling the key to getting Hunter back in front of me. The perfect bait.”

  Cloak let him get to the door and try it before he spoke up. “And I was right to do so. You…” His voice grew quieter. “It’s more than the bond. You suffered a direct assault to your soul right before Torch removed the memories of it. Hammer, he was trying to break you in a way no one could fix.” He turned to look expectantly and frowned as Daniel didn’t space out. “You were almost broken into a spirit without knowing it, and if I told you anything you would forget that. I gave you direction and purpose. Hasn’t that helped? Were my motivations suspect if it was for the greater good?”

  Daniel twisted the doorknob again but it was firmly locked, or under an illusion that made it seem that way. “Another convenient excuse that I have no way of knowing the truth of. I’m done with your manipulations. I’m not your enemy, I may be your ally, but it’s just that. And I’m tired of trying to pick the truth from the lie.”

  “I have never lied to-“ Cloak tried to say, but the sound of the door being kicked down drowned him out.

  …

  Like all proper treachery, Lagori Talongleam concocted his in the dead of night, in the quiet of crisis, and in the absence of faith. The metaphor didn’t entirely hold given who was present but he still found it apt. In his private study was his first son, sitting blankly in the corner among the others. Toralaw was yet too young in age and class to be a part of this stage, but Lagori would involve him when the time was right.

  As for the rest, there were key members of Apex Flight, the church of Torch, and most disquieting, the church of Time. Aughal was of ill-repute for many reasons, and one of the things said of it was that they only had one follower of Hourglass who could tolerate living amidst the faithless leadership of the region. Now that a true servant was in command there, Tyrant or no, perhaps that would change. In Threst, there was a slightly healthier population amongst time’s people, and after the appearance of a foreign symbol in the Divine Quarter both they and Torch’s clergy had been spurned to action.

  “One of us is monitoring the local future at all times,” a time Cleric assured the rest of the room. “It will be mana-intensive, but if a raid occurs we will have roughly half an hour’s warning.”

  “What if the Proxy conceals the future?” Lagori asked.

  “They aren’t that powerful,” the head of Torch’s church reported. “We managed to get an identification on the real one and confirmed that they are a Proxy, but only level 1. That will severely limit what the god can do.”

  Lagori nodded, feeling the weight in his chest. Despite what he knew, despite everything being in the balance, it stunned him that one of the Octyrrum would turn against the other. And yet, all the evidence pointed to the will of Cloak supporting what he was certain was a hidden Spiritualist faction within Aurus. It made no sense, but with the stakes this high, with a mass illusion conjured to mislead the people?

  It had been enough to bring Torch and Hourglass’ people on board, and they had come to him. No attempts had been made to suborn the other churches, or flights for that matter. It pained Lagori to know that would likely cause deaths among otherwise loyal factions who didn’t know the truth, but it balanced against what disaster alerting the Proxy to their plans would cause. The greatest of Heroes knew that sacrifice was sometimes necessary to prevail against evil. Just look at his son.

  “I see. I see.” He remained standing by the fire in the room. A man of his power didn’t need shelter from the cold, but that didn’t mean he was immune to warmth. The others in the room were similarly empowered, and feathers would provide suitable insulation without. There was only one human in the room. Lagori was… aware of the inclinations those native to Threst erred toward and the offense they could cause.

  He felt no shame for it, looked not to suppress it so long as it did not verge into hatred. When Lagori said that Threst belonged to the avianoids he meant it directly. This region had been gifted to the people of the wing so that they could prosper, just as the shavi had the oceans and the duskers the evernight, among other such examples. He did not begrudge the likes of others from coming here, he held no malice for the numerous peoples of the Octyrrum.

  But Threst belonged to the avianoids. Now, in the time of the Octyrrum’s greatest need, not only was his home under attack from without, but from within. Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the gestalt would collectively fall to the influence of the Crest, for surely the others in the region followed the whims of Soraso and Zozar. They weakened the power of Aurus, turning the minds of its faithful. He had attempted other ways to resolve this, and Zolyra’s reported refusal to overstep her station in the Regent’s favor heartened him. The betrayal of Cloak was a step too far, a still unimaginable turn.

  “We are certain this Proxy does not act in disobedience to its master?” Lagori asked after taking a moment for thought.

  “Without doubt,” Rikoor, Time’s champion answered. “We have gleamed the past and see his sins. The Octyrrum is fracturing, once more divided by squabbling between its subservient parts. Some remain true to us. Cloak does not.”

  A cautious voice rose in opposition to that statement. “My church hasn’t been able to confirm this.”

  “Have you had any contact from Torch? Any guidance?” The head of Torch’s church couldn’t answer time’s challenge, and neither would they ever lie. “The word of Hourglass himself informs us. Though, surely it would be enough by itself that Cloak came here to usurp Hammer’s control.”

  Lagori nodded at that, feeling his certainty return. “We must act carefully, but quickly. Allowing Zozar to reinforce Soraso would be disastrous. Head Cleric, I implore you to make sure the Regent was not overexaggerating this timeline. There are workings I would put into place, but only if we have the time.”

  “Fear not, Hero,” Rikoor spoke up again, interrupting what Torch’s Cleric was going to say. “We can make sure you’ll have it. We ask for only one thing in return; the life of one Daniel Brant.”