There was a lot of crying that night—mostly from Telga. But Halsey let out a few internal sobs as they through st regrets, stupid arguments that they could easily fixed...and didn't.

  Shawn felt that clench of pain in his own heart. The arguments between him and Maggie seemed so inconsequential, after a chance of fate separated them--and at the time, what seemed permanent.

  It was a little difficult to act as a mediator between Halsey and Telga, but he did so because they both needed it. What he learned, only cemented in stone that Revarik was a dead man.

  "So you remember most of it?" Telga asked. Shawn had to wait for the moment for his and Halsey's thoughts to sync up, just like before. It was a strange sensation--on the one hand, it was him doing the speaking. But, on the other, it was Halsey's thoughts, in a near-perfect transition between minds. Like a near-pitch-perfect game of telephone.

  "She remembers it. I mean, I remember it." He hastily corrected himself, to show who speaking. Seeing Halsey's thought process in real-time, brought startling insight. He saw through her eyes, what had happened on that fateful day. And he spoke in their shared voice. He'd quickly worked out a hand signal to let Telga know when it was Halsey speaking.

  "I'll remember that day for as long as I live. And Shawn...I know I lied, to protect you from this truth. But you also showed me, that maybe, with this knowledge...we can make things right." He clenched his fist, and nodded softly.

  "Halsey...tell me what happened that day. We'll tell the others, but...I think this deserves a little intimacy, just between us for now." Telga's voice was soft around the edges, carrying the strain from having just recently dried her tears. Shawn nodded, and reyed Halsey's words.

  "I never thought he would be capable of such depravity." Shawn uneasily rubbed at his chest, as he he felt a phantom pain--present in his mind, but not physically there. "I was there in my b, researching the primal crystals. I thought I'd found a way to understand the memories etched into the crystalline ttice. I was close. I was so close. Then, Revarik's men surrounded me. They grabbed me, held me down, and they had one little insidious bitch who rendered me useless--the one in bck armor. Her gestalt neutralizes other gestalts. It is one of the most dangerous abilities I know, and she can borrow the suppressed ability to a limited extent."

  Shawn could see the scene pyback, in real time. The way the zealots of Revarik moved as if this outcome was always part of the pn. "Hang on. Did you get a look at her?" Shawn asked out loud. This third-wheeling was taking some getting used to, but, it was the closest they could get to a proper conversation that people could understand.

  Halsey let out a soft huff as he signaled she was speaking. "No. No one's ever seen her. Revarik has kept her close to the chest, and anything we know about her is exceedingly limited. She wears a full-face visor when in the presence of others, and the armor is powerfully enchanted with runic magic. Her gestalt scrubs almost any ability to intrude on her thoughts or track her. But I saw gcial cold eyes looking back at me. She never said a word to me or anyone. It was like she was dead on the inside. A hopeless puppet of Revarik or someone who has given her entire will to him."

  He watched the scene py out, with Revarik strolling into the room like he owned the pce. But he never paused to gloat. He felt Halsey's gaze lock on the woman in the bck armor--a magical visor obscuring her face. But, he did see those ice-cold eyes. It reminded him of his own--

  A cold chill ran down his spine. "Telga, do we know when this golden general showed up? Her name? Her origins?"

  "We don't even have a name for her. Just her status as his golden general, a ruthless killer and cunning tactician. I first saw her myself about...five years ago?" Telga's wings drooped. "Why?"

  "Does Revarik know how to make portals like you do?" He prayed to whatever cosmic powers existed, that this inquiry didn't take him somepce he could never come back from.

  "I never shared my knowledge with him. Only a few Radiants can channel enough Etteria to pull it off, or have the technical know-how to do so without violently ripping apart their summon. But that is not to say he couldn't have gotten it from others." Her words were meant to assure him. She likely knew what he was thinking. "Shawn...it can't be her."

  "But what if it was?"

  He hand signaled that Halsey was leading the conversation, as he felt that mental nudge. "That woman is a trained killer and ruthless--something that Maggie never was, from what Shawn has indicated." The sigh they shared was for slightly different reasons. "Revarik made his farewells. He thanked me for all his endeavors, and tireless self-sacrifices for the good of Remaria. Then he told me that my st sacrifice would be the greatest one of all. That I was the key to unlocking the secrets of our world...and why we ripped it apart."

  Shawn didn't question that massive bombshell. He could only see the woman in armor hold the device as Halsey was shackled, prepared like a sacrifice to heathen gods. It was methodical, almost ritualistic, as Revarik watched, all emotion gone from his ruby-red eyes.

  Then, the fre of light as the device plunged into her chest, and that agonizing, unfathomable pain as her existence was ripped out of her. "He killed me because I was close to understanding the Radiants and what they did before, how we shattered our world in the Great Sundering. I could have taken the collective knowledge of our people, Telga. I could have found a way to heal the world."

  It was Halsey's emotions, but his own tears, that left Telga speechless, and she slumped, in her seat.

  Telga took a few seconds to process it. "He doesn't want the world fixed. He likes it shattered, the way it is, a shadow of its former glory. It's a world that he can control, so much easier." Shawn couldn't have imagined this powerful woman being any smaller than she must feel, right now. "But, with you both here...Maybe there is a chance now."

  "So, now that we've caught up," he reyed as Halsey finished her thoughts, "How did you know?"

  "It was the cold way he talked. That calcuted voice he always uses when he's up to something we might not agree with." Telga's feathers bristled on her arms, and her cws tensed. "He wouldn't let me see your body. He said it was destroyed by a bst in the b, and that seeing you in that state would be too much to bear. I was in shock at the time, to be sure...I knew you were always careful. But...there was something off about it that I couldn't figure out. Something horribly wrong. I knew, the way he spoke to me, that if I didn't leave, right then and there, I'd share the same fate. It became my exile from the core world, Shawn. and it was three years in purgatory for you, Halsey." Telga forced back a sniff, trying to keep tears from welling up again. She could be incredibly resilient, but even Telga had limits. Shawn found himself putting a hand over her wings gently as she rested her head on the table, shuddering.

  "You have my vow. There is no scenario where I don't kill Revarik for this." It was strange, to have his mindset jutxaposed with Halseys in these strange, shared moments. but they were utterly aligned in their resolve, now.

  They both wanted to fix this world. And undo the evils of others.

  Fatigue finally set in, and he hadn't noticed it, but Telga now had her arms folded on the desk, having nodded off, with her wings wrapped around her body. This had taken a lot out of her--even if it was necessary.

  He got up from his cot to lift her into bed. Even though he knew the hollow bones thing was a bust for the Aveeran, she was still fairly light.

  For someone who has had awful things thrown their way their whole life, Shawn? You can still show kindness.

  I have to. For my own sake, and others. He tucked Telga in, who mumbled softly in her sleep, cws clinging gently to the serviceable bnket. Seeing a Radiant being remarkably human…or humanlike, he figured…it brought a retability to the situation.

  Cire got his attention from the doorway, having presumably come from the room with extra cots for extended triage–mercifully underutilized, at the moment. “So…today’s been a hell of a day,” she offered softly, running her fingers errantly through a lock of hair draping down. “You alright, after all that?”

  “Eventually. I worry though, that I might have taken a risk. People now know Halsey survived. If that gets back to Revarik, I don't doubt he’ll come after us to dissect us, and figure out how to extract her from me.” He let out a soft exhale, his eyes seemingly feeling heavy. He hadn’t realized how tired he felt, until just this moment. He scuffed a cw against the floor. “But she needed that moment. She needed something to hold onto, because everything she's had, has been falling apart.”

  Cire gnced at the sleeping avian, before nodding softly. “Yeah. I heard…a little bit of that conversation. I wasn’t trying to pay attention but…Revarik is pretty messed up, isn’t he? A little demented demon bird god.”

  “I don’t know if the word ‘evil’ applies here, but…” he let out a soft exhale, and folded his arms against his chest, head bent low while thinking about it. “He reminds me of my dad. A man who did evil things to people. For money, or because it gave him the outcome he wanted, or for his twisted pleasures. I can’t help but notice a trend.”

  “Different universe, different people…but the themes rhyme.” She slouched a little, shoulder resting on the doorframe. “It was hard enough getting poached to this world. Now, we have all this to worry about. I don't know how you do it."

  She pointed at herself. "Telga's portal targeted me, but you're the one with the pn, the extra godlike being in your head, and the whole universe gunning for you. What if you were the one she was supposed to grab, and not me? Did she make a mistake?"

  It was a small detail he hadn't considered. "The Radiants are people. Not gods. People make mistakes. Or maybe, they make a slight miscalcution. Right pce, right time...slightly mistargeted portal."

  She ughed bitterly at that. "So, I'm just along for the ride."

  "I wouldn't say that. You still are a crack shot with a rifle, and you've got a drive that equals mine, plus your knowledge. You built all those up, no one gave them to you," he assured her. "I wouldn't paint me with too high hopes just yet. We still have an unprecedented number of problems to solve. And, I may again be putting us in danger with what I’ve got pnned.”

  She straightened up. “The the, the milling machine…are we really going to do this, Shawn?" Cire bit her lip gently. "I know we have enough working knowledge and magic to make plenty of deadly weapons, or protective gear. But...can we win a war?"

  He gave the thought more than a few seconds to settle. “Yeah. I think we can beat Revarik with a tech-war. We can’t outnumber him, but maybe, we can beat him with a smaller, elite force.” He let out a shaky breath. “If Regia, Telga, and the other survivors found a way out of the core world, maybe there’s a way back in, without using the main teleport strands. We run a distraction war with Revarik, and take the head off the monster in his ir while he’s occupied.” She looked unconvinced. "I'm making magical guns, and we're going to build a team of the best trained, best armed and armored individuals to put an end to this."

  “And, you think this is even remotely a good idea?” Cire asked quietly. “You know, a week ago, I would have said you were deluded, and this was only going to end badly. That we were doomed the moment Telga brought us here."

  "But?"

  Cire gestured to him. "You should have been dead as fried chicken today, so maybe it’s not impossible.” He tapped a cw patiently on the floor while she got that joke of her system and ughed. “Too soon?”

  “While I preferred my messy hair and pale skin…this isn’t the worst thing that could have happened to me, you know. Maybe there’s still a way to extract the gestalt, without…you know, killing me in the process. Eh, sorry Halsey,” he added hastily.

  While I don’t exactly share the sentiment…if these devices can extract souls or the Etteria itself…if my core is now within you, as may be the case? It might be possible. But this could be dangerous, Shawn.

  “She says, ‘Don’t be an idiot. That’s a long-term goal.” A deep yawn finally betrayed his exhaustion, and Cire nodded softly. “Yeah. Let’s start fresh tomorrow, Cire. We have a mine full of mineral wealth sitting untapped, plus our samples. There was copper, iron, mithril…we’re getting to work as soon as possible.”

  “Never a dull moment, huh?” she asked and stretched lightly before heading back to the guest quarters. “Try to take a day to recover. Hell, even Chakra said it.”

  “Then we’ll take a day. Then, we get to work.”

  He was lights out in about a minute, but he heard Telga mumble something in her sleep before exhaustion took hold.

  “I’ll keep my promise…”