Chapter Text

--- Shiroe ---

Considering it had already happened to him once before, it wasn’t the oddest thing ever to open his eyes and find himself in a different world altogether.

For the past year he’d constantly been half expecting it to happen, only the different world would be the one he’d been born in, Elder Tales finally having spat everyone back out into reality. People had to be working on the other side of reality to get them back after all. Either that or it would have all been a dream, Shiroe wouldn’t have liked that possibility, he’d finally gotten a real family in Elder Tales, and he didn’t know that he would be able to give that up.

But no, he didn’t open his eyes to find himself in his bed or at his computer. He didn’t even find himself in a hospital surrounded by hundreds of other players waking up after their long sleep.

No, Shiroe opened his eyes to find a completely different landscape from the one he’d gotten to know, only this time it wasn’t the kind he already recognised. It wasn’t filled with memories, or adventures. It was a forest, a jungle really, stretching higher up than redwoods.

And he was alone, which was really rather unfortunate. Shiroe wasn’t incapable of defending himself of course, he was capable in his own right and ninety two levels certainly didn’t come from nowhere. But he didn’t have a tank, he was in the middle of nowhere, and he certainly didn’t think he’d get away unscathed if something too powerful attacked him. But that was based on Elder Tales rules, he didn’t even know where he was.

Shiroe frowned at the area, taking stock of himself and confirming that he was in fact still wearing his cloak, his staff in one hand. He opened up his inventory, and it worked perfectly, he opened the friend menu, and sighed at what he’d half expected. It claimed that no one else was online.

Alright, first things first, find people. There had to be people here somewhere.

Shiroe reluctantly opened up his menu again, taking out the griffin whistle, to his relief though, it worked perfectly.

--- Jasnah ---

At first, it felt like she was Elsecalling.

Jasnah felt her eyes snap open at the feeling, distinctly unwilling to admit that she might have teleported into Shadesmar by accident. That simply didn’t happen, besides, she wasn’t even holding any stormlight. Her armor solidified over her at the panic, Ivory appearing in her hand as a blade. She sucked in a breath of stormlight, the investiture pouring into her from her pockets.

Her first thought was that someone extremely powerful must have moved her here, the only purpose she could conceive for such a thing was that they wanted her out of the way. She was the queen and the only Elsecaller, it wasn’t much of a stretch that plenty of people on Odium’s side wanted her gone.

She gritted her teeth, glancing into shadesmar and flinching at how different it felt. It wasn’t bad, really, but she hadn’t realized it could even be so different. She knew from Wit that on other worlds it occasionally had differences, for example, Roshar was the only one with Spren living there.

However, it looked and felt nothing like the shadesmar she knew.

Jasnah let out a long breath, remembering when she’d nearly died and been stuck in shadesmar for months with little direction, this was like that, she just had to keep on walking.

Her plans for the moment were halted, however, as she heard a nearby scream of rage.

She walked toward it without question, not so much listening to her self preservation instincts and more the fact that there was another person here. She should have expected that, by all accounts, she was in another world and from what Wit had said, most of those had people on them. She dismissed her blade and plate though, and suppressed her stormlight by sheer force of mind, not willing to betray the fact that she had them.

Jasnah felt her steps slow to a halt as she took in the person. It wasn’t particularly odd for her to look at someone and not really get much out of it, but this woman seemed to have perfected the art of the deadpan-glare. It was impressive.

She wore strange black glasses over her eyes, and her clothing was tidy and practical, but everything about her bearing screamed predator. Jasnah would have said she was surprised that the safehand was uncovered, but this was another world, there was no saying what kind of things were normal behavior.

The monster she was attacking, on the other hand, was even less familiar. Jasnah knew of creatures with fur, but she hadn’t realized any of them could get as big as a chasmfiend. Jasnah spent several moments just watching it, taking in its huge muscular form and enormous horns, before deciding that the stranger likely was in need of assistance. She was fast, faster than Jasnah could move with stormlight, and she had a certain strength to her that didn’t make much sense with her light form.

Jasnah didn’t hesitate longer, she summoned Ivory as a blade and charged the thing. She was a queen, and while she was still somewhat new to using a sword, the stances felt natural enough by now.

The woman seemed annoyed to find Jasnah there, but also slightly pleased. She shouted something, leaping to the side in a way that was almost too smooth. Jasnah was again caught off guard, this time by not recognizing the language, but that shouldn’t have been all that odd.

She slashed at the beast, killing one arm and gaining its attention. Its large horns glinted and its ferocious mouth snarled as it focused on what it perceived to be the bigger threat.

Jasnah slashed at another limb, wondering if she should just soulcast. The woman was watching though, and Jasnah didn’t know if it was wise to show a power like that off just yet.

Speaking of the woman though, Jasnah glared at her as she sidled up into the shadows, “Are you not going to be of assistance?!” She shouted, glaring and slashing at the monster again, which seemed to be rethinking its decision to attack Jasnah at all.

The woman simply strode through the shadows in the trees, moving so silently that Jasnah wondered if anything could detect the noise. After a while of that, Jasnah decided that she would likely have to deal with this creature herself. She had a few choice words prepared for the woman in the dark colors though.

Jasnah paused though when a shadowy form jumped atop the monster a moment later, slitting its throat wide open with a sickle and landing lightly nearby. The monster snarled and turned toward the new attacker, but Jasnah was there, cleanly and bloodlessly slicing through its neck with Ivory.

She plunged her sword into the earth, turning her focus toward the shadowy woman once it was clear the monster was dead. “Who are you exactly?”

--- Trinity ---

To Trinity, it was almost more strange to see someone unphased by her nightstalker abilities than to find herself in a place that was so clearly not where she’d been before. Her instincts had been screaming at her, yelling that she’d better find something to kill for this, that had been around the time when the monster showed up. Those instincts had been getting used to life at Ironwind Stronghold, and there was absolutely nothing she could find to explain her situation.

So, the more monstrous side of Trinity had been seeking blood in order to calm down, otherwise she probably would have just run when such a monster appeared to begin with.

The woman in front of her wore a dress with one hand covered—for some reason—and held herself like some kind of a princess. She smelled like she was just as irritated about being here as Trinity was.

The only difference was that the woman was outwardly calm, while Trinity was busy trying to get a hold of herself—Her instincts had not appreciated the woman stealing her kill. She knew that her voice likely sounded more like a prolonged snarl than actual words, which probably didn’t help any.

“Who are you.” She asked, feeling her instincts demand that she leave, that she scout out the area, that she find some prey and bleed it dry.

The woman frowned at her, seemed to decide something, the massive sword she’d swung at the monster dissolved into mist, but Trinity wasn’t in a good enough mood to properly gape at the empty space.

Guns, she could deal with, Nicky on a caffeine high, sure, she could just complain about it the whole time. But an enormous sword made of mist? Trinity wasn’t sure what she could do about something like that.

She found her gaze tracking back to the monstrous bear with elk horns and almost as bad a personality as Trinity. The only blood was from her own strikes, but Trinity had clearly seen this sword bite through the beast.

Trinity regarded the sword for a second longer before shaking her head, this woman had helped her out when she didn’t have to, that didn’t mean Trinity would trust her, but that also meant Trinity wasn’t allowed to hate her for no reason.

She pointed to herself. “Trinity.” She said, she gestured toward the stranger, figuring that was the best next step.

The stranger smiled slightly, “Jasnah.”

They nodded at each other, their mutual respect obvious.

--- Zorian ---

Zorian Kazinski, by all accounts a perfectly ordinary teenager, opened his eyes.

Something clearly wasn’t right, and not just because he seemed to be—somehow—in an extremely overgrown forest surrounded on all sides by giant ants. He frowned up at the ants, sending out a mental probe by instinct. Their minds were peaceful, more curious than anything. That was extremely odd by itself.

Regardless, he had no idea where he was or how he’d gotten here. After quickly scouring his memories for mentions of giant ants and coming up completely empty—that combined with the enormous forest that vaguely resembled the jungles of Koth—Zorian concluded that not only was he definitely not in Eldemar, but he likely wasn’t anywhere else he knew of.

Several tracking spells followed, as well as spells to check for dimensional magic use—the only explanation for how he’d gotten here—yielded only useless information. He wasn’t anywhere near what he knew, and despite the resemblance to Koth, both the spells and Zorian’s own memories of the jungles there confirmed that it wasn’t anywhere near that either.

Zorian glanced back at the giant ants, who were still watching him with curiosity, not a hint of aggression that he could sense from his surface or even deep scans of their surprisingly complex minds. He hadn’t even had to placate them with mind magic, which was honestly really weird, especially for their intelligence. He doubted they had a language of their own, but they seemed a lot like the chameleon drakes, certainly smart enough to set a trap if they felt the desire, and probably smart enough to have a social structure.

But they didn’t see him as food.

Zorian continued to frown at them, still digging deep into one of their minds, trying to find out if there was a reason for that. Generally in a jungle, creatures would constantly be fighting other species for food, even if they weren’t sure how edible he was, they really should have been more aggressive about figuring out the answer to that.

Unless they were strictly herbivores or scavengers? They were giant ants, who knew what kind of differences there were between the regular kind and these ones.

He had to dig for quite a while to find any sort of answer, and during this time the ants simply clicked at each other, signaling that they perceived him as interesting. Three of the six ants eventually split off from the group, and Zorian got a sense of duty from them, their senses were odd, but he watched them leave with a measure of wariness and relief.

He would really rather not get into a fight immediately. He didn’t know anything about the weaknesses of giant ants. There was no doubt in his mind that he would come out on top, but it had the annoying possibility of taking far too long because of his lack of knowledge.

Zorian finished looking for the answer to the whole why-are-they-so-docile question, before regarding the ants with interest.

There were humans ‘in their colony’ as they saw it. Their curiosity wasn’t because they didn’t know what he was, it was because they’d never met him before. Kind of like a dog, but not nearly as excitable. He got a memory of a different group of humans attacking them not terribly long ago, but Zorian wasn’t being aggressive, so they assumed he was a friend.

Interesting.

Despite how humorous it was that a bunch of semi-sapient ants being more friendly than humans, this was clearly the best—and likely only—way for him to find a group of people.

Zorian blinked as he made another scan of the area, finding a mind that certainly didn’t belong. It was psychic, or open as the arenea would say, the mental barriers were practically nonexistent, but out of respect for a fellow psychic, he didn’t invade it. Curiously, her mind was almost entirely human. My my, that was definitely something he had to look into.

He looked up-up-up into the trees, meeting the eyes of a small creature perching in a tree. She was anxious, worried, and surprised as she watched him. But she let out an aura of calm as she looked back, unhurried.

[Hello there.] Zorian sent, letting his eyes track back to the giant ants. [Who might you be?]

She seemed surprised at his message—or maybe it was the presence of a message at all— [You’re human.] she stated.

Zorian glanced down at himself, [Yes, it certainly seems like it.]

[How are you alive?! I heard all the humans were wiped out!]

Zorian blinked at the ants, making sure from their minds that their own humans were still kicking around. [Sorry to break it to you, but I don’t think we’re capable of being wiped out. I’ve heard of us compared to cockroaches. But out of curiosity, you’re very small for a dragon.]

She narrowed her eyes, [So?]

[I didn’t realize dragons could be so small.]

[I was disappointed when I stopped growing too… ah… do you know where we are? I’m kind of confused as to how I got here.]

[You’re not from here?]

[I live in a house, this is the kind of place with too many teeth trying to eat me for my tastes. I don’t even like staying at the park. I need to get home though, Soranto will be worried about me.]

Zorian sighed, [I think I’m in the same situation then, I’ve never seen giant ants in my life, and this jungle isn’t the one I know.]

She sent a simple message consisting of only emotion, disappointment.

[I’m going to go with these ants, alright? If you come with me I’ll make sure nothing eats you.] He wanted to ask about the human mind, but at the moment that didn’t seem like a good idea.

She thought for a moment, glanced around, and glided down to land on his shoulder. [Alright… just… no cages, alright?]

Zorian gave her a strange look, but didn’t ask. [I’m Zorian] he said, realizing he’d been rude earlier to not give a name.

She paused, hesitated, and then responded, [I’m Tessa.]

Chapter Text

--- Jasnah ---

It wasn’t that Trinity was odd, really, but Jasnah got the sense the other woman didn’t give social propriety the attention any other woman would have. Jasnah herself was willing to occasionally ignore propriety, as long as it didn’t get in the way of her goals, but Trinity… well she growled. The only other person Jasnah had seen growl was Lift, and Lift was definitely not a role model in any sense of the word.

Jasnah was comfortable with acting like a queen, but the longer she watched Trinity, the more clear it became that the woman didn’t care how people perceived her. She was very unapologetic about a lot of things, like the growling, and she clearly knew quite a lot about survival, but the longer the two spent together, the more clear it became that despite initial appearances, Trinity wasn’t much more familiar with this world than Jasnah was.

Jasnah had an excellent sense of direction from her Elsecaller abilities, so she knew for certain that they were heading toward the nearest population center. Once they got there it would be a simple prospect to analyze the local hierarchy, dismantle it to her needs, and hopefully find out everything she could about getting back to Roshar. She wasn’t assuming that anyone would know much about interplanetary travel, Wit had made it quite clear that it was something only a select few people knew of, the ghostbloods being high in the list.

And it wasn’t like the ghostbloods and Jasnah had any sort of courteous relationship, what with the assassinations and such.

She sighed, glancing at Trinity, who seemed perfectly willing to follow where Jasnah took them. The woman had disappeared into the forest at some point, and Jasnah hadn’t expected her to come back or even be able to find her, but less than an hour later she’d walked out of the forest and treated the whole disappearance as if nothing had happened.

Jasnah noticed that her wounds were now bandaged though, which was a relief since predators could likely smell the blood and there had to be more of them lurking in this jungle.

It still felt odd, even after hours of being here, that stormward and leeward weren’t obvious at a glance. It felt odd to have springy Shin soil beneath her feet, and it felt odd to see trees so tall and ancient. She wasn’t certain if trees got this big back home, she hadn’t put much thought into it. If Shallan had been here though, she likely would be sketching them, making observations about the various pieces of the ecosystem.

Jasnah glanced at Trinity again, who seemed to be watching her beneath those dark glasses. Jasnah could keep going with stormlight, they would hopefully make it to civilization by tomorrow, and she certainly didn’t trust this jungle—or her companion—enough to sleep here.

But Trinity might want to sleep. Jasnah watched her for a moment longer before deciding that if the woman got tired, she’d simply have to do something about it. Hopefully she herself wouldn’t get too tired if she lost a night of sleep, Jasnah wasn’t sure what to do if her companion decided to fall asleep out here.

The hours passed.

Jasnah took in a bit more stormlight, cursing internally at the darkness. She didn’t think it was a good idea to take out a sphere, even if the newly infused broams would glow rather strongly. But she’d long since torn up her dress to make something more practical, so she still had some extra cloth. Jasnah glanced around before picking up a fairly large stick from her path, she wrapped the fine fabric around the top preparing to soulcast something into fire. Trinity stopped though once she seemed to realize what Jasnah was doing.

She said something in her language—they still couldn’t understand each other—and set down her pack, digging through it and pulling out a strange device. Trinity almost too carefully pointed it away from herself before the end of the metal stick lit up like a sphere.

Jasnah watched the stick with a mixture of wariness and interest, wariness because this was foreign to her, and interest for the same reason. What powered the light? Was it a different form of investiture?

Jasnah frowned slightly and took the stick when Trinity offered it to her. Eventually though, they continued onward, Jasnah lighting the ground and Trinity trailing behind her.

-

It was fairly late into the night when Jasnah looked back to make sure Trinity was still there. After the first time she suspected the woman wouldn’t have much of a problem with finding her again, but she’d prefer to know these things beforehand.

Jasnah was met with two pinpricks of red light, glowing in the darkness.

Trinity let out a snarl as the light faced in her direction, briefly illuminating her face and red irises. Jasnah swore, Ivory forming in her hand after less than a second. A voidbringer her mind screamed. Red eyes.

But… Trinity still didn’t seem to know what a shardblade was.

And she still hadn’t stabbed Jasnah in the back. Ivory, Jasnah thought, how did we not notice this?

She is not.

Jasnah drove the blade into the ground, folding her arms and glaring at Trinity, “Stormfather,” She cursed under her breath, Do you think she’s a threat to us?

Those beasts are. She is.

She might have some kind of investiture we don’t understand.

Ivory didn’t reply, simply thinking on it. And then seemed to give a mental shrug. Very helpful. Jasnah examined the red eyes, and glanced down at the light she’d dropped in her earlier surprise before scolding herself for failing to keep her composure. The situation was not ideal, and she was stressed, so she granted herself a bit of leeway.

Trinity was definitely wary of the sword though, and she backed up several tense steps.

Jasnah picked up the light and the other woman snarled as she pointed it at her, closing her eyes and freezing stock still, her muscles rippling as if she was just barely containing herself from rushing forward and attacking Jasnah.

Jasnah sighed and pointed it away from her, not sure why the woman would have given it to her in the first place if it hurt her so much. It was a show of trust, and from what Jasnah had seen, Trinity was far less capable of killing Jasnah as Jasnah was at killing Trinity.

Jasnah motioned for them to continue, trying to figure out if she should attempt an apology even through the language barrier. No… no, Trinity seemed to understand.

The other woman stayed farther back from then on, but after the interaction, Jasnah occasionally spotted a glimpse of red eyes in the darkness. In a way it was comforting since she seemed to be able to see in the dark, but mostly it just put her on edge.

There was no way to know if Trinity was working for Odium, but Jasnah had seen firsthand that just because something was red didn’t mean it was evil. An uncomfortable flash of her own blade poised to strike Renarin passed behind her eyes. Her own cousin.

Jasnah shuddered, and kept walking.

--- Tessa ---

Zorian was strange, and that wasn’t an understatement.

Tessa had certainly been freaking out about all this, but that wasn’t too hard to hide, she’d spent her whole life hiding more complicated emotions like that, everyone always said it was better to just feel simple ones, it made it easier for the Kymari to accept them.

But by her red scales, Tessa found it so strange to sit on such a small shoulder. She hadn’t realized just how much smaller humans were than Kymari, sure mom and dad had always shown her the size, but it was surprisingly difficult to stay on the shoulder of a creature who was so much smaller.

It didn’t help that there was no padding so she couldn’t very well just dig in her claws for better purchase. She had to constantly watch them, but still found herself catching her weight with her wings whenever she wobbled too much.

Zorian was following the big ants—Tessa hadn’t realized that ants could get that size—While constantly peering around the area and as best she could tell probing their minds. Tessa hadn’t realized it was possible to look into someone’s mind, mindspeach came naturally, and the bloodmemories too, but Zorian just seemed to take it several steps farther.

[If you really wanted to, couldn’t you look at someone’s thoughts?] Zorian asked, still walking.

Tessa shifted her weight again, he’d been reading her mind, that was so weird. [That feels… wrong.]

[Why? Aren’t you technically doing it right now?]

[That’s different, you’re sending them to me.] Tessa inched away from that thought rather expertly, [How did you learn to do it?]

Zorian sighed, seeming nostalgic, [Giant telepathic spiders.]

[Giant spiders?] She glanced at the ants again, which were still as docile and calm as they’d been earlier.

[Where I come from they don’t get too much bigger than you, maybe twice your size?]

Tessa shuddered, remembering crawlers, which were about that size. They were kind of like spiders, but much much more evil. [Maybe I could kill it then, that doesn’t sound so bad.]

Zorian shook his head, apparently a sign of amusement, [You wouldn’t want to kill an arenea, some might be different, but if you ever met one, I’m sure she would be absolutely intrigued.]

Tessa opened an eye, [They don’t eat dragonets?]

[They don’t eat things that are psychic, like you and me.]

[Are they evil?] Tessa asked, still thinking of the crawlers, which were definitely evil.

[They’re people, you can’t define people by good and bad.]

Tessa, still thinking of the crawlers and sicora, nodded, those things were evil, but they also weren’t people, they were animals. [So where do you come from?]

Zorian sighed, [Cyoria.] He responded, [That’s where all my friends are, and my sister, you actually remind me a bit of her, you’re quieter though.]

Tessa usually talked more, but being apart from Soranto… well she didn’t really know what to do with herself. [How old is she?]

[Nine.] Zorian responded.

Tessa scrunched up her face, glancing at the blood memories to figure out how dragonet terms applied here. Her mom occasionally guessed what mental age Tessa and Dirk were, so… [I’m three, but I think that’s maybe around twelve to you.] Twelve, that felt like such a long time still, even though Tessa knew she should live at least a few hundred years.

-

The ants eventually led the two of them into what looked a bit like a city to Tessa, though it seemed much smaller and cobbled together. The doors were also smaller than Tessa expected, being made for humans and not Kymari.

Giant ants strode around the village, some with bags on their backs or humans riding them. It was odd, Tessa felt, for other creatures to be so prominent, the Kymari only ever had machines and occasionally pets, never anything else. But these people seemed to need the giant ants to live, just as the giant ants seemed to need them. It was kind of like Tessa and Soranto in a way, she felt. Though there was no personal bond here, they’d bonded as a group, putting aside differences in order to have something else.

Eventually the humans noticed them, and a group came over. “Ho!” one man yelled, raising a hand, “Who might you be?”

Zorian scrunched up his face, [You can understand them?!]

Tessa blinked at him, [You can’t?]

[No, I can’t.]

[Oh, I’m sorry, I think I just kind of know all the languages, I can’t read them though, that’s different.]

Zorian glanced at the man, “I’m Zorian, and this is Tessa.” He gestured to the dragonet. [Could you please translate that and send it straight to his mind?]

Tessa looked at him with wide eyes, [What? Mindlinking a stranger? I don’t do that!]

[Tessa, please, I don’t want to do telepathic pantomime for three hours.] He seemed tired, a bit annoyed too.

Tessa hesitated, and then connected—reluctantly—to the man who’d spoken, [I’m sorry! I’m Tessa, That’s Zorian, he doesn’t understand you yet but I can translate!] She puffed herself up, meeting the man’s eyes so he’d be more sure about who was talking. She didn’t know how comfortable she was with openly talking to strangers, her whole life she’d only been allowed to talk to people who knew the dragonet’s secrets, and Soranto. She hoped her mom wouldn’t be too mad at her for breaking the rules, but she couldn’t exactly contact her right now!

The man jumped slightly, glancing around and finally meeting Tessa’s eyes, “Ah… hello then Tessa. Where did the two of you come from?”

Zorian seemed to be reading Tessa’s mind for the translation, and he responded, “the forest.”

Tessa relayed the information. The man didn’t seem pleased about the lack of description, but didn’t pry into it. “You were kind to the Saurnat, otherwise they wouldn’t have brought you here.”

Zorian shrugged, “They didn’t attack us, so we left them alone. We also heard… tales of this place.”

The man grinned, puffing himself up, “We are rather famous. A village that works with monsters? Most aren’t quite pleased with us, but the two of you are an odd pair, that’s for sure.” there was a twinkle in his eye, it seemed like he thought Tessa was a special kind of monster. How many monsters did they have here?

Zorian smiled, “Do you think we could stay here for a while? We’re a bit turned around at the moment and need a spot to figure some things out.”

The man seemed receptive to the idea.

-

[There must be more of us.] Zorian observed, laying back in the bed they’d provided him. [Two is too much of a coincidence, and the fact that we found each other…] He paused, [Tessa, how long were you in the jungle before you found me?]

She shuddered slightly, [Not too long, I saw a really big bear attacking something and… I ran away.] She seemed ashamed of it.

[I doubt you could have done anything, it was smart to run.]

Tessa huffed and lay down in the blankets, wishing she had some good sand and a heat lamp. Or oil, oil would be really nice right now, she felt like there was all kinds of grit and dirt stuck between her scales after today. She glanced at Zorian, who was examining his shirt, having changed into the spare clothes the man had given him. She thought his hand might be glowing a little, that was odd. [Have you ever run from something like that?]

[Oh plenty. I’m much stronger now though, I only run if something is impossible.]

Chapter Text

--- Shiroe ---

Shiroe had been surprised when the griffin whistle didn’t give him a griffin.

He shouldn’t have been, what said that griffin’s even lived here? But the giant bird reminiscent of a dragon he’d gotten instead hadn’t been a very courteous traveling companion. He also hadn’t expected the whistle to lose effectiveness after just ten minutes rather than five hours, or for the bird to turn on him once the magic stopped working.

Really he shouldn’t have been expecting an artifact from a world of games to work right, especially when he could hardly even spot the levels of any of the monsters he’d met so far. Their bars were so faint they might as well not have existed.

It was like everything from the gameworld was half working, and it wasn’t like there was all that much he could do about it. Shiroe briefly considered writing up a contract—after the incident with Rundelhaus Code, he’d taken to keeping the necessary materials around constantly—but there was no telling how this world would react to world-class magic; if it even worked at all.

So Shiroe ended up walking. Those ten minutes on the bird monster had been worth it though, he’d probably made it farther in that time than the three hours he spent on foot. He ended up finding a town before dark, and although this place didn’t have the same currency—obviously—as Elder Tales, the confused innkeeper still took a few coins, remarking about their purity.

Hopefully he wouldn’t have to spend too much, but Shiroe wasn’t holding his breath. He seemed to understand the language at the very least, but he suspected that was a lingering bit of game mechanics.

He drummed his fingers on his leg, sitting back in the chair and thinking. He couldn’t quite understand what was going on, but first he had to figure out the situation here, and then figure out how to get home… either home would work, he wasn’t picky in that regard.

He glanced to the side, still half expecting Akatsuki to appear out of nowhere and make a report. Her absence was painful in a way, but he was glad she was—hopefully—safe with the rest of Log Horizon. It was better if it was just him this time around. Things would be harder for the rest of them without him, but they should be fine while he worked to get back to them.

Out of curiosity, Shiroe tried the logout button, but just like always, it flashed a few times and did nothing.

Having expected that, he looked through his inventory again, making sure he had everything he usually had, he checked the amount of gold he had, about five hundred pieces, which was less than he’d thought, but should keep him up for a while.

He would have to make connections all over again, and he likely needed to get a reputation if he wanted people to actually take him seriously long enough for anything to matter. He needed resources and that was likely only going to happen if he wasn’t alone.

He definitely needed a party, he wasn’t the kind of person who could get things like this done without one. He might be able to find something, but without a party he couldn’t really do anything with it. He wouldn’t have been able to found the Round Table without Crescent Moon, and he wouldn’t have been able to negotiate with the king of Eastal without Crusty and the Princess.

He massaged his forehead and stood up with a sigh, maybe if he tried exterminating some monsters it would get people’s attention… Then he could prove… what. What did he need to prove specifically? What had he proven when he got the title ‘Villian behind glasses’?

Well, he’d proven his ability to find solutions.

So would exterminating monsters do that here? This wasn’t a game world, things were different, he couldn’t run off and do something like that without thinking about it. Here they were likely just animals with a bit too much power, not constructs of the game made specifically for adventurers to destroy. There was no guarantee—even though Shiroe was very good at battle strategy—that that was even what he needed to display here.

At least the food here—as long as Shiroe didn’t cook it—tasted like food. That was a bonus.

--- Trinity ---

Trinity glared at Jasnah’s back, the older woman still bumbling—gracefully, somehow—through the trees. She’d expected them to take breaks, if only for Jasnah, and while Trinity wasn’t tired in the least yet, she constantly found herself watching the woman, trying to figure out how she was still going.

She was still scared of the sword, but nothing else about Jasnah seemed all that odd, really. Besides the way she covered her left hand, and the way she walked, still like royalty, like she expected the whole world to bow to her whims.

It wasn’t any secret that Trinity didn’t like that, it almost reminded her of Daniel in a way, but at least Daniel could blame his occasional attitude problems on the virus and his nature as a Terror. However, Jasnah was just like that. It was constantly grating on Trinitiy’s instincts, but at the same time, she still hadn’t seen fit to kill Trinity—thankfully—even when she’d spotted her eyes.

She really should have just kept her sunglasses on…

Trinity exhaled gustily, prompting the woman in question to glance back at her. Perhaps Jasnah was wondering why Trinity hadn’t asked for a break just as much as Trinity was wondering about her.

She shook her head, signaling that it was nothing, and Jasnah nodded, turning back to the road ahead.

At least it wasn’t going as bad as Trinity’s usual road trip yet.

As if the universe heard her, and was just trying to make sure she knew it, a branch from above fell, landing squarely in front of her and embedding itself into the soil somewhat. Nope nope nope, my luck is NOT allowed to be sentient.

As if it heard her again, the branch snapped in two.

Trinity carefully stopped thinking about luck and happenstance, stepping past the stick and following Jasnah again. She wanted to ask a lot of things, like how do you know that we’re going the right direction, or why haven’t you dropped dead from exhuastion by now, we’ve been walking all night. Instead, Trinity simply pointed toward the sun, which was rising. Thankfully her instincts were finally abating, she hadn’t been sure if she could keep herself from attacking Jasnah if she pointed that light at her again, even with her sunglasses on. Now it would only be a mild annoyance if that happened again.

Trinity found herself relaxing slightly as the sun peeked over the horizon, distracted at the feeling of it rippling across her senses. As such, when Jasnah stopped abruptly, she nearly ran into the woman.

“What are you-?” Trinity caught herself, remembering Jasnah didn’t speak English, that was getting annoying.

The woman looked ahead though, her hand unwavering, she muttered something, as she was prone to doing, Trinity didn’t know why. The woman said something else and then sighed, turning to look at Trinity. She shook her head slightly and kept on going.

Well that was strange. Trinity observed, following again, but farther back.

-

This time Trinity was the one to stop, she halted in her tracks and growled lowly, taking in the sight of someone watching them. How had she not smelled him before? Trinity backed into the trees while Jasnah took the confrontational role. That seemed to suit her so far.

The woman sent out a greeting while Trinity focused her energy on disappearing, and on figuring out how this man was masking his scent so well, he’d been practically on top of her before she noticed it! She could detect a sort of earthy scent on top of his, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as whatever Logan had used when she’d first met him. Now though, she couldn’t stop and have a chat with the man. If Jasnah didn’t speak English, Trinity doubted this man could either, even if it seemed like Jasnah was just as foreign to this place as Trinity was.

She growled in annoyance and moved to the side in the shadows, they weren’t deep enough to truly hide her, but it would give her an advantage if this turned ugly.

The man said something, apparently confused, and then eventually conceded something and blew a horn loud enough to rival a nightstalkers scream. A few minutes later, five more men melted out of the forest. Trinity wasn’t used to relying only on her eyes to keep track of people, but they each had just as weak of a scent as the first man. Her mind was whirring, her only questions, what are they using, and more importantly, what can I do to get a hold of it?

Trinity watched them as they tried to speak with Jasnah, but the woman couldn’t make herself understood with words. After quite a long time of pantomime and guessing, the men seemed to agree to take the two of them to their town—village?—Trinity would prefer mostly to remain unknown, but at this rate she’d have to go with them, after that the whole place would know about Trinity, and it would only take one person getting in her personal space or being a bit too insistent about her sunglasses for her to be exposed as not human.

They didn’t seem to have zombies here, which was good, but Trinity didn’t doubt that if her luck got really bad she might accidentally cause an outbreak. Without Nina here to make a cure… well…

She shook her head and followed behind the group, keeping mostly out of sight, close enough that they knew she was there, but not close enough that they’d expect her to talk to them. Maybe this whole not knowing the language thing was a blessing in disguise. No… no… she wasn’t stupid enough to actually think that.

She listened as the men spoke amongst themselves, and she didn’t miss the way Jasnah changed at their presence. With just Trinity she’d acted mostly normal, but here she stepped lightly, held her back straight, and kept her gaze up with that piercing stare of hers. All it took for one of the men to give her some food was a long look at his jerky, and she was happily munching away at it.

Maybe they hadn’t actually noticed Trinity though, because none of them even turned to offer her some. This place really needed more observant guards. That was a good thing though, because Trinity couldn’t exactly eat food anymore, she’d have turned it down. She was perfectly full from the strange predator she’d drained earlier in the night, and Jasnah hadn’t even been particularly annoyed or worried Trinity’s disappearance.

The men talked, Trinity and Jasnah listened, and eventually she felt like she’d figured out a few words.

--- Tessa ---

She spun and danced in the air as the sun began to rise, singing her heart out for all to see. This place was scary, sure, but it also deserved hope, just like that desolate little planet she’d sung for so long ago.

She couldn’t see the sun very well through the trees and the window, as it passed the horizon, but that was a good thing. That meant there was growth here, life. Tessa could scarcely believe the pure joy that radiated through her for this day, the excitement was so beautiful that she could hardly even hope to contain it.

Thus, the morning song drew to a close.

She flitted down to land beside Zorian’s still unconscious form. He’d hardly even stirred through the song. He clearly wasn’t a morning person, but that was alright, she’d just have to sing loud enough and dance perfectly enough that he could have hope even through his dreams.

Tomorrow though, she’d have to ask him to leave the window unlatched so she could get out.

Chapter Text

--- Zorian ---

[So!] Tessa started, gripping his new shoulder pad and looking up at the sky as Zorian left the room he’d been given, [What are we doing today!]

She was so agreeable with everything that it almost had Zorian wondering if she was alright. Kirielle would never have simply gone along with whatever he decided in a situation like this, it felt odd somehow for someone to be so like his sister and yet so different all together. [I need more information, so we’re going to find that fellow we spoke with yesterday. He never told us his name, which I didn’t realize.]

[Alright! I’ll let you know if I smell anything weird!]

Zorian felt oddly touched at that, though he decided not to mention that his wards would detect anything dangerous long before she could. He’d spent the night setting them up as well as making several simulacrums and sending them out to do reconnaissance on the surrounding forest. One of which was tasked with finding another town, the others had dismissed themselves when Zorian woke up. [Thank you.]

Tessa settled down on his shoulder, though he could tell she felt more than a bit sad about it. He’d found some fruit for her, but she didn’t seem completely used to eating it herself. Zorian was becoming increasingly convinced that she’d been some kind of pet before, which was at odds with her almost completely human mind.

He still hadn’t brought that particular question up, but it was nagging at him. She clearly knew of humans, but had said they were all dead. She had a human mind but her soul and body were a complete match, without a trace of shifter duality. She had to be some kind of second or third generation project, since there seemed to be parts of her race she wasn’t quite sure about, like the lifespan part he’d caught her thinking about yesterday.

She seemed perfectly at ease with him reading her mind whenever though, even though she was psychic. It was odd to say the least, and she’d never even asked yet if he could teach her how to make a real mental shield.

Zorian shook his head, stopping as he spotted his quarry.

The man seemed to be some kind of a leader here, though the ants severely outnumbered the humans, so they might actually be in charge. It was odd though if so, humans weren’t really the types of things that would subject themselves like that.

He found his gaze drifting back to Tessa at that thought though, since she’d been a pet before this, and was clearly exempt from that rule. Perhaps part of her humanity had been removed? That might explain why her mind wasn’t entirely what he’d expect from a human.

[Could you tell him I’m a bit annoyed that he never introduced himself?]

Tessa jerked to attention, apparently having gotten distracted by all the humans—Zorian got the sense she hadn’t seen one before himself— [Alright!] she responded perkilly.

Zorian met the eyes of the man as he jumped slightly, it was a bit refreshing for someone else to be labeled as the telepath. At this rate he might not even have to tell anyone besides Tessa. That was… dangerously tempting.

The man rushed over, his face apologetic, and spoke something in that language of his, Zorian read Tessa’s mind for the translation—which was also something he shouldn’t count on. “Zorian! Tessa! Great to see you’re up! I’m Teil, the chief of this village and Eyes of the Saurnat queen.” He bowed slightly, smiling.

Zorian nodded, he wasn’t sure what the title was supposed to mean exactly, but he did know that the ants had horrible eyesight, so perhaps that had something to do with it. “Pleased to meet you, Teil.” Zorian responded, carefully looking through the man’s surface thoughts, but that pesky language barrier made properly obtaining information annoyingly ineffective, as his simulacrums had found out last night.

“We’d like to know more about your situation if that’s alright. We’re from a long way away and arrived in… what was not the most educational way.” Usually he would be more polite than this, but he wasn’t in a great mood since his simulacrums hadn’t found much of anything.

Tessa hesitated slightly, but relayed the message.

Teil blinked, “Ah! I see! I’m sorry for your hectic journey. What would you like to know?”

Zorian folded his arms, glanced around, and then spoke, “Your people, they live with the… Saurnat, and yet you implied other places hate you for this.”

Tessa blinked at him in shock, [When did he say that?]

[He put a lot of importance on my friendship with you and our treatment of the ants that brought us here when deciding to let us stay.]

[You read his mind?]

Zorian sighed, [just his surface thoughts.]

Tessa huffed slightly and relayed the message, though she made it sound less ominous. Teil nodded to himself once he received it though, thinking. Zorian would have liked to just read everything from his thoughts and been done with it, but he still knew nothing of their language, he needed allies, and these people seemed perfectly willing to share information on their own.

“They don't know much about us.” Teil said carefully, “We don’t want anything to do with them, and they don’t exactly stop to chat whenever we meet. We protect the Saurnat, that’s all they know.” He sighed, “Honestly we don’t have any trade or real interactions with the outside world, we’re content to protect the forest and the Saurnat. You ask about our relationship with them, but there isn’t really much of anything to say.”

Zorian nodded to himself, frowning slightly, “I see. And you don’t get many travelers?”

Teil shrugged, “The last one besides yourself was perhaps a year ago?” He frowned slightly, thinking, “no, no it was the trader, nine months back.”

It seemed like this place was more isolated than Cirin. Though Zorian knew that more modern places had better transportation, it was still a disappointment that they were so far out of the way. “I see. Where’s the nearest city then?”

Teil scratched his head, “Aye, that’d be Saeldel herself I think. Not sure if the dryad’s will let you in though, they’re very particular about who is and isn’t allowed near the heart trees. If you’d rather leave the forest though, you might be able to find your way to Nakonua or Seaside. I don’t know much about the smaller towns on the way to those though.

[What do you think?]

[I think I’m tired of big monsters.]

[...any opinion on where we go though? There are likely to be monsters wherever we go.]

She sent a mental shrug.

Zorian thought about it for a moment, a city in the forest might work, but he didn’t know much about dryads, but who knew what the ones here did to keep people away. Perhaps even mind magic. The possibility of someone being better than him felt almost threatening to Zorian at the moment, who already felt so out of his depth now that he couldn’t gate halfway across the world at a moment’s notice. It didn’t help that he knew nothing about the local secrets, and he didn’t have ten years in a timeloop to tease them out.

“What are Nakonua and Seaside like?”

Teil rubbed his beard, looking contemplative, “Nakonua is the human capital, I don’t really know anything else about it. Seaside is the only pitten city that’s on land, I don’t know that they’re all that fond of humans though.”

So another race then? Perhaps like the Lizardmen? Zorian nodded to himself, and eventually decided it would probably be best to just head to Saeldel for now, no matter how wary he was. “Do you have a map of the route to Saeldel?”

Teil blinked, “I… think so, someone has a few maps.”

Zorian smiled brightly, finally having a plan.

--- Shiroe ---

Saeldel, as they called the city he’d found, was an interesting place.

Shiroe explored the city, looking around at the storefronts and homes, counting the ones he’d walked through already and passing the great trees at its center for the third time. There was something strange about the trees, a feeling of not quite rightness that made it hard to focus on them for any length of time. After a while, Shiroe decided there must be something there.

After asking about it—from several different sources of course, he wasn’t an idiot—Shiroe was even more intrigued by the trees. According to the people, the ancient trees that wound around each other in growth—so tightly that it was impossible to tell how many there actually were—were guarded by seven dryads. The dryads protected the borders of the city but they even more tightly protected the area closest to the trees.

Only the golem like creatures that roamed the city and cared for plants seemed to be able to go near them, everyone else simply lived beneath the colossal giants. Apparently one of the dryads was the one in charge of the city, but even she hardly ever spoke, and no one even knew what the others were like.

It was interesting, if slightly annoying. There was a way to contact her, but it involved standing on a specific rock on a specific night of the year and completing some kind of ritual. Shiroe took note of this, but he was more interested in her spokesman.

He walked back to the inn he was staying at, his thoughts still all over the place.

“Shiroe, correct?”

He glanced up at his name, blinking at the portly creature the voice belonged to. He wasn’t a race Shiroe was familiar with, but he had gray skin with what seemed to be exoskeleton peeking out and antennae atop his head. In every other fashion he seemed human though, even with the unnaturally dark eyes. “Yes?” Shiroe asked, giving the man a quizzical look. Perhaps this was someone looking for him because of how he’d been asking around?

The man grinned from ear to ear, his strange moth like antennae practically vibrating, he gestured for Shiroe to come over, and hesitantly he approached and sat across from him at the table. “I heard you’ve been asking around the city about all sorts of matters. I take it you’re looking to establish yourself here?”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, “Yes actually.” It was more complicated than that, obviously, but essentially the man was correct. Until Shiroe could find his way home, this was going to be his base of operations. It was a big enough city, it had a stable and good structure physically, culturally, and politically—if his information was correct.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you then. I’m known as Maerthen, a local voice for the order of Aymiae.” The way he spoke made it seem like that was important. Shiroe filed away the name with intent to look into it, but besides a single mention earlier, he’d never heard of them before.

“Interesting.” He simply said, not betraying his ignorance. “And what is it you’ve sought me out for then, Maerthen?”

He laughed slightly, “Come now, you’re obviously an accomplished mage, you know exactly what questions to ask people to get the attention of the people who actually matter. I meant to meet you myself, Her Greatness is extremely interested in you, you see.”

Shiroe pushed his glasses up, it was a habit, and it tended to distract people while he gave things a moment of thought. Truthfully he would have preferred to have met this man after knowing who Aymiae even was, to know what the allegiances and goals of this mysterious master might be. But to reveal his ignorance… well… Shiroe contemplated misleading the man, but that felt wrong. He couldn’t make a decision without knowing though. “Truthfully, I’ve only heard the name Aymiae once before this. Who exactly are they?”

Maerthen blinked at that, taken aback, “My my, these days that’s a rare question indeed. Aymiae is my goddess, she is justice herself, she is consequence. She is the one who ensures that every creature gets what they deserve.”

Well that was ominous. Shiroe wasn’t certain what he thought of her legitimacy as a goddess, but she had to have some kind of power if people called her that. “I see.” Shiroe shifted in his seat, “Does she actively cleanse corruption then? How consistently does she act?”

Maerthen smiled again, “Most folks would have assured me they’ve done nothing worth punishing, do you not think so?” Shiroe didn’t miss that he dodged the question, which probably meant it was a hole somewhere. Perhaps she was worthy of being called a goddess then, if she wasn’t actively doing things.

Shiroe raised an eyebrow, “No, I’m sure my consequences and justice will find me at a suitably poetic time. I try to help people I care for, but that only means I hurt the people who get in the way of that.”

“That certainly explains why my goddess finds you so intriguing.”

“Did she speak to you personally?”

Maerthen shrugged, “The high priest contacted me.” Which was also expertly dodging the question of whether this Aymiae ever appeared to anyone, which was just like Shiroe’s understanding of a god to do.

This was going nowhere. Shiroe put aside his slight annoyance and focused on the present, willing to see the situation from Maerthen’s perspective. “Alright, so what does she want exactly, besides finding me interesting?”

“She would like to propose an alliance. You have, by my understanding, done things in the past that indirectly aid the goddess. It seems she has been wanting to thank you for this for quite a while.”

Shiroe tapped his fingers on the table. “What would this alliance entail, precisely?”

“You continue with your goals—she assured me they align with hers. She might occasionally make a request of you, and she will send aid when needed. This is similar to the contract I’m under, but far more flexible on your end. I’d say it’s a good deal, Her Greatness rarely approaches people like this these days.”

Shiroe raised an eyebrow, a contract then? He understood contracts. The wording seemed at the moment like he could decline any requests, which was also good since he didn’t plan on doing any if they were too far out of the way. “Do you have this in writing?” Shiroe had ninety levels of scribe, he wasn’t about to agree to something without having some fine print to pour over.

Maerthen scratched his head and pulled out a sheet of rolled paper, “She seems to have mentioned that you’d want a full contract, the priest had one prepared.”

Shiroe took the page, more and more certain that they’d somehow known he was coming before he’d even arrived. He’d been in this world for barely a few days. He looked it over and nodded slightly as he went over the terms and pieces. “How much political power does your goddess have? Does she have any major enemies?” He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to make an alliance like this without knowing all the sides to it. Ideally he’d have more than one testimony though, and not all of them should be on the side of said goddess.

Maerthen puffed himself up, “The Ayfel is a huge ally, which connects her to the ancient houses of Senset and Shelex.” Shiroe had heard about them, when he’d gone to the local library there’d been mentions there as well, from what he’d seen they were a pretty big deal. “She cleansed the royal family of Cerulea of a Go’lir curse, and they’ve been in her debt ever since.” Cerulea was a large nation north of here. Were all these alliances to the north? “Her Greatness rules the entirety of Divaria, the land of snow, and her word carries weight in Aulous, Nakonua, and even Yera.”

Shiroe nodded to himself, “And what about enemies?” To him this part was more important.

Maerthen flushed slightly, “No nation has expressed openly toward disagreeing with Her Greatness, however the Mistlands and the Dragonlands refuse to let her people in. She’s also ancient enemies with Gium, the god of Order, who is the patron of all draconic races.”

Shiroe tapped the table again, in thought, glancing back at the contract, “I’m not going to sign this right now, I’ll need to think about it for a few days first, but I have one last question.” Maerthen nodded, and Shiroe met his eyes, “Can your goddess get me back home?” This was definitely the most important question here, because if she couldn’t but one of her enemies could… well, Shiroe would likely be making a very different alliance.

Maerthen sighed, running a hand through his hair, his antennae drooping slightly. “Offworlders are… hard. You understand that, right?” Shiroe was slightly surprised that Maerthen knew that part. “There are certainly people who could get you home, and Aymiae is one of them, but it would take time, possibly years, for a gate to be opened and accessible. At the same time, it might not even be possible to get to your world from this one, you might have arrived here through a one way pass.”

“You seem to know a lot about other worlds.” Shiroe observed, his mind whirring.

Maerthen laughed to himself, “I’m not particularly knowledgeable, but I find the concepts interesting. That’s why Her Greatness sent me, rather than someone who might be better with words.”

That was smart there too, because if Maerthen had been good with words, Shiroe might have just played vocal chess with the man the entire time rather than getting any solid information out of it. The longer he interacted with Maerthen, the more respect Shiroe obtained for this goddess. She might be divine, she might not be, but she clearly understood who Shiroe was, and that was hard enough to come by on its own.

Shiroe stood up, “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to keep the contract until I decide. How can I contact you?” He contemplated trying to add the man to his friend’s list, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea just yet.

Maerthen smiled, also standing up, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll find you.” and then he left, leaving Shiroe with the contract.

Well that was just ominous.

Chapter Text

--- Jasnah ---

The forest ahead didn’t really part itself into nothingness as some people might have described it. It was just as much a forest as the land around the clearing, the only difference was there were no trees in the way for at least a mile.

Jasnah paused as the city came into view, and it was clear why the land beyond was ‘empty’ past this point. Massive branches and leaves spread out from the center of the area, an enormous tree sat there. It was larger than three chasmfiends stacked atop each other, larger possibly even than Urithiru.

The large tree—trees? It seemed like there might be more than one there—choked out the sunlight, leaving little for any plants that might exist below them. There were gaps, of course, but the massive shadow left by the equally massive tree, left the trees at the outskirts stunted and small, as if they were resigned to their short lives.

As such, the land below the tree was populated mostly by people and mushrooms.

Trinity also paused to look at it, her gaze moving curiously from the covered sky above to the sprawling city below it.

“Do they grow food outside the area?” Jasnah wondered, “Or are they strictly hunter-gatherers? I imagine it would be difficult for such a large city to only live off the land though, or perhaps…” She felt her gaze move back to the tree at the center, which seemed to be flowering at the moment. If it had fruit, that might explain the food, but it didn’t explain how the fruit got down without braining people in the process.

Ivory’s voice drifted from her shoulder, he was taking a size small enough to be almost impossible to notice. “Perhaps they are. Very interesting.”

Which is to say they likely had pieces Jasnah didn’t understand yet. Much like in the past trying to figure out how they’d farmed at Urithiru, but in this case the operations were still happening and therefore observable.

“I wonder what significance they place in those trees.” Jasnah muttered onward, not looking forward to any possibly annoying devotion to them that would make the people biased. She was curious, however, as to how old they were and what of this world they had seen.

She was a historian at heart, and meeting something old—even if it couldn’t talk back—always fascinated her. Less so after meeting so many radiant spren and several Heralds, but it was still thought provoking. And it was still so strange to see trees that didn’t retract in the breeze or hide themselves from the storm. As Jasnah examined the city, she found herself looking for signs of storm shelters or windbreaks, even knowing there would be none.

She shook her head slightly and glanced to the five men who had brought them thus far. Right, the hard part. She bowed to them with the most queenly grace she could muster in a torn dress and messy braid—Jasnah did not like being messy, it made things like this more difficult and it made her feel messy. “Thank you.” She managed in their language, still unsure if she could get more than that out. She looked toward the city, “I…” she trailed off, not knowing the words, “Thank you.”

She met each of their eyes before turning and leaving. Trinity, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen, interesting.

An hour or so later, Jasnah wandered through the city, listening to their words. Her first major hurdle was the language barrier, which was still firmly in place despite what she’d have liked. Unlike her uncle, she couldn’t grasp a temporary understanding of any language just by touching someone who spoke it and using a bit of stormlight. Though she already had to be wary of wasting her investiture since she wasn’t sure if there was any way to get more here, let alone if such a way was easy or convenient as leaving a sphere out in a storm.

It was annoyingly possible that if she didn’t figure out a way back before her spheres went dun, she’d be stuck here forever. It wasn’t a question that the way back lay in shadesmar, and she had been periodically checking the oddly shaped place for a while now. But seeing as it was shaped like winding caves made of crystal with no rhyme or reason to them, Jasnah didn’t have high hopes for finding her way through it unless she could get a hold of some kind of map.

So she walked along the street, repeating words to herself with Ivory doing the same. He seemed just as enthusiastic about removing this barrier as she was, and she could certainly use his analytical mind with this. Often a spren was more connected with mental facilities than a human, and while Ivory often remarked that Jasnah was this way as well, he still had the benefits that came with being an almost completely mental construct.

Spren had always been better at languages than humans anyway. As such, he seemed to be catching on faster than she was. While this was a bit aggravating, Jasnah was confident in her ability to at least make herself understood within a few days.

She managed to find an inn, and with a lot of really badly done communication—bad by Jasnah’s standards, which are like normal person standards but higher than Urithiru, she actually did rather well all things considered—she ended up just soulcasting a rock into gold, which seemed to be the currency here. She traded the nugget for what she hoped was a room for a few days, but really there was no way to be sure if she’d even gotten that part right.

Jasnah collapsed into the bed, pushing her remaining stormlight back into the emeralds in her pouch. She wished she had enough energy to take a bath—the man at the front might have mentioned something about that—but she didn’t want to waste stormlight like that.

Her eyes fluttered closed, exhaustion overtaking her. Her last thought was that she needed to find out if they had a library, that should help.

--

After taking a long long bath, and buying herself a new dress—and gloves, she wasn’t a barbarian—Jasnah took a walk, scouting out the area. After a while, she stopped in front of a certain building, humming to herself.

Soon, Jasnah wandered through a library, occasionally taking the time to glare at the foreign script she couldn’t understand. Despite definitely hoping for it, she didn’t just open a book and suddenly gain proficiency in the runes and symbols that made up the local alphabet. It might have been helpful to have a cryptic here to find patterns, but Jasnah would have just been worried about all the lies.

So she was left to pour over the contents by her lonesome, glancing through the symbols and finding the time to glare at the absurdly disorganized language. Nothing about it was symmetrical, and that just had her intrigued as to why while also far far too annoyed for her own good.

Jasnah still memorized the patterns to the best of her ability, but she couldn’t help but feel that her time was being wasted still. If she didn’t know how to speak this language, there was no way she would be able to read it.

It was around this point when she noticed the only other patron at the library at this early hour. The archive master had just waved her in and gone back to his sorting, and that was over an hour ago. The patron himself seemed unremarkable, spectacles adorned his face, and a cloak parted over his shoulders as he reached up to take a book from a higher shelf. He wasn’t particularly tall by Jasnah’s standards, but all the people here seemed short to her so that didn’t mean much. He did have a few fingers advantage over most others by her estimate, and he was probably only about that much shorter than herself. His eyes also weren’t shin ones, like the eyes of every other person she’d seen here, and his hair was a healthy Alethi black.

Jasnah frowned at him, surreptitiously glancing at the titles before remembering she couldn’t storming read. This was both a novel and a horrible experience, for a man to be able to where she could not. She shook her head, looking back at the shelves and opening a few at random both to glance through the words and to see if a certain combination was specific to that first book.

Eventually she closed the book, humming to herself.

The man who’d been looking at the higher shelves glanced toward her, his gaze was polite, but there was an underlying tension or possibly annoyance in his features, “Say, do you know where to find a copy of the ‘base imprint’ I keep seeing it mentioned.”

Jasnah blinked. Glancing at the book in her hands—to her dismay it was still unintelligible squiggles—and then back to the man, “Why can I understand you?” She asked, instead of trying to answer his question. He wasn’t speaking any language she knew, yet somehow the words just… made sense.

He blinked at her, and seemed to take in her face for the first time. “Are you not supposed to?” He asked eventually, pushing up his spectacles.

Jasnah folded her arms, “No, I don’t speak the language here. For that matter, I don’t speak your language, so why in the storms does it make sense?”

He paused, searching her face for a moment, “It’s an ability of mine.”

Jasnah examined him, and then glanced into shadesmar but the flame of his soul seemed the same as everyone else's and there was no sign of a spren—but then again why would there be a spren. “Interesting.” She found herself saying, “Well, either way I don’t know where you can find that book. I wish you luck however.” She turned back to her own book, glaring at it. She’d never wanted to throw one across the room as much as she did right now.

“Wait!” The man said, taking a step toward her.

“If you’re going to offer me pity, I’d much rather you didn’t.”

“Oh, no. I was just wondering if you were from a different world.”

Jasnah kept her gaze on him, unflinching. “Why do you ask that?”

“You don’t look much like anyone else here, you don’t speak the language… and…” he frowned, his eyes going out of focus for a moment, as if he was looking at something in front of him. “Well it’s just a hunch.”

“Well, if you must know, I am. I didn’t realize it would be that obvious, perhaps I should try to blend in more.” She frowned slightly at that, again considering that Shallan would be much more suited to this than Jasnah was. Jasnah sure wouldn’t trust Shallan’s mental state in such a place, but she had a certain… way about her. Jasnah felt her gaze drift away from the man, wondering how common people from other worlds were if that was his initial guess.

The man was smiling slightly though, “Really? And here I was thinking I was the only one.”

Jasnah’s head snapped toward him, her eyes narrowed. How had she not even considered that until now? That was practically the first thing she’d figured out after meeting Trinity! “Are you from Roshar?” She doubted it, but his features would line up at least mostly in Alethkar or Herdaz, or… well he might have been able to fit anywhere, but he wouldn’t really fit if that made sense, his jaw was a bit off, the shape of his nose the tilt of his eyes.

He shook his head, “No, I’m from Earth.” He pushed his spectacles up—if they kept falling down like that, perhaps he needed a new pair—and then held out a hand. “I’m Shiroe.”

Jasnah tilted her head at his hand, and decided to ignore it, “I’m Jasnah. I found another from somewhere else, but she and I couldn’t communicate, and I haven’t seen her since arriving. She called herself Trinity.”

Shiroe nodded slowly, apparently taking the name to memory. “I take it that both of you arrived just a few days ago?”

“We did. Is that also when you arrived?”

Shiroe nodded, his face slightly troubled. “There must have been something that brought us all here, even if it wasn’t on purpose. It’s too much of a coincidence for three people to appear in the same area at the same time.”

Jasnah nodded, already having assumed that, but with a third person in the mix it was certainly becoming more obviously the case. “I first assumed someone was trying to get me out of the way, but there are more important people back home they should have wanted to… get rid of.”

Shiroe gave her a surprised look, “Part of me assumed the same. It feels like my world would have a much bleaker future without me in the picture.”

Jasnah thought of all the things she’d been planning to eventually do as queen, and her thoughts darkened. Perhaps that was it. Perhaps it was more about the future than the present war. “I think I’m starting to go mad with how little information I’ve been able to gather.” her gaze drifted back to the books, “But we certainly don’t trust each other just because of this connection. We don’t know what one another’s goals are, we don’t know if helping each other out would even be in our best interest. And we don’t know how much we would each try to mislead each other.”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, which was just beginning to annoy Jasnah with the sheer frequency of the action. “My thoughts exactly.” He sat down at a nearby chair, the area was littered with those, “So how about we even the playing field then?”

Jasnah wasn’t familiar with the metaphor, but she got the concept, sitting down across from him, curious as to what he was about to do. “What are you thinking exactly?”

Shiroe opened his bag, sorting through it for a moment before taking out a sheet of paper and a vial of ink, “A contract.”

Jasnah raised an eyebrow, dubious, “I’m inclined to agree with anything I sign, but what kind of higher power would bind me to it? And you as well for that matter? Besides, it’s not like I can read whatever you end up writing.”

Shiroe paused, and then glanced at the section she’d been pursuing, “From how you were around the books, I’d assumed you could read.”

Jasnah scowled at inadvertently informing him of that, “Not the local runes, no.”

Shiroe stood up, putting the objects away, “Alright then, that’s what we have to fix first.”

“And what if our goals are contrary to each other?” Jasnah asked, though hope was starting to blossom in her, “You might be aiding an enemy in that case.”

“I’d rather have a competent enemy who’s indebted to me than a competent ally who’s not.”

That had her relaxing slightly, but a part of her mind still whispered that this could all be a trick, he could just be trying to earn her trust with something that was so clearly valuable to her. “Alright then.” She folded her hands in front of her, “How are we going about this?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 Of the Mind (1973)

--- Tessa ---

A relatively small spike of force erupted from Zorian’s mind, jabbing toward Tessa. She squeaked, falling off her perch and landing on the potted plant that decorated this corner of the room.

[What was THAT?]

Zorian glanced up from the maps he’d been trying—and failing—to decipher. Apparently he was a bit confused about her reaction, [Sorry, habit. I could tell you were bored.]

[Well, we already decided that I definitely can’t read it. Why’d you stab me?]

Zorian frowned, putting down the page and folding his arms as he regarded her. [You remind me too much of Novelty, that must be it…]

[Who’s Novelty?]

[Someone else who reminds me of my little sister.]

[Maybe you need to start thinking of people as their own people instead of making weird connections like that.] Tessa huffed, flitting back up to her perch, [But how did you attack my mind, I didn’t know that was possible?]

Now it was Zorian’s turn to huff, [You’re from a society of tiny telepathic dragons, and none of you have realized that you can scream at each other telepathically? Or stab past mental barriers? Or read more thoughts than the ones that are just sent to you?]

Tessa frowned, thinking about it, [Well yes, but why would we need to do any of that?]

[I don’t know, maybe hunting?]

[We’re… mainly fruit eaters, if you haven’t noticed.] Tessa gave a significant glance toward the plate on Zorian’s desk, which was filled with local fruits at Tessa’s own request—she’d been sad when they couldn’t find any cantaloupe, but the fruits they did have were good enough.

Zorian followed her gaze, and frowned, [And you don’t… what, fight each other in the nursery out of boredom?] He seemed to have expected that for some reason.

Tessa shook her head, [No, most of my time as a nestling was spent getting into mischief and annoying my brother.]

Zorian peered at her, probably reading her mind, and then finally seemed to believe it. [Wow, I’ve been around too many arenea. I suppose I always just assumed that every telepathic race would refine it to the same extent they did.]

Tessa glanced away, [We haven’t really… We aren’t really… What I mean is… We didn’t really have the mindlink until a few decades ago.]

Zorian perked up visibly at that, [I have been meaning to ask the story behind your very much human mind.]

Tessa froze, almost as shocked as when Zorian had jabbed her with a mindspike, [What?! You… That’s a secret!]

Zorian raised an eyebrow at her, [It doesn’t seem like much of a secret to me if I could tell the structure of your mind and thoughts without even having to look past the surface.]

Tessa kept on spluttering.

[Alright, alright, do you want me to teach you how to craft actual mental defenses? There might be other mind mages kicking around here, and I’m sure you want them reading your thoughts even less than I want them reading mine.]

Tessa drooped physically, falling off her perch and practically bellyflopping on the desk next to her plate of fruit, of which she began to munch on forlornly. She couldn’t just not tell him now, he’d guessed it himself. [My parents… they were born human. They couldn’t talk with their minds back then—but it’s so easy, I’m not sure how they didn’t figure it out.]

Zorian thought for a moment, [And how did they become dragons?]

Tessa hissed to herself, taking another bite of unnamed fruit bits, [The other humans. They did experiments on them, not long after that all the humans were killed by aliens though. The dragonets lived, because they weren’t human anymore.]

Tessa glanced up at him and then back down, [The aliens don’t like that kind of experiment, if they knew we used to be human… Well, we aren’t really sure what would happen. We decided not to tell anyone until all the original dragonets are gone, because the rest of us were born this way.] Her ears drooped at that thought.

Zorian nodded to himself and then stood up, taking out another one of those fruits. Tessa eyed it, a bit excited if she was being honest. [Alright, that’s good to know, but it still doesn’t change anything.] He cut into the fruit. [I’m going to teach you how to use your ability to the fullest.]

[Alright!] That seemed like it would be fun, just like training with Soranto!

Tessa watched as he scooped the fruit into the bowl. [And I know you like it when someone else cuts your food, but you really need to figure out how to do it yourself.]

Her ears drooped again. Still thinking of Soranto, her heart began to ache. [Alright…]

--- Trinity ---

Trinity glared from her tree down at the legion of giant ants as they paraded past.

Seriously, what is wrong with this place? She could handle a giant elk… bear… thing, sure, that would just take some finagling and confusion. She could handle a sword that turned into mist, the wielder seemed alright enough to be around.

But the weirdness just kept on piling up, and so Trinity glared at the ants, wondering why half of them had hints of human in their afterscent. She examined them as they passed, tasting the air again and again, trying to figure out if they ate humans or just lived with them.

It might be worth it to follow the group back to their home, but she really didn’t think she could handle more than ten of them if they turned violent. She could likely catch some off guard, but after that it would probably be worse than trying to kill a horde of regular zombies with a screamer at their front gunning for her head. It wasn’t like she’d be much good even in said hypothetical if there wasn’t a screamer involved.

It was frustrating to be weaker than something, but Trinity was pretty good at getting her instincts to calm down about this point. It wasn’t the end of the world just because there was something she couldn’t conquer, just like it wasn’t the end of the world if she couldn’t get back to Ironwind. She missed her sister, she missed the archery team, she kind of missed Nina and Daniel, and she even missed Nicky’s crazy stunts at this point. But being stuck in what could only be some other world alone was significantly better than being stuck in some other world with Nicky. At least her mental wellbeing would survive this way.

Trinity glanced to the side curiously as a strange scent appeared nearby. It was human, but also… not. Like really really not. Trinity wrinkled her nose at the scent before realizing what exactly was wrong with it.

She peered down in the direction, and squinted at the man—more a boy really—who walked alongside the ants. It was sweltering here, even with the shade of the trees, so how in the world was he not sweating? He clearly wasn’t a zombie, Trinity would have been able to tell. On top of that though, there were more inconsistencies in his scent. For example, he didn’t have any hints of jerky or trail rations wafting toward her, so he wasn’t holding any. He didn’t smell of anxiety or any emotion in particular—though that part was probably because he wasn’t sweating.

Trinity frowned down at him as he stayed there for a long moment, examining the ants as they slowly made their ways past. She kept on frowning at him as he turned up the road and made his way toward the city.

Alright then…

--- Simulacrum number One ---

[They have magical mosquitoes here. You’d better be glad you’ve got me for this, because your bug wards don’t work against these guys!]

[Really?] Zorian seemed far too interested in them by the simulacrum’s estimate. [Do they just bite right through them?]

[I’m a simulacrum, they don’t bite me, but they don’t need to, it’s really rather-] he cut himself off, huffing, [The point is they keep draining our mana!]

Zorian perked up at that, thinking of his blueprints and artifice, while wondering—yet again—if anyone here had interesting things to add. [I see, so that wasn’t you casting meaningless spells?]

The simulacrum might have groaned, but he was too busy trying to keep the woman in the tree from realizing he knew she was there. [Well thanks a lot for having faith in a mirror image of yourself.]

[So it wasn’t?]

[No, it was the mosquitoes.]

[Do they just land on your arm and drink it up? How does that work? Don’t they get mana poisoning if they drink so much ambient stuff? Does that mean they only take in other people’s mana?]

The simulacrum kept following the ants as his original rambled onward. He’d subtly convinced the things to take him to the bigger city quite a while ago, having successfully guessed that they knew where it was. He hadn’t meant to take a whole swarm, that part was an accident. But he was still going to make it there before the real Zorian could finish figuring out how to read those odd maps.

[We can study magical mosquitoes some other time.] He finally reminded the original once he ran out of steam. [I’m almost there anyway, I’ll let you know when I find a good spot for a gate.]

He hadn’t initially contacted him to complain about the mosquitoes. He’d been explaining the situation with the woman in the tree who was watching him, and that had somehow led to complaining, but he should have known that the original would have derailed that before it could go anywhere. Zorian might be getting more creative at this, but it was hard to tell since the simulacrum wasn’t really all that much of an outside observer.

It was essentially like outsmarting himself, and that was far too complicated to think about for any length of time.

The simulacrum was so caught up in this that he didn’t notice the clearing until he stepped into it. The ants had started clicking at each other before this, and they shied away from it, eventually giving him a sort of ‘good luck’ kind of hoot before the swarm disappeared back into the foliage.

Simulacrum number one was far too busy staring at the city to really notice this part though, his mouth going slightly agape. He pounced on the original, who had yet to cut the connection, [Hah! Hah! I made it here before you!]

[We’re the same person,] the original reminded him, clearly wary of this sudden surge in excitement. [What’s your point?]

[I just wanted to gloat, alright? What’s wrong with that? Besides, isn’t it a sight?] he looked out at the city, taking in the enormous trees that seemed to lift up the very sky. [It’s kind of like looking into the hole, what a perspective.]

The original was silent for a moment, [What a perspective indeed.] The two of them looked at it for a long moment. [Alright, get away from that stalker and find a place to set up the gate. Too bad we can’t duplicate Tessa, otherwise we could leave a simulacrum here.]

Simulacrum number one nodded, looking toward the mind out of the corner of his eye, but still unable to spot her. Finally, he turned himself invisible and prepared himself to run. Intent on losing her.

-

Twenty minutes later, the simulacrum stood over the sleeping body of his stalker, folding his arms and muttering to himself. No, apparently she hadn’t been tracking him with sight, with magic, or even hearing.

He shook his head, glancing toward the city and finally deciding he couldn’t just leave her here to be eaten while he started the gate.

Alright then…

Chapter Text

--- Tessa ---

[Zorian, why is there a lady laying on the ground next to a guy who looks just like you?] She peered at the duo as Zorian stepped through the magical portal, more curious than anything, although worry also bubbled into her mind. Was she dead? Tessa really hoped she wasn’t dead, that would make her really sad.

Zorian looked at the copy of himself, his gaze also tracking to the woman, “You said you lost her.” His tone was accusatory.

The other Zorian folded his arms, “I said I was making the gate. Next time you get to figure out on the fly how someone is tracking you so well—even through wards!—and moving so fast.”

Zorian sighed as the other Zorian… evaporated.

Tessa watched with wide eyes, and then her gaze moved back to the woman, deciding it was just a weird Zorian thing, there were a lot of those. [So who’s that? Is she alright?]

“She was following my copy, apparently he gave up on losing her. She’s alright, just unconscious.”

Tessa relaxed, [Oh! That’s good then.]

“You were surprised about the gate, are you not going to ask how I can do that?”

Tessa gave him a confused look, [Hah? I’ve seen Soranto do a lot of impossible things. He once built a really really big gun out of… actually I’m not sure what it was before, it looked more like a pile of garbage. But it’s like that, you’re like a grumpy Soranto. I’m sure you know how it works and that’s all that matters!] She felt like she was rambling, so Tessa ended the explanation there.

Zorian still seemed a bit confused, but he nodded to himself. He waved his hands and chanted a bit in front of the magical portal, and it also disappeared, just like the second Zorian had, but this time it turned into sparkles. Pretty! Tessa wondered why the other Zorian hadn’t turned into sparkles, that seemed like the superior method of evaporation.

After that, Zorian stepped over to the woman and examined her for a moment before hesitantly nudging her with his foot.

The woman was on her feet less than a second later, snarling at him and backing away rather expertly. Her movements were smooth, like a warrior or a predator. Tessa couldn’t see her eyes behind those shaded glasses—sunglasses, the blood memories called them—but her face was contorted with a glare as the snarl turned into a low growl that was probably meant to express anger.

Why was she angry already? Tessa hadn’t done something wrong, had she?

[Tessa, can you translate please?]

Tessa wasn’t as adverse to the idea as she’d been before, but she still wasn’t terribly happy about mindlinking strangers, [Alright, but if you’re going to make me learn how to cut my own fruit, then you need to learn how to speak yourself one of these days!]

Zorian smirked slightly at the tiny dragon, [Alright, sure.] He turned toward the woman, who was already deep in the shadows, all spooky-like. Her scent had Tessa on edge, but it wasn’t really all that bad compared to Sicora and Crawlers. “We mean you no harm.” He shouted, trying to sound peaceful and failing utterly.

Zorian was great, but he had no idea how to do things like this. It made Tessa glad he let her do the actual talking.

Tessa snorted, a burst of fire coming from her nostrils—not because she was angry or anything, sometimes she just felt the need to remind Zorian she could do that for some reason—but she relayed the message. [I’m Tessa, and this guy is Zorian! We didn’t mean to surprise you, we aren’t going to hurt you or anything, I promise!]

The woman paused in her retreat, and finally spoke from the shadows. “Do you understand me? I’m Trinity.”

Zorian, of course, didn’t if it weren’t for his wonderful and very scarlet companion, but Tessa replied in the affirmative before he could tell her to. She was proud of that at first, but then worried she might have said something wrong. [Yes! Are you also from another world?]

The woman came out of the shadows, frowning. “Yes…” Her gaze drifted toward Zorian, looking unimpressed, “You’re different from the other one. You look the same though.” She seemed annoyed about something.

Zorian met her gaze, unwavering. “The Zorian you were stalking wasn’t real. I am.” Tessa didn’t edit the answer very much, but she made it sound less threatening. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if the two of them started fighting. Probably yell at them to stop. Maybe that would work?

Trinity exhaled gustily, “Alright, great, at least I don’t have to keep wondering why you don’t sweat, that was creepy as hell.”

[Zorian is just really weird. I don’t know how much of him is creepy, but you should have seen the-]

“Tessa.”

[Nevermind.]

Zorian nodded at this, apparently taking it in stride. At the same time though, his attention wavered, attracted to something else. “You know what. I am extremely tired of being taken by surprise.” Zorian put his hands on his hips. “I need to set up a ritual…”

Which was just proving Tessa’s point for her. Super creepy and weird all the time! Maybe it would be sparkly though, that might be worth it. “What in the world does that mean?” Trinity whispered loudly to Tessa, who had translated that bit, of course. “A ritual? Is he part of a cult?”

[I have no idea, but I think he’s going to do something cool!] She flitted from his shoulder to the ground as he started unloading his pockets of all sorts of jars and containers—how had they all fit in there?! [Zorian, are you sure this place is safe?] She checked just in case, because you never knew, but there weren’t any sicora or crawlers here.

“It should only take ten minutes…” He said absently, pulling out some ingredients. “Besides, I don’t think our new… friend… is about to kill us.”

Trinity was totally already going to be his best friend at this rate! That was good, Tessa got the feeling that Zorian didn’t have all that many friends. [Alright then! Ten minutes! Trinity, can you please give me pets or treats? I really like pets but Zorian doesn’t want to give me any and all his treats are boring!]

Trinity gave the tiny red dragon a suddenly apprehensive look, “Ah… you’re not scared of my scent?”

Tessa’s mind flashed with images of black lizards and odd spiders, the memories drenched in hate. Trinity wasn’t like that though, she was a person, it was just like what Zorian had said, you couldn’t label people with evil. Well except maybe the Voltaks. [You don’t smell evil.] Tessa replied confidently, [I’m an expert on this, by the way. I want pets, can I have pets?]

Zorian sat down and started making a very very fancy circle.

Hesitantly, Trinity nodded.

--- Shiroe ---

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. As scenes with him in them tend to begin.

Jasnah smiled at the language expert in front of her, a subtle fury lurking beneath her eyes. Shiroe wasn’t entirely sure how he could even spot that fury, but it was there all the same. The woman folded her arms, her gloved hand laying beneath her ungloved one.

Shiroe found his eyes moving back to the shockingly stable status bar above Jasnah’s head, which admittedly had been far too useful in catching her off guard. He wished it would tell him more though. The words, Offworlder—Level 106, could only give him so much of an advantage. The question as to how she was so high in power on the other hand, would have to come later.

The expert bowed toward her, and finally left, Jasnah’s unimpressed stare following him out of the room.

“What’s that about?”

Jasnah glanced at him, and then back at the door, before shaking her head, “It doesn’t matter, he will be… serviceable.”

Shiroe raised an eyebrow, “He might be ‘serviceable’ but wouldn’t it be faster in the end if we find someone extraordinary to teach you this language?”

Jasnah shook her head, “It might be, but I’m sure he’s the best you’re going to find in this city. Anyone better would not know that they’re better.”

“He did have quite a hefty resume.”

“As I said, he will be serviceable. You said he agreed to meet with me in two hours and stay until the end of the day, and he seemed confident in his material, and didn’t ask too many questions. I’m more worried about his character.” She grimaced, and then started tapping her fingers on the table, “I find myself wanting to run him through just by the way he carries himself.”

“You’re that good at reading people?” Shiroe asked, sitting down where the tutor had been. He’d been hoping to leak out more about her past, but Jasnah hadn’t let anything slip besides the fact that she was someone important. Likewise, Shiroe hadn’t told her anything. It was like the two of them instinctively started playing chess the moment they’d met each other.

Jasnah opened a book, even though she still couldn’t read it, and started leafing through it. Shiroe could understand, sometimes just having the knowledge in your hands was the more comforting option. “Not always, no.”

Shiroe nodded. “But you’ve had enough practice then.” Put a piece of information somewhere vulnerable and it would get found out. He had to wonder though if it even had a point. Part of him wanted to just explain everything, put all the cards out and see what would happen, but what good would that do? Jasnah would likely just bleed him of information and give nothing in return.

But that was why a contract was needed. Even though regular people didn’t need a magical binding to trust each other, it would help in this case. Probably. Jasnah didn’t react to his accusation though, simply flipping some more pages and examining the words. “Perhaps, but you can certainly read people. You clearly decided to trust me for some reason. How do you know I don’t plan on running you through?”

Shiroe glanced at her level again—106, it still had him shuddering internally—and then remembered his earlier worries about what would happen if he died here. Would he go back to the cathedral back home? Would he somehow resurrect in some kind of closer holy site? Perhaps one related to that Aymiae? But no, her power levels weren’t a problem, she wasn’t going to attack him for no reason. “Because you don’t seem like that kind of person.” He eventually conceded.

“Yet, how can one ever be sure?”

“I know you aren’t threatening me, but it’s sure starting to sound like it.” He examined his earlier words, and pushed up his glasses. He was right though, she clearly had a lot of practice with this kind of thing, vocal warfare, reading people. She’d also been someone important before, so there was that tidbit too.

They were both so intelligent however, so good in their respective skills, that they neglected to notice as a true master walked down the hall and stopped in front of their table.

A nondescript teenager with a loose, plain way about him and glasses regarded the two of them, his gaze was hard and unwavering and his expression reminded Shiroe a bit of a mirror. A woman in dark clothing and sunglasses stood a decent way behind him, something was odd about her aura, kind of like the various undead but not lining up with Shiroe’s experience. A red miniature dragon sat on her shoulder, gazing at the two of them with open curiosity.

All three newcomers had perfectly visible status bars and the title of Offworlder.

[Hello! I’m Tessa! That’s Zorian and Trinity! You guys are from another world too, right?]

Chapter Text

--- Zorian ---

Zorian looked at the two. A tall woman with an authoritative way about her and a relatively average man with a cloak and a staff at his side. Trinity was also still an unknown, but Tessa had successfully charmed her, so Zorian wasn’t too worried at the moment about what she might do. He decided to be more wary of the man at first, because he was clearly a spellcaster of some sort, but that wariness quickly moved to the woman once she started talking.

She was a politician.

Ugh.

“And how did you find that out? I take it you discovered each other, and got Trinity to explain that she knows of me, in which case your dramatic entrance wasn’t all that dramatic.”

Zorian closed his eyes, getting flashbacks from Jornak already, and decided to just probe her mind and deal with it. Only… ah… There were two minds where the woman’s one should have been, and both of them were so heavily shielded by what had to be divine magic for him to get anything out of it.

That just put him in a bad mood, honestly.

“Who are you exactly?” Zorian eventually got out, opening his eyes again. He was starting to feel bad for Tessa that she had to translate all this, but then again how in the world was Tessa projecting thoughts to this woman with shields like those? He really had to analyze her skill farther, it seemed. It was simple, but it was elegant in its simplicity.

The rather annoying woman only looked at him imperiously, “Jasnah Kohlin.”

The man across from her stood up, and to Zorian’s confusion and annoyance, he understood every word. “Could—Tessa was it—Stop projecting translations to me? I understand what’s being said.”

Tessa perked up, [Really? That’s great!] She flitted over to land on his shoulder, apparently deciding she liked this fact. The little traitor.

He smiled slightly at the scarlet dragon before inclining his head toward Zorian and Trinity, “I’m Shiroe.” He glanced between Zorian and Jasnah before pushing his glasses up, “Let’s settle down now, there’s no need to be hostile toward each other just yet.”

Zorian skimmed his surface thoughts, not going farther out of respect for how he was peacekeeping, but wow it was hard to keep himself from delving into the first mind he understood since arriving here—Tessa didn’t count, she was a fellow telepath. But he was probably spending too much time around the arenea with thoughts like those.

Zorian paused as Shiroe’s thoughts turned to Zorian himself. To his surprise, there was a huge amount of wariness there, mistrust, worry. Confused, Zorian searched for the root of this, eventually finding a single image. A glowing blue haze with words on it hovering above his own head. Zorian Kazinski. Offworlder. Level ???. It read. Zorian got the feeling that part of why Shiroe was diffusing the situation was that he didn’t know if he could take Zorian.

That last part for some reason, was the source of the mistrust and worry. Zorian frowned, glancing at Jasnah again and back at Shiroe, “I’d appreciate it if your friend spoke straightforwardly.” He finally said, “It’s a waste of time to hide behind half threats while assuming one knows everything.”

Jasnah regarded him, “I was merely stating what it looked like to me.”

Zorian grumbled to himself for a long long moment, before deciding this was just one gigantic waste of time. Jasnah hated him, and Shiroe was… not afraid, but certainly worried. There wasn’t anything he could do about those two things just yet. “As far as I can tell, the five of us are all here because of the same event.” Zorian started, narrowing his eyes at the two newcomers and gauging Trinity’s reaction. “We’re all stuck here, and as far as I’m concerned we must have the same goal: get home.” He folded his arms. “Therefore we can help one another.”

“And what if one of us doesn’t want that and works against it?” Trinity pointed out, apparently happy to play devil’s advocate.

Zorian glanced at her, and then sighed, “That is annoyingly possible.” He could tell that Tessa, Shiroe, and Trinity wanted to just go home, but how could he know anything for certain when Jasnah was right there with that strange mental shield of hers? “But I’m confident we’ll figure that out soon enough.” Hopefully at least. He didn’t have a timeloop anymore to keep throwing himself at issues; his primary means of solving said problems was impossible now.

[I have an idea!] Tessa said cheerily, [Why don’t we go around and tell each other who we are, where we’re from, and who we’re looking forward to seeing again the most!]

That… actually might help. Zorian glanced around at everyone, but no one was stepping up. [I’ll start! I’m Tessa, I’m from Earth, and I can’t wait to get back to Soranto so I can tell him all about this great adventure!]

Zorian nodded to himself, as did Jasnah, neither of them particularly surprised about Tessa’s little speech. Shiroe and Trinity though, were staring at the little dragon as if she’d said she was considering exploring the deepest parts of the dungeon.

“Earth?” Shiroe said, confused, “We don’t have dragons on earth.”

Trinity simply shook her head at Shiroe, baffled, “We don’t have weirdos with magic sticks there either. I saw that thing glowing a minute ago so don’t pretend you’re any more normal.”

“I thought the name Trinity seemed… English.” Shiroe glanced at Tessa, “Tessa too. I’m pretty sure that’s English.”

Tessa perked up, [You know English?]

“That’s what I’m speaking,” Trinity huffed.

[That’s the language I know how to read!] Tessa replied happily, [So you guys are from Earth too then? That’s… Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Didn’t all the humans there die?]

Trinity gave her a strange look, “From the zombies?”

Tessa gasped, [No! From the aliens. Don’t you know that zombies aren’t real?]

Trinity was a bit amused at that for some reason, while Shiroe just started radiating even more worry as he pushed up his glasses again, at least this time only about half of it was directed at Zorian. “Is Earth alright?” He asked, his internal fear completely absent from his voice.

Tessa said [Yes] at the same time that Trinity said “No.” Zorian wondered if that had something to do with one of those worlds not having humans anymore.

“While this is amusing to watch.” Jasnah started, finally standing up, “It doesn’t change anything. We can’t just trust each other for no reason.” She gave Zorian a look at that, clearly communicating that it was him she didn’t want to trust. Well that was great, he didn’t trust her either, so there.

Shiroe sighed, “She has a point, we can discuss this later.” He clearly didn’t want to though, he wanted to know what the other two had to say about Earth. In the back of his mind Zorian was interested to find that Shiroe was trying to get back to predicting what was going to happen next in the interaction—which he apparently usually did—but he was still thrown off-guard from Zorian.

Zorian lightly berated himself for looking in the first place, but the mind was so unguarded it would be criminal to not take advantage of it at least a little bit. He folded his arms, deciding that he agreed with Shiroe’s internal estimate. There would be a confrontation between himself and Jasnah sooner or later, and it was better if it was sooner. If he did something to show his actual stance on things, it might finally put Shiroe more at ease.

But it was best to complete Tessa’s little task first, otherwise she would probably be annoyed at him later—She was too much like Kiri and Novelty like that, but he could admit that she was somehow less needy, despite literally needing his help with more things. “I’m Zorian,” he started, “I’m from Altazia, and I’m looking forward to seeing my little sister again.”

Tessa seemed happy at least as she relayed the message.

Trinity spoke up, still watching Shiroe, “I’m Trinity, I’m from Earth—America if that matters—and I can’t wait to get back to Ironwind Stronghold.”

Shiroe nodded slowly, “I’m Shiroe, I’m from Japan, which is on earth. I want to see Akatsuki again.” He omitted something, which was interesting. Zorian glanced at it, raising an eyebrow at the tidbit. Shiroe had been sent to another world before, that other world was where he was more anxious to get back to.

While this fact was a potential issue down the road, Zorian just tucked it away and glanced at Jasnah, who was the last one.

She was glaring at him, but that couldn’t be helped. “I’m Jasnah, I’m from Roshar, and I’m most anxious to get back to the world I left behind, and the war I also left behind.”

Zorian frowned slightly, he hadn’t exactly expected her to be the one to snap, and neither had Shiroe. [War?] Tessa echoed, shrinking slightly, [I’m so sorry there’s a war. Are you in charge of it?]

Jasnah looked away from Zorian finally, focusing on Tessa, “I do my part, but I’m certain more people will die without me there than would die with me there.” She seemed certain, grim, worried.

Even without his empathy working on her, Zorian had lived his whole life with his empathy on, constantly knowing what those expressions meant—albeit with different people. Jasnah had an unfamiliar face but he still got more out of it than a regular person would.

She doesn’t like me. That much was obvious. But why exactly? What had he really even done? Well, he’d tracked her and Shiroe down, been a bit stupid, and then technically insulted her. She hadn’t been any better toward him, but from what she saw, he was the perpetrator here, not her.

He realized at this point that he’d been staring at Jasnah for quite a while, while she’d just been staring straight back, apparently unconcerned. “You don’t like me.” He finally just stated outright.

She raised an eyebrow, amused, “You lie with every breath you take. While that’s helpful in some cases, it means I can never truly believe anything you say. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cryptics enjoyed your company.” Which was probably an insult.

But how could she tell? Besides, he wasn’t really lying, just omitting information, those were different. There was something unsaid though, and Zorian was far too good at noticing this bit in people. “It’s also because I’m young then?” He cursed his sixteen year old body—not for the first time and certainly not for the last.

She regarded him, impassive, “I’ve seen young people save things that I cannot. That doesn’t, however, make them any more trustworthy.”

Was he going to have to explain exactly how wrong she was? Would that even fix it? Her mistrust didn’t just come from this though, and besides, how would that make him trust her more?

Shiroe pushed his glasses up, which was rather distracting and had everyone focusing on him. “I have the ability to make magical contracts. If we’re all willing to trust each other, I’m willing to write up a contract in order to make it possible. All you have to do is learn to read the local language.”

Zorian gave Shiroe an incredulous look, “Isn’t that something only angels and primordials can do?” Besides, he wasn’t sure how willing he was to sign a magical contract after all the headaches with Zach’s contract, the cruelty of Silverlake and Jornak’s contracts also gave weight to that decision. But on the other hand, Shiroe would finally stop freaking out if Zorian signed such a contract, which might just be worth it.

Shiroe sat down at the table, “Angels and Primordials? No, it’s an ability I gained by happenstance.”

Jasnah’s gaze moved toward the door, “If you’re going to make that expert teach Zorian and Trinity as well, it might severely slow down how much all three of us would get out of him. He’s slimy, and maybe even capable, but I doubt he’s that good of a teacher.”

Zorian gave her a curious look, and then moved it to Shiroe, “A tutor?”

“I wanted Jasnah to sign a contract with me, we had a similar discussion when we first met about the nature of trust.”

Zorian peeked—again it was far too tempting—and confirmed that Jasnah was the one in that case who needed help trusting, the only one Shiroe had a problem with currently was Zorian. All because of that level thing?

Trinity sighed, “Seriously, what’s the matter with trusting each other? Jasnah didn’t stab me to death when she got the chance, nor did Zorian. That’s all I need really. Does it help at all if I tell you I can smell lies?”

Zorian looked over at Trinity, who was still on the outskirts of the group. “Smell… You were tracking me by scent? Why in the world didn’t I realize that?”

“Not sure, humans tend to forget they have noses.”

Shiroe was regarding Trinity with interest, though, “You can smell lies?”

“Yes. It hasn’t failed me yet. I bet I’m also a better tracker than all of you as long as Zorian doesn’t do his magic ritual thing.” She snorted at that, but Zorian couldn’t tell if she was dismissive of the ability or if it was for some other reason.

Jasnah massaged her temples. Shiroe just seemed wary still, though if it was of the lie smelling or the tracking ritual, Zorian couldn’t tell. Tessa was eating a piece of fruit, apparently having gotten good enough at translation duty that she could do something else while she ran it.

But that was another question.

Trinity likely—by her own claim—didn’t yet trust Shiroe since he had yet to almost kill her, Jasnah and Zorian didn’t trust each other, and Shiroe was willing to trust the rest of them just long enough to sign that contract.

But all of them trusted Tessa. None of them had even mentioned the possibility of Tessa lying to them or otherwise deceiving them. Zorian briefly considered the idea that she was playing him, she was telepathic so it could be possible that she was good enough to fool him into thinking he was reading her mind, and to fool each of them with different translations. It was possible, but it was also Tessa, she practically reeked of sincerity.

He would be more surprised if Tessa was lying to them than if Jasnah turned out to have an obsession with small furry creatures—besides maybe an obsession with torturing them.

The point was, they all trusted Tessa. Zorian suspected it was because Tessa trusted all of them. She didn’t even entertain the idea that any of them had anything but the best intentions for her. At the same time, if any were to betray her, Zorian suspected her mistrust would hurt them back more than anything else. Maybe that’s what was off about her, the part that wasn’t human anymore.

That was trust she somehow showed each of them with every word she spoke.

So how could Zorian replicate that? Well… he trusted Zach, he trusted Alanic and Xvim, and he’d trusted the temporary loopers. He just had to channel that, with the knowledge that they were each stuck in a similar hopeless situation as the place where he had initially made those bonds. They could only get out together. The only time his trust had been shattered enough to really hurt him was with Silverlake.

He looked back at Jasnah finally, deciding that Tessa was right, for trust, it was good to know who someone was, what had shaped them, and who they cared for. He grimaced, but well… it wasn’t like any of these people were likely to get back to Cyoria and tell everyone all about a timeloop.

Zorian opened his mouth. “I didn’t lie when I said I’m from Altazia, but that’s not the full picture.” He had everyone’s attention now, well, here goes. “A large portion of my life was spent in a world that reset itself every month. All the people essentially had their minds wiped, and then the month would play again and again, like a timeloop. People around me didn’t gain magical skill or knowledge, they didn’t change one bit.”

For Tessa, maybe she only needed a sentence or two to explain her own story, but for the rest of them… it was more complicated than that.

Chapter Text

--- Trinity ---

Trinity felt just as out of her depth as the night she’d woken up after hours of seizures and found herself no longer human.

She listened to the stories around her, understanding the words thanks to Tessa, but not always understanding the implications. Zorian had lived in a timeloop, he was an powerful mage, and he could do so many impossible things that it would probably make Nicky explode. Shiroe had been basically sucked into his favorite videogame, that one was the most understandable to Trinity. Jasnah was a queen from some far off place where mythological monsters had popped out of the history books to go to war.

Trinity listened to their tales, more and more incredulous as the moments passed. Unfortunately, it was her turn next, and she couldn’t just say ‘I’m a Nightstalker,’ growl a little bit, and be done with it like she would have back home.

“There was… a zombie apocalypse.” She eventually got out, glowering. “Contaminated flu vaccines spread the virus across the world, and they all mutated at relatively the same time. I turned in the initial outbreak, since my work required the vaccine.” She sighed again. “But I’m a nightstalker. I still have my mind unless something very unfortunate happens. I have an excellent sense of smell, and I can see in the dark. I like personal space and if any of you touch my sunglasses you will have a very bad time.” She paused. “I used to crave human blood but that’s not a problem anymore.”

The rest of them nodded at this like it was expected. None of them even decided to get offended at the bluntness of it all—Trinity wasn’t sure if she would have preferred them to have gotten angry or not—and no one even seemed worried about the whole craving blood part.

This was going well then.

“I eventually found a place to stay. A scientist there discovered a cure, and then we lived happily ever after, the end.” That was an understatement to the drama involved, it didn’t even mention Nicky—and all the chaos she represented—or the various roadtrips which had for some unfathomable reason not gone according to plan. Really, people had to stop doing those entirely.

But that was her story.

Trinity glanced toward the door as it opened.

--

Trinity ran through the forest, checking the air periodically. She wasn’t as anxious about learning the local language as Jasnah and Zorian were. After the tutor Shiroe had hired arrived, the two of them started watching everything he said like ducklings, or like how Nicky watched you when she thought you had caffeine.

Trinity smirked at the memory, wondering if the stronghold would still be standing by the time she got back home. Possible, but she wouldn’t put it past Nicky to somehow collapse the whole palisade.

She shook her head, taking in another slow breath and leaping over a fallen log that was half rotted and covered with mushrooms. Trinity skidded to a halt, turning to glance over the mushrooms, but none were kinds she recognized. Some were rather odd looking though, and she took a mental note to find some books on local botany for Jess. Jess wasn’t interested in mushrooms, but who knew what other kinds of plants they had here.

Trinity started running again, keeping to the shadows in such a restricted environment as well as staying near the scent trail had her going slower than usual, but that didn’t stop her from traveling at a speed no human would manage in such a place.

Eventually she slowed to a stop, the scent of humans and giant ants originating from just ahead. She’d finally arrived at the end of the trail.

Trinity examined the area, and then moved forward again, this time keeping to the deeper shadows. It wasn’t a question that the ants could smell her, but she’d discovered earlier in the day that they didn’t really care as long as she wasn’t right in front of them.

She examined the area, wondering if it would ever get old to not have to scale a wall in order to infiltrate a settlement. She knew that it was significantly less satisfying to not have something to at least challenge her, but the small village didn’t even have a fence to mark its borders.

Trinity shook her head at their confidence and followed the relatively faint trail of Zorian and Tessa. They’d been here earlier today, but they hadn’t exactly left the little cabin in that time. There wasn’t any sign in the scent trails that they’d even left the village other than a three day old trail from when they must have arrived. She glowered at the cabin, taking in the scents again and finally deciding she believed it.

Zorian could do magic, actual magic. That meant what she’d spotted Shiroe doing had also been real, and Jasnah’s sword… well it was all real.

--

Trinity returned to the city around noon, the journey itself being far far longer than it had initially felt. It would probably take a human a week to make the trip, but mostly that was because of the absolutely terrible road. More a path really.

She was an expert on bad roads, and this one took the cake, trailing needlessly from side to side and over various hills, occasionally even backtracking miles away for no discernable reason. It was like whoever had designed the staircases in the secondary building back at Ironwind had done side work with roads. Naturally, Trinity had given up on the road early on, knowing well the dangers of overenthusiastic staircase engineers, but the damage had been done.

Trinity found herself walking into the library, following the initial scent trail that her and Zorian had made. Tessa’s scent was harder to notice, because she’d never actually touched the floor, but parts of her scent were stuck to Zorian, and they happily ingrained themselves wherever their whims took them.

She paused outside that same study room Shiroe and Jasnah had been using, taking in the scents and… She sighed, pushing open the door, “You guys stayed here all night?”

Shiroe glanced up from his book, blinking at her, “What time is it?”

“It’s just past noon.”

“Oh, huh. I figured it was getting late when Tessa started getting stir-crazy.”

Zorian glanced up from a notebook, which was covered in symbols and squiggles as if he was going mad. He said something, which just reminded Trinity that without Tessa here, only Shiroe could understand.

Shiroe glanced at her, and then back at Zorian, “She said it’s noon.”

Zorian looked far too pleased with himself at that.

Trinity exhaled gustily, “Where did Tessa go?”

Shiroe glanced at Zorian again, relayed the message, and looked to Trinity, “She should be back soon.”

Well that was extremely helpful and not what she’d asked. Trinity wondered if Zorian was the one who hadn’t answered, or if Shiroe had fudged the translation. She suspected Zorian, just because he was that type of person.

Trinity sat down, “Well, I’m taking a nap.”

Shiroe frowned slightly, “What were you doing all night?”

“I can’t sleep at night, and I get irritable if I’m around people like that. I was in the forest wandering around, and lost track of time.” She settled down in a decent looking chair, “And sleeping in an unfamiliar forest sounds more like signing my own death warrant.”

She probably could have found a cave, that wasn’t too difficult. But in all honesty she’d been worried what these guys would do without her input. Not that she ever gave much input to begin with, but whatever.

--- Jasnah ---

Jasnah took in a deep breath of the cool morning air as the scarlet dragon danced in the sky. It had been two days since she’d met Zorian and Tessa, and it still wasn’t much of a secret that Jasnah greatly preferred the small dragon to her sour companion.

It was getting… better perhaps. After Zorian told his story, the rest of them had taken turns, and by then it had been two hours and Jasnah’s tutor had returned. Since then most had taken to asking questions about each other and their abilities, or trying to smooth over the missing bits of their backstories.

Jasnah sighed at the memory of her own, which had been short and concise. “I was raised as a princess, my father was assassinated, and eventually my brother was as well. I am the queen, and they need me back. I spent most of my life researching the return of mythological monsters, and now we’re at war with them. I need to get back to my uncle and my mother.” Part of her wished she’d added more detail, because now every time she asked someone a question about their own story, they wasted their time trying to get those extra details out of her.

It wasn’t like the extra details were all that important anyway, there was a reason she hadn’t included them. Why did they need to know what her specific abilities were? She could bring up soulcasting if it was ever needed, and it wasn’t like traveling into shadesmar would be all that useful if she couldn’t get back—and there was no telling how long such a thing would take if there wasn’t a perpendicularity on this world. But none of that would matter for long because her stormlight was running out.

She watched Tessa, entranced yet again by the song and the sheer hope and beauty it represented. Things were hard now, but they would get better. The scarlet dragonet was great at that, hope.

Jasnah didn’t much like the concept of hope, it made things much harder when all your energy was spent on that hope and none of it was spent on finding an actual solution. Hope wasn’t a solution, hope just made people do stupid things. But the way Tessa presented it was different somehow, Jasnah wasn’t sure how to put it into words, or even if she could do so.

It was kind of like Tessa somehow saw to it personally that people wouldn’t be broken by the world, and that was what hope meant to her.

Tessa sang for several more moments as the sun peeked above the horizon. Shiroe sat nearby, also watching, while Trinity was likely out in the forest again. Zorian was still asleep—according to Tessa he always slept till noon. But there were other onlookers as well. Tessa was usually a bit shy in groups from what Jasnah had seen, but she didn’t seem to care how many people watched her morning song, in fact, she’d said that the more who watched it the better.

The group of various locals watched as Tessa did a flourish and landed beside Jasnah—who gave her a bowl of fruit. Most of them dispersed at this, but one man stayed, approaching Shiroe.

Jasnah had to do a double take when she spotted his face. He was fat, and his eyes were sharp, but his grey-blue skin and antennae clearly marked him as not human. He even had bits of what looked at first like carapace to Jasnah—but wasn’t built with large enough sheets to count as that, it was just a black exoskeleton. It was peeking out of his skin, which didn’t look comfortable in the least, but the way the skin covered it was so very odd. He almost resembled the singers, but he wasn’t tall enough, not the right shape, and he seemed more… human in the eyes than they did.

They spoke a few quiet words. Shiroe handed the man a rolled up page. They nodded to each other.

Oh, this was the religious man then. Shiroe had told them about him. Jasnah felt her interest die faster than a drunk prince in the middle of a highstorm. She handed Tessa some more treats and started absently scratching her head.

Chapter Text

--- Tessa ---

In the later hours of the afternoon, Tessa sat absolutely still, trying to clear her mind.

She inhaled, she exhaled. She took in the scent of stale books and old ink, the scent of humans, the scent of wood.

She felt her tail twitch.

[ZORIAAANNNNN I’m sooo bored!!]

He looked up from his book, smiling slightly, [Ah, but you got farther that time.]

[Why do I need to be able to sense all the minds around me? I can talk to people perfectly fine without that!]

Zorian raised an eyebrow. [And it doesn’t make any sense to me to just visualize a person and be able to access their mind—like how does that not have a range limit?! I’m going to have to figure out how you’re doing that because that would be so useful—But the point is, just because the way you do it is working so far with my methods, doesn’t mean it won’t get in the way of what you can learn.]

Tessa grumbled to herself, [But this way is so easy… your way means I have to think about it.]

[But won’t it be useful to be able to sense all the minds around you? Wouldn’t that help you with finding—what were they called again—those evil lizards you’re always thinking about?]

Tessa hissed at the thought of the sicora, but she had to be honest, he was right. If she could find a sicora through its mind, she’d never have to worry about an ambush again. She’d never have to worry about the evil lizards getting to Soranto. Soranto… the longer she was away the more restless she felt herself become. She wanted to try contacting him again, but that sure hadn’t worked the first fifty times.

Zorian noticed her sorrow though, [Hey, you’ll get back soon, I promise.]

Tessa felt her ears droop, [He probably thinks I’m dead. My family too… I don’t want them to all be sad for no reason. I wish I could just tell them I’m alright.]

Zorian sighed, looking at his hands. [The best way to get back to them is to use this situation to our advantage. Then, by the time we get back, the time we spent away will have been worth it.]

Tessa got a little glimmer of his thoughts, just an image, really. A young girl who was probably his sister smiling up at him. Tessa looked up, meeting his eyes, [Alright.] She finally said.

Zorian gave her a strange look, [How did that work?]

[How did what work?]

[I’ve been trying to teach you to look at surface thoughts for two days. Did you finally figure it out?]

Tessa flushed, but with her red scales people normally couldn’t tell, as long as they weren’t mindreaders. Stupid mindreaders. [I don’t know, you looked sad, I wanted to know why. That’s not so weird. I’m glad I know why now, you miss your sister! I’m sure you’ll get back soon!]

[Then it wasn’t working because you didn’t want it to?]

Tessa grinned, finally getting it as well, [Yes, exactly! That must be it!]

Zorian regarded her for a long moment. [How about you just assume from now on that I have some very deep personal problems close to my chest and you need to find them in order to… help me through them.] He nodded seriously, tapping his chin in thought.

Tessa blinked at him, [Do you?]

[Who knows.]

[What? Zorian! Are you alright?!]

He shrugged, and went back to his book. This little fart! How was she supposed to know how to help him if he didn’t tell her what was wrong?! Tessa trotted up to his book, glaring at him, [Zorian! I’m serious!]

[So am I. You're going to have to find out what my problems are yourself.]

[You’re just trying to motivate me!]

[Is it working?]

[Yes!]

--- Shiroe ---

Shiroe pushed his glasses up.

This, as the astute reader has likely realized, was not a momentous action. But Shiroe was a bit overwhelmed at the time, so it didn’t even have a real reason behind it, just ‘habit.’ Habit is a strange thing, that’s for sure.

He looked up from the diagram at Maerthen, unwilling to admit outright that he had no idea what it meant. He’d been trying to get a hold of a copy of the ‘Base Imprint’ since before even meeting Jasnah. He hadn’t even realized that it wasn’t a book, but instead a diagram, or in some cases a list.

“This isn’t very… understandable?” Shiroe eventually managed.

Basically it was a sheet of regular paper with various symbols and balances sketched out. Some areas were larger than others, and on each was a certain rune. He knew what the runes meant, Outside, Focus, Inside, Spark. But that didn’t tell him what their purpose was.

Maerthen laughed slightly, “I didn’t expect you to understand it, it’s elegant in order but not quite as friendly toward outsiders as other things. Kind of like Virna itself—my world is rather full of contradictions like this.”

Shiroe gestured for him to continue, “and?”

“Ah, well this diagram is the basis of our magic, as organized by the god of Order.”

Shiroe gave it a dubious look at that, all he knew about this ‘Order’ fellow was that everyone hated him. “I see. So it’s meant to represent the various kinds of magic then.” That made sense, in a way. A people was more likely to care about something like this if it had far reaching effects like an entire system of magic would. “But aren’t there eight observed types here?”

“Oh yes, there are, the four runes here are each connected to two of them.”

“I see. But why is this diagram so significant then? I feel like I’ve looked into the local magic enough as it is.” Essentially it wasn’t all that different from Elder Tales magic. Except instead of classes or races determining which spells were difficult to learn, it was something else.

“People just decided it was significant, I suppose.” Maerthen rubbed his chin, smiling somewhat. “But it’s a rather outdated chart anyway, no one’s been born with a soul ability for over three thousand years—soul is a whole eighth of the chart!—and things like true future sight were likewise lost to the edges of time.”

“So your magic is degrading when there’s no one to pass it down.” Shiroe surmised, pushing his glasses up.

“Many scholars think so. They’re all convinced by now that new abilities are just different combinations of old ones. Most folks who are looking toward the future are finding themselves with crystal sciences more than anything else. I hear they’ve made a good deal of progress in that area lately.”

Shiroe sighed and folded up the diagram, pocketing it. “Why was this so hard to find if people respect it so much?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call it respect, I bet you’ve heard how much hatred the god of Order has been getting. He made the imprint. People might see it as significant because of how much history it has, but that doesn’t mean they like it any.”

Shiroe snorted, amused, “People really are the same everywhere…” They'd love something one moment and then hate it with the very next breath. Well, it wasn't exactly the same with this example, but it had the feel to it. Shiroe found his gaze moving toward the other thing Maerthen had brought. “Is that also for me?”

Maerthen nodded, and held up the intricate box. “It's just a formal thing, to show anyone who has eyes that you have the goddesses respect.”

Shiroe opened the box, and raised an eyebrow at the pin. It was… interesting, that's for sure. It looked like something he might have found back home. It was a simple metal circle with a pin affixed to it. On the front was a laminated picture of a very cartoonish and derpy looking moth, underneath the words ‘I have been meddled with!’ were in a bright yellow that stood out against the black backdrop.

Shiroe raised an eyebrow, “Is this right?”

Maerthen was staring at the pin, his mouth slack. “Sparks! That’s strange!”

“So I assume this isn't it?”

Maerthen hesitated, then took the pin and waved a hand over it, frowning starkly. “By the gods… no… this is the same pin, I… wow this has only ever happened in legends. I didn't know she was real.” His voice sounded awed.

“Who?”

Maerthen bit his lip, glancing around surreptitiously as if someone might be nearby listening. He lowered his voice. “Runesight. A powerful mage from a time far far behind us. The legends say she was the last mortal to have the ability to see magic.”

“And that was one of those lost abilities you mentioned?” If Shiroe was being honest, he wasn't sure why this ability was a big deal. People could cast spells without having to see what exactly the flow looked like. Though, perhaps it gave them more of an ability to detect older magic?

“Yes.” Maerthen said, still in awe. He turned the pin around in his fingers. “We don't know much about that ability, it disappeared so long ago. That's why we call her Runesight.” He gestured toward the diagram in Shiroe’s pocket. “That's where those four runes come from, we used to be able to detect the magic, that's what they actually look like.”

Shiroe frowned, still wondering why this mattered. “So it makes it easier to find old spells? Easier to… figure out how they work?”

“Well, no one’s rightly sure at this point. People used to say it was connected with the dimensionalists, but none of those in this age have the ability.”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. “I see.” Though he still didn't, it was high time this got back on track. “So this is the same pin, but someone powerful changed it?”

Maerthen sighed, “Yes. I suppose this means she's watching you.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Maerthen shrugged, “There are a lot of stories, none of them more recent than a few generations back, I'd need to read them again to say for sure, but I think it really depends.”

“On what?”

“Well they all depict Runesight as a very whimsical creature, hardly even a person anymore. Whimsical as in, it depends on her whims. There have been stories where she gave boons of enormous magnitude to heroes in need, and stories where she… well… she gave them quite the opposite, I'd say.”

Shiroe narrowed his eyes at the man, “and she's watching me.”

“Yes, this is either very good, or very very bad for you.”

Shiroe frowned at the pin as he took it back from Maerthen. The derpy moth clipart seemed to be staring into his very soul, and not in a good way. It certainly seems like I have been meddled with.

Shiroe sighed as Maerthen eventually left, glancing to the side as a status bar appeared in his vision, Jasnah kholin. Offworlder. Level 106. A second status bar appeared behind it, Zorian Kazinski. Offworlder. Level ???.

Both of those were numbers he’d rather not see, in all honesty. Jasnah’s because it was so much higher than his own, and Zorian’s because there was no way it wasn’t higher than Jasnah’s. Not because it was likely it was higher, but because Shiroe just felt that the world tended to work that way for him.

Chapter Text

--- Zorian ---

Shiroe held up the paper, reading the contract with confidence that masked his internal worry. Thankfully it wasn’t seven pages of fine print masked by legal wording and threats, like Zorian had expected.

No, it was a simple and elegant few paragraphs detailing their need to cooperate with each other for their greater goal, the returning each of them to the places they called home. It explained that none of them were to harm one another unless the contract was proven to be void, which would happen if the majority of the signatures decided it was no longer necessary. It further detailed that if all of them were not returned home in five years time, it would expire on its own. If they did accomplish their goals, then it would expire all the same.

There was one part Zorian didn’t understand though.

“-And each will be given the title of adventurer until the expiration of the contract when their titles will revert back to what they previously may have been or will have become.” Shiroe finished.

[What does that mean?] Tessa asked, peeking at the page she still couldn’t read. [I like adventures!]

Shiroe smiled slightly, “It’s a kind of profession on my world, and it’s what I am. It’s just a precaution. If we’re to be traveling to each other’s worlds to take everyone home, there will be certain obstacles. Having that title will help with that.”

Zorian peered at his mind, deciding there was something more. He ended up blinking at the certainty in Shiroe’s mind.

Was he insane? He was trying to give everyone what was essentially immortality for five years, or until they got home, and he was absolutely determined not to tell them about it unless he had to. Zorian said nothing as the others signed the contract, his mind slightly numb as he added his own name.

Numb enough that he hardly even freaked out when the contract ingrained itself into his soul.

-

Zorian examined the pin as Shiroe explained the situation, eventually glancing to the side at Jasnah. Trinity had disappeared, she was rather good at that, to the point where Zorian was a bit jealous—but this time there was a simulacrum with her so he figured it would be fine. He’d left Tessa in his room to ‘learn how to peel her own fruit for an hour or so.’ He was under no disillusions that she would get distracted, but that was life.

Neither seemed very interested in the intricacies of this world. Trinity was perfectly willing to do whatever they needed her to—but she was apparently not willing to listen to the three of them talk for hours, even if it gave her information.

Tessa on the other hand was willing to listen—she’d admitted to only understanding half of what happened in discussions like these—but Zorian got the feeling that if they decided they had to say… kill someone, Tessa would be heartbroken and then they’d have to make a different decision. They weren’t likely to do such a thing today, but it was better for everyone if Tessa was used to the idea of not listening in.

He turned over the pin, frowning at it. “So this Runesight is like an archmage?”

“And she’s watching you.” Jasnah continued, also frowning, her eyes narrowing at the pin as if it would give her all its secrets just with a few good looks. She folded her arms, glancing around the room, which was a spare one in the library that Zorian had put basic wards in—annoyingly basic, anything more complicated required far too many materials that Zorian straight up didn’t have. “I’ve read about her, I really don’t think this is a good thing, Shiroe.”

Shiroe gave her a startled look. “You’ve already heard of her?”

“I’m a historian, the legends surrounding Runesight are history.”

Zorian looked curiously at the books in her arms, “Anything else odd you found in the histories then?” He’d never been all that partial toward history himself, but he was an expert on the first unit—yes, just the first, nothing else was covered in the timeloop—for third year students at the Cyoria royal academy, so maybe he had a perspective the other two wouldn’t? Probably not, but… eh, it was nice to think about.

Jasnah smiled slightly, “Far too many. I’m not good enough at the language or culture yet to fully grasp all of it, however, there was an interesting event I saw referenced several times.” She nabbed a book from a nearby shelf and started leafing through it.

“Did it seem relevant?” Shiroe asked, clearly curious.

“To me it did.”

Zorian rolled his eyes slightly. Just a little bit. He could kind of tolerate Jasnah now, but why did she have to be so cryptic all the time?

“Ah, here’s the wording.” Jasnah cleared her throat, “ ‘From the ark they spread across the world. Like a disease they ravaged the land, destroying cities and countries. A people of light and metal, of danger and woes, of worlds far away.’ ” She seemed excited about this for some reason, “And then in the notes, the author mentions this is referring to a people from another world. Just over a thousand years ago they came here, destroyed quite a lot, and then disappeared just as suddenly.”

“So this happens a lot then.” Zorian concluded. “People must come here from other worlds all the time, ruin everything, and then disappear again. It’s like a hub of dimensional anomalies. I…” He trailed off, a sudden thought appearing in his mind and refusing to leave. “Is that how we got here?”

Jasnah raised an eyebrow. “You think we are somehow considered dimensional anomalies?”

“I’m not sure.” Zorian had spent ten years inside a primordial, even if that hadn’t made him different from anyone else, his soul was still something made by that same primordial. Besides, Jasnah had some kind of ability to look into another realm, even though she hadn’t really spoken of it all that much. Both of those things were certainly odd, dimensionally speaking. That wasn’t even mentioning Shiroe’s apparent tendency toward being tossed into a different world.

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, “There would be more people from my world here. As I said, quite a lot of players were sent along, and if I’m considered a dimensional anomaly, they would be as well.”

“And there’s nothing that happened to you that would make you different?” Zorian asked.

“No. And none of my abilities are ones no one else has either. Perhaps it could be a combination of certain skills, but I doubt it.”

Jasnah hummed to herself, taking the pin from Zorian and quirking an eyebrow at the design. “Either way, this looks more like a joke of some kind than a sign that a powerful being is watching you. I’m not doubting your religious friend, but in my readings, Runesight never did something this childish.”

“But there are other childish things?” Zorian prodded, interested.

“Well, there was a story where she cursed a man to forever see himself from the third person because he ‘looked at her weird’ once. Another tale she turned the villain into some kind of amphibious creature and spent two weeks telling him about her exploits before mysteriously disappearing.” Jasnah frowned, “Honestly the way she was portrayed sounded a bit like an acquaintance of mine.”

Zorian took a mental note of that and glanced at Shiroe as he pushed his glasses up. “Just changing a pin to look like this doesn’t seem as extreme as those other stories.” The man decided, looking them each in the eye. “Jasnah, where did you find these, I need to look over them.”

Jasnah handed him a book without even hesitating. “There’s not much of a pattern to be found, I’m afraid.” She gave Zorian a sidelong glance at that for some reason, but focused back on Shiroe soon enough, “But do let me know if you find anything.” She nodded curtly and went back to reading. She briefly hesitated as her hands paused at her pockets, before she curled up with the book.

Zorian glanced at the pockets in question, which he’d long since noticed were always filled with increasingly weak sources of mana, as they were constantly leaking the stuff into the air—it was a bit distracting. Today there were less sources, which might be correlated with Jasnah’s increasingly sour mood. He glanced at the title of said book, but that wasn’t any help, it was just another general history.

He frowned.

He frowned harder.

Zorian eventually cast a weak magesight spell and looked at her pockets, taking in the six sources and…ah… well five, it seemed a bit like Jasnah herself was one of the sources. It was like she was leaking ambient mana. But his senses didn’t register it as anything different than a piece of the flow of the world.

Zorian squinted at her, tried to probe her mind out of instinct, was stopped straight up with her divine mindsheild, and then decided he’d just have to ask. He folded his arms, “Jasnah, how exactly do your abilities work?”

She looked up from her book, “I use investiture to command surges.”

Which was a whole load of useless. He was positive she did that just to avoid telling him anything. “Your mana is strange.”

“And your abilities are also strange to me. Why call it magic? That just implies you can’t ever understand it.”

And now she was trying to start verbal warfare again. “I believe all our systems are actually just different aspects of a bigger system, I’ve been meaning to study the nature of mana for a while now and yours reminded me of that.”

Jasnah regarded him curiously at this, finally setting down the book and standing up. “Well, how does this register to your senses?” She held a hand out and mist coalesced around it from nowhere, forming into a massive sword.

Zorian blinked at it, sudden thoughts about true creation and Ilsa rushing through his mind. But no, she must have just summoned it from somewhere. He examined it with his senses, and eventually probed at her mind again by instinct. He needed better instincts because… ah… wait no there it was, her mind was completely open all of the sudden, and there was only one now. The second mind was still connected, but now it was…

His gaze tracked to the sword.

Wow. A sapient sword, that didn’t happen every day. Zorian poked at the swords mind too, finding it likewise completely unshielded. What in the world?

Jasnah was smiling slightly at first—which for her was like a big stupid grin for other people—but after a second her eyes widened and she took a step back, the sword dispersing back into mist. That was unfortunate timing because Zorian had been just about to start digging deeper. The mind shield slid back into place as the sword disappeared, but it was nice to know there was a way to get rid of it.

“You can read my mind?” Jasnah said, her voice rising above its usual calm but still unwavering. Her eyes narrowed into slits, suspicion.

Zorian regarded her, his eyes flicked toward Shiroe, who seemed less surprised at this declaration, even though his warrines around Zorian hadn’t dropped even once before the signing of the contract. “I can read minds, yes. You have an odd mind shield, I was never able to get past it before you summoned that sword. But that answers so many questions. I’ve been wondering why you seem to have two minds practically forever!”

Jasnah narrowed her eyes further, if that was possible. “And have you been reading everyone else’s minds?”

Zorian sighed, “I know this ability gets in the way of a lot of potential trust, but to be fair, Tessa has the same ability and no one even asked her that.”

“Well, have you?”

“Mostly just Shiroe’s, it’s completely unguarded and he has a translation ability so I actually understand what I’m getting.”

Shiroe sighed from his corner of the room, shaking his head. He wasn’t overly worried about this development though. Zorian wanted to probe his mind to find out why, but it struck him as a horrible idea to do that while Jasnah was in the middle of scolding him about doing that. If she was even about to, she’d been silent for quite a bit.

Jasnah folded her arms. “And why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

“Well, you seem to hate me, for one, and I can’t get an accurate read on anything else you might be thinking.”

“Zorian, this is a resource!”

Zorian blinked at her, “Huh?”

“This makes things so much easier,” A visible weight looked as if it had been pulled off her shoulders. “The number one reason I was expecting this to take over five years—and advised Shiroe to set that as the limit in the contract—was all of the people who would have information and not want us to have that information. This solves that problem!”

“Generally people don’t get excited when I tell them I can read their minds.” Zorian pointed out, uneasy. Well, technically he’d told her he couldn’t read her mind, so maybe that was part of it.

Shiroe seemed a bit mystified, but still not any more worried than when they’d first met. In fact, he seemed to think now that this was the reason he couldn’t see Zorian’s level, which was certainly calming him down somewhat. “What kinds of limitations are there with your ability?” the man asked.

“I can get through practically any mental defense given enough time.” Zorian smiled internally, amused that this was starting to feel like a job application. “I can also place compulsions, but I’m better with puppeteering. I have a lot of experience with deep memory reading.”

The two of them thought about that for a moment.

“What else can you do?” Jasnah eventually asked, “If this secret was discovered so quickly, there have to be more.”

“Jasnah, if this is a resource, and we didn’t know about your sword until now either, don’t you think you should tell us what else you have too?”

She nodded, “Yes, I see now that what one may think of as inconsequential might have far-reaching effects for others. Therefore I will lead by example.” She put a hand in her pocket, taking out a glowing emerald. It was rather dimmer than Zorian thought it likely should be. “This is Stormlight.”

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Chapter Text

--- Trinity ---

Trinity trailed behind the false Zorian, taking in his strange scent again and again, and wondering how no one else could tell he wasn’t real. The false Zorian glanced back at her, “Are you going to keep following me, or do you want to help?”

Trinity scowled at him and caught up, trying to figure out how he always knew she was there. “What are you doing?” She gestured at the area of the city he’d been heading to. It was the richer section.

“Ah, I can’t tell you unless you’re here to help.”

Trinity grumbled a bit and then nodded, “Alright, sure, I’ll help. As long as it doesn’t involve something I’ll hate.”

The false Zorian nodded to himself, “Oh, I’m sure you’ll agree.” He stopped in front of a fairly spacious mansion, and gestured toward it. “I know it’s the middle of the day, but I’ve been scouting out this place for three days, and they always up their security at night.”

Trinity stopped beside him, looking up at the mind boggling architecture and sweeping curves of the massive house. “We’re breaking in?”

“We’re broke, and these people are horrible.”

Trinity was still dubious, “What did they do exactly?”

The Zorian that was not in fact Zorian darkened, “They helped fund an operation several years ago to take all the beggar children out of the city and dump them in the forest.” He hesitated, “I have the evidence, if you need it.”

Trinity growled under her breath, following Zorian as he smoothly kept on walking in a way that didn’t even make him look all that suspicious. “That is horrible.”

“I’m glad you agree.”

Trinity followed behind him as he turned a corner, feeling a familiar determination fill her mind. “Alright, tell me where to go and how to get there, I can do it.”

“No reason to do it yourself, I won’t slow you down any.”

Trinity doubted that, but nodded.

--- Jasnah ---

After a bit of discussion, Jasnah managed to explain her powerset to the two. Which involved a bit of a crash course in the surges of transformation and transportation, since the two didn’t know the word ‘soulcast.’

Zorian, ever the annoying, folded his arms, unreadable. “So you can change anything into any other thing? Like lead into gold?”

“What is with the obsession with gold outside of Roshar…” Jasnah muttered, but she had to admit, the lighteyes certainly enjoyed their sparkles, so maybe that was it. She nodded though, “I could easily do such a thing. So long as I understand what I’m making. The ten essences like crystal or blood are easier, but I’ve made complex medicines quite often for my people. Gold is not outside my capabilities.”

Zorian got that glint in his eye, the one Jasnah was beginning to understand meant he was about to become even more difficult to deal with. “What about things you’ve never come across before? If I could show you a detailed illusion of what it looks like, could you make it?”

Jasnah had a feeling she knew where this was going. “If I don’t know what it’s made of? No. I once tried to soulcast strawberry jam. It looked exactly like it since I had the true object right in front of me, however, I didn’t know what strawberries taste like, so therefore it tasted as I expected it to—which is to say horrible—and not as it should have.”

Shiroe also seemed disappointed at this, but he had another idea in mind. “So you can make food?”

“Of course. In my world, soulcasters are used to feed armies. Organics isn’t my specialty, but as I said, I can turn anything into anything else given enough stormlight.”

Zorian perked up, “what about people?”

Jasnah looked at him like he was stupid. “People are ‘anything.’ It’s a very effective form of offense, though as far as I know I’m the only one to use a soulcaster in such a way.”

Zorian rubbed his hands together in a way that struck Jasnah as ominous.

Shiroe sighed, “And I’m the one called the villain behind glasses…”

Zorian blinked at him, “Now that’s a fun nickname.”

“I’m starting to think it might suit you better.”

Jasnah cleared her throat, “So, we’ve gone over my abilities, Zorian, what is your repertoire? Shiroe, we should go over yours as well.”

Shiroe nodded, pushing up his glasses, “We’ll make an effective party yet.”

Zorian glanced toward the door, as if contemplating leaving, but didn’t make a move. “You are already aware of the mind magic, well, there’s a lot more, I honestly don’t think I’ll remember to add everything, so if you get surprised by something later, it wasn’t because I intentionally left it out.” He thought for a second, “I suppose the one you might find the most shocking is the simulacrums.”

Shiroe raised an eyebrow, “like clones?”

“Yes, exactly. I don’t have access to the materials necessary for more stable ones, so I can only make a handful at a time, but I almost always have at least three simulacrums doing tasks at any given time. We keep in touch through mind magic, and they give me reports as necessary.”

Jasnah nodded at that, deciding it was a good ability to have. It would allow Zorian to pursue multiple leads at once. “And you trust your clones?” She asked, just in case.

Zorian scowled, “Of course, they’re all me. They don’t care all that much about only existing for a few days.” He gained a bit of a nostalgic look however, “Though they do tend to get more capricious when their time grows closer to the end.”

Jasnah took note of that, and gestured for him to continue.

Zorian sighed, looking at the ceiling. “I’m quite an accomplished artificer, but again, I don’t have the necessary materials for practically anything here. I was hoping to study the local artifice and figure something out, but for the moment I can’t make an army of golems or do a lot of complicated spell formula like usual.”

He thought for a second when no one commented, and continued. “I know a lot of divinations—tracking spells—and I’m proficient in unstructured magic. Basically that’s things like levitating objects, making things glow, setting things on fire, and such.” He didn’t move, but a book beside him floated into the air, moved around his head, and then set itself back down.

Shiroe watched it, interested. “What about battle?”

Zorian hesitated, “I know a lot of battle spells because I had to learn them, but I was born with extremely low mana reserves, and those often cost a lot in that area. I’m very good at shields and magic missile—which is a small and effective force projectile—but I’m not someone you should probably put on the front lines unless I have my artifice or the enemy is susceptible to mindmagic.”

Jasnah wasn’t sure how much fighting they would be doing, she expected there would be more talking than that, but it was good to know regardless. “Anything else?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, I’m one of the best in my world when it comes to dimensional magic. It’s a relatively obscure field over there. I can make complex pocket dimensions, I can teleport short distances and I can make a longer distance gate if I have a simulacrum on the other side. The distance for that one last time I checked is several continents.” He hesitated, “I think that’s everything.”

Jasnah felt herself relax, part of her having expected the list of his abilities to keep going and going and going. “Are such accomplishments common in your world?” Jasnah finally asked, finding herself a bit overwhelmed.

“No, you can blame my expertise on the timeloop.”

Jasnah relaxed slightly, but not really enough. She let that sit for a moment and then looked toward Shiroe. “Alright, your turn.”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, “I’m an enchanter. I specialize in support. I figured it was an interesting class to choose because it’s the opposite of my inclination, since being an enchanter means I can’t do much on my own.” He cleared his throat, “Generally I can make other people’s abilities stronger as well as bind enemies. I can cast simple spells, and I have a separate ability to make contracts like the one we all signed earlier, but like with Zorian, I need specific items for that to be effective.”

Jasnah remembered the huge flash of light that reminded her of a perpendicularity—though there had been no stormlight involved, unfortunately. She could feel it though, this contract, the way it seemed to tug at her soul. Ivory had remarked upon it, saying that it was just as effective as what a bondsmith might have been able to accomplish.

Shiroe hesitated slightly, “I’m also a very accomplished strategist, I’ve led several battles and dungeon raids, and I know how to keep a party in balance.” He glanced at the two of them, and seemed a bit amused about something. “Needless to say, unless Tessa or Trinity are secretly healers, we are definitely not a balanced party.”

Zorian sighed, “Well, now I wish a friend of mine were here.”

Shiroe nodded, “Don’t we all…”

Jasnah remained silent.

Shiroe was still thinking though, “I suppose Trinity would make a passable front liner though. She’s more of an assassin than anything…” He glanced at Jasnah, “Maybe you too, you strike me more as a front liner… having no healer is definitely the main problem if this were a regular party, but that stormlight heals you, so maybe it wouldn’t be as bad.”

--- Tessa ---

Tessa felt all itchy everywhere.

It reminded her of the time she’d gotten an infection. There wasn’t any wound this time though. She tried again to mindlink her mom, wondering if her scales were about to fall off, but the link faded off into the distance, not hitting anything.

She flopped onto her stomach and started gnawing on the fruit she’d peeled—badly—and cut up—also badly—into the bowl Zorian had found for her. She wanted oil, she wanted it so badly. Her scales flet grimy and dirty and eugh. They were itchy and they felt like they were about to start melting off her wings.

Tessa spread a wing and glanced at it, but it looked normal. Just as red as usual.

SO WHY WAS SHE SO ITCHY?!

It had to be because she hadn’t been oiled or cleaned in over a week. That had to be it. Tessa knew the wild dragonets didn’t get so itchy, but maybe Tessa was just different. Maybe she was so bad at being a dragonet that her own wings were going to melt off her back and then her tail, and then her legs and arms and finally she’d just be a puddle of goo.

She squeaked mournfully at the bowl of fruit, finally deciding to mindlink Zorian. [Do you have any oil?]

He sent his confusion, [Oil?]

[Oil. For scales. I’m so itchy and I think I’m going to die.]

[Ah… I’ll see what I can do.]

Tessa felt him cut the connection—which made sense since he was in the middle of a conversation. She wanted to scream at him to hurry up, but wow Tessa, calm down. It was just a bit of itching, she would live. She shook her scales out, but they were so filled with grime that they didn’t even make the chiming sound her mom was so fond of.

That was not a good sign. Maybe if she found some sand… that’s what the wild dragonets did when they got itchy.

Outside the window, Tessa noticed a moth flutter by.

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Chapter Text

--- Shiroe ---

Shiroe cornered Zorian outside the room. “Could I… speak to you in private?” Mostly his mind was focusing on the fact that there was no way he would have done this before the contract had been signed. It was odd how much a magical bind changed things.

Zorian sighed, glancing at a clock, “Yes, alright. I’d rather you stopped worrying so much about me, so I’m glad you’re finally doing something about it.”

Shiroe regarded him, still trying to figure out how to interact with someone who could read his mind. On the one hand, that was useful, it meant he didn’t have to try and explain his conclusions. On the other hand—

“Yes, like I said, calm down.” Zorian waved him forward, following after Shiroe when he hesitantly started walking. Shiroe once again remarked in the not-so-privacy of his own mind, that the two of them were shockingly similar from the outside. From the inside though? Only Zorian would know the answer to that question and he didn’t seem inclined to share.

No words were wasted as they made their way out into the gardens. Shiroe didn’t often remember that sunlight was a thing, but when he did, the library gardens were rather nice. Back in Akiba he’d willingly been a slave to paperwork. On earth, he’d been an engineering major. Neither of those things saw much nature, unless it was for the occasional bit of inspiration. But with those enormous trees in the center of the city, there wasn’t even any sunlight to have.

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, “Out of all the private places in the great library, this one is the most consistently empty.” He glanced at Zorian, who was regarding the area with what was probably his magical senses.

He glanced at a nearby bush, and then at the empty table. “I’ll set up some basic privacy wards, we don’t want anyone hearing a stray word and getting too curious.”

Shiroe watched, interested, as Zorian positioned himself near the table, made some gestures and chants, and repeated the process in several other areas. Finally, he took out a metal cube and set it on the table, before unceremoniously sitting down.

Shiroe hesitantly followed him.

“So, what is it specifically that you wanted?” Zorian asked, getting down to business.

“Why don’t you just read my mind?”

Zorian sighed, “I’m trying to get into the habit of not doing that. Besides, I suspect you’ll be looking into mind shields in the near future anyway, so there’s no reason to further help you along that path.”

As a matter of fact, Shiroe had already been meaning to find a book on the subject, though he was a bit worried it might need a teacher. That wasn’t what he’d come here to discuss though, so he berated himself slightly and got back on topic. “I suspect you know that I’ve been ah… wary of you since we first met.”

“The level thing?” Zorian asked, apparently the slightest bit disappointed. “I have to admit, it was refreshing for someone to not immediately underestimate me.”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, “Yes, that. Do you know why your level is undefinable? Everyone else has a clear one.”

Zorian regarded Shiroe for a moment, “Do you know where the number comes from exactly? It’s like a power meter, correct?”

“I never put thought into how it works. It’s harder with things like that, we tend to assume they’re just part of the game, even though it’s not a game anymore.” He paused, still thinking, “Kind of like the automatic translation app. In practice it works like Tessa’s ability, but no one ever thinks about the why or how. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t know how it works.”

Zorian frowned to himself, “Well, that either means it’s trying to gauge my power through my mind… or that it’s trying to do it through my soul.” He gave Shiroe a sidelong look, “You know that that contract of yours put something in my soul, right? If I hadn’t known that you trusted what you were doing to not be harmful, I might have broken it off right there.” Zorian gave him a flat, unamused look.

Shiroe blinked. “You felt the change take place?”

“What possessed you to give four complete strangers functional immortality in the first place? I have my share of experience with dying back in the timeloop, I know firsthand that if we know we’ll just come back, we’re going to be much stupider.”

Shiroe felt his voice grow quieter, “I already knew that if one of you ended up dying, I would regret it.” He stopped for a second, “And I only had enough high level paper and ink on hand for a single contract. If someone ended up on the brink of death, and I’d wasted my contract on something that was just to help us trust each other, I would have felt even worse than if they’d denied the title in the first place.”

“And you didn’t explain the connotations because you didn’t want them to be needed.”

“I’ve been living in a videogame for almost a year. In that time I’ve died only once.” He sighed, thinking again on his own doubts about revival in this world. “I don’t even know if the process will work here.”

Zorian shook his head slightly, “So you decided to just go for it, just in case, and with the way the contract expires in five years, you were just hoping no one would even notice.”

“Yes, essentially.”

“Well, I can respect that, I suppose.” Zorian said, sitting up straighter. “Back to your original question. I suspect your level ability is gauging the souls of those around you, if it was a mind effect it would be just as confused about Jasnah. There are a couple of possible reasons it isn’t working on me. Maybe it really doesn’t know what to make of my abilities. Maybe my soul defenses are getting in the way. Or maybe the marker I have on my soul is the problem. Perhaps there’s too much information and the spell got overloaded.”

Shiroe took mental note of all those things, though partially it actually felt like they were speaking different languages. “If you were to turn off your soul defenses we could see if that’s it.”

“I’m not doing that.”

Shiroe nodded, expecting nothing less. “Well, thank you. One more thing, what are your thoughts on the local magic so far? I’ll probably ask Jasnah this too later on, but she doesn’t seem as interested in it as you are.”

Zorian scowled slightly at the mention of Jasnah, or maybe it was the local magic putting him in a bad mood. “It almost makes no sense, but at the same time it makes too much sense, if you understand what I mean.” He rubbed his chin, “They can do a lot of things, and in a way it’s not limited, but… I’ve looked at their souls, and I know there is credence to their claim that some people just can’t cast certain kinds of spells. It’s like there’s a dead spot right next to their strongest areas.”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, “I was looking into that bit as well, especially after Maerthen claimed that dimensional magic and time magic are opposites.”

“I think that one makes the least sense. Those two fields absolutely have the most overlap out of any back in Erestu. I didn’t even realize anyone even really saw them as separate.”

Shiroe grinned, “What do you think of their mind magic abilities?”

Zorian groaned slightly, “Where do I even start… They’re so bad at it that I can hardly even tell what they’re doing…”

--- Zorian ---

Zorian had still been with Shiroe, discussing various thoughts when Tessa mindlinked him again, this time full blown panicking. [Zorian! Heeellllppppppp! I THINK I MIGHT BE DYING.]

He blinked, [What’s wrong?]

[THE ITCHING STOPPED!]

[You’re going to have to be more specific.]

[Zorian, I think my scales are falling off!]

[How long has this been going on?]

[I don’t knowwwww…]

Zorian sighed, glancing at Shiroe, who was watching his blank expression with curiosity. “Tessa thinks she’s dying, we’ll have to end this early.”

Shiroe nodded, and stood up. “So you can talk to each other telepathically? That’s part of your abilities?”

“I think I forgot to mention that part, but yes.” The two of them migrated toward the exit.

“I should probably try to add you to my friends list.” Zorian raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t ask what it was. “Your title is adventurer now, so it should work…” Shiroe tapped the air a few times and then relaxed slightly, apparently having assumed something might explode.

“What does that do exactly?”

“It lets me call you. I think it’s a bit like Tessa’s ability. But it also should let me track you down.” If Zorian’s wards didn’t block that part then he’d have to refine them again.

Shiroe finally nodded and they parted ways, Zorian going left while the taller man went right. Zorian ducked into an alley down the street a bit, and teleported into the room he’d rented out for the next few weeks.

“Tessa?” He asked aloud, turning around and looking for her. She should be here somewhere. Unless she’d gotten out of the room somehow? She’d never been good with door latches though. He turned around the area, paused, and gave some displaced boxes a dubious look before peeking under the bed.

A groan sounded out beneath the darkness, so Zorian summoned a simple light.

Tessa sure was under there.

But… ah…

“I think your scales did in fact fall off.” He observed rather dumbly.

Tessa pulled the blanket around her very human form tighter. The young girl staring up at him with incredulity. [Zorian, I need you to answer me completely seriously right now. Did you do this?!]

Zorian gave her a dubious look, taking in the pale skin, sky blue eyes, and long bright red hair. There wasn’t a sign in the least that she’d been a miniature dragon less than an hour ago. “No, I don’t know much about transformation magic.” But for Zorian that meant more ‘I know about half as much as most specialists, and I could probably turn you into a frog if I had the right materials.’

He looked at her soul, but that wasn’t any help, it still somehow fit perfectly with her body, and there was no sign of soul clothes of any kind. So whatever kind of transformation this is, it’s using methods that are unfamiliar to me.

Zorian sighed, “Do you need me to figure out how to turn you back? I’m not sure how permanent it would be though.”

Tessa groaned again from her stolen blanket, [I kept my eyes open for evil scientists, I swear I did!]

Zorian raised an eyebrow, “Evil scientists? Is that how your parents first became dragons?”

[Yeah, we don’t like evil scientists.]

“Really, no magic involved at all?”

[Nope! Zorian, can you turn me back? I don’t think it’s a good idea to go home looking like this.]

Zorian gave her another dubious look, “It would… take a while for me to figure out how to do it permanently.” He eventually admitted. “I’m not an expert, and I’m not even sure how long it would take to design a temporary transformation potion.”

Tessa groaned again, sitting up just so she could flop to the side again theatrically.

“...Alright, why don’t you come out there and eat something? I’ll go to the market and try to find you some clothes.”

[and now I have to figure out how to wear clothes…]

“You really have no idea how this happened?”

[No! My scales were being all itchy, I mindlinked you, I tried to find some sand so I could scrub out all that grime, then I saw this weird moth out the window, got distracted and now I’m like this.]

Zorian paused, his eyes narrowing. “A moth you say?”

[Yeah, it was a really big one with pretty wings.]

He thought back to the pin, trying to remember what color the moth was. “Was it kind of teal or grey?”

[Yeah, it was a shiny grey-blue I think, it was silvery, very pretty. Did you see the same moth?]

Zorian gave the window a troubled look. “I think I might have, yes.”

[That’s neat! Do you think maybe the moth is watching us?]

He glanced back at her, still thinking about Shiroe’s pin, “Yes, I think she actually might be.”

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Chapter Text

--- Tessa ---

Tessa felt wrong all over the place. Her limbs were too long, her neck was too short, her butt felt like it had inflated to seven times its natural size, and to top it all off she didn’t have a tail anymore so there was absolutely no way that she’d be able to balance this bulbous, clumsy thing. Out of everything though, Tessa was more hurt by the loss of her wings.

If she couldn’t fly anymore, how was she supposed to properly perform the morning song? If she couldn’t fly anymore, how was she supposed to stuff grass in Kymari armor or properly catch a cricket? How was she supposed to do anything without wings?

On the bright side, the dexterity of her fingers was better than before. And so it was that Tessa held her hand up to her face, wiggling her fingers one by one to test this new range of motion. Trinity stood in the doorway, listening to an explanation from Zorian. She’d come to give Zorian a bag that sounded like it was full of money, and instead got saddled with this.

Tessa was still keeping watch for evil scientists, but there weren’t any in sight, unfortunately. If there had been, at least she would have known where to spit some fire for this curse. Only she couldn’t breathe fire at the moment. Stupid humans not having the necessary organs…

Zorian unceremoniously handed Trinity the bundle of clothes he’d come back with earlier, “You figure out how to get her into these, I need to track someone down.” He said that last part ominously, with his ‘I’m going to murder something’ voice. Tessa contemplated asking him to maybe not kill people.

Trinity stayed in the doorway, watching him walk down the hallway before exhaling gustily and focusing on Tessa. She stepped into the room and closed the door before shaking out the bundle Zorian had handed her. She looked the simple dress up and down several times. Tessa examined the green pattern from her angle, her eyes going wide at the pretty shapes.

“At least we don’t have to teach you how to wear pants…” Trinity muttered, looking between Tessa and the dress, “I think this is the right size too…”

Tessa nodded, [Yes, I’m sure it’s much easier that way!]

“Have you tried talking yet? Out loud.”

Tessa blinked at her, and then touched her mouth, feeling at her teeth and pulling at her tongue, they did seem like they might be able to make the right sounds. They would be absolutely useless at the morning song though, so why in the world would this be any better? [No, I haven’t.]

Trinity looked at the ceiling, as if wishing for something. “Could you try?”

Tessa regarded her, moved her mouth a few times, and then started squirming, [Nooo…. That feels wrong.]

Trinity muttered something for a moment, “Alright, here, take off the blanket and raise your arms above your head—yes like that.” Trinity regarded her again and sighed, “Alright I’m going to need you to stand up.”

Tessa looked down at her feet, which were curled under her, and tried to wrinkle her nose at them, but the movement was much harder than it should have been. What kind of creature couldn’t wrinkle their nose properly? [Are you sure?]

“Yes, very sure.”

Tessa frowned again and moved her feet so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Unfortunately, the feet weren’t touching the ground, she was too short for that, but wow the ground was still so close! Seriously, how did humans not realize that everything around them was so small? She looked around the room, taking in once again the sheer height she had now. She didn’t even have to get on the desk to see what Zorian had been working on!

“Tessa.” Trinity said, her tone flat.

Tessa made an undignified noise of earlier distraction and finally pushed herself off the bed. She landed on her feet and then immediately belly-flopped onto the wooden floor as she overbalanced. She instinctively tried to spread her wings to catch herself but SHE DIDN’T HAVE ANY.

She landed straight on her nose. Owwww…

Wow this human thing was hard, how had mom and dad ever been able to stand it? Trinity looked down at her, her arms folded, “Are you alright?”

[Can I just stay here until Zorian fixes this?]

“I don’t think that’s an option.”

Tessa let out a long breath and pushed herself up onto her arms, crawling over to the bed and pulling herself up onto it as well. Now, she leaned heavily against the bed, and slowly got to her feet.

The stupid legs shook beneath her, but they were more stable than she’d expected. [How do you people stand with only two legs? How do you balance without a tail?]

“You’ll get the hang of it, I’m sure.” Trinity decided, stepping forward with the dress, “Alright, raise your hands above your head.”

Tessa regarded her position, most of her stability coming from the way she clung to the bed with her arms. But if she just leaned against it with her stomach then… Tessa grinned as she lifted her arms up.

Trinity opened up the dress and pulled it over Tessa’s outstretched arms and head, directing her limbs to the right holes and growling whenever the fabric got caught somewhere. Tessa was left with it pressed up against her skin like the harness from back home. Yes! Perfect!

“Now you have to do up the buttons.” Trinity pointed out, gesturing toward the front of the dress where the five shiny things were sewn. Tessa regarded them, and started with difficulty to push the smooth stones through the holes.

She smiled once she was done, putting her arms out like wings. [Real human clothes! Can you believe that?]

Trinity smiled slightly, “Alright, you can sit back down, we can work on standing again later. Can you please try to say something out loud.”

Tessa tried to wrinkle her nose again, it worked better this time. [Why?]

“Because if you can only talk to people through their minds, they’re going to think you’re creepy.”

[They never thought that before, right?]

Trinity exhaled gustily. “Before, you were an adorable cat-sized dragon.”

[I’m adorable?] Tessa asked, blinking.

“Undoubtedly.”

[How about I just keep being adorable? I like that idea better.]

“Tessa. I know change is difficult, but we don’t know how long you’ll be stuck like this. You’re going to have to pass for a regular person.” Her expression darkened. “I can help you with that part.”

Tessa got a glimmer of Trinity’s thoughts, much more powerful than the times she’d managed it with Zorian—despite Zorian’s efforts, she’d only ever read his mind one other time, but he’d been thinking about food. What she got right then were memories of people hurting Trinity just for being someone who was different. Memories of another kind of hurt, the hurt itself of being different, the hurt of being seen as something bad. The hurt of accepting herself but not being accepted as herself.

Tessa blinked. “Trinity…” She managed aloud, [Do you need a hug? I think I can give hugs now, I’ll be the best hugger ever, I promise.]

Trinity stiffened slightly, but looked at Tessa’s expression and eventually nodded.

--- Jasnah ---

Jasnah left the library, making her way across the street and through the crowded market. Despite the presence of misgivings, she was determined to go through with her plan, she’d been thinking about it for days, planning out what the best use of her stormlight would be before it all vanished. And so it was that Jasnah walked with purpose toward the central trees, unwilling to stop until someone who was in charge here finally talked to her.

She’d been trying to track down the voice of the dryads for two days. Two days filled with struggling and anger. How could the people here not know who was actually giving the commands?

But that was secondary. The voice of the Dryads wasn’t high up enough anyway.

Five of those golems that were always wandering around the city appeared ahead of her, looking agitated but firm, each held a spear in one hand, standing together like a wall. As they storming better be. The golems were made entirely of wood, and they looked as if they’d grown into shape, complete with branches and leaves like miniature trees. From what she’d heard they were generally mindless, but they cared for the trees and harvested their fruit, providing it to the city.

Jasnah pulled in stormlight, feeling the chill in the air around her as the energy moved out of the gemstones. “Move aside.” She commanded, firm, more firm than they were.

They did not react, only brandishing their spears.

“As it shall be.” Jasnah agreed. She found their souls in shadesmar.

Change. She commanded, and they were made to be fire. They didn’t burn, of course, they instead became fire. They existed for one brilliant second. They singed the ground beneath them and puffed away into nothingness the second after.

Most of the reason Jasnah was doing this now wasn’t because the timing was right. It wasn’t because she had enough information or was confident in what she needed. It was because if she did it any later, she wouldn’t have had enough stormlight. And she needed to use this stormlight on something worthwhile.

She felt almost like one of the more reckless radiant orders with how little reason that reasoning contained.

Jasnah made it to the trees, bowing slightly toward them, her view was half in shadesmar and half outside of it, even with how strange this version of shadesmar was, Jasnah had gotten back into the habit. In front of her in the cognitive realm, seven humanoid spirits watched her, their expressions ranging from angered to curious.

Good, she could see them after all, Jasnah hadn’t been sure. “Mighty spirits of the forest.” she intoned, bowing deeper. “I find myself in dire need of your assistance.”

The seven regarded her, and as one they spoke, their voices overlapping into a single unfamiliar note. “You do not belong here.”

“Yes, I want to return to where I do belong.”

“The ancient child, broken past each rebirth. She has marked you.”

Jasnah hesitated, not understanding. “Who is it that you speak of? Is that the one who brought me here?”

“She brought you… she brought others… she will continue to bring more until this phase of reality has passed.”

Jasnah frowned, “Can you help me return to my world, or can you not?”

“We cannot. But we may know of a way you can.”

“How?” Jasnah asked, finally standing up straighter, “How can it be done?”

“We remain here… but the birds speak, and our golems wander… there is an island to the north, far past the mountains and the great desert. On that island, you may find a path forward. The mortals named it Engere, the island of long past betrayals and heartache.”

Jasnah inclined her head again. “I thank you. But who is it who marked me that you mentioned before?”

“The only one Blessed, the only one Cursed, cursed to forever return, forever. A goddess after a fashion, chaos as one form and balance as another. She is the one who brought you here, she is the one who brings many here.”

Jasnah let out a long breath. “She is this… Runesight I’ve heard so much about?”

“That is a name she has laid claim to, but it is not the one she used when she brought you here.”

Jasnah closed her eyes, thinking about this revelation. It was clear now that that pin hadn’t been meant as only as a sign for Shiroe. “Thank you, great spirits.”

“We could not deny you.”

And it was good they hadn’t.

-

Jasnah made her way back to the library, surprised to find Zorian and Shiroe waiting for her, expectantly. Zorian was scowling in that annoying way of his, while Shiroe pushed up his glasses. “Jasnah, are you willing to help us track down the root of all our troubles?”

She didn’t have to ask who he meant. She strode toward him, returning her remaining stormlight—hardly a chip’s worth—to her emeralds. “I have a few choice words for Runesight myself, but I suspect I’ll be rather useless at the moment.” She held up the mostly dun broam.

Zorian eyed it. “Let’s see about that…”

Chapter Text

--- Zorian ---

Zorian turned the emerald around in one hand, his incredulity rising as he probed it with his senses. It was actually a very small piece of gemstone in practice, but the way it was covered in glass and the way it normally glowed made it seem larger.

But that wasn’t the point.

There was mana all around them in the air, so there was no reason that Zorian couldn’t fill this with said mana. Even if the way Jasnah described her abilities working shouldn’t immediately have granted her a huge amount of mana poisoning and eventual death. Which it should have done—giving her mana poisoning—if that description hadn’t made any sense.

Although… maybe the ambient mana itself was different in each world? Zorian couldn’t really see a difference, but that was certainly possible.

He rubbed his chin, examining the mana inside, attempting to pull a bit into himself—though definitely cautious. He’d heard too many stories about the physical and mental problems ambient mana could warrant by the world dragon’s hate.

To his surprise, it didn’t just resist his attempts to use it, it flat out didn’t react in any visible way—though he was sure it was doing something. It was kind of like trying to shape someone else’s mana, but multiplied by a hundredfold.

Zorian gave it a dubious look, and glanced back at Jasnah. “I thought this was just ambient mana, but it’s attuned, right?”

Jasnah raised an eyebrow, “It’s Honor’s light.”

That didn’t really explain anything, so he threw the name at a simulacrum to dissect while he continued to cast spells at the ‘stormlight.’

“But you know where to get unattuned light?” Jasnah asked, interested.

“Yes, of course, mana is all around us.” The two of them were both rather stubborn with their individual words, Jasnah seemed determined to keep calling it light, while Zorian wasn’t going to even contemplate calling it something other than mana.

“So in your world, all the mana is attuned then?” That would probably make it harder to operate if he had to go there…

Jasnah nodded, “My mother made quite a few discoveries about it not long before I arrived here. Using the pure tones of Roshar we can do a lot that was previously thought to be impossible.”

Zorian waved his hand forward. “Like?”

“Mixing the different light, making anti-light, and in order to do that last one she had to be able to change the attunement of light.” Jasnah sighed, “I was still going over her notes by the time I was brought here, so I don’t know enough to easily replicate what she did. I’m a historian, not an engineer.” She glanced at the faintly glowing emerald. “And besides, that’s the last of my stormlight, we can’t exactly experiment with it.”

“But if I can get you unattuned mana in one of these gemstones, we might be able to attune it?”

Jasnah was thinking now, her gaze moving from the emerald in Zorian’s hands to his face. “You need a rhythm to do that, sound. It’s the sound the stormlight itself makes, so until that disperses we have a sample…”

Zorian raised an eyebrow at the gemstone sphere, and held it to his ear. He heard nothing. “Are you sure about that part? I’m pretty sure mana doesn’t make any noise.”

Jasnah nodded though, “Yes. Perhaps you have bad ears?”

Zorian glared at her and cast a spell to increase his auditory sensitivity—it took him a moment to remember how to do one though, since he hardly ever needed it. After that, Zorian held the sphere to his ear, internally muttering that this was a waste of mana.

So he nearly dropped it when he did hear something.

Jasnah raised an eyebrow, “Was that from all the nothing I’m sure you heard?”

“Shut up.”

“So, what’s your decision, oh mighty mage of looping time?”

Zorian tapped his leg in a pattern, glaring at the sphere. “It’s possible to make what I have in mind, I know it is. But it’ll take a few weeks, even though I’m going to put a simulacrum on it until it’s done.” He folded his arms, sitting back in the chair with a huff, “But that’s unfortunate, we’ll have to convince Trinity to  be there too if we can’t have your whole might.”

Jasnah nodded to herself. “With just a mystical sword that can cut through anything, I’m sure to be of no use.”

Zorian rolled his eyes, standing up and going to find Shiroe so they could deliberate the best way to approach Trinity about this.“Cut back on the sarcasm, it doesn’t suit you.”

--- Trinity ---

It felt natural for a distractible redhead to follow behind her.

However, this was a very very different redhead than the one Trinity’s mind kept expecting to see. On the one hand, Tessa wasn’t a walking fire hazard—despite having been able to breathe fire yesterday, she hadn’t been a fire hazard then either—on the other hand, Tessa was in some ways a younger version of Nicky, which was probably not a good sign for her future.

Her hair was in fact red, but definitely more of an impossible smooth scarlet than the mainly orange color of more commonplace redheads. It didn’t help that Tessa kept drawing attention to the hair by swishing it about and playing with it in various ways that boggled the mind. This was definitely something Nicky would have done at some point if her hair had been long enough.

By then, Trinity was far too aware of her fixation on the hair, and vowed to never think about it again as compensation. [Where are we going?] Tessa asked, skipping up behind the grumpy zombie.

Trinity sighed, “Talk out loud Tessa, it’ll make people look at us weird if you don’t.”

She grumbled a bit, but seemed to have mostly gotten over her aversion to the idea. “Alright… But where are we going?”

“To get you some more things. I took some of Zorian’s money—I definitely have no idea where he got it so don’t ask—you’re going to need more possessions than just a dress.”

Tessa brightened, “Like bags and things?! I think bags and things are pretty cool!”

“Yes, like bags and things.”

Tessa grinned, “Thank you!! I like markets.”

Trinity inwardly cringed at the idea of heading into a crowd, filled with people who wouldn’t know to give her personal space and definitely wouldn’t hesitate to push past her. Generally to Trinity, if someone was close enough that she could punch them in the face without moving her legs, that was too close.

Her instincts agreed and kept trying to get her to exact vengeance upon any who dared sully her invisible bubble. But the fact that she still had this problem—even years after the outbreak—meant that it wasn’t entirely the virus's fault.

Just mostly.

So Trinity had a foolproof plan for how to go into a crowded market with this problem in mind. She just… wouldn’t be going in.

The two of them stopped a street off from the market, and Trinity examined the area with a critical eye, taking in the cobbled together homes and storefronts. She handed Tessa the money, and pointed at the crowd down the street. “I’m staying here, mindlink me if anything happens.”

This was completely and entirely a foolproof plan. As you can clearly see with your very good eyes. Tessa blinked at her, her own eyes going wide with excitement, “I get to go by myself?!”

“Yes, just come back here before the sun sets or I’m going to track you down.”

“Wow! I’ll do that!” She glanced at the bag of money, tilting her head and opening it. “How much is this anyway?”

“I’m sure it’s enough.”

“Yay!”

Trinity watched the distractible dragon nod at her and then rush off toward the market, still wobbly on her new legs. It struck her that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

-

“Zorian but not?” Trinity opened an eye, peeking down at the figure beneath her and taking in the form of one of Zorian’s duplicates. She wasn’t sure if it was the same one she’d broken into that house with though.

The Zorian in question raised an eyebrow at her, “What did you do with Tessa?”

“She went to the market to get some stuff. She kept panicking back at your room and I didn’t think it was a good idea to keep her there.” Trinity admitted, exhaling gustily, “Besides, why in the world did you just leave her with me after something like that? She trusts you the most, and she was not in a good mental state to just be let there with me.”

“If the original had been thinking, he would have left a simulacrum with her. As it was, he was extremely angry with whomever caused this to happen. Speaking of which, could you head to the library and find him? He’s tracking down the culprit as we speak.”

And now he was speaking in the third person… in a way it made sense but it just had Trinity wanting to slash him for that. She flexed a hand, her unnaturally sharp fingernails glinting in the pre-dusk light. “Alright I suppose. Are you going to find Tessa?”

The Zorian-that-wasn’t-Zorian nodded. Well good then. Now Trinity didn’t have to worry about her. She dropped from the roof she’d been sitting on, nodding toward the clone and heading toward the library.

She had a feeling that was becoming their base, Trinity didn’t know what she thought of that.

--- Foralen dei Imal ---

I yawned, space stretching around me unnaturally while the peanut I’d been levitating was torn part by the dimensional ripples. I opened my mouth, catching the good part of said peanut as it zoomed in my direction.

I didn’t even like peanuts all that much, honestly. But I was soooo sparking bored and they made great projectiles…

I contemplated popping back over to Saeldel and doing something annoying again, but they were probably still recovering from the last bit, and I didn’t want to break them too hard yet. If I broke them after just five days then I’d have to go find Eliax and explain why I’d shattered the space time continuum again, and I’d apparently already done that ‘seven times too many’ by her estimate.

It was truly a wonder how I’d gone along with all her goddess of Balance crap for as long as I had.

I ate another dimensionally shredded peanut before flipping upside down and looking at the sprawling city beneath the Silverside cliffs. Why did places always have to change so much? I remembered this same city—really a village, honestly—burning from the Endari mechs as the idiots ravaged the world. Now, less than a thousand years later—which wasn’t that long—it was standing again, sprawling.

I wondered idly if that one family—which lived down there last I’d checked—was still worshiping me like they’d been last time. Confused little mortals. I was fond of them. Usually. Though according to Eliax, that one guy’s gravity had actually ended up fixing itself. Very impressive gravity skills those were.

I regarded the city for a moment longer, and then felt something prod at my senses.

My head snapped up at the divination—seriously why would I have shields against that?—and I felt myself getting excited as I crushed the spell and sent it into the cosmos to die a very sad death. Something to do! Finaaalllyyyyyy. But by Aymiae’s snowy backside, I was an idiot.

I instinctively teleported to the origin of the divination.

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Chapter Text

--- Jasnah ---

-TW slight gore-

The study room had been swept clear of any furniture and important books, everything moved to the edge of the room to give Zorian room to draw a massive circle on the ground. Several of the clones were nearby, waving their arms in odd ways that looked important. Zorian’s eyes widened as the last part of the unfamiliar chant exited his mouth. He looked upward and Jasnah followed his gaze to the air above him as it warped.

A humanoid form fuzzed into existence right above the center of the circle. Jasnah was amused to hear that Zorian made an undignified noise. It was really rather funny to outside observers, but Zorian would probably disagree and rather everyone forgot that that happened in the first place.

The humanoid peered down at them as Shiroe, Jasnah, and Trinity went on the defensive. They’d known it was far too likely that she’d teleport into the space to gloat a little bit. If Runesight was really the one who’d taken them here, then she had to be much much better at manipulating space than any of them.

What Jasnah hadn’t expected was for the figure floating above them to look like a twelve year old girl. She wasn’t human, she was the same race as Maerthen, Shiroe’s ardent friend. She had grey-blue skin, white hair that hung loosely about her, and a mismatch of clothes.

She had two moth-like antennae atop her head, which was probably the origin of the whole moth thing. Her eyes were intense and dark, betraying perhaps a portion of her mind. Jasnah glanced at Zorian, who made the predetermined signal to say that he couldn’t see into her thoughts.

Unfortunate.

Shiroe also shook his head, which meant Runesight didn’t have one of those numbers he’d told them about, either that or it was ‘glitching so badly he couldn’t read it’ which was essentially the same as far as Jasnah was concerned.

But either way, that was also unfortunate.

Jasnah drew herself up, stepping toward the source of all their problems and summoning Ivory as a shardblade. They’d agreed beforehand that Jasnah was the best spokesperson, with Shiroe as the second if she ended up somehow losing her cool, or if he felt things had derailed too much. “Why have you done these things, Runesight?”

The girl peered down at Jasnah, and obligingly floated down from the ceiling of the study room—if this turned ugly they’d have a lot of explaining to do to the archivist. “Runesight? They’re still using that title?” The child asked, tilting her head and giving Jasnah a curious look, “No, no, that won’t do, you can call me Fora.” She peered at the shardblade, and her smile grew, “You see something new every day!”

Jasnah held Ivory in smokestance, ready to retreat at a moment’s notice. “You are the one who did all this, correct?”

Fora waved her hand dismissively, “Yes, yes. You know that already.” She glanced at everyone in turn, quirking an eyebrow slightly, “What, no Tessa?”

“We didn’t think it was wise to have her here if you appeared.” Jasnah admitted. “Considering what you did to her the last time you met.”

“Awww you’re already protective! See, I knew it was a good idea to pull in someone like her, otherwise you analytical idiots would have torn each other apart on day one!” She floated back into the air, still not wary of the shardblade or Trinity’s sickle, or the two ‘magic’ users that held to the back. She didn’t even glance at the clones of Zorian who seemed to be preparing something. “So what’s all this about? Some kind of ambush? You plan on either making me take you all home or killing me?”

Jasnah remained silent.

“I wish you luck on both those fronts.” Fora said, smiling and setting back down on the ground. “But I promise, you’re not getting anything else out of me since— Wait, Shiroe, why aren’t you wearing that pin?!” She looked offended as she took a step toward the man in question, “Seriously! I thought really hard about the design and I really think it was funny! I was going to make it a commemorative T-shirt for each of you, but Aymi was already sending you that pin so I infiltrated—”

She stuttered to a halt, the air around her started distorting, random objects began to disappear from the room. A mug, a notebook, a set of quills… “You didn’t lose it, did you?! I made extra sure her stupid illusion was still intact, alright! It does exactly the same thing it did before! Oh sparks if you got rid of it because of that, Aymi is going to be pissed at me! Have you ever gotten the goddess of Justice angry? It’s a horrible idea!”

Jasnah stared at her, dumbstruck at where this was going. Things started appearing as well, a lamp, a set of cards, a potted plant…

Shiroe pushed up his glasses. “Then have you considered that antagonizing me, who has made an alliance with that goddess, might also be a bad idea?”

Fora huffed at him, and the dimensional ripples settled themselves down. “Sparking immortal mushrooms… ” She started floating again, and Jasnah wished she would just pick one, either float or stay on the ground. It was like dealing with the windrunners. “No, that’s not the part she’d be angry about. She knows me way too well to expect me not to mess with you. As long as I don’t interfere with whatever quests she sends you on, it’ll be fine.” She waved a hand dismissively.

Shiroe seemed a bit disappointed at that, but didn’t do more than twitch slightly.

Jasnah held up a hand to pause the strange creature before she started ranting about something else. “Fora, could you please explain.”

Fora rolled her eyes, “I’m tired of this.” She made a slicing motion with her hands and pointed at Shiroe, “I thought I’d like you, I thought you understood, but I see now that it hasn’t been long enough. You still have hope.”

Shiroe regarded her, and pushed up his glasses, he opened his mouth to say something but five lines of light appeared across his body. His expression changed from control to panic and surprise as the lines of light split him across themselves… cutting him to pieces.

Jasnah watched, horrified. She felt her shardplate solidify around her, the logicspen it was made of eagerly meeting her mind. She charged toward the immortal child a second after her shock wore off, Ivory feeling firm in her hands.

You, are the root of all my worry, all my fear, and all of this pain. SO DIE.

Jasnah felt the blade bite through Fora’s neck. She saw her eyes burn out, she saw the child’s expression. Just… bored. It was just bored even as her eyes had burned out—which had to have been painful, but it wasn’t like anyone who had it happen could sit and chat about the experience.

And then the corpse was gone. Jasnah blinked at the space, looking back at where Shiroe had been, his corpse was gone as well, though she thought she saw a few bubbles floating up to the ceiling. Even the blood was scrubbed clean.

Ivory was just as incredulous as Jasnah was. [They are not?] He asked in her mind, being in physical form—in this case as a blade—granted such communication for the two of them.

[They are not.] Jasnah agreed, shortening the blade with a thought and taking a step toward where Shiroe had been, intent on investigating the area. From what she could see though, it seemed as if he’d never even been there. She glanced at one of Zorian’s clones, who was staring at something, his mouth agape.

Jasnah spun around entirely when Trinity screamed. The last thing she saw was the very much alive form of Runesight floating in the air, her expression blank.

Then a terrible pain surrounded her and there was only darkness.

--- Shiroe ---

Shiroe sat with the rest of Log Horizon, chief Nyanta had made curry. And of course, this curry was the absolute best, Nyanta seemed to have added something extra today, just to make it more special. Shiroe was laughing. He didn’t remember why. Akatsuki was nearby, looking up into his eyes and teasing him for his worry lines.

-

Shiroe took in a sharp breath, opening his eyes. He put a hand to his head, feeling the echoes of the memory that was now lost to him forever. But of course, it had been given away freely so he could stand again.

He looked around him, taking in the grand room filled with benches and chairs, a lecture board was across one wall, and another was inlaid with ancient stained glass windows. From what he could tell, they were depicting two women standing back to back, one with a stack of books, the other with a sword and a letter. Besides that they looked nearly identical, but they weren’t very detailed besides having the same color scheme that Fora seemed to have favored.

Shiroe looked up at the vaulted ceiling, taking in the rest of the resurrection point. It was empty of people—thankfully—but he had no way of knowing how far it was from Saeldel and the others, if they’d even lived the encounter. He’d died first though, and he’d died before, so it made sense that he was the first to come back.

Shiroe stood up, looking around the space, wondering why it was so empty.

“Aymiae said you would be coming.” A masculine voice spoke, mild and plain, with hardly any inflection or emotion to it.

Shiroe blinked, turning around to see the speaker. He looked perhaps in his mid-thirties or forties, and he clearly wasn’t human. His skin was blue and he had snowflake-like patterns that spiraled out across it, like he had frostbite. His eyes were piercing, like some kind of winter storm. A sword was slung across his back. “Who are you?”

He grunted, “I’m Taasen. No titles, I don’t want them.”

Shiroe nodded, deciding that was sensible. “Do you know if the others died?”

“Definitely, they picked a fight with Fora.” He shook his head, glancing around the room. “I figured this was the spot that would make the most sense for your rebirth, since Aymi said it’s usually holy sites?”

“Yes, it is.”

Taasen nodded to himself, glancing around the space, “Ah, yeah, this is definitely a holy site.”

Shiroe followed his gaze, taking in the ordinary looking tapestries and such. “What’s holy about it?”

“Honestly? It’s better if you don’t ask things like that, it might stop being holy.” Taasen didn’t even glance at him, still tracing the contours of the ceiling with his eyes. “It’s the only building in the entire town that survived when the rest was burned to the ground a thousand years ago. Those stained glass windows depict an ancient hero who dethroned and replaced a long forgotten tyrant.”

Shiroe looked at the windows again, deciding finally that they did have an uncanny resemblance to Fora. “I see.” He thought for a moment. “What do you know about Fora?” He finally asked.

Taasen shrugged, finally looking at him, “More than most, but knowing more isn’t going to make her easier to deal with.” He looked Shiroe in the eye, and grinned. The wide smile seemed to fit there, even as his face strained at the expression. “But one day she’ll go back to the way she was before. That isn’t your job though, that’ll be mine eventually.”

Shiroe nodded, and paused, “Oh, your goddess sent me a pin, I don’t remember what Maerthen said it’s meant for, but Fora kind of… did something to it.” He took it out, holding it to Taasen. He trusted him for some reason, kind of like with Tessa.

Taasen peered at the pin, and then laughed, “That’s Fora alright!” He took the pin, turning it over curiously before handing it back, “The only way to see if it still does what it’s supposed to is to put it on.”

“And what’s that?” Shiroe would have examined the item with his menu, but that part hadn’t been working properly since getting here.

“Well it’s from Aymiae. It’s an illusion, meant to put a little star above your head to anyone she specifies. It makes it easier for her people to find you, and it makes it easier to take advantage of her allies.” his voice dropped to a whisper, “The pin is also is a bit green now, which means it makes healing faster, and with that white I bet it also keeps you at the exact perfect temperature. It has yellow letters, so with all things considered, I’m sure it makes you faster too.”

Shiroe squinted slightly at that last bit of logic, but fastened the pin under his cloak. Nothing visible happened. Taasen was looking above his head though, so Shiroe glanced up, and he did in fact see a little star there, like the displays leftover from the game. “Alright, hopefully that’s useful.”

Taasen nodded, “Well, I’ve got to head out, Your friends should be waking up in a few minutes.” He handed Shiroe a piece of paper, “Here’s some issues Aymi wants you to look into, good luck!”

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Chapter Text

--- Zorian ---

Kirielle looked hopefully up at him, asking the question she’d been working towards for days. Zorian remembered so many times before this when she’d done the exact same thing, not knowing that it shouldn’t even be a question. Zorian placed a hand on her head, smiling down at his little sister. “Of course, Kiri, of course I’ll teach you magic.”

-

Zorian had died plenty of times in the timeloop. It was a hazard of the situation, he’d thought. Ibasan invaders, the cult of the world dragon, and various other things had just kept on making sure he didn’t live to the end of the month. Somehow he’d expected to be done with all that after getting out of the looping world.

Dying was just as painful as he remembered it, though this was the first time he’d been torn apart by dimensional magic; at least that was a novel—while unpleasant—experience.

Zorian opened his eyes, half expecting to have a sudden pain in his chest with the age-old sound of his little sister screaming into his face. He peeked open his eyes, but no, it had been a whole year since all that, he was just getting nostalgic.

Instead, his gaze was met by Shiroe, who was peering down at him.

“Ah, you’re awake. That’s good. Does everything seem alright? I’m not sure how well the system will be working without a real cathedral to wake up in. Besides, it’s your first time so…”

Zorian blinked at him a few times, a strange blurry shape kept trying to appear in front of Shiroe. He touched his face, surprised to find his glasses already on. The blurry shape fuzzed a bit and then became distinct.

It was a display, like the one he always saw in Shiroe’s mind. Zorian hadn’t expected it to look so much like a mental illusion, but there it was. Shiroe. Enchanter. Offworlder. Level 93. Zorian examined it, and then pushed it to the back of his mind, dismissing the effect. He checked on his simulacrums, but unsurprisingly, they’d all been dismissed when he’d died.

Really, he should have just had a simulacrum do the divination in the first place, but he couldn’t always make the smartest choice.

“How long has it been?”

“It’s been about half a day.” Shiroe glanced at Zorian’s level again, which was apparently just as nonsensical as before. “But you should be a full adventurer now. I’ve only seen one case, but he had to die first as well.”

Zorian grunted, summoning the display thing again and peering at the various options. He closed it again after a minute and stood up, glancing around the room. The two unconscious forms of Jasnah and Trinity were laying nearby, sprawled out on the hard stone floor of a strange looking lecture room. Both were slightly transparent, but growing more visible by the second.

He glanced between them. Jasnah Kohlin. Elsecaller. Offworlder. Level 106. And then Trinity Kessler. Nightstalker. Offworlder. Level 73.

“You didn’t say that Trinity was so much lower.” Zorian said, furrowing his brow. “And we still don’t know what mine is either, for all we know I’m even lower.”

Shiroe didn’t look concerned, “I’m sure we can teach Trinity some stealth skills and she’ll level right up. You though? I really don’t think it’s lower than Jasnah’s.”

“But it’s a single number, and I have… a lot of different avenues of pursuit. How can it possibly contain all that?”

“See, that’s likely the issue.” Shiroe pushed his glasses up, “But now that you can see the display, you can look at your individual levels, that might be able to sidestep it. You still don’t have a class though… I wonder why.”

Shiroe walked him through getting to that page, and Zorian relaxed slightly as the numbers on most of the skills appeared. Things like Artifice and Mind arts made sense, but they were offset by things like Soul arts which had unknown numbers.

“Well, I suppose that tracks.”

Shiroe was far too interested for his own good. “What does it say?”

“My highest is artifice, level 146.”

Shiroe looked like he was about to pass away. “Oh my goodness.”

“My Mind mage skill is at 124, does that help?”

“I have a new theory, you just don’t have a main class, that must be it. You have a million subclasses and it broke the system.”

“Well it doesn’t have numbers for some of them.”

Shiroe looked at him curiously, “Like?”

“Soul arts. I’m not sure if it’s talking about necromancy there or something more like bloodmagic. Maybe it’s both? I don’t see anything else that could be either one of those.”

“That’s interesting. And it does imply that it’s something with your soul that-”

A groan sounded from the floor.

The two of them glanced down in surprise, having forgotten about their companions for the moment. That was a bit embarrassing. Trinity was the one who’s eyelids were fluttering open, while Jasnah still looked about halfway transparent.

Shiroe and Zorian looked at each other with wide eyes, finally remembering that no one else knew about the resurrection thing.

In unison they both rushed over to Trinity, “Don’t freak out!” Zorian advised.

Trinity looked up at him like he was stupid.

“We’ll explain everything!” Shiroe agreed, nodding his head.

Trinity sat up, flexing her arms as a look of suspicion crossed her face. “How long was I out? I think she might’ve beheaded me?” She felt at her neck with a bit of a shudder, glanced around, and then stood up, still stretching with an odd look crossing her face. “I’m not even hungry? What did you do?”

“Well, you died.” Shiroe started, pushing up his glasses in his signature fashion.

“As in my heart stopped.” Trinity glanced at him, still with that expression on her face, the one that said ‘please give me the necessary information or you may find yourself beheaded.’ She paused, her eyebrows shooting upward, “Wait, Shiroe? Didn’t you die?”

Zorian pointed at Shiroe, “He tricked us. When we signed that contract he didn’t explain what an Adventurer was.”

Shiroe didn’t look at Zorian, still watching Trinity. “When Adventurers die, we come back.”

Trinity wrinkled her nose slightly, “See, I figured you did something to heal me. I would have been fine eventually, but I sure would have felt it.”

“...Didn’t you say she beheaded you?”

“Well, I would have been fine as long as all my body parts were touching were they were supposed to.” Trinity amended, waving a hand slightly. “But it’s not my fault you didn’t know that. Maybe I should start keeping one of Nina’s notebooks around and just throw it at anyone who asks too many questions…” Trinity mused to herself. She finally glanced down at Jasnah, her face going blank, “Well that’s creepy. You said this is Shiroe’s fault? Are you sure it wasn’t Zorian, this seems creepy enough for him.”

You do a tracking ritual as a first impression one time and they never forgive you… Besides that, it was certainly odd for Trinity to be talking so much, usually she kept it to the bare minimum.

Shiroe sat down on one of the benches, “Jasnah should just be a few more minutes.” He gestured toward Trinity, “If we ever decide to go after Fora again, I’ll have to cast Keen Edge on your sickle and probably Jasnah’s sword beforehand, she was much faster than I thought she’d be.”

Trinity raised an eyebrow from beneath her strange glasses, “Really? You’re planning on doing that again? Once was enough, thank you. She stomped us farther into the ground than an angry terror. The battle was over before it began. In my experience with opponents like that, it’s best to get the heck out of dodge and find some more powerful allies to take them down for you.”

Shiroe hummed noncommittally for a moment. “You are right about one thing, we aren’t presently strong enough to deal with her.”

“What, are you going to start yelling about getting stronger like in some anime? I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

Shiroe snorted slightly, amused. “You have a lot of good points, but we can just get stronger.”

Trinity didn’t seem to believe him, but she nodded anyway.

Zorian glanced downward as Jasnah’s eyes snapped open. Immediately she was on her feet, her blade appearing in her hands.

Zorian—who was definitely capable of keeping himself out of people’s brains and totally wasn’t developing bad habits by being away from home—immediately examined her thoughts, and decided she wasn’t about to go on a murderous rampage.

“Are these the Tranquiline Halls?! Are you telling me there actually is an afterlife?! I swear by the Sormfather, if I have to spend the rest of eternity with you three, I will go mad.” She hesitated, and Zorian caught a message from her sword to her mind.

[This is not.] After which she immediately realized that if the sword was here, it couldn’t be the afterlife. Zorian wasn’t sure why she thought the sword couldn’t die. That was interesting though, they could talk to each other. He’d wondered if he was hearing things during the confrontation.

Shiroe was waving his arms wildly, a panicked look crossing his face, “No no no! You aren’t dead, we brought you back!”

Jasnah narrowed her eyes at him, her sword evaporating into mist. “You’re lucky I came to that conclusion on my own. How exactly did you do so? Some kind of Regrowth? Er- healing? Didn’t you say we don’t have a healer?”

Zorian pointed gleefully at Shiroe again, perfectly willing to keep pushing the entire blame onto him. Besides, it wasn’t a lie, not technically. “Shiroe didn’t tell us the definition of Adventurer, in his world. Apparently they come back to life when they die!”

Jasnah turned her accusatory glare on Zorian, “Are you certain this was him?”

“Why does everyone keep asking that?”

“You’re a mindreader, there’s no way you didn’t know about this when you fully admitted to spending plenty of time inside Shiroe’s mind.”

Zorian shrugged helplessly, and he immediately got a spike of panic from Trinity, who… didn’t know about the mindreading part before this, right. He was reminded very clearly of several restarts in which he’d failed rather dramatically to inform the correct people of the correct things.

Trinity looked at him, her expression suspicious. Well, it was always rather suspicious, Trinity was suspicious of everything. “You’re reading our minds?”

Zorian raised up his hands defensively, “Only sometimes. It’s not a big deal, I promise.”

“And you were still trying to convince me you aren’t creepy as Hell? Is that how you always track me down? And to think that I was starting to respect your tracking abilities…”

He threw his arms in the air.

Jasnah cleared her throat. “Regardless, where are we exactly?”

They all looked at Zorian, except for Shiroe, who pushed his glasses up and answered the question. Really they ought to just start looking at Shiroe. “I did a bit of scouting, since I was the first to resurrect. I asked around and we’re a lot farther from Saeldel than is convenient.”

Zorian could see where this was going.

“We’re in Melor, which is a country to the north of Saeldel, and they don’t share any borders with the great forest we were in. There’s a whole mountain range in the way, and to top it all off, humans aren’t as common in this area.”

Trinity frowned slightly, “But we do need to get back to Saeldel, for Tessa, but my backpack is still in the library, and probably a lot of everyone else’s things too.”

Jasnah nodded, thinking to herself, while Zorian mentally tried to figure out if the distance was farther than Koth or not. He didn’t have a map on hand, but he’d memorized one early on. The problem was that he didn’t know how big the main continent actually was.

Shiroe was thinking though, “I could try the spell Call of Home. I already know it won’t take me across worlds, but it might get me to Saeldel, then at least Tessa won’t be alone.” He hesitated, “Though I have no way of knowing if this city would be just as significant to the spell as Saeldel.”

Zorian mentally calculated how many simulacrums he could make, and then tried to figure out how many tasks he needed at the moment to figure out if it was even a plausible idea.

Jasnah sighed, “We could just leave her there. I’m sure we didn’t leave anything else that’s worth a trip like that.”

Everyone glared at her, except for Zorian, who was still calculating. Trinity looked like she had to physically restrain herself from attacking Jasnah at that, and Shiroe didn’t seem inclined to leave this be either.

After a long moment Zorian cleared his throat. “I’ll send a simulacrum to make its way to Saeldel. Once it’s there we can make a gate and either go back through it or take Tessa here.”

They all looked at him. Trinity muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like “and he claims to not be creepy.”

Zorian actually preferred the word scary, now that he thought about it. At least he’d been called that one enough to get used to it.

It was hard to believe that it was just this morning when they’d been signing that contract.

A door creaked.

All four of them spun towards it, their attention successfully diverted from the discussion. An elegant woman stood in the doorway, looking in at them with a peaceful expression, her eyes barely lingering on their hostile expressions. “Welcome to the Ayfel, travelers. Let me take you to your rooms, the goddess has requested that we aid you.”

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Chapter Text

--- Tessa ---

Tessa had been skipping along with her bag. She’d gotten all sorts of things at the market, fruits, a comb for her new hair, some soap that smelled so nice… She’d even found a stall similar to the one back home where she’d gotten her shiny. Naturally, Tessa got a new shiny, and was told by the woman at the table that they were supposed to be earrings.

So naturally, Tessa had decided that was pretty awesome. She’d seen Kymari wearing earrings before, and humans apparently did it all the time, so obviously it couldn’t hurt all that badly.

She’d been in the middle of asking the woman how one went about impaling their ears, when she noticed Zorian was gone. Of course, he wasn’t the real Zorian, but he was still Zorian. The fact that he’d left without saying anything was strange, so Tessa just pocketed the newly bought earring and decided to go home, maybe he’d gotten bored? She was worried he’d gotten bored.

[Zorian?] She tried, [Where did you go?]

The message didn’t bounce back like it did when someone was asleep or too far away. No, it faded off into the distance, not finding the target.

Tessa tripped on the cobblestones, her things sprawling out in front of her at her shock. She yelped and started gathering it all up, trying again, [Zorian? ZORIAN?] Now suitably panicked, Tessa picked up her bag and started running toward the room he’d been renting. [ZORIAN WHERE ARE YOU?!]

She burst through the door in record time, dropping her bag on the ground and frantically looking around, this time she remembered to include her voice, “Zorian?” She asked quietly, scared of what she might find.

He wasn’t there though, neither was Trinity.

Tessa searched the room, peeked under the bed, and finally remembered the library. Right, check there too. She bolted from the room, rushing across the street—Zorian was such a book worm that he had to rent a place right across from it.

She opened the front doors, rushing inside. She looked up at the head archivist’s desk, which was in the entry hall. “Um, hello? Do you know if… Zorian is here? He’s kind of average height with glasses and dark hair, but he’s not Shiroe, you can tell because he doesn’t have a white cloak.”

The archivist looked down at her from his desk. “Zorian Kasinski? He was using a study room, correct?”

Tessa nodded. “That’s him!”

“I saw him come in a while ago, he hasn’t left to my knowledge.”

Tessa thanked the man and rushed through the side door and past rows upon rows of bookshelves, eventually making her way through another door and into the hall filled with study rooms. She almost got lost at this point, because wow there were a lot of them, and she’d stopped paying attention to the exact route since she’d never done walking herself before.

But she found the room. She tried to look through the small window near the top of the door, but she was too short.

[Zorian?] She tried again, the message still not going through. Tessa pushed open the door after a few tries—she’d pulled on it at first—and was met with chaos. Weapons were strewn around the room and furniture which was all piled up in one corner of the room was still shredded. Trinity’s sickle lay in one spot, one of Jasnah’s emeralds was shattered on the floor, the glass orb it had been contained in revealing the deceptively small emerald to the air. Pages were scattered all around.

And none of her friends were there.

[Zorian…] Tessa tried again, her mental voice feeling small.

The room wasn’t empty though.

 There was a stranger standing in the middle of it, she looked about Tessa’s own age—though Tessa definitely wasn’t skilled at figuring out that bit of information yet. She wasn’t human, which was interesting to Tessa, she looked a bit like some of the people she’d seen in the market, with grey skin and white hair.

[Trinity?] Tessa tried instead, and whimpered slightly when she got the same result. [Jasnah?] The same. [Shiroe…?] The same.

Was it true then? Were they all… dead? That was the only thing that made a message just… miss like that.

The stranger turned around, taking in Tessa, who felt as if she was about to start sobbing right there. The stranger blinked, apparently a bit taken aback. “Tessa?”

Tessa opened and closed her mouth, her throat going dry. She wondered if that was normal or if it was her new body telling her she was about to die. Was she about to die? Did human bodies just randomly do that? “Where’s Zorian?” She asked softly. Tessa felt like she was melting. Melting… melting. Was she going to be all alone? No… no that was selfish to think when her friends were dead.

The stranger blinked at her, her hard exterior melting out into something else. “How are you doing that?”

Tessa felt water start to come from her eyes, at least this part was familiar, she’d cried before. “Did you hurt them? I can’t find them, that means… they’re… dead, aren’t they?” She felt the tears fall from her eyes, dribbling down her chin. That word, dead, reverberated through the room.

The stranger hugged herself, looking at the destroyed room with different eyes, she finally seemed to see it. To see the destruction. Finally she looked back at Tessa, her eyes wide, not panicked, more like aware.

“Tessa… I’m sorry this happened.”

Tessa shook her head, still feeling like she was about to die, the tears hadn’t stopped. Her voice wasn’t working anymore. Why did voices do that?

The stranger’s voice started, wavering, “Sparks, I haven’t done this in quite a while.” She met Tessa’s eyes, “I’m sorry.” It sounded more like a realization than an apology. “That’s strange, it’s been so long since I was sorry for anything.” She looked baffled. She looked at the ceiling and tilted her head. “They’re fine though, they’re just somewhere you can’t access right now.”

Tessa swallowed, but all the pain and sorrow didn’t just stop like that. “Are you sure?”

The stranger nodded, “Try mindlinking Zorian again tomorrow, it will reach him.”

Tessa sniffed, and wrapped her arms around herself, wishing her family was here, wishing Soranto was here. “Who are you anyway?”

“Fora. I’m just Fora.”

Tessa nodded, and then awkwardly held out a hand, the blood memories all said this was how humans greeted each other. “I’m Tessa. It’s… it’s nice to meet you, Fora.”

Fora seemed a bit flustered, but she took the outstretched hand. “I don’t understand you, Tessa.”

Tessa shook her head, “It’ll be okay tomorrow. I can be sad, I can cry, I can let it all out right now. But the sun will just rise again, and if they’re alright anyway, there’s no reason to be angry.”

Fora stared at her, still baffled. “Thank you? I didn’t know anyone could forgive that easily.”

Tessa shook her head vigorously, “There’s nothing to thank me for.” She hesitated, “But whatever it is you did, please don’t do it again, alright?”

Fora nodded, looking as if this was the strangest interaction she’d ever had. She hesitated though. “You’ll be able to change back on your own, by the way; you just have to figure out how.”

Tessa blinked at her, one moment she was there, and the next there was no sign of her.

--

The next morning, the light of dawn filled Tessa past her sorrow.

She felt as if all her worry and pain from the previous day melted away as she stepped into the sunlight. Tessa couldn’t feel the pull as strongly as she should have, but she still felt it, the pull to dance for the morning, to sing for it, to give hope to those who didn’t have it.

The sunlight that moved through the thick trees reached her, and Tessa spread her arms out to welcome it, swaying from side to side at the onset of a normally silent beat as the sun itself became her conductor. The sun orchestrated her voice and her limbs, filling her up so full that she had to share this joy with others.

The sheer amazing joy that she was alive. That her friends were alive somewhere, even if she couldn’t see them right now, that there would be hardships but all she had to do was get through them, and eventually she would see the sunrise again. Every single day it just got better.

And one day, there would be a sunrise and she’d be able to dance for Soranto and his family again, she’d be able to dance with her parents, even with her brother, she’d be able to dance with the wild flock if she wanted, taking part in something grand.

Every sunrise brought her closer to that sunrise, and right now that’s what made life worth living.

Tessa drew to a close, the wordless melody fading off into nothing. She was pleased with her human body’s voice after all, she’d been worried it wouldn’t be able to capture the trills and the beat, but of course, the sun knew what she could do better than she did, it pushed her to the limits of her new body, but it knew what she was capable of.

It always had.

Tessa shivered as she noticed the attention of the people around her. Slowly, they began to clap. Tessa turned bright red—a novel experience. “Oh! Thank you so much! I hope you all have a lovely day!”

An older human boy, about Zorian's age smiled at her as the crowd began to disperse. Tessa noticed an instrument on his back, “You have a nice voice, kid.”

Tessa smiled, less awkward now that they’d all stopped watching her so much. “What’s that instrument?” She asked, gesturing toward the stringed device on his back. According to the blood memories, it resembled a harp but also a bit like a lute. She blinked at it, taking in the wild shape. “It looks so interesting!”

He took it off his back and obligingly handed it to her to examine, he puffed his chest up like he was showing off. Tessa looked over the smooth frame and sharp strings with interest, plucking one and grinning at the pure note. He smiled too, taking it back when she held it out. “This kind is fairly common in these parts, but I had mine specially made by a master.” He bragged.

Tessa nodded, “It’s very smooth.”

He replaced it on his back, “Where are my manners? I’m Ahrinel. I was born here, but I grew up near Nakoria. I came back a few years ago.”

“I’m Tessa!”

He gave her a curious look, “That’s an interesting name, I’ve never heard it’s like.”

Tessa wanted to tell him everything right then, he seemed like a nice person, but she knew distinctly that there were certain things that shouldn’t become common knowledge. Her mom had lectured her about secrets far too many times to not at least think. “Thank you!” She said instead. “I’ve never heard Ahrinel before either, does it mean anything?”

He blinked, “Ah… It’s something like ‘music of the soul.’ ”

“Then you were born to be a musician, I think that’s neat!”

He laughed, “I’m sure it helped. Do you know what Tessa means?” Ahrinel asked.

Tessa squinted slightly, looking through the blood memories for any hint. A sudden surge of information appeared practically out of nowhere as she looked at them, but she did know that her mom had been super smart and had known all sorts of useless facts—which was where blood memories came from—apparently some of that information included ‘greek’ whatever that was for. She didn’t know why her mother would have gone and learned a dead language though. “I think Tessa means ‘to gather’ like… I gather people.”

Ahrinel shifted his instrument back to the correct positioning on his back, so he could pull it off at a moment’s notice. “Do you think that’s accurate?”

“Sure! I like bringing people together!”

Ahrinel smiled, “Well, it was great to meet you, Tessa, I’ve got to head out, but hey, if you ever need healing, I work at the Healer’s Hut near the central trees, if you tell them you know me, they’ll give you a discount.”

Tessa blinked at that, appreciative, though not really knowing what ‘discount’ meant, “Thanks! I hope you have a great day!”

--

Tessa retreated to the room Zorian had rented, she’d somehow remembered to take the key with her last night when she met Fora, but now she was constantly worried she’d forget it. It was hard to not have people around to remember those things for her.

Finally, she steeled herself, and thought of Zorian. [Zorian? Are you alright?] Her mental voice felt small, worried, even with the cleansing of the morning song.

It reached him though, and even though he was half asleep, he still sent a response. [Tessa?]

Tessa stood up from his chair, gasping, [ZORIAN, YOU’RE ALIVE!!]

He sent an emotion reminiscent of anger, [I’m sorry we got separated. Everyone else is with me, I have a clone heading to you right now but… we think it’s going to take over a month.]

Tessa was still relieved, she felt herself slump in the chair, [What happened? I came to the study room afterward and it was in shambles!]

Zorian paused at that, [Did the library make you pay for that?]

Tessa was suddenly worried about the way she’d left last night, slipping out while the archivist was distracted. [No… but I never talked to them, they might.]

Zorian sent a mental sigh, and directed her to where he was keeping his money. [There should be enough for you to live for more than a month there, try to talk to me before you buy anything, alright? Once my simulacrum gets there we can make a gate, like before.]

Tessa nodded, picking up the green sack of gold and peering inside, [I’ve never lived by myself before… I’m… probably going to bug you a lot.]

Zorian seemed to have expected this though, [That’s fine. But you have to know, the fact that this doesn’t have a range limit is far too convenient for you. You can contact me but I can’t contact you, that’s really not fair.]

Tessa hummed to herself, setting the bag down and kicking her feet lightly, [Are you sure you’re okay? What about everyone else?]

[We’re all fine. You know that contract we all signed for Shiroe?]

Tessa nodded, [yes?]

[Well, the title of adventurer means more than everyone thought. If any of us die, as long as we have that title, we’ll come back.]

Tessa gasped at that, finding herself getting to her feet to walk around the room, [Really?! That’s amazing!] She paused, [WAIT, SO YOU DID DIE?!]

Zorian sent calm, and Tessa huffed, stopping in the middle of the floor and sitting down. He seemed a bit amused as well, which was really too much a Zorian thing. [Yes, we all died. We were trying to track down the person who turned you into a human, she’s the same one who brought us all here in the first place.]

Tessa blinked, [Fora?]

Zorian was shocked at that, [You know her?]

[When I came into the study room, she was still there. So she did kill you guys? I made her promise not to do it again, I think she listened.]

Zorian was baffled, [You… made her promise not to… Tessa, you do realize who that was, right? And what she’s capable of?]

[...Yes? I wasn’t scared though, it was something I had to do, you know? Either way, I believe her. She even said she was sorry.]

Zorian sighed, [Alright… now I’m just worried about someone kidnapping you with that obliviousness and of yours. How are you so trusting?!]

[I’ve been kidnapped before.] Tessa replied, [But they underestimated me.] Or rather, they hadn’t realized the mindlink was a thing, and they’d underestimated how cool Tessa’s family was.

Tessa could easily see Zorian doing the same thing Soranto had done.

Maybe that could be her superpower, making friends with all the cool people.

Chapter Text

--- Jasnah ---

It was hard to believe it had only been six days, mostly with all that had happened yesterday. Looking back, Jasnah would certainly have advised caution in several areas, but after confronting the dryads, she’d been eager. Too eager.

So she decided to take a step back from all that, even with how close they suddenly were to Engere, that island those very same dryads had told her about. She would take a few days to simply think and gather information, and then she would tell the others about the island and they could start looking into it together.

Partially it was refreshing to have research partners, but mostly Jasnah was reminded why she’d never kept any around for long in the past. They all had their own ideas about what was the most important thing, and often that could drown out her own mind.

So she was on a walk through this new city, because if not taking a break was the cause of that whole mess, she had to just… do better. Jasnah, it shall be noted, is an Elsecaller, and Elsecallers, it shall be noted, are obsessed with reaching their potential. The fact that she’d failed so badly yesterday was just more evidence to Jasnah that she was a long way away from her fifth ideal. Really, those mistakes had been basic, she’d thought herself to be past them a long time ago.

Jasnah sighed. “I’m sorry.” She muttered, directed at Ivory.

Ivory didn’t respond at first, but she could tell he was regretting his own lack of warning. He felt that he should have seen when she hadn’t been thinking and stopped her. “You will become better, as will I. No excuses are.”

“Yes.” Jasnah agreed. “I should have been able to do it, all that matters is I did not. Things were going wrong, but that’s secondary, I should have realized I was distracted.” Jasnah sighed, it was her fault, but that just meant she would do better next time, she knew what to look for now.

She was only glad that even though they had been separated after she’d died, the act of summoning her blade when she woke was enough to bring him to her. She still didn’t know how she felt about Shiroe’s deceit, but she was glad she was alive. It didn’t make it any less painful that she’d needed assistance in the first place. If she’d had stormlight yesterday, she wouldn’t have needed to be resurrected.

But that’s another thing, needing assistance isn’t bad, you know this already. It all just… felt like she was backsliding.

Jasnah passed through the city, looking up into the sunlight. It felt almost odd for those great trees to not be above like they’d been for the last five days, but more it felt strange for the homes to not have a clear stormward and leeward. It was like Thaylen city before the Everstorm.

Currently, her only advantage as a radiant was Ivory and the logicspren that made up her armor. But of course, Fora had cut through that same armor like a storm would cut through bare flesh. She’d assumed they wouldn’t need to fight anything, there wasn’t a worldwide war here after all, and she’d never had to do any fighting before the war back on Roshar. She was starting to see how naive that had been.

Back home, she hadn’t needed to worry about small fights—unless she was the one starting them—or people sending soldiers after her. She’d had the might of the Alethi throne behind her, so of course people knew to leave her be.

But she didn’t have that here. Here, she was ordinary. Jasnah was beginning to hate that feeling.

She retreated to the Ayfel—the place she and the others had awakened—and found her way to one of their training rooms. They were some kind of educational area, and of course, they taught all kinds of things, fighting being one of them.

The room itself was unfamiliar in layout and design, but there was a dirt floor and a dummy of some kind on a stick across from the doorway.

Ivory appeared beside her, growing to the size of a human. Of course, Ivory didn’t look human, his features were far too angular, and the deep black of his skin and clothing had an oily prismatic sheen to it. There was a sword at his side, and he regarded the world with the stoicism of his kind, the stoicism of the inkspren, the stoicism that Jasnah herself apparently cultivated. He was a spren though, and in this form he didn’t have substance.

He just nodded to her.

Jasnah held out a hand, summoning him as a shardblade. His immaterial form disappeared, turning into mist and forming in her hand as the blade. Other radiants’ blades, like the Windrunners, often took the form of a spear, and in reality, Ivory could become anything made of metal of a certain size. But Ivory liked a blade, and Jasnah wasn’t going to push the issue unless she needed something else.

She dulled the edge with a thought so as to not slice anything that shouldn’t be sliced, and then thrust herself at the training dummy.

--- Trinity ---

Trinity frowned at the display as Shiroe pointed out various things to her.

Apparently she was the weakest one, which her instincts did not appreciate in the least. It didn’t help as much as he probably thought it would when Shiroe pointed out that Tessa was only level thirty one, and therefore not even half Trinity’s own level.

And this is why I never played videogames before… Trinity thought to herself. Shiroe eventually taught her how to add people to her friends list, and she hastily added Shiroe, Zorian, and Jasnah to it. She would have put Tessa on as well, but someone had to be in front of you in order to put them on the list.

Somewhere along the way she’d started trusting Shiroe, but after the deceit with the title of ‘adventurer’ she honestly wasn’t sure what she thought. He hadn’t caused any harm, just deceived her.

Trinity squinted at him, “We can call each other telepathically now. Did you… tell Zorian that part?”

Shiroe glanced at his own display, “I’ll go over all this with him later, and then with Jasnah once she calms down. But I honestly think Zorian knows about that part already. I wanted to tell you the whole thing first since you’re already a bit familiar with how games work, and you’re taking everything rather well.”

She folded her arms, looking at the display. “I think I just gave up on freaking out about weird crap a long time ago.” She shook her head, she hadn’t given up on Nicky just because of all her weirdness, besides, after all the strange things that happened to Trinity thanks to her rotten luck, it would be more strange if she wasn’t used to that by now.

Shiroe showed her a few more things, and then requested that she try hunting some lesser monsters on her own to see how fast her level was willing to go up. Well, that wasn’t so difficult, Trinity just had to apparently… ‘do some grinding.’

She grimaced. Alright, what’s the best and most efficient way to do this?

--- Tessa ---

The days passed in agonizing slowness. Tessa spent as little time as possible in the room Zorian had rented, but she still felt lonely as she went through the city, chatting with shop owners and making friends with all sorts of people.

She met Ahrinel several more times, always talking about music. Tessa learned all sorts of musical terms from the boy, and the blood memories did the rest. He was nice, and he didn’t seem to care that she was still a kid really, which Tessa got the feeling most humans cared about.

Once though, after her morning song, he approached her, worried, “Tessa, where’s your family?”

Tessa blinked at him, and glanced at the dispersing crowd, “They’re not here. They’re somewhere else, far away.”

Ahrinel folded his arms, apparently not taking that as an answer, “I never see you with anyone. You talk to people a lot, but you never seem close to any of them.”

Tessa smiled, and looked him in the eye. “Ahrinel, I’m glad you’re worried, but I’m okay, I promise. I’m just waiting for my friend to get here!”

He frowned, but nodded, unfolding his arms. “Alright, but aren’t you at the age when affinities start to manifest? Isn’t that kind of dangerous to have happening if you’re living alone?”

Tessa was perfectly willing to pretend she knew what that meant, but she also… did not know what that meant. She tilted her head at him inquisitively. “...Affinities?”

“Instinctive magic?”

“Ah.” Tessa said, nodding wisely.

“Please tell me you at least got them tested?”

“...No?”

Ahrinel sighed, “We need to fix that.” and waved her to follow him, Tessa curiously trailed behind him, walking off the now empty corner she always sang to the sun at, and moving through the city toward the market that was almost desolate at this time of the morning.

He led her to a certain shop, which was open with a cheerful looking sign out front that Tessa still couldn’t read. She’d been trying to figure out the numbers so she could read clocks like back home, but so far she could only really tell when it was morning.

Ahrinel knocked on the door and pushed it open, waving at the girl behind the counter, who blushed slightly at the sight of him. Tessa glanced between them as she entered behind him, deciding they knew each other.

The girl spluttered slightly, “Ahrinel hi! Great to see you? Who’s this?” She asked it curiously, tilting her head at Tessa.

“This is Tessa, she needs her affinities tested, do we need to make an appointment? I know I got mine done here, but it’s been a while.”

Tessa waved. “What’s your name?”

The girl smiled, “I’m Maelni, nice to meet you! Is Ahrinel your brother?” She glanced between Tessa and Ahrinel, and Tessa got the sense she was looking at their features and comparing them. Ahrinel was about sixteen, like Zorian, so Tessa was apparently the right age to be his little sister or something.

Tessa thought they looked similar, but she also thought all humans looked similar. She was about to shake her head ‘no’ when Ahrinel cut her off. “Yes, Tessa is my sister.” Tessa blinked at that, and did her best to not act surprised. She didn’t think it worked very well. “So, Maelni, do we need an appointment?”

She jerked slightly, apparently having gotten distracted, “Nope! You can head back there right now, I think she’s just reading, but she knows we’re open so it’s not a problem! You can discuss payment with her directly!”

Ahrinel nodded and led Tessa through a curtain and to the back of the store. In the front it had looked like some kind of a second-hand store, like the ones in the blood memories, but back here it was much more tidy. The curtain led to a hallway that ended in a door, and Tessa took the chance to poke Ahrinel in the arm. “Hey! Why did you say we’re related?” She whispered.

He frowned, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for people to know you’re living alone right now. Aren’t you like eleven?”

Tessa felt her face flush, “I’m twelve actually.”

“Right, twelve. But seriously, you don’t want something to happen.”

Tessa grumbled slightly, and as they got to the door, she remembered the payment thing, “Wait, I have my own money, are you going to try and pay for this?”

Ahrinel sighed, “Well, if you’re going to call me out on it right now, yes.”

Tessa glared at him, standing in front of the door handle and guarding it, “No, I’m doing it, this is for me, isn’t it? I promise I have enough money.”

“Last I checked, you don’t have a job…”

“Mleh.” Tessa stuck her tongue out at him.

“Alright alright, move over, let’s get this done. Seriously I cannot believe your parents not making you do this before you headed out on your own. Did you run away from home or something?” He was muttering that part under his breath though as he opened the door, so Tessa was pretty sure he wasn’t looking for an answer.

On the other side, there was in fact, a woman. She sat on a nice looking sofa, flipping through a book. On the table in front of her was a large glass ball that shimmered in the light. Purple curtains were draped across the room, making it feel a bit like a tent. She was a fairly average human, and besides wearing a lot of rings like Zorian did, she looked just like all the other people out in the market.

She snapped her book closed when the door opened, and smiled at them warmly, “Welcome, welcome! What do you need, a fortune, a glimpse of history, a memory you’ve forgotten dredged up from the depths of your mind?”

Ahrinel gestured toward Tessa, and smiled back, “We need my sister’s affinities tested.”

Tessa still wished she knew what that meant.

The woman seemed a bit disappointed, but her smile didn’t falter for a second. She turned her gaze to Tessa, “Affinities then? Sit down children, sit down!”

Tessa sat across from the woman, while Ahrinel sat in an inconspicuous looking chair at the side of the room. “How does this work?” Tessa found herself asking, tilting her head at the woman’s many rings.

“Oh it’s just an ability of mine. From the dawn of the imprint, Gium has granted some of us the ability to hear its waves in others, and to find what pieces have lodged itself into their souls.” She waved a hand in the air, and set down her book, still smiling.

Tessa nodded slowly, still not getting any of that. “Do I have to do anything?”

The woman hummed slightly, “No, child, just be still and silent. Listen for the sound of your own heart.”

Tessa nodded again, and sat still, feeling her breathing slow a bit. She watched the woman, curious as she continued to hum, the tone and note changing occasionally. It was like…

It was like the morning song. Tessa opened her mouth, and had to force it closed again just in case she decided to start singing right there. That struck her as a bad idea, honestly, when the woman had said to be silent.

She hummed for a moment longer and then held up a hand to the sky, “Now sing, child.” She instructed, “I can tell you feel the need.”

Tessa opened her mouth again, not even hesitating as the sound and beat overwhelmed her. She smiled as her voice rose, up and down, up and down, it was like the hope and joy from the sunrise was back for a moment, but… just a moment. She cut off when she stopped being able to hear it, her voice trailing away into nothing. The woman’s spell had ended.

When Tessa could focus again, the woman was giving her an odd look, her eyes wide, “Why, that’s a surprise!”

Ahrinel folded his arms, “What is it?”

“Your sister only has one, dear, usually there’s two or three, almost no one has just one. And of course, it’s impossible to have more than three.”

Tessa relaxed slightly, she’d been worried something had gone wrong. “What do I have then?”

“Shifter. Out of the different kinds of body magic, it says the most about the user. Any creature you understand intimately is a creature you can become, of course, with a little training.”

Tessa was on her feet a second later, leaning across the table and the glass orb to stare the woman in the eyes, “REALLY? How do I do it!? Tell me!”

The woman’s smile didn’t falter, “Ah, but your session is over, besides, I’m not a body mage, I’d suggest visiting the Ayfel for instruction, but most young people aren’t willing to travel all that way until they’re older.”

Tessa deflated slightly, but she remembered Zorian mentioning something about the word ‘ayfel’ or maybe that had been a different word… Tessa couldn’t quite remember. “Thank you ma’am! How much do I owe you?!”

Chapter Text

--- Shiroe ---

Shiroe stood up and squinted out at the desert, the mask over his face filtering out the poison in the air.

It had been about a week since the failed confrontation with Runesight, and as far as Shiroe was concerned, his top priority at the moment was getting more into the goddess of Justice’s good side. Because if someone like that was scared of her, he’d really rather she not be miffed at him.

And so it was that Shiroe had ventured to the desert, alone save for a single clone of Zorian, who’d insisted on coming along so Shiroe would have an easy way of getting back.

He hadn’t trusted the griffin whistle after last time, but he’d tried it again outside the city, just to see if it worked any better here. He’d gotten a different monster instead—and after some testing—they’d figured out that this kind of monster was significantly less willful, and therefore stayed under the effect for about two hours instead of ten minutes. It still attacked the riders after that time was up, but that was a small price to pay for transportation.

The Sanarian desert, on the other hand, was significantly less friendly than the flying bat-like monster he’d ridden there. “I don’t see any mysterious towers.” The copy Zorian said cheerfully, standing over the newly crashed corpse of their mount, which was charred, broken, and battered. Zorian had killed it rather thoroughly.

Shiroe sighed, taking out the map again. “And I really thought we’d have an easier time finding it if we had something to fly on…”

“In my defense, it brought that upon itself.” If Zorian could control things through their minds, why wasn't he doing that here… Shiroe suspected it was a bit of revenge for something, though he couldn't even begin to imagine what.

The two of them peered out at the desert helplessly, before Shiroe sighed, “Well, let’s sit tight then. We can keep going when we’re able to summon a new one tomorrow.”

The copy Zorian glanced at the corpse again, “Do you need me to take care of that?”

Shiroe glanced at it as well, it still felt odd to him that monsters didn’t evaporate into ingredients here, or a pile of treasure, or… well anything. It was significantly less appealing to fight them if he had to clean it up afterward. He grimaced, “Nevermind. How about we just set up somewhere else?”

---

After getting the quest to find a mythical tower in the middle of the desert, Jasnah had eagerly told them everything she knew about it. Which was honestly far more than most of the local historians probably knew after dedicating their lives to such things.

So, as a result, Zorian and Shiroe knew far, far more about the lore of the tower than they needed, or wanted.

Shiroe would like to have asked why Jasnah hadn’t just decided to come herself with how enamored she’d been in the history of it, but he already knew that unless it was life or death, she’d much rather not do anything at the command of Aymiae. He hadn’t asked Trinity because if more people came, the mount would just hate them more.

It was certainly strange to go on a quest like this with just one other person rather than a full raid party—since Shiroe suspected this could turn out to be more like a dungeon than anything—but if he had to be honest, Zorian was definitely the one he’d choose if he had to only choose one person. Regardless, the ‘Tower of the gods’ also called the ‘Tower of the Colineum’ was apparently not what it sounded like. It was a lot like a dungeon from what Shiroe could tell.

It took two days, but eventually, as they flew farther and farther north and the desert stopped looking so much like the Sahara, there it was.

It sat in the middle of nowhere, no road led to it and no river or oasis sat to bring it life, but those things weren’t needed because according to the oddly specific legends that Jasnah had spouted off—seriously some of those things had gotten into the building’s specific dimensions down to the millimeter—there was an enormous well inside the courtyard of the tower—which was honestly more like a castle the more Shiroe had heard about it.

Sure enough, as it came into view, it did resemble more the palace in Eastal than any single tower. The tower wasn’t as thin and high as the title tower would suggest, but Jasnah had explained that part was more because of how isolated it was rather than the shape.

They were able to land the creature outside the area, and Shiroe took the next five minutes trying to figure out how to make it go away so he wouldn’t have to kill it like the last three.

Unfortunately, it was rather dumb, so the Zorian clone ended up pointing a finger at it, after which a mostly invisible projectile sped through the air and killed the thing instantly. Again, this brought into question why he'd never just done that before. “I really hope these things aren’t scarce or something.” Zorian observed as the corpse fell over. “You know what, I’m going to see if one of the other simulacrums can find out.”

Shiroe didn’t look at it, simply gazing up at the large structure as he pulled out the letter he’d received from Taasen after accepting the quest. He looked over it again, but there was still no name of who it was meant for. “Well, hopefully we won’t have to use any more of them.”

Zorian shrugged, “You never know, flying mounts are so annoying. They do have griffins where I come from, so I suppose that thing should work right when we get there.”

“I wonder how griffins exist on Eretsu as well… how did they get both there and my world? We had legends about them on Earth, so that’s why they were in the game, but how are they in your homeland?”

Zorian raised an eyebrow as the two of them walked toward the massive front doors of the structure. He dropped some kind of rock near the stairs, but didn't explain. “Maybe some griffins managed to traverse worlds. Or… no we’re stupid, obviously the people did, and they told stories.”

Shiroe also felt stupid there. “Well, there are humans in all of our worlds. That at least should give us hope for getting back there.”

The clone made a noise of agreement as they reached the doors, and the two of them peered up at them curiously. “Well.” The clone decided, “You’ll either die horribly or be invited to tea. Still no idea who we’re even looking for?”

“No idea.” Shiroe confirmed. He looked up at the doors for a moment longer before reaching up and knocking purposefully. The sound was louder than it should have been, but it still felt quiet against the magnitude of the structure. What, you have a better idea?

There were several moments of silence, and then several magical lights spawned out of what seemed like nowhere. They danced together for a moment before a smaller and brighter version floated down from the top of the door, like a spell. It stopped at eye level, and pulsed slightly before speaking in a high, small voice. “Visitors! Visitors! From whence and wars did the visitors come? For whom and for what?”

Shiroe regarded the thing for a moment, “I…”

“Rei as in silver, Ran as in side! Rei-aran the city of cliffs? Beside the ocean to the west!” the thing interrupted him, “Welcome from the Ayfel! From Saeldel! Welcome from the Great Forest! And beyond… ohhhh from beyond! The greatest souls hail from beyond! This is exciting! Very exciting!”

“Yes, of course. May we enter?”

“We?” The thing buzzed for a moment, and then turned to hover in front of Zorian, “A Geneseri! Welcome, Geneseri! A creature of just mind, with no soul of your own to call home… very very sad that is! Welcome!”

Zorian regarded it, “It’s seriously starting to get annoying how many things here can tell a simulacrum from the original.”

It buzzed some more, “My apologies, Geneseri! Welcome!”

“May we enter?” Shiroe tried again.

It pulsed a few times and floated back toward the door, “The tower is not to be entered, I’m sorryyyy… But welcome!”

Zorian sighed, “So we’re welcome right here, just not any farther? How come we’ve heard of people who have entered then? Nothing was mentioned about this.”

It jolted slightly, “Ah ah ah! They tell tales?! Stories?!”

They glanced at each other and nodded.

“My my! That’s grand! I’ve always wanted to be spoken of across the lands in hushed tones, a secret incapable of being kept this is! Wow!”

“But we still can’t enter.” Zorian stated, folding his arms with an annoyed look.

“I’m soryyyy! The tower was deemed unsuitable for mortal entry, most mortals get lost, you see, and we can’t have that! So Kalteii told me ‘Spark, you need to make sure those mortals stop getting lost, it’s bad for business!’ So you aren’t allowed inside! You can’t get lost if you don’t go inside!”

Shiroe held up the letter. “We need to find someone inside and deliver this letter. It’s from Aymiae, the goddess of Justice.”

Spark jerked around a few times in the air, eventually spinning around the letter a few times, “My my! That is a letter! And from Aymi you say? My my! The new goddess with a will of iron from Agerion himself!”

“Could you come with us?” Shiroe asked, “That way you can make sure we don’t get lost.” Honestly that would be a good thing. They had Shiroe, who was a master scribe and decently capable of charting out a dungeon on his own, but according to Jasnah, most of the lore surrounding the tower was just saying how there was something about it that made it impossible to not get lost.

It was a good thing then that they just had to find the person, after that, Zorian could likely gate them straight out.

Spark pulsed a few times, “You bring up very good points, mortal. But how am I to be sure you don’t get lost if I let you inside? Even dimensionalists get lost here!”

“We have to go inside.” Shiroe explained, “if you don’t come with us, we’re just going to force our way in or sneak inside.”

Spark grew agitated, spinning around in circles as Shiroe put away the letter. Zorian frowned at it. “You don’t seem like a non-sapient spell construct. What are you?”

It slowed to a stop, and the glow brightened quite a bit. “I’m Spark! The spirit of small lights that ebb and flow in a stream of non-ceasing particles!”

“A spirit?” Zorian squinted slightly, “That’s an oddly specific designation, if you don’t mind my observation.”

Spark seemed to laugh, but the sound was so light that Shiroe could hardly pick it up “If I weren’t so specific, don’t you think I would be powerful enough to make you leave? No no! I’m eleventh generation, my duty is simply to guide the way as a constant, and to lead the smallest lights of the Colineum. Hence my size…” The glow faded somewhat, and then pulsed a few more quick times.

Shiroe sighed, “Your duty is to guide the way?”

“Yes!”

“Please guide me to whomever this letter is for then, I promise we won’t leave sight of you.”

It—though Shiroe was starting to think of Spark more as a ‘she’—brightened, “Of course!”

The massive doors began to ponderously slide themselves inward, pushed by some unknown magical effect. She’d… really just changed her mind like that? So quickly? Shiroe shook his head slightly and led the way inside, Zorian following behind him.

Spark zipped in front, the rest of the lights from outside following her as she seemed to gesture toward the courtyard around them, “Come children! Light the path for the visitors!” The lights obeyed, cheerfully falling into place around the area, even though it was midday and the courtyard was open to the hot desert sun.

Shiroe followed Spark as she made her way through the winding path of the gardens and passed several cheerful looking bushes. “Don’t touch the Silvi!” Spark said, “This kind is very energetic! It'll damage your soul!” She floated around some of the smaller looking flowers to show what she was talking about, and then back on the path, “The gardens are my favorite part of the tower! They represent Grandmother Anything!” The little spark flitted between the small variety of trees, “Which, of course, is why the gardens are so grand and beautiful! Also the most peaceful part of the tower, since… ah… you’ll see!”

Shiroe figured she was speaking of the monsters that reportedly roamed the halls. She made her way to another door, and it opened for her. Spark led the two of them through the passage and into the corridor beyond, before pausing. The various lights from outside followed them, this time lighting up this newest area.

“I don’t know where your message is meant to go, but if we take it to the mailroom, I’m certain that the spirits there will know to whom it belongs.” She drifted slightly, and then turned a corner. “You two seem like capable people, you made it here through the desert after all. Do you think you could slay some monsters if we were to come across them?”

Zorian laughed slightly, and Shiroe nodded, “Of course.”

Spark bobbed up and down at that, “That’s good! Since there’s an aremolot in the next corridor, and I’d hate to have you die!”

Shiroe glanced at Zorian, who just shrugged, “I can sense a mind..”

Spark turned another corner, and then the group found their way past a window that looked out into a very unfamiliar landscape of green plains and massive mountains. Zorian frowned at it, and then looked at Spark, “Where is this tower exactly?”

Spark flickered a bit, “Oh! Still Virna, but don’t worry about being transposed to another world here! The dimensional membrane is as stable as we could make it! Er… as stable as Akta and Astral and Grandmother Luxidian could make it! I just watched!”

Shiroe didn’t recognise any of those names, and he suspected he wasn’t supposed to. “What is this window showing then?” He asked curiously.

Spark peered at it, since they’d all stopped, and brightened considerably, “Ah! That window looks back to the year thirty-four twenty-two!” She seemed to nod, “Very good time that was, this spot hadn’t yet become a desert in 3400, Akta put various windows like it here and there, to brighten the place up a little!”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, too curious for his own good. “Then what year is it now?”

“Eighteen thousand one hundred and sixty two LC!” Spark hesitated, and then clarified “Lamariel Constant.” Well that didn’t really tell them much, other than that it had been a very very long time since this place had become a desert. Well, that and this tower was likely very very old. It certainly looked like it was.

They continued onward, but never did come across that monster Spark had warned them about. Shiroe suspected Zorian had done something with his mind to make it leave, but that just again begged the question of why he’d never done the same thing with their various mounts.

Maybe Zorian just wanted variety or something?

Shiroe shook his head at the corridor, a bit disappointed if he was being honest. It was putting him on edge to not have something try to attack them. “Spark?” He asked, “How common are monsters in this tower exactly?”

She paused, and seemed a bit embarrassed, “Don’t… tell Akta, but a few thousand years ago I let the goddess of the Wilds in… She said she just wanted to chat with someone! I didn’t know she’d let all her beasts inside! Besides, She’s my aunt, I can’t just not let her in if she asks!” Spark whirled around the area for a moment, “Akta should have known I’d be no good as a guardian of her tower, I can’t even make the mortals leave!”

Zorian squinted, “A goddess is your aunt too? How many relatives do you have?”

Spark laughed at him. She did… not explain, she simply led the way forward.

-

The mailroom was—despite Shiroe’s initial expectations—a regular mailroom. Various lights flitted about the area before they’d even arrived, while a single man stood in the center, sorting a stack of letters.

“Grandpa!” Spark said—everything sounded like she was shouting, because her voice was so quiet. “Our visitors have arrived! Visitors they are! From places passed and guided to the tower!”

She slotted smoothly back into her more confusing method of speaking, and Shiroe decided she was doing that on purpose.

The man, who didn’t look old enough to even be a father, let alone a grandfather, glanced up from his stack, “Spark! It’s been a while.” His gaze moved toward Shiroe and Zorian and he quirked an eyebrow. The eyebrows in question were odd, they were colored a bright blue reminiscent of some kind of hair dye, though just as clearly natural. His hair was cropped short, and there seemed to be a design in it with the same blue, like the shape a dragon might be, surrounded by the plain blonde of the rest of his hair.

Shiroe pulled out the letter, deciding this was the best next step, and the man took it without question, turning it over a few times, “Ah, Aymiae, I remember her. Good soul that. She has the heart of a messenger.” He handed it back to Shiroe, “It’s for Eliax, the goddess of Spatial Balance.” He looked troubled at that.

“Eliax.” Shiroe echoed, tucking the letter away. Spatial Balance… maybe that was someone who could help them get home?

Chapter Text

--- Trinity ---

Trinity flexed her hand again, the unfamiliar weapon was really throwing her off. At this point, part of her would rather just… not use a weapon at all, but she knew that was just her instincts talking.

But having something besides her fingers on hand had always been a blessing in the past. It was the only reason she’d always been sure of her victory when facing feral nightstalkers, and it was the only reason she’d be of any help against a feral terror.

But that doesn’t make this thing any less weird. I’d almost prefer just the belt knife…

She gave the blade a sideways look, the strange curving S shape was still just as unfamiliar as it had been this morning when she’d finally gotten a hold of it. She’d picked it up because this is what they used to slice grain in this world, and she’d been naive though to assume it would move at least similar to the sickle she’d lost at the library. She’d had that sickle since the outbreak for goodness sake!

She grumbled to herself again, before re-sheathing it and deciding again that it would just have to do. It would take some practice to get, so there was no reason to keep worrying about it. Maybe they have a scythe somewhere, I don’t like how bulky those things are, but this is getting ridiculous. She exhaled gustily and started down the path again, intrigued at how extensive the farmland was.

It made it harder to sneak up closer to the city, Rei-aran, and it made it almost impossible to get over the city wall undetected. Trinity was a bit interested in the connotations of this when it came to sneaking, since back home they couldn’t very well have a lot of farmland outside the palisade, since you’d have to constantly be leading away the zombies to keep them from trampling it and contaminating the food.

Trinity passed some homes, they became more and more sparse the farther one got from the city, just like on Earth. Partially it was interesting to see a society that was still stuck in what looked occasionally like the medieval ages, but was really some unholy combination of the modern era, the 1800s, and medieval nonsense, with a dash of other stuff thrown in.

She passed a monument of some kind as she made her way out of the city, and along one spot there was a sign pointing toward a well worn path that deviated from the road. ‘Hike to Beach Turste and see the beautiful cliffs of Silverside from afar!’

They even had dedicated hikes, what in the world…

Trinity peered curiously at the sign, shook her head, and continued out of the city.

--

Trinity snarled at the beast, dodging a swipe as it once again tried to surprise her. She twirled through strikes and hit the monster again and again, frustrated. She’d aimed for its neck at first, obviously, and yet she’d missed with this stupid improper weapon.

There was a long deep gash near it’s throat, and it was bleeding heavily, but clearly she hadn’t hit anything too important because the stupid thing was still standing.

She slashed at it again, but this was going far too slowly, her instincts were screaming at her to run away, to hide in the shadows and plan another ambush. They were screaming that this beast was above her capabilities.

Good thing Trinity had never been all that good at listening to her instincts.

She dodged again, and ran past the beast, pretending like she was trying to leave. Of course, the monster turned to strike at her back. It was shaped kind of like a cougar, but the way it moved was too lumbering and slow for the agile cat it resembled. It had two feathery wings on its back, and massive horns that clearly got in the way of whatever movement it was trying to do at that moment.

That didn’t matter though.

Trinity leapt above it as it rushed toward her, angling her fall to land straight where it was heading.

Finally, blessedly, she managed to slice it’s throat open.

She wasn’t hungry at the moment, since the sun was still up, otherwise she might have tasted its blood, just to see if it was the good kind. But predator blood never had been her favorite, it was more of a rainy day kind of thing.

Trinity kicked the corpse, growling at it with frustration. She’d won in the end, but since when had any beast been too mighty for her to overcome in an instant? Back in Saeldel, the monsters had been similar, but she’d never picked a fight with them before now.

She cleaned off her blade in the grass, remembering again the loss of her backpack, which she’d taken off in the library before the confrontation. It felt wrong to not go into the forest with modern first aid supplies, extra clothes, or even the various snacks and fidget toys she’d taken to keeping on hand so she could throw them at Nicky if the redhead got too out of control.

Thinking again of the first aid supplies, Trinity glanced down at her arm, which sported several long gashes from the monster’s claws when it had gotten too close early on in the fight. She’d be fine, and in theory, she didn’t really have to bandage them up if Nina wasn’t going to be breathing down her neck about it.

But again, it felt wrong to not. There weren’t even any humans nearby to potentially infect, and the bleeding would stop by the time she returned to the city anyway…

Trinity sighed and continued into the forest.

-

As the sun touched the horizon, Trinity looked toward it—though not directly at it, it was still too bright even with her glasses—her instincts stirred themselves fully awake.

She gritted her teeth against the temptation to proclaim her presence to the world, and then realized… why not? Why shouldn’t she rile the monsters up a little bit, let them know she was coming? She’d been holding back in the past because it struck her as theatrical and stupid to announce to prey that she was near.

But no one here knew what the sound meant. She was far from the city, and she could detect no scent of buildings or woodsmoke.

Trinity raised her head to the sky and released a nightstalker scream into the dusk air.

Immediately, all the little noises of the wilderness halted, the small critters ceased their scraping and the insects grew still. In the distance though, she heard a yowl of anger, something deep in a nearby forest had heard her and was taking exception to her presence.

Good. It would make a worthy foe.

Trinity moved in the shadows and started toward the sound, smiling to herself slightly. There weren’t any humans she had to worry about protecting. No sisters, she had to worry about doing stupid things. No strongholds to protect or higher-ranking zombies to tiptoe around.

There was just Trinity and the coming night.

She fought the beast that came after her, and she fought the ones after that, over and over Trinity unsheathed her clean blade and soiled it by the blood of monsters who sought her own. By the time the sun rose and her instincts finally abated, even they were weary of the bloodshed. Of the culling.

Trinity checked her level as the sun began to rise, pleased to find an increase.

Level 79 though? Seriously, how many things did she have to kill to really get it up there? Jasnah was level 106, and there was no doubt that that number would increase. Shiroe was at 93, and even though Trinity suspected Zorian was a lot higher than either of them, she still couldn’t figure out what his level even was.

She exhaled gustily and almost closed the display, but paused, going to the more specific screen that told her what specifically she needed to improve on.

Things like silent walking and ambush were in the high eighties, and that had her eyebrows raising in surprise. Sure, those were things she always did, but she certainly hadn’t realized it would be so high.

Most of the abilities were around the low eighties, but then there was one number that was the clear outlier.

Forty three. A skill called intimidation.

Trinity couldn’t help it, she muttered to herself aloud. “Am I really not that intimidating?! Seriously?! Why do I need to be?” She tapped on the stupid thing a few times, and then flicked it when it did nothing.

Well alright then, she’d intimidate the heck out of the entire forest!

Even though the sun had risen, Trinity raised her head to the sky and let out another nightstalker scream as a test, before looking back at the number.

Forty four. Huh, that was fast. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

--- Jasnah ---

Jasnah Kohlin sat in front of a child, frowning as he hummed to himself. He placed one of his blocks upright and set another block on it to make it seem like a roof. The child was still going at it, even after an hour of setting up blocks and ceaselessly humming.

Jasnah had never really understood how to act around children. She didn’t hate them, in a way she actually respected them more than most. They didn’t often pretend to know things they didn’t. If they were ignorant about something, they always seemed to find a way to tell you about it.

But at the same time, they were ignorant. That made it hard for Jasnah to justify wasting time on them.

Her gaze moved back to the city of blocks, a bit impressed at the accuracy of it. It was a model of the city they were currently in, Rei-aran. There were some inconsistencies, but the small blocks clearly and perfectly matched the map Jasnah remembered as the child lay down block after block.

It reminded her of Shallan, this was an art, and it was  useless right now, but the child would grow with this, he would understand better the individual pieces of a city once he finished. He didn’t even have a map as reference, which made it significantly more impressive.

Jasnah inclined her head toward the child, smiling slightly as she stood up, “Thank you for this demonstration of your abilities, Falorvak of the Ayfel. I believe you will make a brilliant artist someday.”

He looked up at her, and smiled with his teeth, big and wide, “I want to be an architect someday!”

“A worthy pursuit for one with such talents.” Jasnah nodded to herself and then left the room, still at just as much of a loss as to what to do with herself as before. Zorian had said the project to make stormlight was ‘going well’ but he hadn’t gotten her the timeline yet.

On the other hand, her research into the island of Engere was… stalling. She entered the room the Ayfel had provided her and sighed as she sat at the small desk.

In Jasnah’s bag was the only book she had found that so much as mentioned the island. It was called ‘a sailor’s guide to shipwreck’ and despite the author having been stranded on Engere, there was little to no mention of specifics, it just glazed past that and went straight to survival tips.

She’d assumed the tips themselves might give hints for what the island had been like, but as it turned out, the author didn’t just include what he’d found important during his own experience. He included useful tips for any  kind of shipwreck or stranding. He’d apparently gone on to be a bit of a survival tip fanatic after his experience, and he included everything from the best way to revive someone who’d drowned to how to find food in the Sandfrost desert.

As such, the volume was thicker than a tree trunk and just as dense, but still somehow only used the word Engere one time.

Jasnah glanced at the map again. As it turned out, most maps didn’t even include the island, even though it was large, about half the size of the mistlands which was almost a full continent—though that wasn’t accounting for the distortion brought by using a flat map instead of a globe, of course.

It was a mystery as to why everyone seemed so eager to forget about this island, but Jasnah opened her notebook, tapping the words she’d recorded after her talk with the dryads.

‘We remain here… but the birds speak, and our golems wander… There is an island to the north, far past the mountains and the great desert. On that island, you may find a path forward. The mortals named it Engere, the island of long past betrayals and heartache.’

Long past betrayals and heartache implied that someone might have forgotten it on purpose. Jasnah didn’t like that thought, but it was much better than the alternative, that people simply hadn’t been interested enough to explore or record the island. It spoke of a hidden history and the same sense of excitement and intrigue that had drawn Jasnah to learn of the Voidbringers now drew her to this.

Hidden history, it may be noted, was one of Jasnah’s favorite topics. Not because she’d liked it at first, but because it had bothered her to no end when it existed and she didn’t know about it. 

There was more to find here, Jasnah was sure of it.

Chapter Text

--- Simulacrum number four ---

Simulacrum number four held up the empty sphere, and once again channeled mana into it.

It started glowing, and if he was being honest, it was really a horrible container for mana, it leaked everywhere, which was why the light dimmed eventually even without someone draining it. If he had his whole workshop, he’d certainly have started on a complex mana battery for this kind of thing, but as it was, mana batteries were… difficult. Otherwise the original wouldn’t have just resorted to just using crystalized mana. The effort generally wasn’t worth the minimal gains, even though he’d hoped while back in the timeloop that it might be a solution to his less than desirable mana reserves.

The original had managed to get a hold of more supplies though, now that they weren’t in the middle of a hard to traverse forest with poor trade. Simulacrum number four was pleased to find that the original could easily make golem frames for the simulacrums like this, even though they wouldn’t have as much spell formula in them for lack of resources.

Zorian had replaced simulacrum number one, who was heading to Saeldel, but he hadn’t had time to deal with simulacrum number two, the one he’d sent with Shiroe on his quest. He’d replaced Simulacrum number three, who was combing through the Ayfel’s library, but number four himself was still just an ectoplasmic shell.

Simulacrum number four examined the sphere as it started glowing with his mana, and then set it aside before picking up the second one Jasnah had lent the original for these experiments. He hesitated, and then drew the mana into his soul, blinking.

It definitely was still attuned to Zorian’s mana, even though he’d filled this one last night.

The simulacrum grinned at it, holding the sphere up and leaning back in his chair. Maybe this was using the same principles as the imperial crown?! The original had known it was possible to make a battery like that that never got unattuned, anything divine magic did was theoretically possible with normal magic. Divine magic just made it impossibly… perfect. That wasn’t quite the right word, but there just wasn’t a right word for it.

The simulacrum put the mana back inside the sphere, and then tapped his leg.

This was a bit of a problem though, because he likely needed to get some unattuned mana into the thing if he wanted to achieve his promise to Jasnah. The original had put a memory packet around what Stormlight sounded like, and as far as he could tell, that was a reliable way to remember a sound perfectly.

After experimenting a bit, he figured out that unattuned mana didn’t have any sound—though he’d tested it with a bit of crystalized mana he’d had on hand, so that wasn’t really definitive. It would explain why no one on Eretsu had noticed this little aspect before, if it was just attuned mana that generated said sound. Interestingly enough, his own mana had a sound as well, though it was certainly less powerful a tone than the Stormlight.

Honor’s light, she called it. Did that mean someone named Honor was the one it was attuned to? Someone powerful who’s people could use the same mana for some odd reason? Jasnah hadn’t said with words, but Zorian suspected many people in her homeland could use this light.

Simulacrum number four closed his eyes, increasing his mental enhancements somewhat to make thinking faster for a moment.

The experiment Jasnah had described which resulted in unattuned mana had involved a vacuum chamber. The original wasn’t familiar with them, though he understood the concept of sucking all the air out of a space and leaving nothing inside.

He could fill crystals with his own mana and conceivably turn it into stormlight with that sound Jasnah had given him. With that stormlight, she could change matter itself.

So, if the simulacrum could make stormlight the hard way, and then use Jasnah’s soulcasting to make the necessary materials, he should be able to refine the process with spell formula and artifice. He’d have to make something that did this all automatically and drew on the ambient mana of course, because there was no way Zorian had enough mana reserves to be responsible for whatever Jasnah did with this on a daily basis.

He opened his eyes, thinking of what he needed for this process to work. He pulled out a blank cube he’d painstakingly carved out of wood with the hopes that Jasnah could make it into something stronger eventually. He examined it, and started planning up a design.

He’d need to make more of these, obviously since the first draft of such an unfamiliar project was bound to be a mess, and he’d definitely need a chamber to turn into a vacuum until he found a better way to isolate the mana…

--- Simulacrum number two ---

Spark, was definitely not an incorporeal spirit.

Spark, was also not a mindless spell construct.

Spark, it may be noted, did in fact have a soul and a mind, Simulacrum number two had checked. Though both were shielded with Xvim level strength, the soul and mind were still there, which meant that Spark was alive. Spark certainly hadn’t seemed like it at first, but the longer the two of them followed the creature, the more clear it became that it (she?) was a person. Well, if a glowing ball of light so bright he could hardly even look at it straight on counted as a person.

Simulacrum number two always found himself watching the ‘spirit’ from the corner of his eye. He always found himself wary of what she might be planning with all this. If she was a person, that meant she wasn’t bound by things like duty, she didn’t have to guide them to their destination, because she wasn’t a non-sapient spell construct and had free will.

Perhaps it was because she’d seemed that way at first, but Simulacrum number two felt almost threatened by this fact. In all honesty, he would have trusted a spell construct much more than a person, but the fact that they could in fact trick her was actually helping somewhat. It made it easier to decide that yes, they were the ones in control of the situation, and no, Spark wasn’t about to lead them to their doom anytime soon.

Perhaps it was also the fault of all the stories Jasnah had shoved down their throats about this place, or maybe it was the fault of the way this place acted like the dungeon. It was harder to shape mana here.

Of course, the simulacrum had left a stick outside as a teleport beacon, but if they got too far from it in this place, it would be useless. He didn’t doubt for a second that they could get too far from it, since every time he cast a diagnostic spell to detect hidden worlds, it acted like you’d cast an unmodified magesight in Cyoria.

This place was filled with pocket dimensions.

There were too many things that could go wrong here, and too many risks. The Simulacrum would never have let the original Zorian come to this place, and the original Zorian would have agreed. He decided not to mention any of this to Shiroe though, the guy had enough anxiety as it was without lumping something like that in on him.

Simulacrum number two followed Shiroe and Spark through a nondescript door. The wallpaper beside it was peeling, but other than that, there was no way to tell it apart from any other of the hundreds of identical doors in that corridor.

He frowned as the three of them entered the empty room, Spark’s various lights finally opting to stay outside. It was an ordinary room as far as Simulacrum number two was concerned. To him that meant a bed, a small desk, and a window. The window peered out into an unfamiliar city, no sign of the tower to be found.

Spark floated toward the desk and a bag beside it began to glow, it unzipped itself and a notebook eagerly floated out the opening, landing squarely on the desk with a thud. Spark drifted happily around it and alighted atop the closed book. “To deliver your message, it is necessary to summon an aspect of the goddess you wish to speak to! Simply channel mana into this notebook!”

Shiroe took it, and obligingly did so. Nothing seemed to happen.

“How does it work?” Simulacrum number two asked, since Shiroe didn’t seem inclined to question this method. The original was somewhat familiar with how summoning rituals worked, and simply channeling a miniscule amount of mana into a random book definitely didn’t fit that.

Spark pulsed. “It sends a message to Eliax, she should appear any minute now!”

Simulacrum number two raised an eyebrow, but didn’t really doubt her. Just because that method didn’t make sense to him didn’t mean it didn’t work. He just wished she’d been more descriptive so he could figure it out… it certainly didn’t look like any work of spell formula to him.

He would have been more concerned about drawing the attention of a god if he hadn’t read up on them since arriving and decided they must operate under very different rules than the ones he’d heard tales of back in Eretsu. For one thing, they hardly seemed to do anything.

Considering Shiroe had drawn the attention of one of these gods simply by existing nearby, Simulacrum number two did not doubt that some might already be watching him, just… silent for the moment.

The seconds ticked by in silence.

Then, in the center of the room, something began to glow.

Simulacrum number two blinked and looked away from it as it continued growing in brightness, eventually surpassing the glow of Spark. It brightened steadily with silvery-blue light until the simulacrum could eventually make out the shape of a person.

There was a popping sound as the light dimmed suddenly to something much less glaring. She regarded them for a moment before folding her arms. “Shiroe, and Zorian Kazinski. To what do I owe this visit? If this is about Fora, she and I aren’t on speaking terms.”

Simulacrum number two squinted, trying to take in her features, but besides being the same race as Fora and Maerthen, there wasn’t much he could really see about the woman through the light.

Shiroe hastily pulled out the letter, bowed in a surprisingly formal way, and held it out toward the glowing figure. “This is your mail.”

She smiled slightly, and took the letter, breaking the seal and taking out a page with obvious curiosity. As her eyes roved over the words, her smile slowly turned into a full on scowl about halfway down. “This is… important information, thank you for being the messenger.”

Simulacrum number two relaxed, was this going to be all then? Part of him wanted to ask some things, but he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to sneak them in before the goddess left. Though… it probably wasn’t a great idea to accidentally get on the bad side of a second pantheon, even if the first one only acted through angels.

Shiroe cleared his throat though, neatly solving the problem. “Actually, you’re the goddess of spatial balance, correct?”

The goddess regarded him curiously, but surprisingly enough she responded, “I am BALANCE. That covers everything better than adding a second word. Astral liked the title though, so it’s difficult to change people’s minds.”

Shiroe pushed up his glasses, “You could take us home though, couldn’t you?”

Her expression reminded Simulacrum number two of Jasnah somehow. “I could, however, it would not be without violating my agreement with Connection. She has dominion over interplanetary travel. The Meddler bringing you here broke things enough as it is. Theoretically, I do have the ability, but breaking my word would put me in the power of Justice. She and I might be on good terms, but we both know she won’t hesitate to enact her domain, just as I will not for my own.”

She gave Shiroe a flat look, “Is there anything else?” Shiroe hesitated, and then shook his head, so she glanced at Simulacrum number two. “You have a burning question, I can sense the imbalance in you.”

Simulacrum number two didn’t even hesitate. “What is mana?”

The goddess sighed, looking at the ceiling as if she’d rather be anywhere doing anything else. “You certainly know how to get to the heart of a matter, don’t you?”

“So? What is it?”

“You’re well on your way to figuring that out yourself.” She complained, “and I’m not really supposed to interfere with the technological and magical development of mortals.”

Simulacrum number two gave her a hard stare—surprisingly difficult with how she was glowing—and folded his arms. “So?”

“So, It’s a stupid question. You still want the answer, I assume?” He nodded, she sighed, “I should have just disappeared in a cloud of smoke after taking the letter…”

“But at this point you have to tell me?” Simulacrum number two asked hopefully. He figured that a god would know, if there was anyone who did.

“Well no, I don’t have to. But if I don’t tell you, there will be an imbalance in your future regarding this, and that’s significantly worse than any other problem I can think of.” She looked between the two of them, thought for a moment, and continued. “Mana, or Vitality, or Light as your friend Jasnah calls it… it’s nothing more than the complete harnessing of the soul.”

She waved her hand and an image of a soul appeared, though it seemed more… colorful than a soul ought to be. “The soul harnesses your inner mind, your expectations, your reality. For you, Zorian, it’s a bit different, but in this world? On Virna, what you think will happen has just as much effect on your abilities as the unwritten laws you’re so keen on discovering.”

She paused. “If you stick around long enough, I suggest you visit Divaria, their magic is the best example of this.” She glanced at Shiroe, “Or… well just Taasen, really, introduce him to Zorian next you meet, I’m certain something will explode in the process.”

Shiroe seemed just intrigued, but Simulacrum number two was simply incredulous. “Based on… belief.” He said, his tone flat.

The goddess shrugged, “Obviously there’s much more to it than that, but that’s the piece you would have the hardest time seeing on your own. I’m trying to balance out your discovery for goodness sake…” She muttered to herself for a few minutes before with a popping noise turning into a cloud of blue smoke as she’d threatened earlier.

It dispersed slowly and finally Spark spoke. “That’s all you needed, right? We can… call her again if you want, but then she might get annoyed and shut off her Beacon, and those things are a pain to put back up.” Spark hesitated. “But here at the tower, we take visitor’s needs seriously!”

Which was definitely one hundred percent in line with the whole ‘you can’t get lost if you don’t go inside,’ thing earlier. Perhaps Spark was just now remembering what her job was, or perhaps no one had told her what she was even supposed to be doing.

Simulacrum number two finally managed to feel a bit of sympathy for the ‘spirit’ but he still wasn’t sure if she deserved it. The original hated inconsistency, and Simulacrum number two was no different in this aspect.

Spark flitted around for a moment as Shiroe thought to himself. The simulacrum had assumed it entailed the whole belief thing, but no. Shiroe spoke, and Simulacrum number two nearly broke his composure. “Spark, you’re like a mini goddess, aren’t you.”

Simulacrum number two was suddenly alert, glancing at Shiroe’s mind to find the reasoning there as he took the slightest step away from Spark and gripped his spell-rod a bit tighter.

Spark pulsed a few times, apparently confused. “Isn’t that what I said?”

Simulacrum number two was suddenly in a very very bad mood. “You said you were a spirit.” He glared at her, using one of his best ones. People have ranked Zorian’s glares, and they go pretty high.

Spark changed color suddenly, her usual warm yellow cycling through the rainbow. “That’s… the same thing, isn’t it? I mean, I’m too specific for mortals to really revere me. If I call myself a goddess, that just makes the title of ‘goddess’ lesser, doesn’t it? Then all the mortals who meet gods will underestimate them because I’m so weak, and then they’d probably end up dead.”

The ball of light grew dimmer and dimmer, until Simulacrum number two could detect insectile wings peeking out of the light. “Anyway, enough about me! Let’s get the two of you out of the tower before the Beasts smell you and decide they’re hungry! I’d really rather not watch you be eaten!”

Simulacrum number two sighed and glanced at Shiroe, who certainly didn’t seem as bothered by this revelation as number two was. Well, he thinks of ‘spirit’ and ‘tiny goddess’ as essentially the same thing already… The original had never heard Shiroe speak of incorporeal things, but from looking at his mind, the simulacrum could tell that things like Spark were generally nonexistent where he came from.

Or at least, functionally so.

To Shiroe, breaking terminology wasn’t a big deal because the terminology itself wasn’t a big deal. Shiroe still thought of things like they weren't quite real, even though he did know that it was not in fact a game.

That was annoying…

Chapter Text

--- Zorian ---

Zorian tapped the piece of crystal, wondering how in the world it managed to transmit sound across large distances without an ounce of spell formula to its name. It was so odd… how did the magic flow? Was it part of the structure of the crystal itself that made it work? It seemed like it.

They used unfamiliar runes and such to limit the mana flow in their magical devices, but they still did so. It reminded him of looking at webcraft. Not because it was in any way the same, but because it was a way of casting spells that was again unfamiliar to Zorian.

All one had to do to send a message through this lump of rock was push their mana into it. It felt too convenient. Especially since the thing actually worked well enough. It wasn’t nearly on the level of something Zorian could create, but it was probably about as useful as something a master artificer back in Eretsu could create.

The fact that this was naturally occurring, as in, you could go into a cave and have a chance at coming out with a fully formed version of this, probably didn’t help any. That meant there was no one who understood how and why it worked, besides maybe the gods.

Zorian was reminded of what simulacrum number four was doing at the moment, the whole ‘figure out how to make stormlight’ thing. Both projects required in a way getting versed in a new method of spellcasting.

[I just arrived at the great clearing. Do you want me to gate you in?] The message came from Simulacrum number one.

Zorian immediately sat up from his work studying the local artifice. There hadn’t been a lot of headway there yet, but that was because it was so… odd. He was certain that using these odd crystals would give him more options and close some gaps though. [Seriously? Already? They really do have more teleport capable mages here, we’ll have to take advantage of that more.]

The simulacrum seemed to agree, but was getting impatient. [Gate or no gate.]

Zorian hesitated and then nodded, [gate.] He let the connection fade as he got to his feet and started preparing the spell. Making gates across continents had been a central part of his advantage back in the timeloop. Apparently this distance was a bit farther than Koth, only having those mages that could teleport had sped it up any. Which was interesting.

Once the gate finished, Zorian contacted simulacrums number four and number three with memory packets about the situation so they wouldn’t do anything stupid, just in case, even though neither were pursuing a dangerous kind of lead. He would very much rather he not have to die to get back to Rei-aran after this.

Zorian took a breath and stepped through the gate, nodding at the simulacrum on the other side. He looked up at the trees, relaxing slightly. After a moment of adjusting, he marched straight toward the room he’d first rented over twenty days ago, intent on locating Tessa.

--- Tessa ---

Tessa gleefully wobbled her head again, the earring tinkling like a windchime even though her ear felt like it was on fire. Savala, the woman from the market Tessa had bought the earring from, laughed. It was a pleasant sound, high and pure.

“You are a gem, Tessa.” She smiled, still looking at the earring as it jingled. “How does it feel so far?”

Tessa winced slightly, “It’s like someone’s breathing fire on just that one spot! I didn’t think it would hurt so much since so many humans have them!”

Savala chuckled to herself and shook her head, her own earrings glittering in the sunlight. She had two in each ear. “Well, I’m glad you’re having fun with it. If you get a healing done without the earring in, it might seal back up, so remember that.”

Tessa nodded to herself, the lady who’d impaled her ear for her had mentioned that part. “Well, now I’m shiny, so that’s all that matters.” She nodded seriously and then looked at Savala closer, “Say, you remind me of the girl at the secondhand shop, Maelni, do you know her?”

Savala laughed again, still as pretty a sound as before, “Of course I do, I’m her mother. You only have good things to say I hope?”

Tessa nodded, “She helped me get my… affinity tested.” She still wasn’t familiar with the word. Ahrinel had insisted on getting her a book on body magic afterward, and she hadn’t had the heart to tell him she couldn’t read.

“Oh! Now that’s exciting. You know, I remember when my parents first brought me to find mine, I was so excited I swear I almost cast some wildmagic!” She grinned, “Of course, now I hardly know what I’d do without them.” She gestured to the side and one of the earrings at her stand floated into the air on a gust of wind. She caught it from the air expertly and put it back as that same wind spun through Tessa’s hair, braiding it. “It’s just another part of growing up though!”

Tessa nodded with wide eyes, watching Savala’s hands, “You’re good at that!”

“Well, not as good as some. I’m better with enhancements.” She smiled again, “So? Any word yet on your friend?”

Tessa sighed, “He’s coming still, just a few days out by now.”

“I sure hope so! Ahrinel told me to keep an eye out for you.” She leaned forward conspiratorially, “He said he’s pretending to be your brother, do you need me to set him straight?”

Tessa blinked, why had he told Savala specifically and lied to everyone else? That felt strange. “No, he’s alright, he’s just being a friend.” She smiled, “I’m glad he’s trying to help.”

“He’s a good kid, but he has some really stupid ideas. If this turns out to be one of them, just let me know and I’ll knock some sense into him.”

Tessa grinned, “Thanks!”

“No, thank you, you have no idea how good it is for business for the sunrise singer to wear my work.”

Tessa opened her mouth, “People are calling me that?! Really?!” She was so very excited about that fact, to the point where she wasn’t actually sure if it was getting a name itself that made her happy or the fact that people had been watching the morning song in the first place. She had noticed the crowds getting bigger every day.

Savala laughed to herself, “And you didn’t even know it… Girl, you’re becoming a bit of a quiet celebrity! People are talking about it, they’re telling their friends and family about the songs. Before you know it, I bet there’s going to be a whole city’s worth of people just clamoring to hear your voice. I watched it a few times, and you have a gift!”

Tessa found herself vibrating. Goodness, was her body about to shut down? Was this how human bodies warned you about that? “I… Thank you for telling me Savala! You’re amazing!”

Savala grinned in response.

--

A quiet buzz of magic filled the air and Tessa paused in her trip around the market—she wasn’t buying anything, so there was no reason to have the mindlink to Zorian open! The buzz increased and Tessa looked up up up as one of the Saeldel golems looked out of the alleyway at her.

Goodness they were enormous up close! Maybe bigger than the Kymari were! Tessa smiled at the creature and waved, “Hi friend! Are you looking for something?”

It peered at her with the emotionless pits of its black eyes, the vines and winding branches that made up the golem rustled slightly. Most were humanoid in shape, and they came in all sorts of sizes, but this one looked more like a big wildcat. She glanced at its claws and could easily make out their sharpness. It was on all fours, and didn’t respond to her question, merely regarding her curiously.

Tessa nodded then, “Alright, if you don’t need anything I’ll be on my way then. Have a good day!” She inclined her head to the golem and continued on her walk, finding her mouth curving into a smile. Those things were so cool.

She passed several people she recognized, and waved to the Healer’s Hut as she passed it—Ahrinel wasn’t there at the moment, but she’d gone and met everyone a few days ago when she’d been curious. They were very nice there.

There were so many great people here.

Tessa nearly face planted in the dirt when she spotted a familiar looking boy. He was about sixteen years old, with sturdy glasses and nondescript clothing. His gaze was sharp and aware, as if it was looking into your very soul.

“Zorian?!” She found herself screaming with both her voice and her mind as she ran at him.

Zorian smirked slightly and sidestepped her momentum. She ran past him and skidded to a halt, turning to give him the most excited and confused look she could possibly think to muster. “I’m glad to see you’re in one piece yourself.” Zorian remarked.

“How are you here already? You said it would take another three days at least!”

“I underestimated a few things.” He regarded her curiously, “You’ve been actually working on your mental shield.”

Of course that’s the first thing he noticed. Tessa folded her arms and huffed, “Yeah, I said I was going to.”

“It looks much more sturdy, I think you’re doing great.”

She gaped at him. Was that blatant praise? From Zorian? He must have really been worried. Usually any praise was just a way of throwing ‘constructive criticism’ at you while you weren’t looking. “I always forget to keep it going.” She admitted, slumping a bit, “But thanks!”

Zorian snorted to himself slightly, but she could tell it was the amused kind. “Alright, so what do you want to do? You said before that you weren’t sure what you’d want when I got here.”

Tessa perked up again, “Come with me! I have something to show you!”

“Is it a weird looking stick?”

“Not this time. But seriously, that stick was so weird.”

Zorian sighed and glanced at his wrist, “Let’s just make it quick, alright?”

“I promise!” Tessa replied. And she meant it too, but who knew what would happen. Maybe she’d get distracted or something. She nodded at him and grabbed his arm, tugging him around back the way she’d come.

She waved to the Healer’s Hut again, and started through the market, navigating the crowd as she tried to find her way to the secondhand shop. She’d explored it a few times since she’d gotten tested, and there was all sorts of interesting stuff there.

Tessa gestured excitedly at the store after releasing Zorian, and he just regarded it with a puzzled look. “Genso’s store of second hand wares?”

Tessa followed his gaze to the sign and blinked, “Is that what that says?”

“Underneath there’s an advertisement for a fortune teller.”

Tessa blinked, “Is that what she was trying to sell us?”

Zorian sighed and pushed his way inside, “So what is it exactly you were trying to show me?”

“Oh, nothing in particular, I just found some cool rings here the other day and before that I found a really weird lamp, there’s lots of good stuff here if you look hard enough!” She gestured happily at the pile of things and then belatedly realized that Zorian had entered the shop without her.

She scurried in after him and waved at Maelni, who smiled. “Tessa! Who’s your friend?”

Tessa pointed at Zorian, who was already glancing curiously at the titles on a stack of books, “That’s Zorian! He’s super cool.” She gasped, “Maelni, did you know that he can read minds?!”

Zorian sighed from where he was crouched next to a potted plant. “Tessa, if there’s something you wanted me to see, maybe you should go get it.”

Tessa blinked, right. “Did anyone buy those rings I found?” She gestured toward Maelni, who was watching Zorian with an amused expression.

“Runil—he’s some stuck up scholar—came and bought most of our books, he took one of the rings, but the other six are still here somewhere.”

Tessa nodded, her mind wondering which ring it had been, hopefully not the pretty one with the red jewel, but there was an easy way to figure that out. “Thanks! Do you know where they ended up?”

Maelni shrugged and gestured in the vague direction of a jewelry stand, “Over there last I checked, but people move things all the time.”

Tessa approached the area, on a mission. Zorian was busy opening drawers in an old end table, they were each filled with a different assortment of paints, or rolled up scrolls, or in one case just filled to the brim with pebbles. “What do you do if someone buys the dresser…” Zorian muttered to himself, apparently not actually wanting the answer.

Tessa peered at the stand, looking for the six rings as she poked through the various armbands and necklaces. There were some other rings here and there, but none had that strange sense to them that the six she was looking for held.

They were all different sizes, and only two of them had actually been the kind of ring you could put on your finger. Most were large enough to fit around a human arm or leg, and some were just straight up odd.

Tessa triumphantly held up one, this was the one that could open and be clipped around your neck, it was the biggest and therefore also the easiest to find. She held it up to Zorian. “Isn’t it so strange?”

Zorian looked up from where he was at, sorting through a pile of silverware. After a second, he extricated himself from the stack and made his way to her—a momentous action considering how much stuff was between them. He took the large ring with a frown, tilting his head at it. “Wow, this is… definitely magical, that’s for sure.” He waved his hand over it for a second, muttering some kind of incantation under his breath, before frowning and casting another spell, and then another.

After a bit, Maelni looked at him with a frown, “Hey, don’t hurt the merchandise!”

Zorian was done by that point though, and he glanced at her, holding up the ring, “How much is this?”

Tessa tilted her head at it, looking over the small runelike carvings, as she mindlinked him out of curiosity, [What does it do?]

Zorian didn’t answer for a moment, still staring down Maelni. [It’s some kind of divine artifact, so I don’t know.]

Maelni finally sighed, “If you can find the other five that should be around here, I assume you’ll want them all?”

Zorian nodded. “And how much would that be?”

“Six hundred silver. And that’s a discount because you know Tessa.”

“Four hundred.”

She huffed slightly, glanced at Tessa, and then narrowed her eyes at Zorian, “Five hundred and seventy five.”

“Four hundred, and I’ll give you this.” He held up something from his pocket, Tessa recognised it as a kind of a fruit, but she didn’t know what kind.

Maelni’s eyes widened though, “Faelaberry?! Sparks, how did you get that? Those only grow in Melor! And it’s completely ripe, isn’t it?” She opened her mouth and then closed it, “That’s not an illusion, is it? Usage of illusory products while bargaining is against the law.” Zorian rolled his eyes and tossed it toward her. Maelni snatched it from the air, felt it for a second and then nodded. “G-great! One faelaberry and four hundred silver for the six rings! You… still have to find them.”

Tessa was already digging through the pile, to no avail, but Zorian just nodded to her, waved a hand and said a few words, and then immediately picked out the five remaining rings from the area.

Wow, that sure was handy.

Zorian nodded to the girl, handed her the money, and then left.

Tessa gaped at his back, waved one last time to Maelni, and then followed him. [Zorian! That was really rude, you know!]

Zorian glanced at her and then sighed, [Yes, I know. I just made the mistake of looking into her mind. I really need to get out of the habit again, it was a necessity at first, but it isn’t anymore.]

Tessa blinked at him, [What was she thinking about?]

[Ah… that doesn’t matter.]

Tessa huffed, but didn’t push farther.

Chapter Text

--- Jasnah ---

Jasnah spun through her attacks, striking the dummy over and over again. She would have preferred a sparring partner, but this was serving her, and that was the extent of what she needed from it.

At one point she swung so hard that the head of the dummy splintered in on itself, cracking away and falling to the ground.

Jasnah dismissed her blade and stood up straight, looking down at the broken thing. She was pleased with herself, but not as pleased as she’d like to be. She wanted to try again, she wanted to send an expertly worded letter to the queen of this domain, she wanted to get hundreds of scholars on their side to figure out what exactly was wrong with Engere.

But she already knew that they wouldn’t be of any help.

She gritted her teeth as she heard the door swing open. She spun around, summoning Ivory again and leveling him toward the doorway. Zorian stood there, unphased. “I’ve made progress. I don’t know if it’s what you’re looking for though.” he held up a glowing sphere.

Jasnah quickly dismissed Ivory and held out a hand. He gave it over without much resistance. She stared at the white light, slightly blue if you compared it to other sources of light. She hesitated, and then drew it in, taking in a sharp breath.

The sudden familiar presence of stormlight had her laughing as she held up the empty sphere. Jasnah smiled wide, her soul was tired of all this, but the stormlight drove her to move, to act, to do something. She grinned. “That’s it! That’s stormlight!”

Zorian sighed, “Finally.” He held out a hand for the sphere and reluctantly, Jasnah returned the light to the gemstone and handed it back. “Here, come with me, I’ve carved some pieces out of wood like you said, we’re going to refine this process.”

It felt odd to Jasnah to smile, but it didn’t fade until she was sat down in front of the half finished box, it didn’t fade until she switched from gleeful to focused.

But she had stormlight again, that changed everything.

-

Jasnah stood over the finished glass box, watching the gemstones inside slowly fill with a plain white light. Something inside would suck all the air out of the chamber once they were full and then play the tone. This way, Jasnah’s stormlight would refill itself. It was almost like having a small portable Dalinar.

Something like this would help immensely during the weeping if it worked properly back on Roshar.

But, as all things had to be, Zorian needed to be repaid first.

He handed her item after item, each carved of wood or some other equivalent. Occasionally he would ask for familiar materials, but usually he tried stretching her, to see what she could and couldn’t make.

The box refilled itself of stormlight almost faster than she could use it, and Zorian seemed to be getting more and more excited the longer it went on. She soulcast small materials, she soulcast larger things, each was a different foreign shape as she changed wood into steel, crystal, or anything else Zorian needed.

The only thing that was the same with each piece was the precision of the carving, the way strange shapes and runes were perfectly smoothed into it. Some of them were already glowing as they were handed to her, others started glowing only after she changed their material.

Jasnah was curious what this was for exactly, but after the first three pieces where she’d asked for an in-depth explanation, Jasnah accepted that she simply didn’t understand it. She rested a hand on the next one, a sphere with an impossible amount of lines and runes that squiggled about it.

“Crystal, but make the parts that stick out of the inner sphere steel. That should make it more effective.”

Jasnah regarded the item, and then nodded, and commanded it to change. The sphere didn’t hesitate. She turned it over in her hands afterward, and the way you could see the inner layer of crystal wherever the carving dug into it was intriguing. It started glowing a moment later, and she handed it back to Zorian, who put it in his never ending bag of wooden items.

“That was the last of it.” Zorian explained. His gaze tracked to the glass box of stormlight. “We’ll have to put straps on that so you can wear it like a backpack…” He muttered to himself for a moment, probably because she couldn’t draw stormlight from it when it was in one of his expanded bags. They’d checked. “And this piece here needs more room…” He put a hand on the box and it reshaped itself slightly.

Jasnah regarded the box for a moment, “I wasn’t aware until you showed me the pieces of this box that you were an artifabrian.”

Zorian raised an eyebrow in question.

“They make devices like this. I could easily see my mother designing something along these lines. In fact, if she could figure out how you pulled unattuned light out of nowhere, I’m certain she could replicate it eventually.”

Zorian hummed to himself. “If I end up in your world, I suppose I would be interested in meeting her.”

“I doubt she would leave you alone.”

Zorian smirked, “Then it’s a good thing there’s more than one of me.”

Jasnah was silent for a moment. “Would you be willing to aid me in a certain endeavor?” she glanced around briefly before pulling out the world map that showed Engere. “I’ve been investigating this island, and I have reason to believe it may be connected to getting off this world.”

Zorian suddenly looked intrigued. He took the map, looking at the island with interested eyes. “Engere, eh? Sure, we could send a simulacrum to scout it. The original has been annoyed at the lack of progress in getting home for quite a few weeks now.”

That’s exactly what Jasnah had been hoping for.

--

Jasnah sat in front of yet another map, examining the great detail and the even greater lies. Not for the first time, she wished Shallan were here, or any lightweaver really. Her gaze moved back to Zorian, who sat across from her, his expression serious and interested as she relayed her findings.

She didn’t have a lightweaver though, she had Zorian instead—this time at least he was probably the real one. She wished the various clones would stop being so deceptive about that fact.

The longer she knew him though, the more it seemed like Zorian and the word ‘lightweaver’ were essentially the same thing. If he ever went to Roshar, she could easily see the cryptics flocking to him. He practically leaked secrets, lies, and half truths.

However, I pity whichever cryptic decides to try something like that.

Her gaze moved toward Shiroe, who had returned from his quest to the tower of the Colineum. He was a bit distracted, and the Zorian who had arrived with him had subsequently disappeared into a puff of smoke, which lent extra credence that this one was probably real. Shiroe was in a lot of ways the opposite of Zorian. He planned things in the same way, but if you asked, he would tell you why and what he was plotting. That was interesting, since he hadn’t been nearly as willing to divulge that information before the signing of the contract.

Shiroe cared about knowledge, and often it was for the sake of said knowledge. Even though he’d already deceived her once, he was kind of… bad at it in all honesty. He would do what he thought he had to, but if it involved people he trusted—or would like to trust—getting hurt, he would choose a better path. In this way he was like her cousin, and in this way he was like the truthwatchers.

Shiroe pushed his glasses up as he examined the island, a bit of excitement leaking past his stoic exterior. “A mysterious island no one seems to know much about…”

Jasnah nodded, “and it’s large enough to be a country on its own.”

Zorian nodded. He’d come through a portal with Tessa earlier in the day, which was most of the reason Jasnah suspected he was the real one. Tessa herself was out exploring the city, and no one had seen Trinity in three days—which would be concerning if she hadn’t called Shiroe last night with that strange telepathic ability of the adventurers to ask for some tips. Jasnah hadn’t used the ability yet, but Shiroe seemed to think it was only a matter of time before everyone would be relying on it.

The three of them examined the map for a moment longer.

“As my simulacrum was saying before,” Zorian finally spoke, “the best way to get there is to send one of my copies. Then we can set up a gate and get anything through that we need. Supplies, weapons, etcetera.”

Shiroe nodded, and Jasnah gestured for him to continue.

Zorian grinned, “Now that we have a working stormlight generator, I can make golems. I don’t know what this world is thinking, but they hardly have any access to materials like steel, their trade is absolutely pitiful, and despite rumors of someone working on making a train, I haven’t seen any evidence that it’s been going anywhere in the last two hundred years…” he muttered to himself for a moment and then shook his head, “Anyway, we’ve overcome that, which is perfect.”

Jasnah was a bit amused at this, but mostly because she didn’t know what a ‘train’ was. “Are your golems similar to the ones at Saeldel?”

Zorian adopted another different look, the one that said ‘I haven’t figured out how that works yet but trust me I will.’ “As far as I can tell, the Saeldel golems are either naturally occurring, or made by the dryads. Mine will act similarly and have similar intelligence, but they won’t look anything alike. I’ll make a few hundred and keep them here until they’re needed.” there was a look in his eye, and Jasnah suspected he was going to go much farther than that.

Shiroe blinked, “a few hundred?”

“I used to mass produce them every month, even without all the same materials, it won’t be much of a drain on time.” Zorian responded matter of factly.

“And here I was worried about not having enough people for a raid party… Don’t you think that’s overdoing it a bit?”

Zorian waved a hand, “If it means we definitely win, it’s not overdoing it.”

Jasnah nodded, she’d be curious to see how these ‘golems’ would be against the fused. But… a dim ache sprouted in her chest. It had been more than ten days, by the time she got home the war would be over.

Whether Dalinar had lost or Odium had was the question. She could only hope that she would be back in time to properly help with the rebuilding. She’d resigned herself to the consequences of her disappearance before she’d even met the others.

“No amount of force is too much as long as it gets us what we need. There is no doubt that people exist on this island and that they are likely hostile to anyone after their secrets.” Her voice grew grim. “We only hope that a few hundred golems are enough. Shardbearers can’t hold ground.”

Shiroe gave her a curious look. “That’s an interesting term.”

“Yes, well, if we end up having to conquer the entire island just to access their secrets, we’re going to need those golems.”

Chapter Text

--- Trinity ---

Trinity stepped through the portal, peering at the room beyond. There wasn’t much to be seen, in all honesty, it was just a workshop-like room that reminded her of Nina’s lab far too much to be a good thing. It was clearly the same room Zorian had been renting before though.

She glanced at the copy of Zorian, who was already collapsing the portal behind her. “Any idea where my sickle ended up?”

He shrugged, “The library at best guess. Do you want me to track it down?”

Trinity growled, “No, that’s cheating.”

“How are you going to find it if they sold it to pay for repairs…”

Trinity stared him straight on, an action that, had he known anything about zombies, would have had him shaking in his boots. But Zorian didn’t know anything about zombies, and neither did the not-Zorian in front of her. “I.” She pointed at herself, and felt her stance slip into a nightstalker crouch, “Can find it perfectly well myself.” She glared at him, showing her teeth.

Not-Zorian shrugged, gesturing toward the door.

Trinity growled at him again and passed him. She was in a bad mood, clearly. She’d been trying to level up that ‘intimidation’ for the last week, but it was stalling at seventy. Maybe she needed to carry more weapons… She’d still been looking into scythes, but seriously, she hadn’t realized they didn’t exist in this world for some reason.

She exited the building and made her way across the street, glaring at the full moon above. Maybe that’s why I’m irritable right now, it’s nighttime.

Who was she kidding, she was always irritable.

Trinity entered the building, ignored the archivist at the desk—as she always did—and made her way straight for the study room. It was strange to be back in Saeldel suddenly, and the memory of being so freaking helpless was sticking with her even as she strode through the rows of books and to the door at the end of the room.

Her instincts did not like being helpless. Her instincts did not like being so much weaker than everything else here. Her instincts absolutely hated that she’d lost to what was essentially a human.

Trinity gritted her teeth and opened the door, not surprised to find it was in complete repair once again. They’d probably charged Zorian for any damage to the furniture, but in reality, Trinity hadn’t been paying much attention to how much damage had even been given, she’d only lasted a few minutes. She’d lived the longest out of any of them though, having been sliced in half and lived through the experience. That is, until Fora thought of decapitation.

Trinity frowned at the room and folded her arms, taking in the pristine walls that were clean of blood. Well, it wasn’t here, that’s for sure. Trinity growled to herself and retreated to the archivist's desk. “Sir. Do you know what happened to my sickle?”

The old man blinked from his paperwork, looking down at her with curiosity. “Sickle? I’m unfamiliar with the word.”

Trinity exhaled gustily. “What about my backpack?”

“Ah, we do have a lost and found, but besides that, I’m afraid I won’t be of much help.” He waved a hand and a key appeared out of nowhere. The man hummed to himself as he descended from his tall chair and scurried to the edge of the room, where a number of drawers were inlaid in the wall. “Now, miss, let’s see what we’ve got here…”

He unlocked the large drawer and pulled it out, rifling through the contents. After a moment, Trinity approached, standing out of arm's reach but peering into the drawer as well. It was larger on the inside, much larger.

Trinity adjusted her sunglasses and tilted her head at the interior, taking in the stacks of belongings and various miscellaneous items. She took half a step forward when she noticed her backpack. “There, the ah… odd looking grey bag is mine.”

The archivist obediently pulled it out and set it nearby, “And what’s this ‘sickle’ that you’re seeking as well?”

Trinity gritted her teeth, “It's a sort of weapon.” It didn’t take a blind unranked to notice that there weren’t any weapons in the drawer.

“Ah, we don’t keep the weapons we find. Any magical items, staves, or weapons we always dispose of. You see, they aren’t allowed in the library in the first place.”

Trinity deliberately glanced away.

“But, if you pay the fee for having brought it in here in the first place, I might be able to find out what happened to it.” The old man smiled kindly, his glasses flashing slightly as they caught the light.

Trinity grumbled to herself slightly and then took out some of the coins she’d liberated from Zorian. “Is this enough?”

The man eyed the coin, his brow wrinkling in amusement before he took the two silver pieces. “Here, let me look it up in the records for you, miss.” He ambled back to his desk and climbed into the chair before opening one of the drawers on the back and taking out a large stack of paper. He licked a finger and flipped the page. “You say it’s an unfamiliar weapon, correct?”

Trinity nodded.

“I do recall something about that then… how long ago did you lose it?”

“A few weeks ago.” Trinity answered hesitantly.

The man flipped the page, and scanned it briefly before flipping it a few more times. “Ah, here we are. On the 19th of Warrior there was a destroyed study room. The renter never returned, so we cleaned it up and put a charge on his name if he ever finds his way back. A strange weapon was found inside along with a few other items.” He raised a brow at her, and Trinity hesitantly nodded. He smiled again, “We gave it to Genso’s Second hand Shop.”

Trinity sighed, “Where’s that?”

“In the market, near the Healer’s Hut. However, it likely won’t be open at this hour.”

Trinity contemplated breaking in, but that felt excessive if she could just wait until morning. She still planned on scouting it out though. She inclined her head slightly and then made for the door, “Thank you.” She belatedly remembered to add.

-

Despite her hopes, Genso’s Second hand Shop didn’t have enough windows to properly look at the contents. There was a single window along one wall, and it just showed a cluttered room with shelves and shelves of what seemed to be junk. It seemed like the lights were off, though that didn't make it any harder to see. Something about magical light had always... eluded her though.

Trinity was used to raiding abandoned places for useful supplies, but she’d never seen such a collection of uselessness before. There was jewelry, boxes, books, and quite a few things that just looked broken.

If she’d been back home and this had been a house being scouted for a raid, she would never have entered. There was nothing one needed to survive to be found inside. But she wasn’t back home, this world wasn’t broken, abandoned, or filled with undead.

There was just Trinity and her horrible luck.

She blinked as a lamp inside the shop was lit. A man entered from the back room, holding a box of supplies as his eyes examined the shelves of nicknacks. Some even hung from the ceiling.

Trinity felt her mouth open slightly as she watched him start to sort through a section of the clutter, before setting down the box in a now empty spot and turning to regard her through the window.

He raised an eyebrow.

Trinity just stared back.

The man shook his head with what looked like exasperation and opened the door, folding his arms with an unamused expression. “The shop is closed, miss.”

Trinity frowned slightly, “Do you know if there’s a sickle in there?”

His mouth slipped into a curve. “A sickle? My my, haven’t seen one of those in a long while.”

She folded her arms, narrowing her eyes behind her sunglasses. “Well, I’m glad you know what I’m looking for then. Do you have it? I lost it at the library a few weeks ago, and they said they gave it to you.”

The man who could only be Genso smiled wider, “I’ve got a lot of shops under my name, I wouldn’t know what goes through each of them.”

“Don’t you keep records or something?” Trinity waved a hand toward the front desk, which was covered in paperwork. That paperwork had to at least be somewhat useful, right? Trinity kind of doubted it, honestly.

Genso turned to regard the desk, “You make a compelling argument, miss.” He turned back to her, curious, “You can’t see magical light, can you?”

That caught Trinity off guard. She blinked at him, and then glanced away, a bit nervous at this sudden line of questioning. Sure, she couldn’t see Jasnah’s emeralds ‘glowing’ and half the buildings in any given town seemed dark to her for no explicable reason. but… “Why do you want to know?”

“Ah, just curious. Perhaps it’s those glasses of yours, but I could have sworn you were looking me straight in the eye, not a lot of people do that.”

His scent was clean of lies. It was also clean of a lot of other things too. Not like Zorian’s simulacrum where there wasn’t any sweat, but like someone who’d freshly showered. It was a bit odd, since his hair was so disheveled, but Trinity just figured he was being pretentious. That wasn’t her problem, even if it was extremely suspicious. “Can you find out if my sickle is there?”

The man hummed to himself and ambled into the shop. Trinity contemplated following him, but decided it would make him more uncomfortable if she stayed where she was. She folded her arms and waited.

He came back less than a minute later and unceremoniously handed her the sickle. He smiled slightly, and then he was gone.

Well. That was anticlimactic.

This fic has been converted for free using AOYeet!

Chapter Text

--- Shiroe ---

Shiroe stood in front of an array of displays, watching the numbers slowly tick upward and downward. It wasn’t the same as battles he’d participated in in the past, each of  the combatants moved through the battlefield as if they were the only one there.

Jasnah struck at the hoard of spiderlike monsters with her blade, the matter around her changing with every breath. The leaf litter turned to oil and lit on fire, the spiders themselves were changed on occasion, becoming statues or smoke.

Trinity was at the other end of the area, independently cutting down monsters with ferocity and grace. She moved in a crouch, her stance a perfect warrior if it weren’t for her lack of armor.

Zorian was nearby, watching two of his newly constructed golems smash through the hoard and occasionally sending in a spell or two to demolish a monster.

Shiroe shouted out strategies occasionally, or bound a few monsters, or stepped in when something began the earliest stages of going wrong. But mostly he took note of all the things they needed to go over to become a cohesive team in the future.

“Trinity, you keep separating yourself from the group. I know ambushes favor you more, but you can get surrounded more easily that way. Jasnah, stop turning things into crystal, it makes it look like there are more enemies left than there are. Zorian… what in the world is that for?”

Zorian had taken out a glowing cube, and the cube in question was now floating in front of him. He glanced at Shiroe and grinned like a madman, “Now that Jasnah’s able to soulcast, I can use more artifice…”

Shiroe took a mental note to interrogate Zorian about what exactly he could do in battle with things like that. He only ended up wondering more as a sudden beam of light erupted from the cube, striking several of the giant spiders and incinerating them immediately.

Shiroe sighed. Alright then. He cast a few binds on the monsters, but a whole nest of giant spiders wasn’t willing to just go down like that. “Everyone pull back slightly, they’re about to converge to the left.”

They listened. Mostly. Note, talk with them about the battle roles again… He glanced at everyone’s mana levels, again out of instinct, which was a mistake since they were acting so odd. His own was perhaps three quarters full, While Jasnah’s was almost completely empty. She drew in more stormlight though, and it replenished immediately. While that was handy, Shiroe wasn’t used to it yet or the implications in battle.

Zorian’s mana was at about half and goodness he had hardly any mana points to burn. Shiroe looked incredulously at the number, and moved on to Trinity, which was even less helpful since hers never depleted.

Their health was similarly erratic, with Jasnah’s refilling with stormlight, Zorian’s was glitching again and showing nothing, and Trinity’s claimed it was completely full even though she was bleeding from several gashes. Shiroe wasn’t sure if it was because she was completely fine or if hers was also glitching.

This was honestly the most frustrating battle he could remember participating in.

I hardly know what Zorian is even capable of because he keeps forgetting about important things, Trinity barely even listens to what I say, and Jasnah keeps coming up with her own strategies.

It was like trying to cooperate with three extra versions of himself. Shiroe was still making a list of all the habits he’d have to apologize to the rest of Log Horizon for.

“Jasnah, what are you doing?”

The woman in question was rushing toward a thicker part of the throng, glowing blue armor forming around her. “They have a leader! We need to take it out if this swarm is going to stop.”

Shiroe glanced toward where she was going, and he’d known that already. But the things were protecting the leader, shouldn’t- Jasnah swung her thin and impossibly long blade through the ranks, cutting her way somehow toward the larger spider hidden in the collective.

The sword that could cut through anything and killed with a single strike moved mercilessly through the swarm of spiders. Really, his way would have worked too, but he supposed that this was just as well. “Alright then, Zorian, support her retreat, Trinity, keep going. Jasnah, if you’re going to kill the leader, get on its left side, it’s half blind there.”

The battle slowed to a halt as Jasnah’s sword sliced through the thick exoskeleton. She plunged her blade into the ground as the spiders eyes burned out in a trail of smoke and collapsed to the earth. She looked at Shiroe and raised an eyebrow.

Shiroe massaged his temples as the smaller spiders immediately started to flee. “What exactly was the purpose of that?”

Jasnah paused, watching the monsters leave. “You were neglecting the leader.”

He pushed up his glasses, “And yet, when we killed the leader, the others fled. The purpose here was to get experience, was it not?”

Jasnah regarded the monsters again, frowning slightly, “You make a good point, however, that doesn’t change that you neglected to inform us that was why we were ignoring it.”

That was also a point. Jasnah didn’t trust his experience yet, and the other two were likely similarly afflicted. They weren’t the typical adventurer who knew to listen to the strategist. The typical adventurer knew they didn’t have the full picture. “I see.” Shiroe eventually responded.

Jasnah nodded, “and I will have to explain next time my thought process, and ask you for your reasoning before acting.”

Shiroe nodded back, and Jasnah continued to stare him straight on, ‘do better’ her expression seemed to say. This group would just need a different approach, that was all.

--- Tessa ---

Tessa was bored.

Like, extremely bored.

She huffed at the Zorian in front of her, folding her arms. [Why can’t I participate in the battle thing? I’m sure I’d be useful!]

The copy Zorian regarded her, [Tessa, you’ve never used a weapon, you’re still a beginner at mental combat, and you don’t know any useful spells.]

She tapped her chin, and nodded to herself. Those were all very good points. “Alright then!” She decided aloud, standing up from the chair she’d been moping in. [This is like a magic school place, right? Kind of? The Ayfel?]

Zorian seemed amused at the mixture of mental and vocal words. “Yes, it’s the home base of a kind of mentoring program mixed with an orphanage. I’ve heard good things about it from several places.”

“Perfect!” She responded aloud again, and then switched to mental words. [SO! I’ll have them teach me how to shapeshift!]

Zorian regarded her curiously, but just followed as Tessa made her way purposefully out of the main room and toward the lecture hall place at the entrance that always had the blood memories just telling her about her own mother’s experience at university.

She peeked down the stairs at the room, where a tall woman stood at the board and kept pointing at a certain piece. Tessa still couldn’t read, which was rather unfortunate.

Her eyes roved over the gathered people, and really, most of them looked older than Shiroe, who was more than twenty! Most also weren’t human, there was a huge amount of Tuvei—the race with the mothlike antennae and exoskeleton—as well as a good spattering of Divarians—the race with the blue skin and snowflake like patterns. Tessa had asked for the names back in Saeldel, and she was glad she had them.

She descended the stairs after a bit, and waited to the side until the woman was finished. That turned out to be ten minutes later, but Tessa got to watch all the interesting people, so that wasn’t much of a loss in her opinion.

Zorian was still waiting nearby—Tessa belatedly remembered that he wasn’t the real one, but he was amusing himself by floating a glob of water above his hand into interesting shapes. He put the water away when Tessa stood up, and just shadowed her as she approached the woman, completely fearless.

The woman in question was elegant looking, with a calm exterior and a pleasant way about her. “Do you need something?” She spoke with a soft voice, and Tessa was a bit surprised that everyone had been able to hear her perfectly while she was speaking to that group. Maybe it was magic.

“Um…” Tessa said, suddenly a bit worried this wouldn’t work. “I got my affinity tested while I was back in Saeldel. I was wondering if someone here could teach me how to use it?”

“Ah! Perhaps I can advise you then! What affinities do you have? Do you have any prior learning with them?”

Tessa smiled, “She said I was a ‘shifter.’ Like… I’ll be able to turn into animals. I don’t think I know how to do it yet, but I am learning mind magic?”

The woman blinked, confused. “A… body mage. Learning… mind magic.”

Zorian stepped forward, “I know in this world that’s impossible, but she can learn both.”

She shifted her confused look to Zorian. “I’ve never met anyone who could.” She cleared her throat and composed herself. “Alright, how long do you have to dedicate at the Ayfel?”

Tessa glanced at Zorian.

Zorian’s lips drew to a line, “We’ll only be in the area for another week or two, what can you do in that time?”

She sighed, “Impatient wanderers… The goddess said to look after you, otherwise I might have to knock some sense into you for that.”

Tessa sighed, just a week? Was that even worth it? What in the world could she do in just a week? It was taking far longer than that to grasp even a bit of what Zorian’s mind powers could do. She would still be useless in a week.

Zorian muttered something under his breath that neither of them caught, and focused back on the woman. “Do you have any texts about learning this body magic? We could take them with us.”

[Zorian!] Tessa hissed at him telepathically, [I still can’t read!]

[That’s not a problem.]

The woman hesitated, and then nodded, “It would cost you though.”

Zorian nodded, “That’s not a problem.”

Chapter Text

--- Zorian ---

The days passed faster than they should have.

Zorian had sent simulacrum number six with vague instructions to ‘get to Engere’ back when they’d first had the plan to begin with. That same simulacrum had reached the island several days back, and was in the middle of sending a memory packet of various interesting tidbits.

According to him, it wasn’t nearly as large as the maps claimed it would be, despite their extreme accuracy in other areas. This—as the simulacrum’s memory packet explained—was because of an enormous crater along the entire eastern side of the island.

This was honestly the most surprising bit. There weren’t a lot of forces capable of destroying half of an entire island, and most of those were unknown to Zorian. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but for all their maps to be suddenly rendered obsolete… well, it was a hit. Mostly a hit to Shiroe, Zorian didn’t know much about maps, and generally preferred scouting, as it tended to be more reliable overall.

But well he supposed that if someone had lived in a world that was essentially a game, that would change some things. Like… map reliability, for example.

Tessa was doing decently with her mind magic lessons, and considering she was essentially immortal for the moment, they’d caved and decided to let her come, even though she’d only risen to level forty or so when she’d been alone in Saeldel. They all made sure to add her to their friends lists, so they wouldn’t have to rely on Tessa’s admittedly erratic communications.

Trinity was just as difficult to locate as always, but she even actually came to Shiroe’s various mock battles. Zorian might have read her mind to find out why, but he was actually getting back into the habit of only reading the surface emotions of his allies. He also finally stopped reading the minds of random civilians again, since that had generally been useless in the first place. That part wasn’t even difficult to do, which gave him hope for his very skewed moral compass.

After arriving on the island and doing quite a bit of scouting and snooping, simulacrum number six did manage to find something interesting. On the west side of the island, half destroyed by whatever blast had taken out the east side, was an enormous mountain fashioned almost entirely of crystalized mana. If that wasn’t what they were looking for, Zorian didn’t know what they needed to find. The simulacrum was already scouting out the mountain itself, thankfully.

Zorian opened his eyes from going over the memories, and stood up, walking across the room to where Shiroe sat going over some pages. “We can leave in a day or two. I found what we’re looking for.” Zorian smiled.

--

The island of Engere was rather interesting from both a geological and magical perspective.

Zorian didn’t know why or how, but it was covered in the crystalized mana that made up that mountain. He might have taken some of it to compare to Eretsu’s version, but unfortunately, if disturbed, this kind rapidly started to release all the mana it contained, leaving nothing but a brittle husk behind.

This didn’t leave much hope for the structural integrity of the mountain, but whatever. The mana would dissipate into the surrounding air. Though it wasn’t like the island needed more mana in the air. It felt like he was standing between two rank nine mana wells, both of them competing to see how much they could spew out into the world.

Zorian peered up at the mountain, deciding that memory packets didn’t do it justice.

Tessa was staring at the sight with her mouth open wide, while Trinity just looked at it for a bit longer than usual before shaking her head and muttering under her breath about ‘magic mumbo jumbo’ and then going back to examining the rest of their surroundings. Shiroe and Jasnah did the same thing as Zorian though. They gaped openly for several embarrassing moments, before glancing at each other and then deliberately going back to what they’d been doing before. Which is to say, looking at the patch of trees, examining the steep slope behind them, and taking in the various pieces of the camp simulacrum number six had set up.

“Zorian.” Jasnah began, glaring at the tent. “How long exactly do you expect this to take?”

Zorian shrugged innocently. “It’s a pretty big mountain, and my simulacrum was stopped every time he tried to enter one of the many many caves.”

The simulacrum in question nodded seriously. “This mountain is practically cheese. Let me tell you, I nearly got lost seventeen and a half times!”

Tessa gave him a curious look. “How do you get lost half of a time?”

“I tripped on some bindweed and thought I’d been teleported to an alternate dimension for a second… actually, things like that happened a lot, there are dimensional rifts all over the place.”

Jasnah frowned and looked toward the mountain, her expression changed abruptly, her eyes going wide. “That’s… what?!”

Zorian tried to read her mind and then berated himself for trying to read her mind. It didn’t work, obviously. Just communicate like a normal person, idiot!  “What is it?” He asked instead.

Shiroe glanced between Jasnah and the mountain a few times when she didn’t immediately answer. “Is it something in the… that ‘shadesmar’ place you talked about?”

Jasnah nodded numbly, her gaze moving back to them. “It’s a perpendicularity.”

It was around this point that Zorian realized Trinity had pulled another disappearing act. He sent his simulacrum to go find her, and focused back on Jasnah. “What’s a perpendicularity?”

She blinked several times, as if dazed. “It’s a spot where all three realms are one. Physical, where we are, cognitive, where are minds dwell, and Spiritual, where our souls exist… the place where things simply are as they truly are.” she laughed to herself. “Wow, that’s why the dryads sent us here, this is… wow. And you said there are dimensional rifts all over it?”

Shiroe raised an eyebrow. “And how does that help us get home?”

Jasnah looked back at the mountain. “Using shadesmar. If you enter the cognitive realm, technically you can get to any other world. If you walk for long enough. But it feels a bit different than that here...”

Zorian sighed. “Couldn’t you already ‘enter shadesmar?’ That’s what you said in your explanation of your abilities.” Frankly, entering a place of thoughts sounded a bit ridiculous to Zorian, but who was he to belittle this? Clearly it was real. He trusted Jasnah enough for that.

Jasnah nodded. “I didn’t before because I’m still not sure if I can get back to the physical realm without a perpendicularity. I wasn’t certain I’d be able to navigate shadesmar, and without a lot of stormlight, that was a horrible idea. I’m certain I could make it home through the cognitive realm with time, but with shadesmar looking so different… we must be a long way from Roshar.”

Zorian nodded to himself as Shiroe frowned slightly. “Yet we aren’t sure what our worlds even…” He glanced upward at the sky and frowned. “Nevermind actually, I have a pretty good idea of what my world’s cognitive realm looks like.”

Zorian was feeling a bit left out that he had no idea, but Tessa didn’t seem to know what hers was either, if she was even listening at this point. Zorian glanced at her, and found Tessa picking handfuls of grass, a curious way to spend her time.

“So,” Zorian started, folding his arms. “What are we going to do with this information?”

Jasnah and Shiroe glanced at each other and shrugged. “Perhaps we’ll have to all venture into shadesmar then, and search for our worlds?” Jasnah suggested. “With each of our expertise, and with time… but like I said before, this perpendicularity feels like it's connecting more than just the three realms.”

Shiroe frowned slightly. “What if we returned to the tower and tried to contact Connection?”

Zorian sighed, this again. “None of the other gods have seen fit to help us out. Just because that one has dominion over interplanetary travel doesn’t mean it’ll be of any help.”

Jasnah nodded, Shiroe reluctantly seemed to also agree. Tessa, at the other end of the spectrum, was just humming to herself a tune that none of them had heard before, braiding the grass with surprisingly quick movements for someone who had had very different hands just a few weeks prior.

Zorian shook his head, looking back at the mountain. “Well, how about we try to get in and then we can talk about what to do next?”

“It does seem like it’s the best way we have to get home.” Shiroe eventually admitted. “But what is it that was stopping your clone from entering in the first place?”

Zorian soured noticeably. “Rocks. Every time he approached, they started threatening him.”

“Are they… sapient rocks?” Shiroe asked curiously.

“They were as close to being sapient as I’ve ever seen rocks manage. I’d call them elementals but they’re… definitely not elementals. Though they even had minds to read, my simulacrum contacted me in a panic after he found them, and tried to make me figure out what they were, but besides some hazy legends, I didn’t find anything of worth.”

Jasnah seemed a bit offended he hadn’t consulted her, but seriously, when she acted like she hated him half the time, what was he supposed to do?

“Let’s just check it out. We’re not getting anywhere.” Shiroe muttered.”

--- Jasnah ---

Jasnah thrust a hand toward the living statue, prepared to soulcast it into smoke or fire or something equally harmless. The stone creatures actually weren’t stone, it was more like crystal, like they’d already been soulcast. It was kind of similar to watching a legion of dead lighteye’d ancestors walk again. However, most of the statues were shaped like ‘giant salamanders’ according to Zorian, and they came in all sorts of sizes. There was one watching from nearby though, shaped like a person.

Jasnah was thrown off balance as something smacked into the side of Ivory—a thrown rock from the humanoid one—she caught herself, but the salamander escaped. Trinity was nearby, constantly explaining to Shiroe using the ‘party chat’ that her sickle was doing less than nothing and that he needed to ‘freaking let her retreat.’

Jasnah caught one of the surprisingly nimble statues—they kind of reminded her of thunderclasts too now that she thought about it—and it evaporated into smoke under her touch. She swept through the ten remaining attackers with Ivory, but again only caught two of them. The humanoid statue was still near the back, just watching.

At first, the humanoid one had just yelled that outsiders were not permitted in the mountain and threw rocks at them with surprising accuracy—foregoing the spear on his back for some undiscernible reason—but when that hadn’t worked, the spren-like salamander statues had attacked.

They’d been ready for them.

Jasnah caught another with Ivory, frustrated that she kept missing. Finally, blessedly, Shiroe cast one of those bindings and Jasnah was able to catch three with one sweep for the first time. The blade fuzzed as he moved through their forms, proving that they were alive. It severed their souls, and their eyes burned out with bloodless death.

She’d wondered vaguely what Zorian was doing, until half of the remaining enemies suddenly started screaming and running around like headless chickens.

While the rest were distracted, Jasnah sliced them in twain.

Afterward, the humanoid statue was nowhere to be found.

-

The group calmed themselves after the fight as they descended deeper into the mountain, walking through the tunnel with brisk steps.

It struck Jasnah that they were willing to do practically anything if it meant getting home. None of those creatures had really done anything wrong, it felt almost honorless to cut them down just because they wouldn’t let them through. Especially since one had looked almost human.

But even after having demonstrated that Ivory could cut through anything, the statues had been resolute. She almost respected them for their tenacity. Hopefully they had died the way they’d have wanted to.

[But what is it they were protecting?] Jasnah directed the thought toward Ivory.

[The perpendicularity is.] Ivory responded. [They are.]

Jasnah looked down the tunnel, already taking in some more stormlight. She’d soulcast the box into a stronger material, seeing as she was presently dependent on it. [You’re right, they must live here. Perhaps they’re just protecting their home.]

Ivory seemed pleased at that, and the group continued down toward the center of the perpendicularity.

Chapter Text

--- Shiroe ---

The humanoid statue stood in front of them, unwavering as stone itself.

He looked human in every way, down to the hair and eyes, even his clothing seemed the right shape for a person. Except everything—down to the clothes and skin—was made of a silvery-blue crystal.

Shiroe watched the statue, frowning as he bowed slightly toward them. “My division respects your fighting abilities. We would like to request again that you turn back, the tunnels of the Arkorian are not for those of this world, and the Keepers will continue to fight your entry.” He held a long spear in one hand, sharp and wicked looking. It was also clearly magical in origin.

Jasnah folded her arms. “And why are we not allowed?”

The statue grinned slightly, “The ancient agreement states that humans and bound ones outside the Arkorian are not to be permitted entry. The 34th division holds this agreement, even as other divisions fall, we of Virna hold to it.”

That told them essentially nothing.

Tessa gave the statue a wide-eyed look. “Are you sure? We’re just trying to get home!”

The statue glanced at her, and then returned his focus to Jasnah, “Even if you’re from off-world, that changes nothing about the agreement. You are not to be permitted.”

Jasnah gave him a cool stare, her expression unamused. “Is there a higher authority we can speak to about this?”

He barked a laugh, but didn’t look nearly as amused as the sound indicated. “No, we hold to the agreement. No one is to use the Ark, we kill all who do.”

Jasnah narrowed her eyes, “Then I suppose we’ll have to kill you then.”

Tessa made a squeaking noise, “What! Don’t kill people!”

Jasnah sighed and glanced at Zorian, as if to say ‘can you make her calm down?’ Zorian just shook his head. “Tessa, do you want to get home or not?”

“Don’t kill people!” She just shouted back.

“It is significantly-”

The statue interrupted her, holding up a hand as he spoke with volume. “We are to dispose of any who violate the agreement. Interworld travel is the reason the Endari destroyed this world before, and it’s the same reason the Alanerea conquered so many others.” He gritted his teeth. “No matter how much reason you add to your arguments, we will not budge from this.”

“Oh? I see.” Shiroe asked finally, calmly pushing up his glasses. “And what of Fora? If moving between worlds is such a problem, why isn’t she being taken care of?”

The statue adopted an anger to him, “The Meddler is above our capabilities to stop. She doesn’t need us or the Ark to commit her atrocities.”

Shiroe frowned, he’d expected that to do something. In this world, mentioning her almost always brought some kind of a reaction. However, for him to just admit outright that she was a bigger problem than they could deal with? It spoke volumes about the depths of her meddling.

The question now was what they could do to fix the problem. They certainly could… masacre the lot of them, and they certainly could just leave, but he doubted the others would agree easily to the ‘just leave’ option.

Zorian folded his arms, “I’d really rather just kill you all, honestly, but Tessa is getting annoyed with us, so I’m going to use reason instead.” He leveled his gaze at the man. “If you don’t help us get offworld, we’re going to destroy this world. We’re going to wage war with you until there’s nothing left, and ravage the continents with pain and sorrow.” He narrowed his eyes, “Do I make myself clear?”

The statue’s eyes widened. “You can’t-”

Zorian waved a hand and one of his golems appeared, about twice Shiroe’s own height and built like a tank. “I have quite a lot more of these. If you think about it, I don’t even need all that many to destroy this world, they don’t have any way to take them down.” He waved a hand again and a gun appeared in his hands, which he handed to the golem. “I’ve also armed them, I think it would be quite destructive, don’t you?”

Tessa was glaring at him, but she remained silent.

The statue was gaping at Zorian, his mouth open wide and his eyes filled with a sudden terrible panic. “That’s-”

“Do I make myself clear?” Zorian glared at him.

The man nodded numbly.

Zorian sighed, “See, Tessa, this is why just using mind magic is easier, look at all the effort I had to go through to explain it.”

Tessa huffed at him, “Controlling people is wrong!”

Maybe that was why Zorian was so inconsistent with it. Shiroe mused this idea for a moment before focusing back on the living statue. He was watching Zorian with horror even as the artificer put away the golem and the gun—Shiroe hadn’t realized he’d been making guns, that would be interesting later on—the living statue seemed like his entire life was flashing before his eyes. “Shattered crystal… I’d… I’d better find your portal then.” He laughed nervously. “Ah… this way, follow me!”

Zorian seemed unphased as he trailed after the man. Jasnah was watching Zorian curiously, and Trinity was reluctantly sheathing her sickle. Tessa just glared at Zorian and marched after him.

--- Trinity ---

The crystal people smelled just like normal people. Trinity suspected there was something wrong there. She certainly couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but in no universe should rocks smell like people. The salamanders at least had smelled like rocks, but that just made it stand out more that the human ones didn’t.

Trinity growled as she looked at the crystal people again, deciding finally that yes, they probably did glow to the others. Her gaze moved to the crystals surrounding them in the cave, which she’d decided early on probably also glowed to the others.

It was getting annoying to not always know what was light and what wasn’t, but after trekking to the bottom of a cave system with no one turning on a single light, Trinity figured something had to be glowing.

Her only consolation was that she hardly needed any light to see by.

How does it even work? If it’s making real light particles, how can I not see them? Trinity wanted to blame the zombie virus, but she also wanted to blame her luck, or the fact that magic wasn’t a thing on earth. There were a lot of reasons why this could be the case.

And so it was that Trinity followed the crystalline man, her eyes narrowing farther and farther with each step.

Finally, blessedly, they arrived at a large tear in reality. It looked mostly the same as those gates Zorian was always making.

“Portals like this are all over the mountain. They take you through the between and straight to another world!” he sounded much more cheerful now, though it was masked under a sharp scent of anxiety every time he looked at Zorian. And Zorian still claimed to not be creepy. Trinity hadn’t even realized that a magic person would know how to make a gun… she felt a phantom sting in her leg and her back. It was easy to remember the last time she’d gotten shot.

Trinity examined the tear in reality, it looked odd, like you were seeing into another world. That part was different from Zorians gates, you couldn’t see to the other side of those.

The man led them past several of these. “But you won’t want that one, I don’t sense any sort of connection from any of you to it.”

Trinity watched the portals as they passed them, taking in the various groups of crystal people who stood guard around them, their spears at the ready. They each simply nodded to their guide, but Trinity could find no scent of malice that might indicate a trap being set.

Eventually they slowed to a stop in front of a specific portal. The other side was a nondescript plain of rock, like a desert. “I think this is a connection.” He said with interest, looking through the portal. “That’s curious, I didn’t think we’d be able to find any of your worlds here.”

He then pointed at the portal. “Well then, off you all go.”

Shiroe stopped, frowning at him, “But who’s world is it?”

“That doesn’t matter, you aren’t my problem, I just need you out of here. I can sense that there are no other active portals to your individual worlds here, this is the closest you’re going to get.”

They exchanged looks. Zorian frowned, “But an active portal might appear soon?”

He regarded Zorian, less afraid now that he knew this was going to be over soon. “If it were to do so, I would not allow you to use it. Just because I agreed to get you off world doesn’t mean I agreed to get you back where you came from.” Trinity growled slightly. He could get them all home with time, but the way they’d negotiated the permission didn’t give them much of that.

Finally, Tessa nodded resolutely, “Alright! Let’s go then! It’s just going to take a few more steps than we thought to get home!”

And with that, she stepped through the portal.

Once Tessa was through, it wasn’t much of a question. The others followed, their sight enveloped by light as matter itself seemed to shake around them. Trinity stumbled slightly, but was able to catch herself. Jasnah was the same, but Shiroe had fallen over, Tessa too. Zorian stumbled, almost caught himself, and then fell flat on his face with a baffled look.

Trinity put a hand to her head, blinking away the light with a growl as she took in the desolate landscape. Jasnah beside her was looking at something behind them with wide eyes. “I… thought that looked familiar. But… no… that’s impossible.”

“Is this your world then?” Zorian asked, unimpressed as he sat up and brushed himself off.

Jasnah nodded at Zorian, and then looked back at the landscape, gesturing toward something in the distance, “This is Alethkar, my homeland, and just over that area is Kohlinar. The problem is-”

“Jasnah, shouldn’t we… go inside or something?” Tessa said quietly, pointing at the sky, where an enormous storm was approaching quickly. Trintiy followed Tessa’s gaze and looked up at the approaching angry clouds. They were massive, almost like a hurricane. She felt small just looking at the stormwall as it steadily approached.

“This is impossible,” Jasnah was saying. “Kohlinar was taken by the enemy, but right there it looks just as it did right… right after the Everstorm first came.” Jasnah seemed shaken up, she wasn’t looking toward the approaching clouds, she was looking at a distant city, shrouded with an unnatural darkness.

“Jasnah! That storm does not look like something I’d have an easy time living through!” Trintiy shouted, pointing, “What do we DO?! this is your world!”

Jasnah was still staring at the city, her eyes wide. She set her jaw and looked back at the rest of them, determination in her eyes. “Zorian, help me hollow out a rock, we can wait it out.”