Reiav ran.

  She ran as fast as her legs could take her. Whenever they encountered a shaft, she flew, whenever they encountered a drop, she glided. But the steady scraping of claws from behind was all they could hear.

  She didn’t know when they lost Keshel, but when she glanced backward to see how close the horrible monsters were, he was gone. She hoped he was alright.

  These monsters were smarter than the ones from before; they were faster too, and they followed unerringly regardless of what tricks the group used to lose them. It was almost like they could just tell where they were.

  Reiav ran.

  She jumped over a short staircase, her spectral wings giving her height as she landed on the top and kept on running. She didn’t have time to gawk at how seamless the newer flooring was—and it had to be new since the whole ship was on its side.

  But she also didn’t have time to watch her footing.

  Reiav found herself falling to the ground; she tried to turn it into a sort of leap, but inertia wasn’t on her side. Reiav fell, scrambling to her feet as fast as she could, ready to keep running. They’d been wrong. Just because they could see the monsters did not mean it was easier to deal with them. Because now the monsters could see them too.

  Reiav slowly caught up to Eloi, squeaking as one of the monsters swiped at her. She felt the wind from the attack. She felt the pain as it barely grazed her.

  And suddenly there was a sword.

  Reiav glanced backward, still running as Pleseln appeared out of nowhere—and where had Tosono gone?!—her sword at the ready, her stance unflinching. The monsters converged on her, surrounding her, swarming forward. But most of them stopped chasing, focused on easier prey.

  That was all Reiav saw in that glimpse. She kept running, feeling tears bite at her eyes at the idea of Pleseln dying there because of her.

  Eloi stumbled.

  The monster on their tail caught him.

  Tosono would have kept running.

  He really wouldn’t have even thought about it, he would have made it to safety with the others.

  But the moment he saw Pleseln appear, he couldn’t take it anymore. He’d lived through the loss of Fora, that hadn’t been anyone’s fault and the cocky girl had practically been begging for it. If he left now—letting Pleseln get killed on her own—then that would almost be stabbing her himself.

  And Tosono had stabbed enough people in his time to know exactly what that would do to him. He remembered a long long night spent sobbing over his twins corpse, knowing that any chance he had of changing the world was gone. He remembered the conviction that he should never connect with anyone again because the sting of betrayal was just too hot.

  So he slowed to a stop and turned around, running towards Pleseln.

  -

  He shouldn’t have been surprised when the two of them lay bloodied beside each other soon afterward. He shouldn’t have been surprised at all. The monsters had left, there was nothing but silence. He felt his wild heartbeat jittering as he took labored breaths, he felt the blood that soaked his chest. He felt as it all… came to a close.

  Tosono found that he didn’t regret anything as he prepared to fade into Orien, to find his way to the realm of dawn and eclipse. At least he had someone to find his way with. He moved his head dimbly, looking toward Pleseln, who was staring sightlesly up at the ceiling.

  Tosono let out one last breath…

  -

  And then he inhaled sharply, blinking wildly at the sky and buildings above him.

  That was—

  He flexed his arms, realizing that nothing hurt anymore. He was on the ground, it was firm and solid. He could feel his heart beating steady and even. He could feel the sensation of air in his lungs, of sight to his eyes and oh squalls he had both of his eyes. He hadn’t expected that fact to hit him so hard.

  He felt tears as he stood up, the ground below seemed to quake with his sobs until he remembered that it had been shaking all this time. That’s what had started this whole thing after all. Tosono looked upward at the people flitting about in the sky, the airships that were once again moving.

  He brought himself to his feet and steeled himself after several moments of suffering.

  The city of Teisel was still falling after all.

  Keshel didn’t know how long he stood there, staring at the spot Teisel had been, occasionally wiping his eyes or pacing around the room. He took in every detail, every piece of the puzzle, and eventually stopped, looking at one of the pictures on the walls.

  It depicted a beautiful woman. She looked wise, regal, and put together; atop her head were the largest antennae Keshel had ever seen; they dipped beneath their own weight, accentuating her features.

  Keshel felt his eyes move to the plaque below the painting, which read “Eisa Overdrean, the last Queen of the Alanerea” with a meaningless date below it. Keshel examined her for a moment longer, noting with a hint of dread that she did look a lot like Teisel. Druin had said a different last name to accompany Teisel, but that didn’t mean much.

  And what had that been about Ulenik having been a prince?

  This latest memory added more questions than answers.

  -

  After a long time scouring the room for clues, Keshel hesitantly reached out to the large mind. It was still observing him, still angry. ~What? Do you finally agree that that was a horrible mistake?~

  Keshel sent placation. ~Are you Teisel?~

  ~That’s a stupid question.~

  ~Does that mean it’s a yes or a no?~

  ~It means I’m not answering.~ the voice responded petulantly.

  ~But… who else could you be?~

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  ~Do you actually care?~ the voice asked, ~or are you just here to torment me like everyone else?~

  Keshel paused in surprise, ~Why wouldn’t I care?~

  ~Because no one cares. Anyone who says they do is lying.~

  Keshel paused again, this time thinking—what could he do to prove that he was different? Was he even different though? ~Why didn’t you want me to go into that room? Did you know that memory was tied to it and that it would activate?~

  ~Yes. I don’t like that memory. Or any of the memories. Can’t you just leave? Why are you still here?~

  Keshel sighed, sending annoyance, ~I want to help. Can you for absolute certainty, without lying yourself, say that if I left now it would be better for you?~

  The voice sent annoyance back at him, ~Can you for absolute certainty say that you won’t just betray me too?~ the voice paused for a second, ~See that’s what I thought, you can’t, I’m tired of this, just leave.~

  Keshel thought for a moment, ~Can you show me those betrayals, Teisel?~

  She sent annoyance again, ~That would require moving to the next phase. I’m not doing that, no matter how much you threaten me.~

  ~I wasn’t trying to threaten you.~

  ~Sure.~

  ~There’s a different voice I heard before, more panicked, but more powerful than you are, who was that?~

  Teisel sent malice, ~Leave her alone.~

  ~I was just wondering who it was?~

  The voice paused for a moment, Keshel hadn’t expected her to acctually think about it, ~If I tell you, will you just go back to running around like a headless chicken and stop bothering me?~

  ~What, you aren’t going to just send another demon after me?~

  ~They’re all busy right now.~ She cut the connection.

  Keshel blinked at that; it wasn’t a good sign for his companions. She’d tried to withdraw her presence, but Keshel spammed her with connection requests until she reluctantly fixed the connection. ~Alright, I’ll stop bothering you if you tell me who she is.~

  Teisel made a mental sigh, ~She’s the version of me that exists right now in the real world. The rest of us are just memories.~

  ~There’s more of you?~

  ~You said you would leave me alone once I told you.~

  Keshel paused, ~Right, I did, didn’t I? Well thank you, Teisel, I hope we can talk again soon.~

  She sent a dim resignation and then finally managed to withdraw her presence. Keshel immediately left the room after that, racing in the direction he felt his companions had gone. Finally, there were some answers. Not enough, not by a landslide, but there were some.

  --

  Keshel slowed his pace as he heard something ahead. It sounded like… sobbing. He assumed it was Reiav, since she seemed like the most likely candidate; either that or it was another memory, but he couldn’t feel any hivemind activity.

  Keshel reluctantly peered into the next room, and then the next, looking for the source of the sound. He kept expecting it to be closer, but these walls were smoother than the tunnels back home; sound traveled farther here.

  Finally, he peered into a room and paused at the scene in front of him.

  Reiav was crouching over someone, her shoulders shaking. They didn’t seem to be moving.

  A feeling of dread welled up inside him. He slowly entered the room, making enough noise that Reiav should be able to tell there was someone coming in. He stopped and closed his eyes once he saw who it was.

  Eloi.

  The niorta’s eyes stared sightlessly upwards.

  Keshel let out a long breath before opening his eyes again, focusing this time on Reiav, who’d started talking. “It- it was… was all my-my fault!” She sobbed, lowering her head as her tears fell onto the corpse below her, “I- I told him we should come in here, and then- and then they killed him, the-the monsters. And-and I saw Pleseln earlier, I-I saw a monster get her.” She looked up, meeting his eyes, “I’m so tired of this Keshel! I’m so tired of people d-dying!”

  Keshel knelt beside her, remembering Teisel’s pain. He couldn’t help the ancient alanerea right now, but he could help Reiav, “Hey, you’re doing great. What happened to the monsters?” He hadn’t seen any since he’d entered that huge room.

  Reiav closed her eyes, which prompted the built up tears to fall out. “The one that followed us left after he died, I-I think it just wanted to cause pain… the rest they-they swarmed Pleseln.”

  Well, it had certainly succeeded at bringing pain. Keshel put two of his hands on her back, “I’m still here. Do you know what happened to Tosono?”

  Reiav shook her head, “We got separated. Do you- do you think maybe Pleseln is alright too?”

  Keshel paused. He doubted it wholly but also knew that inaction was the worst thing Reiav could do right now; she probably needed to feel like she was doing something, “I don’t know, but I don’t plan on leaving her to die, come on, let’s go look.”

  Reiav nodded slowly and stood up, closing Eloi’s eyes. “I hate this place. I hate it so much. First Fora, and then Eloi, maybe Pleseln, Tosono might be dead too, and then you’ll be gone and then I’ll be- I’ll be alone…”

  Her voice faded into a soft whine of pain.

  Druin patted her shoulder reassuringly. “It’ll be alright, just relax here. You’ll wake up in a few hours and there will be a feast waiting for you.”

  He’d been so kind to her the last few weeks as everything was squared away and they prepared for her to become… stronger. Teisel was looking at the ceiling, but she wasn’t thinking about the coming operation, or the weeks following it where she would hardly be able to think as the augments worked to strengthen her gift.

  Mostly, she was thinking about the darkness. Darkness made her feel like she was falling all over again, down that shaft where she should have died at the bottom. But she’d lived. She would likely never walk again, but… but she could still be useful, that’s what Druin always said. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “I’ll be stronger after this?”

  “Yes you will.”

  But not strong enough, becuase Ulenik was going through the same thing, he could still come after her if he wanted to, he could still. Teisel blinked, and the thougth was gone, pushed beneath the surface. She smiled, “I’ll be useful, I’ll be able to protect people.”

  He nodded, smiling.

  “Alright then, thank you for everything so far, Druin, I trust you.”

  The last memory was fainter somehow, like this dreamworld knew it wasn’t real enough anymore. Keshel had caught pieces of the flooring half disintegrating, and there still wasn’t any sign of the demons or Pleseln.

  Keshel stopped as the world around him finally melted completely, the complex machinery, gears and pipes of the SUI-12 faded back into white nothingness.

  He had a feeling this would become a recurring thing.

  Reiav gasped as the world melted, falling over as the stairs she’d been walking up disappeared. “AGAIN?!” She yelled at the sky, rage filling her voice, “I was just starting to figure that place out!!!”

  Keshel examined the annoyed Reiav as she shouted at nothing. She’d gone from sobbing to increasingly angry as the hours had moved onward, and he really doubted this place would make it any better. He closed his eyes at the nothingness, taking deep breaths as his mind started to boggle at the sheer emptiness. It made him feel as if he wasn’t real.

  “On the bright side this means we’re probably going somewhere else now?” Keshel offered. He paused, blinking at a speck in the distance, “Is that Tosono?”

  Reiav perked up slightly, also squinting. Keshel closed his eyes again to keep from getting a headache from this horrible place.

  He tilted his head as he sensed the angry Teisel again. What was she doing? She forged a connection so Keshel reluctantly accepted it, willing to listen to what she had to say. Besides, the figure that was probably Tosono seemed to be coming over to them, but it would take a bit.

  ~I admit… reluctantly, that you aren’t so bad, you kept your word. But the next phase will be worse. You won’t be able to even speak with the version of me there, she won’t listen to anything you have to say.~

  Keshel nodded slowly, ~Why is that?~

  ~She doesn’t exist in anything more than a memory for the real Teisel, but she is a powerful memory, stronger than I am. She is the betrayal, and to keep from being betrayed again, she refuses to hear the words that are given her.~

  ~You’re meant to represent the pain, aren’t you?~

  She paused, ~Yes, I’m the pain.~

  ~Pain is how you know you’re alive. It’s not a bad thing.~

  ~You’ve had your share of pain, but do you really think you can understand what Teisel went through? If you fail to save her it will only make things worse. I would rather you had died.~

  Keshel sent his pain, his fears of being useless, the isolation of the watchtower, the isolation of the defect itself. He hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, and so he’d left. ~I don’t think I can understand, no, but I’d like to try, that has to be powerful in itself.~

  She paused, surprised at something, ~It’s not much, but… you might have a chance.~

  ~Thank you, truly.~

  ~I killed your companions.~

  ~I know. I’m angry about that, but thank you for trying to help Teisel.~