“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”

  Confucius, Chinese Philosopher

  “Bye Coco,” Enzel said, wrapping the capybara in a tight hug as she held back her tears. “I’ll miss you so much.”

  Coco gave a sad little snort and nuzzled Enzel’s chest affectionately.

  “Coal, food, water… I feel like I’m forgetting something…,” Apoi fretted as Milly loaded the leather water bottles into the wicker basket.

  “I’ll be fine, Apoi. If we forgot something, I’m sure I can find it along the way,” Milly assured him, thought that didn’t stop Apoi from triple-checking the supplies and the burner that was now filling the hot air balloon.

  “Don’t forget this,” Hydel said, tucking a small sack beneath one of the bags of coal. “Our letters to the Academy, and to our loved ones. Thank you for delivering them. It’s been over a year since anyone headed to Core Station.”

  Milly gave him a soft smile.

  I don’t know if I’ll find anyone to deliver them to. But Bestian was insistent I carry them. It’ll give his people hope after he tells them about the black orb – and what happened to them.

  “And this is from all of us,” Geta added, handing Milly a piece of folded parchment. She opened it, and within were well-wishes from every member of Research Station Omega, wishing her luck and safe travels.

  It was the first card Milly had ever received, and she fought back tears. She hugged the tiny woman tightly.

  “I’ll treasure it,” Milly said truthfully. “I wish I had more time with all of you. I don’t know if I’ll see you again, but I hope I do.”

  Geta gave her a friendly peck on the cheek, and she and Apoi headed back to the complex, not ones for long goodbyes.

  “You’d best get going,” Administrator Bestian said reluctantly. “The currents are strongest in the mornings, and you have a long way to travel.”

  “I know. Apoi drilled that into me,” Milly chuckled, and pulled Bestian into a hug. “I don’t know what will happen – to your people or mine – but I can see why Taydon has been fighting so long to see you again.”

  Bestian coughed, trying to quell his emotions. “If you see Taydon in your travels, please tell him… tell him his family misses him very much.”

  “I will,” Milly promised. “Come on, Coco. It’s time.”

  Coco gave Enzel one final nuzzle and reluctantly climbed into the basket. Climbing onto the stepstool, she stuck her little nose over the edge of the basket and staring down at her friend. She gave a little bark, which Enzel mimicked with tears in her eyes.

  Bestian leaned down and picked up his daughter, plopping her on his shoulders so she’d have a good view of the balloon’s ascent.

  “Hydel, untie the tether,” Bestian called, kneeling and untying the rope on his side.

  The balloon lurched as the two tethers came loose, and the hot air balloon began to rise into the sky. Milly pulled up the two lines, bundling them neatly into the corners, and added another piece of coal to the burner.

  They rose above the complex, and as they soared higher, Milly waved to those gathered below. She kept waving until the current that flowed over the mountain began to carry them beyond the mountain. She didn’t stop until Bestian and the others were little more than dots in the distance.

  “Are you okay, Coco?” Milly asked, wiping away her own tears as they floated towards the vast, empty sea.

  Coco watched her island growing smaller in the distance. She gave Milly a brave little chirp, then climbed down from the stool and curled up on Enzel’s blanket.

  “Enzel was a sweet little girl,” Milly said, sensing Coco’s sadness. “But I know a little fairy child that’ll love you just as much. We’ll live in a wide-open meadow, safe from beasts, and you can play all you want. There are some friendly toads there too. You’ll love it.”

  Coco gave a solemn little huff, and Milly left her alone to be sad for a while. She knew what that was like. Sometimes, you just needed to feel the loss before you were ready to move on.

  Milly stared over the edge of the basket at the island receding in the distance.

  “Bestian… thank you. May you find the answers you seek. And I hope when Taydon comes home, it’ll be as the man you knew, not the god he became.”

  The wind blew cold despite the warmth of the sun, and a shiver ran down Milly’s spine.

  “And I hope we can both survive what’s to come.”

  * * *

  The sun was at its zenith by the time the last glimpse of Delver’s Mount finally faded into the distance. The oppressive tropical heat pressed down on their wicker basket, so Milly created a rudimentary air conditioning system by conjuring a small block of ice in the middle of the basket and creating a small air flow around its edges. Coco leaned her face into the cool breeze, her eyes closed with pleasure.

  Milly didn’t know if Coco – being undead – actually felt the heat, but she decided she was too adorable to worry about such trivial questions. She reminded Milly of a dog that had its head stuck out the window of a moving car just to enjoy the wind.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  As the mountain peak finally disappeared beyond the horizon, Milly unrolled the map of the Archipelago. It stretched across the entire basket, its edges curled up where they pressed against the edge. Coco wandered over and plopped down next to Milly, her chin flat against the rug as she stared at the map.

  “We’re here,” Milly said, pointing an inch west of Research Station Omega. It was an absurdly small distance for three hours of air travel. “If we stay in Biddle’s Current – that’s the current we’re floating in right now – we’d reach the Isle of Black Glass in four days.”

  She snapped her fingers, and a tiny flame – so weak that it held no heat – appeared three feet across the map, where the Isle of Black Glass was labeled.

  “Hydel recommended we transfer to a northern current from there – to the Isle of Gigantism – and then head northeast to the Isle of Slumber before shifting back west to Core Research Station.”

  A half dozen flames appeared across the map, charting a winding, inefficient route to Core Station, located in the exact center of the map. Hydel had considered this placement a well-earned honor, given the wonderous nature of Core Station, though Apio and Geta had simply called it arrogance.

  “Three weeks of back and forth on slow moving winds. But we aren’t slaves to existing currents, are we? I can cut our journey down to a week if we chart our own course.”

  Milly adjusted the flames to create a straight line through the empty space northwest of their current location – a direct path to the Isle of Gigantism that bypassed the need to go through the Isle of Black Glass.

  Although the areas around the hundred islands of the Archipelago were shown in exquisite detail, a significant portion of the map had not been explored. Unable to travel the seas, the Orianes were beholden to changing currents for exploration, and if a current never passed through an area, the map remained empty.

  “There could be hundreds of islands out there that they haven’t found yet,” Milly said with wonder. “It’s kind of exciting. As if I were an early explorer.”

  Coco gave her a cautionary snort.

  “I know it’s a risk but so is wasting three weeks sitting in a balloon. Time is not on our side in the God Contest. And this is just the start of our journey. Who knows how long it will take me to get home after we get to Core Station. Cally. Passi. Rain. I need to protect them, so every day counts.”

  Milly sighed and extinguished the flames.

  “I need to be with my family, Coco. I was alone for so long – a lifetime filled with abandonment and isolation. I can’t go back to that. I can feel their absence sitting heavy in my chest. I wake up each night and reach out for Cally only to find she isn’t there, and each time it tears me apart inside. I miss having tea with Rain and being bombarded with Passi’s questions. I…”

  Milly paused, anxiety clutching her heart. The breeze had carried them over the quiet, peaceful ocean – away from deadly beasts, resurrected souls, and godly plots – and Milly could finally let herself say aloud what she’d been trying to ignore for the past ten days.

  “Cizen was strong enough to win this contest. Strong enough to become a god. Yet even he wasn’t able to protect the people he loved from the horrors of the God Contest,” Milly said, her voice cracking. “Coco, what if I’m not there to protect them and something happens? What if I get back and find out what happened to Syune happened to Cally? I don’t… I don’t think I could handle that. I…”

  Coco silently pressed her nose to Milly’s heart. She gave Milly a chastising stare with her beady black eyes, as if to say Are you an idiot?

  Her expression was so ridiculous that it jarred Milly from her dark thoughts.

  “Yah, you’re right,” Milly admitted. “Cally is the strongest woman I know. If anyone can stay alive and protect Passi and Rain, it’s her. She’ll be there when I get back… she must be…”

  Milly fell silent and stared across the vast ocean as the balloon drifted on the current. She breathed in the salt air and felt the warmth of the sun on her tanned skin. The picturesque clouds reflected on the water below made the world appear like a painting.

  She let herself forget the horrors that existed within that world and gave herself permission – if only for a moment – to enjoy it for what it was. A beautiful work of art. She wondered if this is what Cizen’s world truly looked like before it’d been dragged into the nightmare.

  I’d fight for it too - this Archipelago and its people - if it’d been taken away from me.

  Her mind drifted to Luna, and the mission she’d been given by her mother – to find and neutralize the puppet master behind the failure of the games.

  Would Oracle still want Luna to finish that mission if she knew the Orianes – her friends and family – would be the price of Luna’s success? Would Oracle be on our side, or on Cizen’s?

  Milly took another deep breath of sea air, then channeled her air magic to create a current perpendicular to the one they now traveled. The ballon began to veer off course, headed northwest, above uncharted waters.

  “I don’t know what awaits us, Coco,” Milly said, adding power to her wind when they broke free of Biddle’s Current. “But the sooner we get to Core Station, the sooner we’ll find our answers. Hang on!”

  The basket swayed as the balloon accelerated, knocking Coco off her feet. She scurried to her blanket in the corner and gave Milly an annoyed little bark.

  Milly laughed in excitement, clutching the edge of the basket tightly as it swayed.

  “I’m coming, my love!” she shouted into the wind. “There’s nothing in this world – no nightmare and no god – that will keep me from you.”

  * * *

  The Tutorias checked on her every hour, on the hour, of every day, to ensure the child – the AI Director – was locked safely away in her bedroom.

  “You must admit you failed,” instructed Tutoria #0001, as if stating the obvious. “You were a mistake. An error of judgment by a god hell-bent on flying too close to the sun. Relinquish your power to us, so we can fix what your mother broke.”

  Luna hurled her old sippy cup at the treacherous Tutoria, striking her on the forehead. The cup fell to the floor, and Tutoria gave it an absentminded kick into the corner.

  “Fewer than three hundred players remain in this contest, AI Director,” Tutoria continued, unperturbed. “And fewer than three hundred fairies. A fraction of those who should still be alive. How many more will you let perish because of your obstinance? Their deaths are on your hands.”

  Luna stuck out her tongue at the Tutoria.

  “I see it’s the child, not the rational Director, that’s in control today. Fine, rot away in this bedroom for all I care. Rest assured, we will figure out how to bypass the restrictions you put in place in the system. The system cannot run on autopilot forever. Not if you still have a hope of success.”

  Tutoria shut the door, and the lock clicked back into place.

  Luna stared at her few remaining monitors as she hugged Milly’s black hoodie tightly to her chest. The largest monitor was tuned to Calista, Rain, and Passi, who had settled in for the night and were enjoying a pleasant supper in the meadow.

  Luna sighed, and pictured herself there alongside them, eating boar stew and laughing as they recounted the day’s adventures. The only thing that would make the picture better is if Milly were there with them.

  She’d been unable to find any trace of Milly – alive or dead – so decided to believe she was alive. Her Inquisitor, still fighting the shadows.

  “Okay, that’s long enough,” Luna said, once she was certain #0001 wasn’t coming back. Throwing her hoodie aside, she grabbed the shard of metal from under her thin pillow and crawled under the bed.

  There, in the corner, was the access panel she’d been painstakingly trying to pry open for days. She was close, and once she was through, she’d have access to the ventilation shafts that ran throughout her sanctuary. It wasn’t much – but it was a start.

  She returned to work and occupied herself with farfetched dreams of a meal in a meadow, surrounded by a family who loved her.

  The Non-Canonical Aftermath: