III-60Provoke (I)

Misinformation, saboteurs, deceivers, illusionists, Psychomancers, shapeshifters, even expendable clones. You will run into this in the fiel

Misinformation, saboteurs, deceivers, illusionists, Psychomancers, shapeshifters, even expendable clones. You will run into this in the field. Your enemies will use these tactics, these means against you, to confuse you, to feed you false intelligence and guide you down the path to destruction, destruction engineered by lies and misunderstanding.

I have seen powerful armies collapse in on itself, shattered by a well-crafted lie. I have seen formations turn on each other as paranoia and suspicion become too much to bear. I have seen good men, good women, good bots march to their doom because their investigators failed them, because their commanders weren't clever enough, weren't perceptive enough to notice the cage of falsehood being constructed around them.

Seek the truth, always seek the truth, for what you don't know is fatal. What you don't know will kill you. What you don't know will be used against you, and when the enemy is at your gate, when they are battering down your doors and slitting your throats while you still lie in bed, "I don't know" is not a good enough apology for the Pathbearer beside you.

You must know, you must, for if you allow ignorance to prevail, then you cede your life to your enemy, and they have every intention of killing you.

-Professor Hernando Utez, INTEL-101, Phoenix Academy

III-60
Provoke (I)

Shiv and the others ended up killing forty-three orcs after the amnesiac. The bulk of grayskin deaths happened at Shiv's brutal hands. Most of them perished while trying to hurt Adam in some fashion or another. True to Shiv's words, they were drawn to him like ravenous wolves were drawn to a bleeding foal. 

They struck at Adam using a variety of measures. Some took quick shots from range, while others tried to poison him. A few planted bombs—that Adam spotted almost immediately. Several pianos fell randomly out of the sky, but Shiv swatted them aside. The closest Adam came to dying was when one orc Chronomancer sniper nearly got a shot off. Shiv halted the javelin they threw at the last second, and then relocated it down the orc’s throat.

Things got quiet for a while after that.

A few orcs tried to target Valor, Uva, and Can Hu, but those attempts went poorly as well. Between Adam's ever-watchful gaze, Shiv's willingness to perform acts of ultraviolence, Uva's surveillance, Valor's experience and attentiveness, and several surveillance drones deployed by Can Hu, the group looked out for themselves and each other. This was further aided by certain orcs betraying their fellows, reminding Shiv once again that the orcs were highly individualistic monsters. 

Ultimately, the attempted assassinations were just something that needed to be dealt with. There was no avoiding it. In fact, with Shiv and his companions performing so well, more orcs would be tempted to take a swing to see if they could succeed where their kindred had failed.

In the meantime, however, the army parked right outside the Tutorial Gateway treated everything as perfectly normal. Orc Psychomancers arrived, trying to offer their service. Mortar came seeking Shiv, showing him a series of maps drawn of Lost Angeles, maps that improved on the information gleaned by Adam during his and Shiv's scouting run a few days ago. Orc shadows were already slipping into the ruined megacity. 

They infiltrated Necrotech observation posts and were working their way through the periphery. However, reports indicated that Vicar Sullain was concentrating his forces around the Abyss, gathering them near Blackedge. Mortar suspected that the Necrotechs were massing for a concentrated push, but something about the Necrotech's movements left him uncertain.

Stealth-focused orcs also reported something else that was strange. The Necrotech's frequency of attack had dropped substantially. They still launched artillery and spells at Blackedge, but it was mostly just to strain the defenders to see if the wards were still working. Roland, meanwhile, continued showering the world with his endless reign of arrows. Even so, the orcs noted it was thinning. The Town-Lord was either growing weary or conserving his own strength to face the coming Necrotech assault.

"How long do you think it will take for Sullain to make his move?" Adam asked Mortar as they discussed battle strategies aboard Courtney. The heavyset orc wrapped in automaton armor rubbed at his mechanical jaw.

"Hard to say specifically. There's been a lot of Necrotech scurrying about. Their death-wearing rats are digging tunnels all around the city. And there's a lot of movement in the Abyss. They could probably make a real mess of things right now if they just throw themselves at Blackedge. But the strange thing is I haven't seen anything of Sullain. Neither has any other orc for that matter. The Vicar is just missing. Has been missing for a good while it seems. We managed to take some Deathstalkers alive and they said that Sullain has been missing since a few nights ago since the big bomb went off. After that, he left to work on a new weapon—and his only orders were to keep pressuring Blackedge. Keep the Town-Lord exhausted.”

"New weapon," Adam echoed. He looked at Shiv and the Deathless felt his stomach turn into a lead balloon.

"This is a good sign," Valor said, though he sounded like he was trying to keep everyone optimistic. "It will take time for him to discover what the Vitae can do. Sullain is a consummate scholar, and as such, he will not use a tool without fully understand it unless he is absolutely desperate.”

"The fact that he knows or suspects how to make it into a weapon means we need to accelerate," Adam replied.

"Indeed," Valor said. "More than accelerate, you should seize the initiative. He does not expect to be attacked right now. He does not know of the orcs, or at least not of the orc army, waiting nearby. I suspect that the Necrotechs will not do anything major until Sullain returns. He is conserving his forces until he can bend Shiv's Vitae to achieve his desired end—a combined push to finish things, if its new weapon cannot. But we will not give them that time. He will reveal himself if his Necrotechs are attacked. If his forces are on the verge of being overrun."

"Perhaps now would be a good time to see if we can make contact with Blackedge as well," Uva suggested.

Adam stared down at the map Mortar made. He narrowed his eyes at the many figurines representing the Necrotech's strongholds. His gaze swept across the tunnels forged by Sullain’s forces as well. The parts the orcs mapped out portrayed the underside of the megacity to be almost akin to a termite's nest. Tunnels connected to the chasm were still being constructed, and so more Necrotechs could appear anywhere in the city, meaning the battle lines weren't going to be on the ground level, but subterranean.

"Mortar," Shiv asked, "how good are your Geomancers?"

“Our Geomancers," Mortar chuckled. "Impressive, I would say, but far fewer than what Salane possesses. I'd bet on one of ours against any of theirs if it was a head-on fight. But when it comes to construction, creating, building, expanding? No, I don't believe we can do what you want us to do. I don't believe we can collapse all the tunnels easily. It will not be a worthwhile effort, either."

"Why?" Adam asked. “It could choke the pathways into the city.”

"Because it will take substantially fewer Geomancers on their part to hold us at bay, and in the meantime, they can let their adepts continue expanding their tunnels. We have numbers, they have numbers, but they are already established. We will likely take immense casualties trying to push on them this way, and we will also betray our presence. And that’s the worst of it. We give up all our surprise if we start fighting over the underground with these death-rats." Mortar considered that for a moment. "It does sound like fun. I'm not against doing that if you're determined to make this as bloody as possible, but it's not exactly practical."

Adam's eyes turned away from the tunnels and fell upon Blackedge. "What about the sky then?" Adam asked.

"The direct airspace above Blackedge is contested. Your father’s arrows are something the Vicar's forces do everything they can to avoid. Even so, certain dimensional ships will still drop wings of dragons to bombard the town. And about twenty kilometers away, everything is utterly controlled by Necrotech." Then Mortar smiled. "However, his control isn't what I'd call ironclad." The orc made a fist. "He's mainly relying on dimensional ships. That tells me his aerial units are lacking. He's created a sort of teleportation network, allowing them to dump forces from one area to another. They're also supplementing their riders with lesser dimensional escort."

"So, do you think we can take the sky from them?" Adam asked.

Mortar threw his head back and chuckled jovially. "I think we can take the sky from them. And the ground. But the underground… I suspect that's where the fight will be. And the vicar himself will make the rest dubious as well. Legends turn tides, Gate Lord. Sullain himself will cost a good chunk of our Masters and Heroes to bring down. The gulf between Legend and Hero is wider than Master and Initiate.”

"But Legends can still be killed," Shiv said. He gave Valor a look thereafter. "Or at least broken."

"Killed is more common," Valor responded.

"Alright then," Adam licked his lips. "I think we have an angle. We focus on taking the sky away from Sullain first. And through that, we establish an opening to Blackedge. I will try to make contact as soon as possible. That allows me to better assess the situation of the town, see what they need in terms of resources and support."

Shiv noted a predatory gleam in Mortar's gaze. He leaned closer to Adam and projected a telepathic thought. "Yeah, I don't know if we want any of the orcs getting into Blackedge."

"I don't much want it either," Adam said, his stare never leaving Mortar's face. "But I don't think we much have a choice. Can you behave yourself, Mortar?"

"Can I behave myself?" Mortar replied, stuttering with mock indignation. “When have I ever misbehaved. Have I given you any reason to doubt me?”

"I think you're patient, Mortar," Shiv said, "and that scares me."

"I scare you?" Mortar’s mouth widened into a fanged smile as placed a large hand on his chest. "I'm flattered."

"Don't be," Shiv replied. "Mortar, I know what's coming. Okay, well, maybe I don't know exactly what's coming, but you're going to do something messed up. You're going to try to hurt us in some way down the line. You're patient, that just means your itch is building up more and more. So I got a bit of advice for you. Scratch it using the Necrotechs, and keep being patient when it comes to me. You don't want to end up like Band or Amnesiac."

"No," Mortar said quite calmly. “No I do not. And more importantly, I’m not interested in dying at your hands. I just want to be system favored.” The large orc’s expression turned vicious. “Because I got a nemesis of my own to kill.”

***

Shiv met up with several other orcs after that, going over a few other issues pertaining to how many forces wished to go to the surface, and how many wished to depart from the Abyss gateway. Thus far, the separation was more of a 70-30%. Most of the orcs came to face a Legend: to potentially bring down Vicar Sullain. More than that, they wanted to be fighting beside the Insul when the time came, to have a chance at tasting the system's favor, and potentially inheriting it for themselves. 

The orcs that wished to go after the Bloodspawn were personally interested in the destruction of the First Blood. Some of the orcs simply liked hurting vampires, describing them as resilient prey who could be used to scratch an itch over and over. Others, like Helix, were offended by the vampire's existence for one reason or another. A lot of that went back to decadence. Orcs despised vampires for fleeing from strife, for turning away from a fight. It was as if cowardice and a refusal to struggle were the closest things the orcs had to societal pet peeves.

With that stated, the orcs began to mass themselves, preparing to depart. Shiv noted that the orcs had also built some kind of mechanical contraption in the trench line. It seemed to be a series of modular platforms that fit on a rail, platforms that the orcs could race across, allowing them to get from one place to another quickly. It was mainly meant for the orc Initiates, as those at Adept-Tier or above could move relatively fast on their own. This was just a feat of engineering convenience to make sure even the weakest orcs would be ready for bloodshed in an instant.

And soon, they would get to enjoy as much bloodshed as they wanted. 

Adam briefly departed to rush the construction of dimensional pathways within each of the gateway checkpoints. This would allow the orcs to pass through one of the two gateways at will without ever slipping into Gate Piety proper.

Finally, Shiv met BBQ and ended up beating the orc to death in a fit of frustration when he saw the mud and filth caked on the orc's spatula. A spatula the orc intended to use as a cooking utensil for the cooking challenge. The fact that a mess of questionably sourced elf meat buns lay upon a massive skillet didn’t help things, either. Connected to each of the meat buns were umbilical cords and a letter for Shiv.

“I’m still alive, and you’ll be seeing me around.”

Shiv crumpled the note as he splattered the nightmarish meat prepared for him. “Male Pregnancy. When I find you, I’m going to starve the living shit out of you. I’m going to make you a godsdamned vegetarian orc for all this.”

***

After murdering BBQs cooking assistants as well, Shiv began his own preparations for his upcoming infiltration mission. He chose one among the surviving inquisitors to serve as his perfect semblance, and he euthanized them painlessly. Shiv suspected that they wouldn't feel anything or even respond if he tried to torture them to death, considering how broken they were on the inside. 

But torture wasn't Shiv's thing. It would never truly be his thing, no matter how much the orcs pushed for it. Some new orc Psychomancers were brought in to adjust the memories of the other surviving inquisitors. The main details of the ambush remained unchanged, but rather than orcs, they remembered facing Necrotechs. 

Uva monitored them as they made these changes and after performing a final sweep of her own, she gave a confirmation that the inquisitors were prepared for use. With that done, all Shiv really needed to do was make contact with Stormhalt's army alongside the other inquisitors. And that was going to need some careful setup as well.

"It would likely be best if you were discovered in the wilderness or fleeing from enemy captivity. As such, you and the other Inquisitors should be dressed in ragged, scavenged apparel. This will spare you the need for a weapon as well." Adam pointed at a stretch of coast near Margarita Point. It was approximately 100 kilometers away from Lost Angeles, but the Gate Lord was certain this would be the route Stormhalt's army would take. "Here is a believable point of interception. If you manage to make it all the way back to Fortress-City Diego, it won't make sense."

"Why?" Shiv asked.

"Because you would have gone to Margarita Point for shelter.”

"Doesn't the Inquisition want to keep this quiet?" Shiv said. "Maybe that's why we avoided Margarita Point."

Adam shook his head. "The Inquisition can make sure the Pathbearers at Margarita Point don't utter a single word. Now, it would make no sense for you to flee all the way back to Fortress-City Diego. Furthermore, if you are capable of navigating all that way back, it would undercut the image you are trying to sell. The image of a broken and traumatized Pathbearer who suffered brutal treatment under the hands of the Necrotechs when the expeditionary force was ambushed.”

"Right, got it. Make it seem desperate. Like we barely escaped.”

"Correct." And Adam grimaced slightly. "That's why I think we should add some injuries to the other inquisitors." Shiv understood why the Gate Lord was uncomfortable. "I'll see it done myself. If we’re gonna spend their lives anyway, I'm gonna make sure it's done right. An orc might get carried away.”

“When you intercept Stormhalt's army, remember to focus on the Animancy Core when they question you. Stress that above everything else. It should provoke them to pick up their pace. Pathbearers can move quite fast, and if Stormhalt is desperate, I can see him dispatching his scouts and aerial cavalry escort ahead to skirmish and prepare battlefield conditions. That should be able to draw the Necrotech's attention as well. After they take you in, we move on to phase two of the operation." 

And then he turned the briefing over to Uva.

"Phase two is intelligence gathering and opportunistic sabotage, but only if possible. Thus far, we know that Stormhalt's army is 100,000 strong, minus the 2,000 Pathbearers that composed the expeditionary force. The rest of Stormhalt's army are composed of high-quality mercenaries and trusted members of the Inquisition. They are, as with most armies, mostly made up of adept tier Pathbearers, but a substantial amount are masters. According to Sijik, at least one in ten Pathbearers in Stormhalt's army has a Master-Tier magical skill, so we will be facing a magi-heavy army.

“Furthermore, they have an elite Psychomancer core, made up of 5,000 Psychomancers and led by a group of 10 Heroic-Tier Psychomancers. They are further supported by another 10 Heroic Investigators, but they are mostly non-martial Pathbearers. The total number of heroes in Stormhalt's army is estimated to be about eighty, but they do have one Legend.’

Adam stressed, "and if that legend is Jessica Hawgrave the Titansbane, do not, under any circumstances, provoke her if you don't have to, Shiv. Do not."

"Don't," Uva said, pointing her finger in Shiv's face as well.

The Deathless looked between the two of them, and he sighed. "Yeah. I know. I’m not that reckless.” Adam and Uva shared a look. They both snorted.

“Shiv, come on,” Adam laughed. 

“You’re going to run into her eventually. And your mind will come up with the following thoughts," Uva paused as she tried to adopt Shiv's voice. "'Wow, she hits really hard. That's a pretty powerful skill. I wonder if I can survive that. If not, I hope it kills me. I need more Toughness levels.'" 

Halfway through, Adam started cackling, and Uva finished her performance with a slight smirk.

Shiv glared at them. "I’m more complicated than that.”

"But the point still stands," Adam said. "If you are made, or if you are compromised, or if you get the slightest feeling that something might be wrong, you cast yourself back in time. Back to your temporal anchor inside the gate.”

"Absolutely," Shiv said, with a confirming nod. "But I don't think I’ll be doing that immediately.”

"Such is the hope," Uva continued. "If the second phase works well, when night falls and an opportunity presents itself, I will reach out using my mana strands and see what I can learn. Furthermore, Whisper and a small team of five other Heroic-Tier orc Assassins and Shadows wish to accompany us on this operation. We can dispatch them from the Garden of Bountiful Alloy should there be an opening, and they can further support our efforts in sabotaging the Inquisitorial Army."

"And then we get to phase three," Shiv said, effectively bringing the briefing to an end. "If everything hasn't gone to hell, I march with them and push them to engage the Necrotechs. If things do go to hell, well, I'll reveal my true form, pretend to be a Necrotech, do a bunch of damage, proclaim the glory of Vicar Sullain and take a swing at the City-Lord. Then, I cast myself back in time after everyone gets back in my cape and extract that way. Should still be enough to have them bite the bait regardless.”

"It should," Adam said, though he sounded like he still had some doubts. He bit his lip and looked at Shiv. "Listen, I think the mind-altered Inquisitors themselves should be enough to provoke Stormhalt into action. You don't need to personally need to be there. This spy thing—”

"We need to make sure, Adam. Relax. Worst thing that happens is I die a bunch."

"Oh, that's the worst thing, is it?" Adam murmured with a sneer. "That's what you're actually looking forward to. Everything going to hell, you getting obliterated by a Titansbane over and over again, somehow getting a new Skill Evolution, bringing back more bad news afterwards, driving my blood pressure to new heights."

Shiv started laughing. "I'm going to be fine. And if we do this right, we'll have every opportunity to save Blackedge while Sullain and the Titansbane are busy fighting each other."

"That is the ideal outcome," Valor said. "But don't fixate on that. The main goal should be to get the Necrotechs and the Inquisition to face each other. Should we be able to get their legendary Pathbearer to fight the Vicar on our behalf, that would be optimal. But be ready to adapt if it does not happen. Sullain is no true warrior. If he is not cornered, he will leave. He will flee and unleash spells from afar or from a place that she cannot reach."

"By then it might be too late anyway," Shiv said. "We don't need to beat Sullain to complete the quest. We just need to save Blackedge or send Sullain running." After that, Shiv pulled up the quest menu and his mouth almost started watering as he stared at the Legendary Skill. "Soon," Shiv breathed lustfully, "soon there will be three true monsters to this equation."

Quest Gained: Break Vicar Sullain’s siege of Blackedge and stop a war between the surface and the Abyss before it can begin.

Reward: Evolve an [Existing Skill] to Legendary Tier.

Failure: The Abyss rises, consuming all of Lost Angeles’s surface territory.

Adam sighed. "Are you staring at the quest notification again, Shiv?"

"Yes," Shiv moaned. "Legendary Skill, I see it. I need it…”

"Shiv, you know I still think that's completely bullshit that you are the only one who got this quest. Especially considering how much work I'm doing."

"But you're going to get something more than a Legendary Skill, Adam," Shiv said, offhandedly. "Your Legendary Skill is my friendship.”

Adam just stared flatly at Shiv. “That’s a shit Legendary Skill. I want another.”

“I don’t think I shit out another mother for you. But I can try.”

Adam just stared at Shiv for a long moment. "Part of me wants to hit you. Another part of me is desperate for you to succeed so that I can see just how monstrous you get.”

“Have you considered what skill you would place, what skill you would select for the Legendary reward?" Uva asked.

Shiv let out a grunt of uncertainty. "I was thinking maybe—”

"Is it toughness?" Adam interrupted. Shiv closed his mouth. Adam threw his head back and barked a laugh. "You're very predictable, you know that."

"Yeah, but it's also really reliable," Shiv replied. "Look, it's either Toughness or a Magical Skill. Probably Chronomancy. I might even be leaning toward Chronomancy.”

"Oh," Adam breathed. "That is good."

"Yeah, so I don't know, I'm not sure yet," Shiv said. "But it's one of the two."

"Why not Reflexes?" Uva asked.

"Because my Reflexes kill me right now once I get fast enough," Shiv answered. "I considered physicality, but I don't want legendary tier physicality to be something that'll break my body apart because I don't have the Toughness to sustain myself. That, and I don't know what edge Legendary Physicality could provide me against Sullain . He still has that felling necromancy sun attack. I got no defense against it, other than lighting up like a bomb. But that was how he harvested my Vitae in the first place. I'm not keen on doing a repeat of that."

"What about your Vitaemancy?" Adam asked. Shiv paused. He hadn't thought about that at all. His Vitamancy was a Unique Skill. And with how strange it was, how it seemed to lack any presence within his body, he didn't even regard it like he did the other skills. 

“I haven’t actually thought of that,” Shiv muttered. “Unique Skill. Made it slip my mind.”

"Well, it's worth thinking about," Adam said.

"Perhaps, but I suggest against it," Valor interjected. "It could be something extremely potent, but more likely than not, it will take Shiv a great deal of time to learn what the Vitaemancy skill evolution can do. It took him time to understand Vitaemancy itself, after all. Unique Skills are this way. They are complicated, and sometimes inscrutable. There is no one who came before you to give you instruction, no tutorial. You are the trailblazer, and you are your own teacher. In times of desperation, it is best to stick with reliable options." 

Adam nodded in agreement after that.

Shiv huffed. "Alright, I'll keep thinking about it a little more. That's still a little bit away. Let’s go touch base with Whisper and a few other sneakies. It’s time the Inquisition did most of the fighting for us.”

***

After that meeting came to an end, Uva approached Shiv and asked to talk with him. She led him to a secluded part within the bunker containing the Tutorial Gateway. And after she triple-checked no one was there, she asked him to help remove her armor. 

He did, and then they proceeded to do something that wasn't entirely talking for a while. Shiv also discovered that the bunker's reinforced titanium was of good quality. 

After they recovered from their initial “discussion,” Uva lifted her head off his chest and let out a hesitant sigh. Shiv ran a hand through her hair. “What? What’s wrong?”

Uva bit her lip uneasily and forced her words out before fear could overtake her courage. "Another Outsider god has noticed me. They reached into me.”

Shiv went stiff. "Another one? What do you mean they reached into you?”

"The Eldest," Uva said. "They whispered to me, so quiet that I don't even think the Dreamtaker could hear. So far, the Dreamtaker doesn't even seem capable of noticing their presence. I tried asking her about the Eldest, but each time, it's like she cannot hear me. She cannot hear me because the Eldest has occupied another portion of my being and hides from her.”

Shiv felt a chill rush through his veins. "The Eldest," Shiv said. "What's their deal? What do they want?"

"So far, just to understand me. But they seek some kind of synthesis—and they have placed something inside my mind. They have asked me to commune with their avatar. To do that, I need to find a place that is absolutely silent. And I have no idea where that might be."

"Do you even want to talk to them?" Shiv asked. Uva bit her lip, and he ran a thumb along her cheek. She grasped his hand and rose up from his torso. As she looked down at him, he stared into her colorful eyes, eyes that stabbed at his sanity, but provoked him to look and to keep looking, to never stop looking.

"I have been reading Confriga’s Tome. I have delved into some of the mysteries there during my spare time," Uva said. "The Outside, it's..." She held out a hand, and for a moment Shiv saw a faint aura glisten around her flesh. "It's close, yet separated. It's like it exists in the same space as we do, yet there is an additional axis of distance. Do you understand?"

Shiv licked his lips and tried to conceptualize what she was saying. "A bit, but it's pretty murky to me. I know the Eldritch stuff is weird. I don't really like thinking about it too much, but I always kind of imagined the outside to be separated from us by a wall."

"By a threshold, yes," Uva said. "Not exactly a wall, but a defined border. As you said, weird." She hesitated. "The Outside is seeping into me. Soul first. A few of my other skills have changed as well.”

Shiv sat up and pulled her closer. His heart twitched with nervous strain. “How bad?”

"I don't know," Uva said, sounding more uncertain than ever before. "I've been having trances recently."

"Trances?" Shiv asked.

"Yes, moments where my mind is my own, but also something more. It's like my mind has a mind of its own. And that there are other things living inside of me.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her flesh pulsed momentarily with a flash of kaleidoscopic color, and for a beat, Shiv saw an ocean of strange creatures swimming within her body. And her body wasn’t a body anymore. It was like a keyhole to another place. A portal to the outside. There, something else was peering in. Something was trying to shape her from portal to doorway.

And then the glow faded, and she was herself again. “I’ve been hiding this from my sisters,” she whispered, as if the bunker itself would betray her. “From the Weaveresses. Even Adam doesn’t know. But this is… The changes are happening faster. I’m afraid. I don’t know what will happen to me—if I will remain myself if this continues.”

“You will,” Shiv said. “I’ll make sure.” Slowly, he summoned his Vitae. “You said your skills changed.”

“Yes,” Uva breathed. “It changed just a few hours ago. When we first got back from the ambush.”

“Alright,” Shiv breathed. “Let’s see what the Outside’s doing to your soul.”

He directed tendrils of red and white mana into her. Her breath hitched. He could feel her heart pumping fast, her skin flushing with heat, and—

And something seized Shiv’s Vitae tight, and began crawling its way across into Shiv as well…