III-19 Surface (I)

—Confidential— [Ambient Mana Recognized — Incoming Message from Inquisitor-Master Sijik] Oldsmith. If the situation at Gate Theborn is truly

—Confidential—

[Ambient Mana Recognized — Incoming Message from Inquisitor-Master Sijik]

Oldsmith. If the situation at Gate Theborn is truly as dire as you claim, then you have my full authority and permission to extract. Make sure the other Inquisitors are aware of this as well—and make sure they are with you when you greet me in person.

There will be questions. I trust that you are wise and have full control over your senses. I trust that your claims about the Educator falling in battle against the Gate Lord and his “unnatural powers” is verifiably true and not an active deception—an active deception told to facilitate your escape from the gate due to cowardice.

I also trust that you have recovered the core and will be offering it to me and City-Lord Stormhalt in person. Because that might be the only thing stopping him from smiting you on the spot.

…

What happened within the gate is unacceptable, Oldsmith. Absolutely unacceptable. You should know this. You should be ashamed of letting this reach such a stage and not keeping me abreast of these developments—of the risks.

There is no excuse for having this happen. None. Not a single one.

Pray to your favored Ascendant and turn your efforts to faithful service. Perhaps by Halsur’s mercy, you will be spared of any punishment. But for your incompetence, I will see your political aspirations ended.

I have suffered you enough.

Make sure you are ready and prepared to receive us at Mobile Fortress Diego within a week.

No more excuses. No more mistakes. No more clemency.

-Spell Sealed Sync-Letter from Inquisitor Sijik of the Yellowstone Republic

III-19

Surface (I)

Strands of glistening mercury connected Shiv’s Cloak of Midnight Kindred to the dormant seed that held Can Hu's garden bountiful alloy. Once more, Can Hu strained himself, weaving strands born of his Geomancy and Crafting Skill fusion. 

Now, Shiv’s cloak was about to undergo an upgrade.

Shiv couldn't lie, he was looking forward to how this might turn out. It also made him very excited. However, that excitement was diminished as Adam brought up the topic of reinforcements—namely, scouring reinforcements from any and all available sources.

"Shiv," Adam said, "you said that the Challenger has an offer for you. Does that actually mean he's willing to offer some orcs?"

"Maybe," Shiv grunted, "doesn't need to say it outright. But even if he is, we’re not doing it. Having orcs defend this place is like trying to have a wolf defend a hen house. Sure, they'll fight Sullain, they'll fight the vampires, but in between, they're going to be gutting people, killing people, just for the pleasure of seeing them bleed and scream. Sooner or later—probably sooner for that matter—we'll be fighting the orcs inside the gate. It’s a bad idea.”

“Perhaps not," Uva replied. She slipped on the new arcanite boots Can Hu forged earlier on. Her focus crystal armor still needed more modifications due to it lacking some very rudimentary size-adjusting capabilities, but Can Hu said it could be made to fit her person upon being merged with the arcanite. "I think there are ways of managing them, ways of keeping them under control. We can try to obtain an agreement from the Challenger if such a thing is possible. Or I can bend them to our control should they try to break from service.

Shiv drew in a breath and tried to control his frustration. "Uva, I fought one orc. One. That orc saw through my Perfect Semblance. He killed a child deliberately to provoke me and started a fight with me that caused who knows how much collateral damage. Then, he proceeded to curse me with his love and infect me with an Orcish Skill. And then I got Challenger's attention. So, yeah, I'm trying to imagine what it would be like for an entire army of orcs like him. And the answer is they're not going to be on our side. No, they're going to be waiting. They're waiting for the moment where they can drag their knives across our necks. It won't end any other way. They're orcs. Listen to me. They are orcs. This ends in blood."

"I think I can ingrain in them a means of... compliance," Uva considered. She stomped down with her boots and the ground shook. The metal at their feet quivered, and Uva sank down through the ground, and rose up a second later. “Hm. Not bad. Not bad at all. No air, though. I’ll have to hold my breath or shape an opening.”

She didn’t get it. She hadn’t faced the orcs. She thought she was facing a stupid beast, but Shiv knew better. "The Challenger isn't just going to throw us vulnerable orcs just to be killed. No, it's going to be a fight. It's always a fight with him. If anything, I'm putting you both at risk. I'm putting everyone in the gate at risk if I agree to hear out his offer. I don't want to know what an orc Psychomancer is like, and I don't want to find out what kind of orcish skill you two are going to develop if you guys get orcs to fall in love with you.”

"Well, you managed to fuse it to your cooking, didn't you? That's how you got your Master-Tier Cooking, isn't it?”" Adam assessed. "Perhaps we could do the same."

Shiv clenched his jaw. "Adam, before I fused that, I nearly tortured Tran and Heather. I did torture one of the Inquisitors. I cut her up over and over again, and then I healed her, and I cut her up. I could barely remember it, but," he looked down at his hands, and for a moment he recalled the rage consuming him, "I definitely did it. I could feel the weight. I sometimes hear the screams. And I liked it. I was always mad. There was this itch inside me that wouldn't go away. It kept demanding that I hurt people to feed it. So, yeah, I did fuse it, Adam. But it nearly drove me insane. Hell, it did drive me a bit insane. So, now I'm going to ask you a question. Are you like me?"

Adam blinked. His mouth opened, but Adam didn’t say anything 

The Deathless shook his head. "I thought not. You're a good guy, Adam. A real Pathbearer. But this is not something you can easily resist. I’m going to give it to you very plainly. If the skill infests you, there are a few ways to get rid of it. You probably already know. Nonviolence is one of them, but that's not really a choice for us now, is it? Since we're about to go save Blackedge. And if that doesn't work, well, you can try fusing that skill. But then, what skill are you going to fuse it with? Frankly, you don't know what skill it's going to infect anyway, either. So, if every time you shoot one of your Veilpiercers, and you kill someone, and that makes your skill stronger, what do you think is going to happen? I'm not doubting your resolve. But we can't afford this, not now. My answer is no. Not unless we absolutely have no other options left."

Adam briefly looked like he wanted to argue, but the iron and chipped stone made him turn to Uva instead. "Well, Sister Uva, was the Dreamtaker offering something as well?"

"Not quite an army," Uva said. "More like a release."

"A release?" Adam asked.

"Yes, she can potentially gather some of the more dangerous entities, her new spawns, that feed on the others. And," Uva paused, "I can release them. I can use my gaze to release them into the Umbral Wilderness and have them serve as a bulwark against the First Blood."

And that was when Uva started getting uneasy. "But, there's a consequence to this. I cannot... I perhaps..." Uva stuttered briefly. It wasn't like her. "Adam, I have another skill," she said. "It's the skill I told you about briefly. Another Eldritch Skill. It feeds on madness and does things to the geometries of the world. It will affect your sanity if you look upon them. Your Divination sensitivity leaves you vulnerable to these creatures. They're pattern-deviant. And you are pattern hyper-aware. I worry about your sanity if we do this. 

“I worry about everyone's sanity when it comes to this option.  I have only touched the surface of understanding the outsiders. I cannot control them as I do a person or even a beast. And furthermore, they might just spread across the wilderness, killing indiscriminately or inflicting harm in other ways I can't predict."

She looked at Shiv for a moment. "At least with the orcs, they are somewhat consistent. There's a mind there, a sort of twisted, cruel rationality. I can contend with that. I can face that. I can back that. With the New-Dreamt and the other eldritch entities, I'm not so sure."

Well, Adam stared at the stacks of mithril ingots and other treasures they had amassed within the teleportation anchor. "This will be enough to hire a few groups of mercenaries, but that won't be nearly sufficient, and they likely won't be able to respond quickly either. There will be negotiations, arguments, and travel time… Time is what we do not have at all right now." 

Adam looked between Shiv and Uva. "I don't know how to solve this. I don't. But without an army, without a sufficient concentration of force, I don't know how we can hold this gate. I don't know how we can protect ourselves from Lord Scorn, the First Blood, Aviary, and whatever Sullain is doing at the same time. It's just not possible."

"What about Sir Marikos?" Shiv suddenly asked. "The Descendants Union. Could we ask them to offer some aid?”

"He will not reside here so long as I remain in your presence," Valar said, his tone slightly dour. "His hate is that great, his grudge is that true."

"And more importantly, I asked about this already," Adam continued. He scowled deeply. "According to Null Mont, Marikos might be very well willing to start this fight immediately on his own accord. However, the rest of the Five Faiths and the Descender's Union itself are busy trying to come together with setting up a conference. A meeting to discuss what to be done about Vicar Sullain. We don't have time for a grand conference; we don't have time for politics. Blackedge does not have that long. With the Inquisition coming, with them already under siege for so many days, how much longer do you think they can endure? How much?"

The room fell silent. Shiv barely held back a sigh. The system seemed intent on forcing him to make an ugly choice, both him and Uva. Even when they were offered options for easy armies, it wasn't really their army. And frankly, it was something that would probably cast them into a deeper pit of struggle in the aftermath. Uva couldn't control the New-Dreamt. She couldn't control the eldritch entities that flowed out from her. 

Comparatively, Shiv absolutely did not trust the orcs. Worse than that, the orcs were almost guaranteed to turn on them, to start a fight with him the moment they got the chance. But he could kill them. Uva could contend with them. Adam could watch them.

Shit. I can’t believe I’m actually starting to consider this. But it might be our best choice…

He didn't exactly know how skill-binding rituals worked, or how someone kept someone else locked to a promise. But with that many orcs, and with their intelligence, 811 was right about one thing. Shiv remembered him, and he remembered the orc well. Most of all, he remembered the creature's cruel, perceptive intellect. 

Shiv wasn't stupid, but he was too raw and undertrained intellectual to contend with an orc. Physically, he could treat it like a slugging match, could kill one of the creatures, even at master tier. But mentally, intellectually? No, that wasn't a fight he was ready for. And neither Adam nor Uva knew how dangerous gray-skinned bastards were.

"We're going to need to find a solution, and soon," Adam said. His heart was pounding fast; stress was building on the Gate Lord. Too much stress. 

And right then, Shiv suspected that he was probably damned to at least speak to the Challenger.

Godsdamn you, system, Shiv cursed. Godsdamn you too, challenger.

The Challenger awaits your formal response.

Shiv closed his eyes and tried not to grit his teeth in frustration. There was nothing he reviled more than the cunning, brutal, orc god. And if this went wrong, there were more than good odds that the gate would be drenched in a knuckle-deep depth of blood and death.

Just then, a flicker of pulsing force washed over them. The room groaned, the ground shook. Can Hu let out a piercing noise.

"Can Hu," Shiv said, "you alright?" He really didn't like the sounds that were coming from the Penitent’s body.

"I am well, Pathbearer Shiv,” Can Hu groaned.

"You don't sound alright," Shiv growled. Beside Shiv, Adam's azure dawn grew brighter. He channeled more power into the Penitent. And now, Adam let out a groan from the strain he started to bear. Then, slowly, the pool of mercury came into shape before Can Hu began to quiver and pulse. Faster and faster, the mercury spun, churning as if a whirlpool, as if something was about to hatch from within.

Shiv reactively took a step back. He placed himself in front of Uva and Valor, just in case something went wrong. Sparks flew out from the Penitent's joints. Can Hu's eyes flickered, like two light bulbs on the verge of bursting and burning out. The howling sounds coming from within Can Hu's body were now getting louder and louder as well. It was like metal being dragged against itself. 

It was more than Shiv could bear.

"Alright, that's it. I'm putting a stop to this," Shiv said.

But Valor caught him by the shoulder. The Legendary Pathbearer’s grip wasn't strong in his diminished state, but it was firm and certain. "No," Valor said.

Shiv stared at Valor, his eyes widened. "Valor, he's gonna kill himself."

"No, he will not," Valor replied. "Trust that he knows his limits now. Trust that his promise to you was true. For if you cannot trust your allies in times of peace, then how can you do so in moments of war?"

The sound coming from inside Can Hu was absolutely deafening now. And one of Can Hu's eyes actually went out. Valor kept holding her, however, and when Shiv looked to Uva to decide how he was going to act, she looked as lost as him. But it was Can Hu himself who decided his fate.

"Pathbearer," it called out to Shiv, "I have this. I have this." It spoke with such conviction that Shiv stayed in place. He stayed despite every fiber of his being telling him to intervene, to stop this. System, I hope I don't regret this.

The mercury pool began to compress inward, and then, with a violent pulse, it widened and spread out. Can Hu's hands came together, both his humanoid manipulator limbs and his massive industrial claws. With a resounding clang, the reforging concluded. A spell flashed above Can Hu and came slamming down on the item born of the merger. 

But the moment it was done, Can Hu slumped. Adam fell to one knee. Uva sent fragments of her shield to help Can Hu to stay standing, while Shiv strode right past the billowing black mass of his newly reforged cloak to see how the Penitent was doing.

Meanwhile, Adam gaffed on his hands and knees and slowly began to crawl towards Can Hu as well. 

"Can Hu, Can Hu!" Shiv cried urgently. He held the machine gently, trying not to do any more damage.

But Can Hu turned, aiming its one good eye at Shiv. Its half skull was partially cracked. This reforging had strained it substantially. He should have never allowed it to do this. He should have...

"I told you," Can Hu said. There was a hint of pride in its voice. "I told you I could. I fulfilled the promise." Can Hu held up a shaking hand and pointed at the reforged item.

Only then did Shiv gaze upon the newly merged cloak in detail. And only then did he realize it was more than a cloak now. No, it was vast and billowing, something between a cape and a long coat, capable of shrouding Shiv's entire body. Previously, it had primarily been a mass of dimensional shadows—that dimensional space between Passage held together by clumps of Weaveress silk. The silk was overlaid now by an interweaving lattice of various alloys. They glistened in the light, shimmering brilliantly, and lining the great cloak. Again, a metallic outline. Motes of shadow dripped out from the grand cape as well, bits of Dimensionality peeling free.

Shiv reached out and took the cape in his hands. Once he did, a notification loaded.

Equipment Obtained: [Cape of Innermost Depth]

Tier: Heroic

Condition: Stable

Composition: Spatial Magic; Varied Alloys

Enchantments > Dimensional Pocket; Portomancy 10; Shadowsense 50; Category One Dimension Core; Forest of Alloy; Adaptive Environment; Binding

Shiv's eyes widened. Heroic-Tier. Heroic. Can Hu shot past the threshold. It managed to advance the quality of both its Garden Bountiful Alloy and Shiv's Cloak of Midnight Kindred. It was more than just a minor dimensional pocket now, and the Shadowsense skill had increased as well.

Forest of Alloy too… I guess Can Hu will be getting a lot more materials as well.

Shiv could feel the forest residing within his cape. But the garden was like a small patch of stable space at its center, a space he could move or shift into place over the cape. As he did that, it was like an entrance appearing upon the great cape. The portal to the forest of alloy drew closer and revealed itself to him. Shiv could see vines of copper and trees made from all manner of metals and materials. And all that revealed upon a canvas that functionally still felt like an article of silk. Stepping into the garden would be like pushing oneself into a curtain and entering a new dimension.

"Damn good work, Penitent," Shiv said, staring at Can Hu. The Penitent staggered on its feet, but managed to stand.

"It is my aim to serve, my pride to serve, and it's my pleasure to receive," Can Hu crackled weakly.

"Well done indeed," Adam said in response, a chuckle escaping from the Gate Hu as he stared at Can Hu. "Now we'll be able to start stuffing even more things in Shiv's billowing black pocket." Adam licked his lips. "And to get the rest of us some dimensional pockets as well."

As Shiv equipped his cloak, he threw a few leviathan rations inside of it. A second later, he pulled them back out just to see if he could. 

"Alright," Shiv said, "time to get the rest of my inventory back where it belongs."

"Before you do that," Valor said, "Shiv, there is something you should be aware about. Adam, this concerns you too. I think... I think I know the true architect behind the ritual. Your ritual."

Whatever amusement lit upon Adam's face was extinguished in a moment.

"Udraal Thann," Shiv said, "your son. Yeah, I kind of figured." He hesitated for a moment, but as soon as he met Adam's eyes, he knew he had to let Adam know. Maybe not the rest of the horror story he watched, but the part about their parents meeting Udraal. 

"Adam, your mother, she told me something earlier. She said that she, your father and my parents… They had contact with Ujral. They didn't just fight him. There was apparently a moment of truce or something, and he led them somewhere." Shiv paused, "And I think… maybe my parents figured out how to do the ritual from him, or something."

"That is likely an accurate assumption, a good assumption." Valor sounded apprehensive for once. "Shiv, my memories are scattered as well, but my son, he was trying to create something. We were all trying to create something before…" Valor hesitated before continuing. "Before a great many things happened. But the main goal there was to make something that went beyond the bounds of the system. Something that could usurp it."

A silence fell over the room.

“We meant to usurp the system. We wanted to create something from the Great One's legacy. Something that couldn't be so easily controlled. Something that was beyond the confines of strife, that wasn't forced to struggle for its existence. It was beyond the system's capacity to challenge. And during the attempt... during the attempt..." Valo released a ragged hiss that held a great deal of pain. 

"During the attempt, I lost my love. I lost my wife. And Udraal lost his mother. After that, there is a missing piece in my memories. But I think I stopped trying to defy the system after that, and I think my son committed himself fully. He gave himself entirely to the goal. But rather than just surpassing the system, he now also wanted to make something that could take someone back from the system. Take someone back from the clutches of death. Something deathless."

Shiv paused. "Deathless," he repeated, "like me."

"I am not sure," Valor said, "but I think it is a good assumption. Your mind isn't just like that of a Tarasque's. It is likely built upon the framework of a Tarasque. And there is a reason for this. It's not just to make someone a weapon. It's not just so that you have a cognitive template as durable as your soul and vitality. A Tarasque, it is a creature unlike any other. And a Cursed Tarasque is inured even against Necromancy. From my research, I believe they are unique monsters meant to destroy worlds, that they were born from concentrates of strife itself, forged by the system’s own hand. Their minds capable of reverting even after being broken, just like their bodies can be restored if only a single piece remains. And so Udraal was inspired to use them in certain ways. As some kind of incubator or regenerator to restore the complete soul of another person after. To regrow someone from the remains of their own being. Their own skill…”

Shiv sank into his own thoughts. As he thought, only one individual came to his mind. And it wasn't Udraal, but Rose. Rose Van Erren. Rose, who spawned from his foreshadowing skill. Rose, who is now tethered to his outside-context problem skill. Rose, who was caged, trapped, and bound to his vitae.

"Rose Van Erren," Valor said, echoing Shiv's very thoughts. "You said she emerged after you hit a skill evolution. You said she is now tied to your Unique Skill. That may not be a thing of freak circumstance. That may be deliberate. It is a resurrection, if what you say is true. To regrow another path bearer from a fragment of their own soul, from a skill they had. But skills are only part of a person. Vitality and mind, that is necessary as well. And since your mind can regenerate, and since your vitality is bound to your soul..."

"Were you saying that I resurrected Rose Van Erren? That's what I'm for? An incubator of resurrections?" he asked.

"Perhaps," Valor replied.

Adam looked on, and his expression was absolutely shell shocked. But, rather than despair, there were glowing embers of hope behind his eyes. While Shiv and Valor were lost, and wrestling with the nature of Shiv's ontology, Adam was likely only hearing one thing: his mother could be resurrected.

"But... but," Adam paused. "But my mother—she wasn't the only one who was murdered during the ritual. I had an unborn sister."

"Shiv said, I saw her," Shiv replied, his voice thick with horror. "I saw what happened to her."

And suddenly, Adam's hope shrank. They became pinpricks. And what replaced them was fear, fear, but also a desire to know. "Can... can she be brought back as well?”

Shiv shook his head. "I don’t..." When Shiv tried to describe it without making it seem nightmarish, without harming Adam more, he was just thinking about what happened. About his father thrusting the blade through the baby, through Shiv's own mother. Shiv swallowed. "My father sacrificed your unborn sister—”

But before he could go further, Adam broke and turned away. His spirit collapsed. "No, no, I'm not ready for this." Shiv paused, letting Adam process the moment. "Just… Don’t say anything anymore. I’ll… Later. Later… But my mother… she could still be restored. Is that what you're saying? That she could be brought back to life?"

"I... I do not know, Adam," Valor admitted. "But it is possible. If what my son was trying to do had succeeded, and it sounds like it succeeded partially, then perhaps it is very much possible." Valor looked at his right arm, the arm that allowed him to conduct Necromancy on a higher level again. A piece of himself that would have been traded by the rogue-lance of dragon-knights for safe passage through Compact territory. "We need to find an Animancer , and a Master Animancer at that, at least.”

“And the easiest way to do so is finding another of your fragments," Adam finished. "Alright, the moment we get a chance, I will do that. We'll find another piece of you. We will get as many pieces as possible, and we will assemble you, Valor. We will give you everything you need. And then, and then you can look into Shiv. You can look into what... just what has been done to his very soul. And... and..." 

Adam almost didn't dare say the next part. A shiver ran through his body. "...and then we can think about potentially... potentially we can save my mother," he finally managed. The statement sounded absolutely insane. And Adam sounded like he didn't want to believe it either at all. But something in him did, and the traitorous noise of hope leaked into his voice.

"Of course, Adam," Valor said. "You have my word. And this is my responsibility as well. I should have... there are things unfinished between me and my son. 

“Things unfinished between me and my father as well," Adam shook his head. "We all have many things to ask. But right now, right now, we have a task at hand. And we are finally ready. We are finally ready to return to the surface. Finally. Godsdammit. We’re so close."

And with the possibility of his mother being savable, Adam looked at everyone with a new surge of motivation flooding his being. Mirroring his rising mood, his righteous dawn prevails grew brighter as well. "There are problems ahead of us, but we can see them solved. There are enemies around us, but we can see them slain. We will see them slain." Adam swallowed. He tried to contain his rising excitement, his building hope. "Shiv, how much time do you need?"

"For what?"

"To prepare. To head out.”

"I've already done some cooking, Adam," Shiv said. He cracked his neck. "I'm just gonna go get my stuff, and then I'll be ready to head out through the gate."

"Good man. Before that, I need to draw you a map. There are several landmarks you need to remember, and you need to understand the general directions. I don't want you getting lost. I don't want there to be any problems all the way. We're going to do this fast and proper." But then, before anything, Adam held up a hand. He walked over to the table and picked up the Hydromancy wand.

Equipment Obtained: [Wand of Instant Tsunami]

Tier: Master

Condition: Perfect

Composition: Hydrokite

Enchantments > Hydromancy 100; Hydro-Form; Summon Living Maelstrom; Mending; Binding

Immediately, Adam strapped that to one of his straps. "I'm going to take that just in case. I'm going to wait to reforge it." Adam grinned at him. "This is not damaged." Frankly, I don't think reforging is necessary. I'd like it just the way it is, at least for now. But go. Fill your cape. When you get back, I need to talk with you about how we’re going to do this.

***

The world was vast, incredibly vast, and Shiv had only seen a small part of it. That was what Shiv learned as Adam drew him a general map of what to expect. However, when one was high enough in the air and could see enough of their surroundings, a few landmarks would immediately make themselves known. 

The first was the Pacific. The Grand Pacific was a massive body of water that lined the boundaries of the Twilight Republic and, fundamentally, of the former Lost Angeles sprawl. Depending on where the surface gateway led, if Shiv was lost, the first thing he needed to do was go up. Up until he saw the nearest body, a large body of water.

After that, he was to look for a massive looming plate, blocking that ocean off from washing over the land. The Grand Pacific was a turbulent place, a place where waves over a kilometer high danced across the horizon. The great slab of uprooted tectonic plating were partially meant to stop that and also served as a series of major natural occurring wards to keep the Sea Titans dwelling at the Grand Pacific's depths at bay. 

The massive plate were called the Tidewall, and if Shiv ever wanted to find the Lost Angeles sprawl from afar, he just needed to follow it first.

Once there, the sprawl itself shouldn’t be hard to find at all. It was a massive stretch of ruins, spreading hundreds of kilometers, running from the chasm to Old Santabar to the hard north, where gale-force blizzards tore chunks of the land and froze the very air as they traveled down from the ruins of Torontus.

For this scouting run, Shiv's main job was to move and keep moving, to make a complete lap around Blackedge and gather as much information as possible. The town should still have wardings active, wardings against Portomancy and Chronomancy, so if he got too close, his Strider of the Unbending Path would likely be affected as well. 

He was to stay beyond the area of effect to get as much information about the town situation as possible and, hopefully, bait out attacks, exposing as many of Vicar Sullain’s hidden scouts as he could. 

After that, Adam would mark down their locations, and he would also preferably ambush a few to take as prisoners. That was part of why he wanted the wand. Its Hydromancy allowed him to pin someone else by clutching them with controllable. He could also easily summon a dimensional of animated water along with turning himself into water for a while. It sounded like a Hydromancy-Physicality Skill Fusion.

 No wonder Adam thought the wand was good on its own. Shiv thought the enchantments were awesome.

As they strode closer to the surface gateway, mercenaries cleared out ahead of them. The encampments had been removed, and the mercenaries taken to somewhere else as well. But some of them still lingered here, talking, exchanging pleasantries, or just staring off the side of the bridge. Siggy was there and she saw Shiv and Adam approaching together.

As she looked at Shiv, he gave her the slightest of nods, and she clenched her jaw and returned it. There was still fear, but there was also a growing understanding on her part. Shiv didn't think much of her, but in this time, she'd been nothing if not helpful. And she helped Adam, and Shiv, with several points. That meant something. Something. Shiv frowned internally. It was hard not to feel a little bit grateful to the goblin, but still, she'd been a slave trader. What the hell is the right thing to do in these situations? Shiv wondered to himself.

"Alright, so repeat after me. What is rule one?"

"I got rule one," Shiv said, annoyed.

"Repeat it. I want to hear you say it."

"Keep moving, all the time. Always keep moving, because we might be attacked by people with necromancy. Yeah, I know. Ass on the line, Adam."

"Yes, but you've been very reckless with your own life so far, and you've been rewarded for that recklessness. You will not be rewarded if you are fighting someone with Necromancy. Instead, an entire section of the world might vanish in a white-hot blast of fire. Don't let that happen."

Shiv nodded, understood Adam's concern. Then he looked at Adam. "If it does, you go straight back into the gate. Don’t get fried.”

Adam nodded. "Yes, I know. But when it's over, I'm coming back for you."

Shiv grunted. They were of an understanding on that part, at least. Shiv would leave the gate first. He would trigger his Creeping Void to provide a blanket of cover. It would be useful for him, because it would stop anyone from seeing exactly what was happening when the gate opened. It would be useful for Adam, since the Gate Lord's plan was to go straight up into the air. 

Once above the clouds. He would use his Seer of Horizons to survey and observe the land from on high. And there, he would fire his Veilpiercers and keep Shiv protected from afar, without straying too far away from the gate himself. 

Again, the differences between their skill sets showed itself. Shiv was going to accelerate, going to make noise, going to be a traveling avalanche. Adam was going to be a sniper, a scalpel, and a precision raider.

"Once we get the inside of your cape fully set up, we can take Uva out with us. Even now, it’s a reliable place for her to hide from the sun, if nothing else." Adam mused. “Her and most of the other Abyssals.”

Shiv let out a laugh. "You really consideate, Adam, you know that?"

"I tried to be." Adam gave him a slight smirk. "She's going to need to field test her boots and her armor at some point, as well as learn about the exempt dangers of the Light-Curse."

"Sullain, she can operate in the light for a while," Shiv said. He remembered seeing Sullain during the eclipse. But then again, that was the eclipse. That was the perfect day to attack with the sun’s rays blunted. Even so, the star burned more than a few of the vicar’s forces with how much steam was rising from their bodies.

"Well, Valor said that the stronger Pathbearer one is, the longer it takes for the Light-Curse to fully affect them." Adam paused as he pressed his lips together. "I suspect its effects won't be instantaneous on Uva, but still."

"Best to keep her away," Shiv finished. There was more than a little weight in his voice. He didn't want the sun to touch her. He didn't want to see her hurt at all. But if they were going to fight on the surface, there were going to be risks. Especially for her.

The two of them came to a stop before the gateway, and Uva briefly overtapped both of their minds with her mana strands. "Alright, I'll be monitoring the gate while you are gone. Make sure nothing goes wrong." Uva paused. "I will likely have to convene with the Dreamtaker about other options we have for force generation. I'm not going to tell Null Mont about this right now.”

"Probably a good idea," Adam said. "But don't decide on anything before we get back."

Uva gave a quiet hum of agreement. "If you two are gone too long, I will come out after you. You understand this, yes?"

Adam and Shiv looked at each other. "Well, let's endeavor not to be gone too long then, Gate Lord Adam."

“Agreed, Shiv,” Adam breathed. “Let’s make this run fast and effective.” And with a gesture from the Gate Lord and a flicker of the mana core above, the gateway before them tremored to life. With a flash of brilliant shadow lining with distortion, the path to the surface opened. Adam gestured. "After you, Deathless."

"My pleasure, gate lord," Shiv replied.

"Remember," Adam said once more, "keep moving."

"Yeah," Shiv said, "I'll always keep moving."

And as he walked, shadows began to leak out from him, shadows darker than that of his new cape. The world was drenched in a dense black miasma, and most of the bridge, along with a quarter of the surface district, vanished from sight. Just as Shiv slipped through.

A moment later, and a clenching sensation thereafter, Shiv found himself standing back on the surface. The freshness of the air washed over him through the slots in his helmet and kissed his skin. It was fresh and overwhelming. There was a taste of salt in the air, a taste of sea. Around Shiv, uneven hills of rolling green and strange weeds rose in all directions. As he stared out, he found himself looking at large mountains in the distance, large mountains shadowed by an even larger piece of tectonic plating that shrouded most of the horizon.

"Well," Shiv said, "looks like I found one of the landmarks pretty quick. Tidewall… Never bothered learning about your name all these years.”

But then something else caught his attention. All around him, there were smears on the ground. Smears of paint, was that? And suddenly Shiv made another connection in his mind. There must have been guards out here too, guards that ran into the Educator. Shiv grunted. He probably would have had to kill these guards. But when he detonated himself inside the Educator's tome, the guards probably burned as well if they were stored and painted on the pages.

The whistle of rushing wind passed around Shiv. And with a pull of his gravity field, he shot high into the air. The ground split apart beneath him from the sheer amount of kinetic energy displaced. 

And as he flung himself high, he saw the horizon yawning towards him, saw himself rising higher and higher until he saw the very top of the tectonic plate: The Tidewall. Then, his gaze slipped past it. For the first time, Shiv laid eyes on the face of the Grand Pacific. True to Adam's words, there were waves, wave after wave, each one higher than the last. It went on from the battered beaches of the coast to the uneven bend of a twilight horizon. And the waters were pristine, pure, near transparent. And beneath the waves, Shiv saw armies of colossal monsters wrestling with each other, casting more massive tsunamis on the surface above.

Shiv blinked. All the world was in struggle. At any given moment, at any given time, the system wanted strife, and no one could avoid it. No one. As he looked around, seeking the lost end of the sprawl, there came a strange feeling in his gut. Something that told him that he shouldn't stay still. 

Keep moving, Adam had said, so Shiv did.

And that decision, in that moment, saved his life. Shiv spiked his field left—-and something hissed right past his head, almost taking a chunk out of his helmet. Shiv turned, his sudden burst of speed feeding his inertial sheath with building force. Just then, Shiv noticed something materialize within his Creeping Void. A veil of twisting air dissipated, revealing a glistening arrow. A glistening, green, corrosive arrow. His eyes widened, and before his brain could fully process what he was looking at, another whistle came by just a few centimeters above his head, and three more just below. All of them revealed themselves to be Necromantically charged arrows, and all of them were followed by more.

The Creeping Void 109 > 110

Shiv turned, just as an arrow nearly struck him in the eye. Even with his Heroic-Tier Reflexes, he wouldn't have been able to avoid that. He didn't even hear them. They were silent, they were fast, and most of all, they were invisible. 

But even if Shiv wasn’t fast enough to dodge, he was fast enough to command time to halt on his behalf.

A half-centimeter away from his left eye, a Necromantically charged arrowhead poured eerie green energy into Shiv's gaze. Immediately, an ugly sneer lit his face. He looked across the land, and he saw... he saw too much landscape and rolling hills. Too much green and vegetation. He saw nothing. Nothing that told him where these arrows were coming from. But they knew exactly where he was.

Shiv let out a sigh of "shit." Well, he stared down his improved Magebreaker, and a feral smile spread across his face. "Time to see how good my minor illusion enchantment is."