II-47Tome (II)

Before a skill can form, before magic can exist, at the foundation of a Pathbearer, there needs to be a soul. And this is where Animancy becomes truly treacherous. Where once I thought Necromancy the greatest magical lore one could master, now I see just how blind and childish I was.

Necromancy deals merely in the echoes of lost. Of twisting and corroding concepts and matter. A wandering scholar I traded notes with once theorized that Necromancy was simply the system’s way of replacing entropy with something it could wield. Because the system does not want us to die or dissolve, but to endure, even as shadows of who we were. And this results in the Necromancer becoming the shaper of ruins, and why most Necromantic constructs are filled with such violence, such depravity.

Because the best parts of the being are eroded and gone. Because the strongest layer of the soul is shattered and disintegrated. Perhaps the more accurate term for Necromancy, then, is Entromancy. But even that might not be going far enough.

Beyond this, Animancy is a truly complete art. Once I achieved my final epiphany and created my Theory of Evolving Loss, my Necromancy evolved. Because that deduction allowed me to finally cross the threshold between understanding only loss, and grasping the vagueness of what a soul truly is. For—and understand this—even the Risen accumulate feats and history within their broken soul. Their skills might be shattered as a whole and their beings warped, but they are still capable of evolving and changing, as any Necromancy might attest.

And because loss can evolve, then there is no true pure loss. There is only the destruction of a stable, structured state. But what is this state, structured? And how is it constructed? I fear I might need to map out a dynamic architecture for someone’s soul before I can answer any of these questions.

I leave my Great City of Fealty today and embark to seek out another specialist. This undertaking will require more than just me, and I have heard of another who has achieved an evolution into becoming an Animancer.

Her name is Kyn the Wisest, and she resides now deep within the body of the Great One themself. If she is still alive amidst all that instability and chaos, I will find her, and then I will find others.

I believe that if we can master Animancy, then our all woes will turn to dust. We can immediately modify someone’s active skills—or transform them. Perhaps we can even change someone’s Path or give them skills they should be able to possess. After all, everything should just be an expression of the soul. A modification made by the system or a sufficiently powerful being. Once we learn how to shape ourselves, then what fear will we have for suffering or strife? We will be able to determine who we are. We will become as if gods unto ourselves.

And what then can the system do to harm us?

-Valor Thann’s Early Animancy Notes

II-47
Tome (II)

Shiv's Hydromancy wasn't that advanced, but it was still good enough to manifest as a makeshift shower. And a shower was something both he and Uva desperately needed after they finished savoring each other.

Hydromancy > 2

They returned to the anchor somewhat cleaner and in far in higher spirits than before. Despite the constant searing pain and the near-death experience, Shiv and Uva both sported barely-suppressed smiles as they re-entered the anchor. Shiv felt that they hadn't been away for too long, but still... they must have been lost in each other for some time, since everyone else was already back before them. 

As soon as they walked in, he saw Can Hu and Valor both pointing at different details within the open tome. They were flipping back and forth and debating about something. Siggi, meanwhile, was standing right next to them on one of the metal chairs Can Hu made, peeking between them. Adam stood a few steps away beside the anchor’s doorway, but his attention wasn't on the book. Rather, his arms were folded, and he seemed deep in thought. 

At least he was, until Shiv and Uva strode into the room. A beat of unease passed between the Deathless and the Dimensional Archer, but then Adam's expression turned to one of utter incredulity as his radiant gaze snapped between Uva and Shiv. The Young Lord shook his head in utter astonishment. "Really? Here? Just now? In this rat and bug infested place?”

"We had to make sure the building was safe," Shiv said, trying to play things off. "I just wanted to make sure our battle against the Educator didn’t draw any unwanted attention."

"Is that why you two were gone so long?" Adam said, narrowing his eyes. “Four bloody hours of surveillance. And you remember what Tier my Awareness is at, right?”

Uva huffed a slight laugh at Adam’s reaction and pecked Shiv on the chin. Then, she strode past the Young Lord—but gripped him by the shoulder and all but commanded him to speak with Shiv. After that, she left the slack-jawed Adam staring as she joined Valor and Can Hu in examining the tome.

Slowly, Adam’s eyes fell on Shiv again, and they both regarded each other in a moment of awkward silence.

"So you want to talk about this here or outside?" Shiv said.

“Does it matter? Everyone already—” Adam hesitated for a moment, and then he let out a suffering sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "And I know you said a lot to me before I stormed off," the Young Lord forced out. "But please tell me again that you're not lying. Tell me again that my mother—that my dead mother—is inside your soul. I need to hear it from you again so I know that I wasn’t hallucinating.”

"Your dead mother is inside my soul, and she's calling out for you right now."

Adam… Rose breathed. She was still trying to reach for him.

"Good godsdamned hell. Shiv, it never ends. It just never ends." The Young Lord let out a barking laugh—the kind of laugh let out by a man at the end of his patience. "It's unbelievable. I don't know if it's because I'm stuck with you all the time now, or if the system just has it out for me."

"Probably both," Shiv replied. "I'm favored, and your family is being targeted. The Inquisition is going after your father, your fiancée's father wants him dead for some reason too, and the Ascendants are also going after the Starhawk according to the Educator. You’re trapped under a mountain of building shit, Adam.”

"Thank you Shiv, that's very good for my morale," Adam let out another weary breath. "So, my mother is trapped inside of your strange vitality-infused soul. She evolved out of the Foreshadowing skill you had. Which… was technically always her skill?"

"Yeah," Shiv said, "at least that's what the Educator told me. And, well, apparently she knew a lot about us. Her Foreshadowing revealed a lot of information." And Shiv realized something just then, something he'd neglected to think about this entire time. "I think I know my parents' names now," Shiv said, a little bit startled.

"You do?" Adam said, looking unnerved. “My father—he struck them from all the records. He even had his court Psychomancer erase their faces from his mind.”

"Yeah, the Educator mentioned them during the fight. Harlon and Vera Lowe… She even called me the Lowe boy a few times. Didn’t much like that.”

"The Lowe boy?" Adam said the words, but a look of distaste crossed over his features. "No. That’s a real mouthful. I think I’ll stick to Shiv.”

And something about that made Shiv smile warmly. "Thanks. Listen, I'm gonna do everything I can to help get her out, or whatever. It's just a lot of shit I don't understand, either. I don't know how she got there, I don't know if it has to do with the ritual. I don't know what other madness is about to happen, or anything about this whole Ascendant business." Shiv sighed. "It seems that every step we take that brings us closer to Blackedge, the more chaotic everything gets. Like we’re moving deeper and deeper into a burning house.”

"I know what you mean," Adam said. "I feel a strange sense of foreboding. It's like we're crawling through multiple webs at once for me. And these webs are growing tighter and tighter, as if they're going to snap. Before they snap, they might crash together first. And we're right in the middle of it. We're right in the middle of everything. And there's too much happening for this all to be a coincidence. At least, that's how it feels to me. A forgotten Ascendant? A supposed civil war between Ascendants? My father's patron god being hunted by the other Ascendants? And there’s what’s happening down here in the Abyss… Aviary agents going around, stealing fragments of Legendary Pathbearers and trying to bomb a city’s teleportation anchor. It all feels connected to me somehow. But I just can't quite put my finger on it."

A look of focus came over him. His arms were folded, and his finger tapped against his armor. The young lord had a particular look to him, a gleam to his bright eyes while he worked his mind. However, working his mind also came with deleterious side effects sometimes. Adam blinked at Shiv. "When you use the skill, does my mother speak to you?"

"She speaks to me even when I'm not using the skill sometimes," Shiv said. "It's just when I use the skill and I shift out of the real world, back into my Vitae, basically it's just me and her, and she's composed out of my soul." Shiv shrugged. "Yeah, it's kind of awkward. She wants me to tell you that she loves you deeply and a lot of things. But she’s also… not all there. She just cries sometimes. And I don’t think she likes me very much.” He grimaced. “I don’t know if I can blame her there.”

Adam flinched for a moment, struggling to take the news. "I miss her, I miss her badly, even if I barely remember her. But I do remember the story. That's how I knew you weren't lying to me. That book, the Hark a Sparrow or whatever it was called… 'Bark, Bark, Bark,' it's practically the first memory I have.” Another quiver ran through the Young Lord’s lip, but he closed himself up like a fan before he wept again.

And Shiv felt like absolute shit. He could empathize with Adam before, but there was too much distance between them, and Shiv had his own misery to handle. Now, he just hated seeing his asshole this low.  

"I'm sorry," Shiv muttered. “I wish I could change things for you.”

"What for?" Adam sighed. "It's not your bloody fault. It's not. It's not your fault." He repeated the words three times as if trying to convince himself. "It is your parents'," Adam growled. "But how did they do this? Why did they do this? This—there’s more to the picture we’re both missing, and I can’t help but feel that’s connected to what’s happening now as well. At least somewhat…" Then, Adam trailed off again. He blinked twice as he narrowed his eyes. He just realized something else. "Wait. You said my mother can always talk to you."

"Yeah," Shiv said. Not sure where Adam was going with this.

"So can she see out of you?"

"Uh, yeah, kind of."

"And hear what you hear."

"Yeah. She emerged during the Foreshadowing Skill Evolution, and now she’s basically the embodiment of my Outside Context Problem Skill.”

"So, then… while you and Uva were," Adam coughed, "protecting the premises..."

And suddenly it hit Shiv. He hadn't even thought about this that entire time. Shiv grunted. "Uh, well, you know..."

"I can't believe you," Adam breathed. A look of utter incredulity washed over him and broke the building melancholy gripping him. "I cannot believe you. You two couldn't control yourself for one moment."

Shiv looked at Uva, and her eyes glinted as she returned a faint smirk. It was enough to make Shiv’s stomach do a flip. 

"Not a chance," Shiv breathed. But it did feel kind of awkward. This was practically the second situation like this he and Uva inflicted on someone else. The first was with Valor, when the Legendary Pathbearer who was still nothing more than a dagger. Now, Rose Van Erren, Adam's mother, got front row seats to the most intimate part of Shiv’s love life. 

That made this whole thing twice as awkward as before.

"Yeah, okay," Shiv coughed. "I do feel a little bit bad."

"A little bit bad?" Adam nearly shouted. He sounded like he didn't know whether to be outraged, furious, or somewhat amused. "I can't believe this. You bastard. You—you m-made my mother some—some kind of soul-chained cuck.”

Shiv cracked. He couldn’t hold the laughter back. The left side of his body detonated with pain as he struggled to stop cackling. “S-soul-chained cuck.”

“It’s not funny, you bastard,” Adam said, through clenched teeth. But the absurdity was getting to him too. He was shaking, trying to keep from cracking up.

To make the moment perfect, Rose decided to reveal just how open-minded she was about the whole thing. It is… common for Pathbearers to indulge in lust and love after battle. The intensity of combat often turns the flames of desire when the blood remains hot. I remember… I… Roland… Where are you… Why are you so far from me… I miss your embrace…

“She’s so understanding,” Shiv wheezed. “She says it's normal for Pathbearers.”

“No, she didn’t,” Adam hissed. He jabbed a finger in Shiv’s face. “You’re making that up.”

“I felling wish, man.” Adam was on the verge of crumbling. Shiv gave him a final push. “In fact, she’s talking about how she misses your dad—”

Adam let out a snarl halfway between rage and maddened laughter as he shoved Shiv. Shiv’s laugh broke into a ragged shout of pain as he nearly collapsed.

“Shit, Shiv,” Adam cursed as he helped Shiv stay upright. Suddenly, the expression on his face was grave. The others were looking at them with concern. Uva was halfway across, but she stopped as Shiv held out a hand.

“I'm fine,” Shiv said, laughing again. “Just… some of my body’s a bit more sensitive than I remember it being.”

Adam looked at Shiv’s burns and squeezed his eyes shut. “I have no idea how you’re standing, let alone joking or laughing.”

“I wasn’t joking,” Shiv grunted, trying to get his breathing under control. He straightened his body and a slight sheen of cold sweat painted his forehead in a glossy shine. “That’s why I fully broke. Your mother does miss you. And your father. And it’s all just so ridiculous. I couldn’t help it. I had to laugh.”

Adam bit his lip and nodded. “Ridiculous is right. My life is ridiculous. What’s happened to my mother is ridiculous. And you are ridiculous. These burns—”

“They’ll go away,” Shiv said, swallowing back a sudden rush of nausea. “Like the whip scar from Confriga. Just give it time. I’ll heal. I’ll deal with it. It just… hurts like hell. That’s all. Maybe… I can get a Pain Resistance skill from this.”

“Mad bastard,” Adam chuckled. Then, his expression softened into one of shame. "I should have done more. It shouldn’t have been just you against a god. I should have been there guarding you instead of the other way around. I just—I made too many mistakes, and you had to save me. Again. Again.”

“Shut up, Adam,” Shiv snorted. “If you didn't fire that Necromancy arrow, I don't think I would have ever been able to finish that fight. We would all be in the book now. Well. I don’t know what would have happened to me. The brush just cut me up pretty bad, it couldn’t swallow me like it did you.”

"And because I fired that arrow, you are half-burned," Adam said, looking disgusted with the way things turned out. “If I could have been more accurate—”

Shiv grunted, and he placed his left hand on Adam’s shoulder. He ignored the extreme pain flaring through him as he made the Young Lord meet his eyes. "I told Uva this, and I'm going to tell it to you, too. I'd burn myself to the bone if it meant killing the god. I’d burn down to the marrow if it meant keeping you guys safe. The responsibility you feel is not one way. So. Stop blaming yourself, stop feeling like shit. We’ll kick her ass together the next time.”

For a beat, Adam just stared at Shiv, a look of utter amazement in his eyes. Then, he let out a quiet laugh. “Right. Next time.” He licked his lips. “Mother. If you’re there, I—I miss you and—” He hissed and looked away. “Sorry, Shiv. But your half-melted face doesn’t really conjure memories of my mother.”

Shiv laughed, and he lightly clapped the Young Lord behind the head. “We’ll find a way to get her out. Or something. Now. Let’s go talk with the rest of the group. Oh, and before I forget, I need to tell you guys about my Blessing.”

Adam blinked. “Blessing?”

“Yeah. The orc god decided to save my ass and brand me with something that makes me and everyone around me suffer more pain and damage. I’ll probably use it on him at some point, so… Looking forward to that.”

“W-what?” Adam stuttered. “Y-you got another B-blessing?”

A massive shit-eating grin spread across Shiv’s face. “If you hate that, you might be impressed to learn that a fragment of your mother amounts to a Unique Skill. My congratulations to your father, by the way.”

Adam’s nostrils flared. “SHIV! YOU BAS—”

***

After Adam got tired of trying to strangle Shiv, everyone resumed their study of the tome. 

"Most of the pages are badly burned, but we have confirmed that this is a legendary item." Valor offered the tome to Shiv, and as he placed his hands on it, a notification appeared, informing him of the tome's critical details.

Equipment Obtained: [Tome of the Forgotten Artist]

Tier: Legendary

Condition: Destroyed

Composition: [Error]

Enchantments > [Error]; [Error]; [Error]; Record of Absolute and Unforgotten Truth; [Error]; [Error]; [Error]; [Error]; [Error]

But he didn't even need the notification to feel how powerful the tome was. There was a trembling presence residing within it. More than attuned magic, more than anything Shiv had ever felt. It simply was heavy in the way that nothing else was, like it had been touched by something immense. A god. 

A god Shiv managed to burn with an act of unbelievable self-mutilation. As he looked through the enchantments, most only displayed themselves as error. But there was one still left. “What the hells is a Recording of Absolute Truth?”

Valor hummed with curiosity. "I suspect it is a means to deny the other Ascendants of their revisionist powers. Your people believed that there were only 13 Ascendants. They also believed that the surface and abyss war ended during the Battle of the Eclipse. An entire military campaign missing from the collective consciousness of your Republic. A campaign where the surface descended and pushed down into our homes, raiding our territories. I have gone through some pages, and we discovered portraits recording scenes from the war. The burning of Submission—Vicar Sullain’s precious City of Conjoined Faith.”

Can Hu shaped hands of stone and turned the tome directly to the moment that Valor described. There, a small patch of an illustration was preserved. It showed a city lined with crystalline spires burning, people writhing in the flames, and from on-high were a host of flying Pathbearers. Shiv recognized one of them—and so did Adam.

Roland, Rose breathed within Shiv.

At the head of the warhost was Roland Arrow. His armor was basked in flame, and from his back sprouted colossal wings. But looming over him and glaring down at the burning city of Submission was a hawk that was light of dawn itself, and its very essence trailed off into Roland’s bow as he prepared to release another shot.

“This…” Adam paused as he considered things. “I think I need to speak with my father when I get back home. About a great many things.”

“We might have to, considering the Starhawk is at the heart of all this,” Shiv said. He looked at the Starhawk, and a feeling crashed over him. The beginnings of Foreshadowing reached to claim his being, but it failed to seize him. Rather, it clutched Rose instead. She experienced the vision in his stead and began muttering wildly. From her eyes spilled out a stream of light, and it formed a notification screen before Shiv.

Outside Context Problem: The Starhawk looks down upon the world from its place beyond the dimension. He can feel the noose tightening. He can sense the determination spilling over from his chosen champion. Starhawk’s Perch burns over Lost Angeles like a second sun. Arrows formed from the very power of fusion crash down across the land, glassing entire armies. Sullain spent years preparing for this. He was aided by traitors of the Republic; a rival Ascendant to the Starhawk; and someone else…

Shiv saw Blackedge coated in a layer of divine radiance, but at its very apex, Roland Arrow soared. A burning hawk was fused into his back, becoming his armor and wings. Wings that embraced all of Blackedge, that turned away countless attacks. And every time Roland fired a shot, the sun above would flare. First, Roland’s arrow would strike. Then, a beam of unmatched incineration would crash down from above, utterly disintegrating an entire portion of the landscape.

And this was constant. Skills and spells zipped out all around Roland. His arrows snapped back in counter immediately. Then came the sun. Then came a brief silence.

For now, Vicar Sullain licks his wounds. But Roland is tiring. After over two weeks of constant combat and one hundred million Necromantic constructs and enemy Pathbearers slain, his soul is withering from the sheer amount of power he has been channeling. The Starhawk’s mana might be immense, but Roland was still only a Master—his three Unique Skills not withstanding.

“What?” Shiv barked.

Everyone flinched back from his outburst, and he violently gestured at his own head. Uva blinked and connected to his mind. Immediately, she blinked. “You… what is this? Why do you have a notification screen?”

“Outside Context Problem,” Shiv said again. “Seems like it’s a better version of Foreshadowing too, since I’m getting the vision projected out from Rose rather than just suffering it myself.”

As Uva filtered the memories across to the group, Can Hu awkwardly eyed Shiv and he winced. “Sorry. We’ll fill you in afterward.”

“I’ll try to learn Binaric Theory at some point,” Uva said.

“It is well.” Can Hu sighed. “I could receive Psychomancy signals from organics before I was shattered.”

The scenes played through everyone’s mind, and Adam’s jaw dropped as Shiv recounted Rose’s words since no one could hear what she was saying. “T-three Unique Skills?”

“Ah,” Valor said with a low chuckle. “I suspected something like this. A mere Master could not have done what your father did, Adam. Even a True Master is rarely chosen as divine champion.”

The Young Lord just kept gawking. His eyes grew wider and wider at the naked power his father unleashed. The very horizon was ablaze from Roland’s arrows. It made Adam’s Veilpiercers look pitiful altogether.

And still he fights on, trying to locate Vicar Sullain. Trying to strike the great Necromancer down. He knows that if Sullain falls, the army will shatter. But then, he will need to quickly recover and prepare. For the Vicar to attack him so openly could only mean one thing—that his master’s rivals intended to strike first, and that the war of the Ascendants was soon to arrive.

The enemy thinks the Starhawk is alone. They think that he is about to embark on a hopeless cause. They are wrong. There were once twenty Ascendants. Twenty who rose to godhood after descending to the deepest parts of the Abyss. 

Roland managed to locate the broken, Scared Phylacteries of all the other retroactively removed Ascendants, aside from the Forgotten Artist. And even her phylactery too might soon find its way to Starhawk’s Perch…

Outside Context Problem > 56

As Rose returned to silence, Shiv stopped narrating on her behalf.

“I am curious why we can see the scenes the system offers you, but not hear the woman herself.” Valor hummed.

“I think it’s because of Foreshadowing,” Shiv said. “The skill evolved, and the visions come from the system. It might not fully tap into the Evolved Skill. Or something. I don’t really know.”

“You might be right,” Valor said. “Your intuition led you there for a reason. Do not be so quick to turn away from your instincts. The visions do not need you to tap into your acausality. Rather, like what you said with the Educator, you are now insulated—so you are not the one that has experienced/to experience the visions firsthand.”

Shiv grunted. “Useful.”

“And my father might need this tome as well,” Adam whispered to himself. He gritted his teeth. “The system is playing its game again. Setting everything up for its perfect little collisions. We’re all just bloody figures on a board to it.”

“These are the conditions to continue escalating strife,” Uva commented. But a look of unease came over her as well. “We don’t know what the Starhawk’s plan is fully, but if he is collecting these Sacred Phylacteries, then isn’t the strongest likelihood of him summoning his lost allies?”

“Perhaps,” Valor said. “Or finding where they actually are to break them and take their power in case they refuse to aid him.”

“No,” Adam almost snapped. “That’s not something the Starhawk would do. He—he holds to virtue and honor and truth with every breath.”

“Yet, we face a web of endless lies,” Valor retorted.

“Actually, I got a question,” Shiv said. “How does a god get forgotten by everyone? I don’t think they all have a power like mine, right? Could they be reaching back in time to alter things across history?”

Valor shook his head. “The amount of power it would take for even a god to rewrite even recent history on such a level would completely collapse the Mana Stability Threshold. There have been entities that turned time back for a second. But even that is a feat that most cannot dream of. Not even a Legendary Pathbearer."

Shiv stared at Valor, surprised at the old Pathbearer's admission. "Not even?"

"Not even close," Valor said. "Legendary-Tier… it reshapes your relationship with the system in the world. It makes you powerful in a way that allows you to defy gods. But there are still Tiers beyond that. And there are powers even greater by far. I told you, I've been to worlds where the ceiling is so high and the beings there are so powerful. I felt like little more than an ant. Yet I was a particularly clever and evolved ant, at that. So I managed to avoid being squished. Still, traveling in such planes and dimensions was always humbling.”

Valor trailed off for a moment and sighed. “I just wish I could remember more. And, no, if the Ascendants are changing history, they will be doing it through the rewriting of someone's mind."

Then, another piece of the Republic's laws clicked into place for both Shiv and Adam.

"The Psychomancers," Adam breathed, "and that's why the Psychomancers have a monitoring curse. They're supposed to be working for the government. They're supposed to reach out and reshape the minds of people around them. The only people who likely know are of the Inquisition, or... or..." 

Adam’s brow furrowed. "Or lords, like my father. If things like this were happening, he would know.” The young lord considered that, and the implications of his words weighed heavily on him. “But why would he allow it, and why wouldn't he tell me?"

“Perhaps he couldn’t let anyone know what he was planning,” Shiv replied. “This Ascendant rebellion thing… seems like a secret you keep from everyone because you don’t know who the Inquisition’s Psychomancers might steal memories from.”

“Just how long has this been going on?” Adam breathed.

“Considering the war between the surface and the Abyss,” Valor said. “Much longer than we think.”

“Well, I think we also know why Starhawk’s Perch is so important,” Shiv said. “It’s a Sacred Phylactery too. It connects a god to the world, just like this tome did for the Forgotten Artist. That’s why Stormhalt wants it intact—wants this place captured. And I have a feeling he might have an Ascendant behind him as well.”

“City-Lord Stormhalt exalts Halsur the Endbreaker,” Adam said. “But… Halsur is a guardian. A pacifist sworn to bear burdens. And what’s more, I don’t understand the point of these phylacteries. The Auroral Council exists. They are the divine manifestations of the Ascendants upon this world. They don’t need to be bound to this dimension to do anything.”

“And so perhaps it is not a binding,” Valor said. “Perhaps it is parting. Like the partitioning of one’s soul. Much like… the Undying.” And an epiphany seemed to light up in Valor’s sockets. “Like me and my fellow Undying. We part our souls. We pour our skills and split our beings into multiple bodies, that are still connected by thinnest tethers… A collective, severed, fragmented form of shared divinity…”

“What do you mean?” Adam asked.

“I cannot be sure yet,” Valor said. “I cannot be certain. But they found their godhood in the Abyss. We need… I need more time on this tome. I need too—”

And just then, a flash of Dimensionality mana crackled at the center of the teleportation anchor. Everyone snapped to alertness. Uva’s shield glided in front of her as Shiv stepped into Can Hu. A spatial pocket expanded at the center of the room and a shape plopped out from within. 

A shape that was the badly mauled form of Guardshead Leu. The Volteg was bleeding from multiple wounds. Most of her head tentacles had been shredded and her eyes were missing. A moan of pain squeaked out from her vertical mouth as she pawed at the ground. Black blood bubbled beneath her, and she called out with a hoarse cry.

“Away,” she hissed. “Away from me…”

Shiv shook off his shock and cast a wyrm into her. At once, the Woundeater swallowed her injuries and grew bright with crystallized wounds. Leu stopped writhing. Her eyes were back. Her tentacles twitched. She felt at her body and shot up to her feet, staring at the group.

“M—master Shiv,” she managed, breathing hard. Then, she was briefly startled by Shiv’s wretched state.

“What happened?” Shiv asked, kneeling beside Leu. “Did Confriga do this to you?”

“No,” she rasped. “It’s—”

And just then, the entire building above them shook violently as what sounded like a massive mana bomb went off.

“—Aviary,” Leu finished. “The actual agents of Aviary. They are in the gate. And they have opened the way for an army of the First Blood. There are vampires and flesh-horrors within Gate Theborn.”

And just then, as if to add insult to injury, a new quest appeared in everyone’s vision.

Quest Gained: Repel the vampiric invasion and eliminate all infiltrating Aviary assets in Gate Theborn before they overcome the defenses and slay Gate Lord Confriga first.

Reward: Evolve an [Existing Skill] to Master-Tier

Failure: The Court of the First Blood claims the mana core and begins to corrupt the gate. The Animancy Core is sent across dimensions and is lost to all parties. A detachment of the First Blood will join Vicar Sullain’s crusade. The First Blood launches a retaliatory offensive against Weave from the gate’s position within a span of two weeks.

A deep, suffering sigh escaped Adam. He looked up at the ceiling, as if glaring at the system itself, and scowled. “We just don’t get a bloody break.”