Ebb's words rattle around my head a few times before they really take hold. This city is… monstrously huge. I'm not exactly sure how big, but it has to be at least the size of Tokyo. Probably bigger, honestly. Something that size just appearing out of nowhere–obliterating everything it overlaps–that's better than having a nuke ready to launch. And if it's utterly instant… then there'd be no escaping it, either.

"That can't happen," I say through a suddenly dry throat. "It just… I can't let that happen."

A staticky, rictus laugh rips out of Ebb's throat. "You can't let that happen? Sweetheart, why do you think I was locked up here like everyone else? I may be a professional killer, but even I have some standards–like not blanket-obliterating a city with millions of people in it. 'Specially not my progenitor-given home."

"Your home. Wait, Palastia?" I ask with a frown and get a confirmatory nod. "Why would the horizonguard nuke his base of operations?"

"Why? Why? Why not?!" Ebb laughs again, but this time, the corners of her eyes well up with tears. "We were supposed to take this place, put it underwater, and make a new home for us paindne-a home run by stonestep solutions and nobody else. But he… he… he wants to turn our home into a DAMNED WEAPON!!"

She reels back, then slams the butt of her fist against the wall. Huge fractures shoot out from the point of impact in perfect silence, spreading along the walls, floors, and ceiling for almost as long as my awareness can sense. Part of me wants to step back. But some other stupid part makes me walk forward and grab her trembling hand. She looks at me with tear-filled staticky eyes.

"He… he's going to do it," she shakily adds. "Even if we stop him, he's already earned the right to the city. That's what we took so long looking for; a subquest that gave him the deed on completion of the quest and changed the main reward to something else. It shouldn't work that way, sweetheart. These quests are supposed to be set in stone. Not malleable like wet sand."

I resist the urge to say 'tell me about it' and smile assuringly. "Well, then our only option is to stop the quest from being cleared at all. Right, Jumble?"

A vicious smile splits Jumble's face, and teeth join it almost immediately. Because there isn't any other option now. It's end the quest without completing it or give the system everything it wants. Not sure how we're going to do option number one, but Jumble seemed convinced it was possible. So it must be.

"But I want our home," Ebb says dejectedly. "We… I… learned too much from this place. From those heretic things. They didn't talk to everyone, though, just me and Belay. He was smart about it and kept quiet. I went and blabbed to the horizonguard like an idiot."

A Heretic? They talked directly to Ebb? "When did this happen?"

She shrugs. "A while ago while we were clearing things. They told me about a big war, and how some of them sided with the system, and… how the 'pure-bred' paindne are the system's literal dogs."

Ah, yeah, that's the truth. The painful truth. Probably what set Ebb on the path that ended with her locked up in there for… weeks? Months? However long it was, it can all be traced back to the heretics. I won't try to pretend to understand why they went to one of the horizonguard's people for help. But I won't shy away from this gift they inadvertently gave me.

I motion for Jumble to be ready to remove her spell, but not right away. "One more question, Ebb; did you know that a fair amount of your people have been replaced with constructs?"

Her eyes lock with mine. For a long moment, she's nothing but silent. It looks like she's playing things back in her mind; maybe recounting things that might not be quite in line with how people she remembers would act. Ashen, sullen understanding pulls the life from her face and posture bit by bit like a corpse being gnawed away by ants.

"Oh," she simply says, her voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't know. I… don't feel so good. Can… can you… undo the static-thing please?"

Jumble looks to me for confirmation. I give the okay with my teeth clenched in disgust. Static leaves Ebb's eyes in a soft yet gradual flow, leaving her to see the world with her own eyes as fresh tears stream down her cheeks. Untold grief speaks through her motions. Anger underlines it all. I step away to give her room, but she holds out a hand and begs me with her body language to hold it.

I put my palm in hers. Her shaking instantly dies down a noticeable amount. Long, raspy breaths fill her lungs as Jumble steps over to Gnash to make sure he's doing alright. She shoots glances back at me every few seconds to make sure I'm alright–or maybe to make sure Ebb isn't going to attack me. Nothing in the half-paindne, half-y'tocwa woman's body language says she's going to hurt me.

She's too hurt for that.

Her fingers curl a little tighter as her breath steadies. "Thanks… sweetheart. Sorry about this. I'm not usually this… haha… emotional! Can't be a professional killer with eyes that mist over all the time and a body trembling with anger! Haha! …Ha."

A sigh extends her laugh, then tapers off into silence. She takes a few more seconds to center herself, then lets go of my hand with an exhale full of forced confidence. I return her forced smile with a genuine one of my own and motion over at Jumble.

"We need to get to finding all of your anchors. If the horizonguard destroys them and makes quest progress… you're all constructs. No sugarcoating that."

Ebb nods in agreement. "That's the truth. I know all the spots where we were keeping things, but I really doubt the old boss still has anything there. Though it's all damn close, so there's no real harm in taking a quick peek. What about him, though?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Gnash twitches as a finger points at him. He bears his teeth in a ready rebuttal… but covers them with his lips as his attention shifts to the cracks in the wall. Then he turns to Jumble, eyes trailing down to her book, and finally shifts his gaze to me. I don't say a thing, but something seems to cement itself in his mind. Something that takes all the fight out of his sails.

"I should probably go help the others," he says through clenched teeth. "This level of danger is… too much for me. Way too much. Boss lady? Do you have a coin up and ready for me?"

I summon his half-melted coin with a flourish of the wrist. He stares at it blankly before extending an arm to point accusingly at it.

"Please don't use that one."

I sarcastically roll my eyes and dispel the coin. "Picky, picky. Here."

A new relocation appears in my hand. I press it into Gnash's palm. He wraps his fingers around it, sighs through his nose, and hands it back. It's obvious he wants to stay and help. It's also just as obvious that he knows he'd be in over his head. Hopefully the others will assure him he made the right choice when he gets there–and that seeing the more powerful constructs won't bruise his ego even more.

I don't think he's the kind of person to get too bothered by this. But being kidnapped and held prisoner could've changed things.

"There's going to be a new person there. She's Gil's friend. Don't act too surprised," I say as I hand Jumble a me-keyed relocation. "And a whole lot of constructs, too. If you need anything, don't hesitate to snap me off a message; there's no way in hell you're completely fine after all this."

Gnash's cheeks try to rise into a smile, but exhaustion stops them. Instead he pats me on the arm and motions for me to go ahead. Poor guy looks both mentally and physically drained. I pull on my relocation I left with the others, make a quick 'be right back' motion to Jumble, and teleport away.

"Gyack!"

I blink at the strangled sound in absolute darkness. My elbow's digging into something soft. Something that my awareness quickly tells me is, in fact, Sawyer's stomach. He frantically motions towards me with a terrified expression, then slowly seems to remember that he somehow got a hold of my coin. So his expression shifts from terrified to radiant embarrassment.

"My bad," I whisper and wriggle my arm out of his gut. "Why're the lights off?"

Sawyer holds a finger up to his mouth with one hand while using the other to point away from us. I raise an eyebrow and try to get a feel for whatever he's motioning at with my awareness to no success. Empty hallways that're, for some reason, in pitch-black is all I can sense. Not even another person, come to think of it.

I pull out my Class Card and type out my questions. Instead of hitting send, which might audibly ding–sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't–I turn it around for Sawyer to read. He quickly scans my words, nods in acknowledgement, then takes out his own card and starts typing away. Blazing speed blurs his fingers, and not a moment later, there's an entire damn explanatory paragraph staring at me from the dull glow of the card.

'One of the horizonguard's little armies has someone that can do… well… this, ma'am. We have it perfectly handled, so don't worry about anything. If you're looking for the others, most of them are back at our new home base working out a plan of attack with all the constructs that are on our side. Oh, and, um, can we get a bunch of those coins you used to help Click, Slice, and the others? We kind of need a lot of them.'

'A lot? How much is a lot?' I quickly type.

Sawyer purses his lips in thought, then blurs at his card. 'Three-hundred-ish. If you can spare that many, of course.'

Three… huh… I swallow around a lump in my throat and check my reserves. I've been liberally using the lowest denomination of hexagonal coin, but even still, I can spare three-hundred of them. Barely even touched the higher denominations, though. No real need with the severe diminishing returns. Hell, I could probably toss a few eighteen-Worth hexes around for the hell of it. Might be worth it in the unavoidable clash with the horizonguard that's getting way too close for comfort.

Sawyer taps my hand. Which is… scratching at my neck hard enough to scrape more freshly-healed flesh away. When the hell did that happen? I don't remember moving at all. With blood trailing from my nails I lower my hand to my Class Card, look up at Pearl to make sure I'm not getting fooled somehow, and remove eighteen hundred Worth worth of hexes from my inventory. Sawyer unzips a pocket down the breast of his jacket for me to shove them in. Which I do. Hard as hell to stay quiet through it, though somehow I manage it.

With a grunt and a yank that would've shattered any earthly zipper, Sawyer zips his pocket back up and nods thanks. I return a smile he can't see. And… shit, right, Gnash. I grab Sawyer's shoulder before he can turn away with one hand–the bloody one–and hammer out a message full of grammar mistakes that explains most of everything that just happened. Gnash, Gil, the mask buddies and their apparently-not-dead third, and our supposed new allies from stonestep solutions. His eyebrows shoot to his forehead when he gets to that part.

Can't blame him. I can hardly believe it myself.

"Gnash is okay?" he whispers. "Can you… I'm not vital to this operation. I can bring him back with me. Can I bring him back, please? Please, ma'am?"

Perfect. I flip Gnash's relocation into Sawyer's hand, add a new one of my own to the two-coin pile, and motion for him to get going. He stares down at the coins in disbelief, then gives his chest-pounding salute and jingles off with far too many of my coins. I watch him go with my awareness, and when he finally reaches the edge of it, I focus on the coin I gave to Jumble.

A flicker of magic brings the light back. Ebb's still right where I left her, and Jumble's about two inches away from me. Before I can say anything she latches onto my arm and pulls me possessively close while glaring at Ebb. I raise an eyebrow at the half-painidne, half-y'tocwa; something obviously happened in the minutes I was gone. Maybe she tried to make a pass at Jumble. Wouldn't surprise me.

"So?" Gnash asks, shifting my attention to him. "Is everyone okay?"

I can't help but smile at his worry. "Pretty sure everyone was just as worried about you. Give it a minute for Sawyer to get back and I'll relocate you out of here."

He breathes a sigh of relief and knocks the back of his head against the wall. Poor guy. He deserves a week's worth of rest and relaxation, but he'll get a few hours at most. Maybe even less with the knowledge that he could die at any second.

My Class Card chimes. Gnash's eyes light up with excitement. I quickly pull it out, check the message from Sawyer, and give Gnash a nod. He tenses, as if relocating could somehow hurt, and I flare the connection between him and his coin. Magic consumes him, safely delivering him to the people who can give him the care he needs. Leaving me here with Jumble and Ebb to do the dirty work.

I look between the two of them and steel my resolve. For Jumble, the destruction of this city. For everyone else, to save their lives. For me…

To give the system its quite possibly first-ever black eye.

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