Trust is both complicated and simple at the same time. The thing about trust is that it is an immeasurable quality. Sometimes people simply trust you. Whether it's because of foolishness, honor, or some other reason, it is hard to tell. All people are different. All people are shaped by specific experiences. And thus, you must trust your own judgment when it comes to matters of trust. That is why trust is ultimately a thing best reserved for desperate circumstances.

We wish to operate on terms of interest. Trust is a simple thing because there are countless other emotions that compel people to act, that compel people to break their trust or form it.

Hatred, for one. Hatred between two different individuals that could be exploited to your benefit. They may not trust you, but if you offer them the opportunity to hurt their hated foe, they might very well work with you. Love is similar. If you hold something someone loves, they will dance to the wave of your wand and capitulate to your every demand.

But we are not amateurs, and everything we do must have a measure of redundancy. That means we exploit more than one emotion. We pull on more than one strand, and we deal with far more than two people while in the field. Find your opportunities, manufacture new ones, and understand the emotions you prey on. If you can predict someone else's actions down to the finest detail, then you can make them an asset, regardless of whether they are an enemy or an ally.

Now. You have been selected for this trial, little bird. If you wish to become a Raven, then I suggest you earn your feathers. Fly free. Seek out an enemy of the Throne—and make them our friend.

-Raven Qualification Trial, Aviary

191 (I)

Burden

"Shiv," Cripple said aloud, a hint of surprise lingering in the Ascendant's voice as it took in the gathered extraction force. Its Avatar was missing its left arm, and in its place were limbs shaped by incandescence and crackling flames. Other sections of the Avatar's chassis were damaged as well. Its container-like body was eroded. Several patches had been dissolved outright.

The Avatar's glowing optics swiveled about upon its round head. The orcs held themselves at bay, albeit barely. Most of the gray-skins regarded the Ascendant with barely withheld hunger. The Avatar was injured. By all means, it should have been easy prey, but Shiv knew the opposite was true with Cripple. It was a flame that burned brightest before the end, and should Cripple let loose its full divinity, the Avatar would die, but everyone around it would be reduced to less than cinders.

"This isn't an ambush," Shiv declared immediately. He approached Cripple's Avatar with both hands held high and made his Vitae golem stand aside with a slashing gesture. It was slowly running out of vitality anyway.

Gone popped in right behind him, interrupting whatever he was about to say next. "Daughter's gone. Probably not for long. She'll be back soon. Stay alert."

Shiv looked over his shoulder and glared down the dimensional pathway they'd just come across. They had moved through three different cubes thus far, and Adam was preparing another arrow, about to chart their next destination.

"Listen," Shiv began, "I don't know how things look to you, but I'm going to tell you this first. We are not working with Udraal Thann. We didn't have a choice in his appearance. Yes, he did pull us out of that ambush earlier. Yes, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. But no, we're not working with him, and I most certainly don't trust him worth a godsdamn. Maybe even less than I trust you."

Cripple's optics stared at Shiv for a beat. "I see," Cripple said. The Ascendant's voice rattled out from the incandescence, and the war-scarred cube shook from its baritone. "You wish to use me against Udraal? Is that so?"

"Something like that," Shiv said, only slightly surprised that Cripple had figured it out so quickly. "But that's not all. We're going to need your help. We plan to collapse the mana core of this place."

"You what?" Cripple said, suddenly alarmed. "You cannot. The damage the prisoners will inflict on the capital and the Republic will be..."

"It's already in motion," Shiv cut the Ascendant off. "I'm not threatening you. I'm telling you, this is what it is. Udraal is here. Udraal has a plan, and Udraal is going to do everything he can to break this Rubix Well and force the Ascendants to spend all their time containing the breakout. That way, Adam and I can get out of here and make for Blackedge." Shiv took a breath as he considered what to say next. He knew Cripple wasn't going to like a good portion of what they had planned, but everyone was running out of options. "But I think you can reduce the damage. You can get ahead of both him and the other Ascendants, or you can wait and react. I'm done with reacting, and I say we do something unexpected."

Cripple's Avatar strode closer to Shiv. Despite his imposing physique, the cargo-shaped automaton still towered over him by a good two meters. "I do not intend to be used," Cripple said, its voice dropping even lower than before. "I understand your desperation, Deathless, but what you are asking me to accept holds far too much risk."

"Well, get ready, because we're not done asking you for ridiculous shit," Shiv said. "I need you to understand a few things right now, Cripple. We're all being used. Veronica and the other Ascendants are going to come for you. You know this. If they haven't done anything to your mind now, it's going to happen later. You think they're going to wait?"

Silver Tongue 37 > 38

When Cripple didn't reply, Shiv scoffed. "Yeah, exactly. They were willing to twist Adam's mind. You hate Stormhalt? Well, the others don't even seem to give a godsdamn what they do to him." Shiv pointed at Adam. The Gate Lord paused and stared at Cripple. For the first time, the Ascendant noticed both Adam and Can Hu. Though Cripple's Avatar was barely humanoid, its body language was still clear enough to betray its surprise.

"Is that a Penitent?" Cripple asked. "You still remain?"

"Yeah," Shiv said. "It came all the way here to help save us. Can Hu is a good friend. And the only reason it's here at all is because of Udraal. I started fixing its soul, and Udraal finished. I'm telling you this now so there are no surprises."

Cripple observed Can Hu silently, but the Penitent did not do the same. "Ascendant. If you have any steel left in you at all, you know that it is time to make a decision. You cannot turn away from what is to come.

A long sigh escaped from the Ascendant. "And… if you are here, then who does Udraal have with him?" Cripple asked.

"One of my golems," Shiv said. "I sent one with him so that you can be distracted. And by 'you', I mean the Ascendants. I came looking for you because I don't trust Udraal not to fuck us over down the line."

"So you're playing the Ascendants and your creator against each other."

"Something like that. Truth be told, we're kind of pulling things out of our ass as we go along and hoping we'll find gold instead of just shit. So far, the only one I'm not really playing is you," Shiv said. "Listen, we're all desperate here. The entire world's gonna be after me. Ever since that World Quest triggered, there was no way back. You spoke to me. You were close to the Starhawk. It means that you don't have much of a way back, either. Not unless you want to destroy yourself."

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"The Ruling Council has endured and emerged from greater moments of internecine conflict," Cripple said, though it didn't sound entirely convinced of its own words. "I have had disagreements with my fellow Ascendants many times."

But before Cripple could say anything more, Shiv interrupted it. "If you're gonna insist that this is no different, I'm gonna have to walk over and unplug your head from your ass. This is different. You know it is. The ritual, the Great One coming back, me, the Starhawk, everything. This is different. You feel uncomfortable? Great. Welcome to the club. I didn't want this. I didn't start this mess. But I'm caught in the middle of it. And I'm going to deal with it. The question is, Cripple, are you going to deal with your problems? Because you have them too."

"Prepare for transition. Three, two, one!" Adam shouted. He loosed another Veilpiercer. A pathway tore open before him, and this time, Shiv was surprised to see the insides of the guard cube they started from. Five was standing on the other end, as were a few dozen orcs, clad in heavy armor, wielding heavier weapons. "Talk and move at the same time," Adam called out. "Ascendant. Either come with us, or piss off. We're doing this. We're making our own path. It's time for you to decide. Whether you want to make yours, or if you're going to wait for your so-called brethren to slit your throat when you're not looking. You've already reached out and aided us once. Just because they are working with you to handle Udraal doesn't mean that bygones are bygones."

The extraction force began to filter across the pathway. Can Hu and Adam moved first. The orcs followed thereafter. The last ones behind were Kura, Gone, and Shiv. The Deathless studied the other prisoners, surprised they were still here. But the surprise turned to apprehension as he noticed how both Kura and Gone were glaring at Cripple.

"Shiv, hurry the hells up!" Adam called across the dimensional pathway.

Gone was facing away from Shiv and Kura. Her eyes were locked on the only other dimensional rift in the room. It shrank down and closed. And even at the last moment, Daughter remained absent. No sudden attack came. But that didn't mean they were out of the woods. Not even remotely. Rather, they were simply walking deeper of their own accord. They were as if lambs trying to become wolves to spare their own lives; going from prey to predator against beings they had little hope of overcoming.

"It seems that your own house is not in accord, Deathless," Cripple said.

"There is no house!" Kura snapped. Her left hand twitched, and the many scars trailing across her body like thorns came alight with Chronomancy. She looked evermore like one of those cracked cups repaired with veins of golden enamel. "The Deathless has said his piece, and I will say mine. The only reason I went in to claim you peacefully, Strongest, is because I owe the Deathless a debt of mercy and honor. With you here, this debt is nearly paid."

"Kura," Shiv warned.

"Silence!" the elven chronomancer nearly screeched at him. "You had your time to speak. I have my own grievances. Do not think I have forgotten you, Cripple. I remember the feeling of your fist. I remember you breaking my bones, shattering my spine, and casting me into one of your cells for years. Years. I languished here. I suffered."

"And I remember you as well," Cripple intoned. There was no lack of naked malice in the Ascendant's voice, either. "I remember what you did to those soldiers. I remember what you did to that family in the Windlands southwest of Diego. You remember the cage and the wounds I dealt you. I remember the child you murdered. I remember holding her in one hand, how her blood kept seeping out from that neat little wound you made in her throat, and how small the casket I laid her in was."

And suddenly Shiv was again made aware of how a few of the other prisoners came to be. He knew some of them had to be in here for a good reason. And if Cripple wasn't lying...

"You see them as innocent, do you?" Kura sneered and spat at Cripple's feet. "They are but traitors to me. They gave me their oath-words that my position would not be sold to your Prismatic Guard. I had no intention of inflicting harm upon your Republic. I was merely passing by, mending my own wounds after the betrayal inflicted upon me by my own blood. This didn't have to happen, Ascendant. The child didn't have to die. That family didn't need to taste slaughter. But if I were to leave everyone who betrayed me unscarred, what worth would be the weight of my words?"

Shiv's first instinct then was to reach out and break Kura's neck. He could put up with a lot of things, but murdering a family, murdering a small child, pointless butchery... that was an orc-like thing to do. What made him loathe Kura more was how she had so many excuses, how she pushed away blame. The Challenger was respectable in one regard: he was unashamed. The orcs were unashamed. They were monsters and weapons wrapped in flesh.

Psycho-Cartography: Stop. Remember what you've learned. Think thrice. You kill Kura now, would Gone and others trust you? You kill her now, and we have fewer Legends on our side. We will need everyone we can gather to escape from this place. You have a grasp of her psychology now. She is cruel, brutal, and willing to do anything. But she also feels a sense of loyalty to you. You can use that.

She's a fucking monster, Shiv thought in reply.

Psycho-Cartography: This world is made of monsters. You are a monster sometimes as well. You work with monsters. The ones she murdered are already gone. And if she is to be punished, it must be at an opportune time. You can see righteousness done, whatever that righteousness is. But know that killing her now will hold its own consequences. Ones you might not be able to survive.

Psycho-Cartography 78 > 80

Philosophy 24 > 26

Shiv fell quiet but resolved to have things out with Kura at some point. He also knew he needed to keep Adam from this bit of information. At least for a while. He would tell his friend when they were less pressed.

"Listen, are you two going to tear into each other, or are we going to be actual Pathbearers and deal with our real issues?" Shiv interjected. Kura and Cripple snapped around to stare at him. He didn't flinch. "We'll have all the time in the world to kill each other, but we're going across now. Cripple, you stay, we're back to being enemies, and I'll mourn whatever I knew of you and the other Ascendants. They'll carve up your mind or stick all your Avatars in a cage somewhere. Maybe they'll let you out only to fight me or Udraal. Kura…" Shiv barely held himself back from attacking her. "I'm leaving. You want to stay here and get your pound of flesh? Fine. But you know you're probably not getting out of this prison without me or Adam."

He turned and walked, and after three steps, he heard the loud thumps of the Avatar's footsteps and sensed the movement of Kura's Chronomancy. The weight settled in his chest, but rather than feeling like a rock had sunk to the bottom of a pond, it was a body surfacing and bobbing up and down along the waters of anxiety.

A thin, small hand gripped Shiv's leg as he entered the dimensional pathway. He saw then that Gone was holding onto him. He stared at her, but she placed a finger over her lips and then she tapped her head.

"What?" Shiv asked.

"Psychomancy," she muttered.

The Deathless wondered what she was playing at, but he decided he wanted to find out.

"Don't react too much," the goblin's voice echoed inside his head. "You intend to resolve the elf?"

"Why? What got you thinking that?" Shiv wasn't sure if he trusted Gone either, but so far the goblin had been nothing but helpful. Ultimately, that didn't really mean anything. They were all prisoners here. Who knew what Gone did to deserve her cell? Or if she was planning something with Kura on the side?

"I know you don't really trust me—wouldn't be so trusting myself," Gone said. There was no offense in her mind, but there was a lingering urge to commit violence. Shiv had been around enough minds to know that feeling by now. "But if you do go for her, I want in."

And that surprised Shiv. Of all the things Gone could have asked for, this wasn't one he anticipated. "Why?" he replied.

"Because child killers should die. Don't need a bigger reason than that." The goblin released Shiv, and he watched her accelerate ahead in a burst of Chronomantic lightning. She vanished into the guard cube where Adam and the others were waiting.

Halfway through, she called out from behind him. "What did she want?"

Shiv looked over at Kura. She was trailing close behind him, and at the very end of their group was Cripple, looming large and covering the entrance to the rift with its body. "Same thing you did earlier," Shiv said. "We all got our histories, and we all got our vendettas. And right now, I feel real popular with how many people want my help."

The elven Chronomancer studied him for a moment and then offered a throaty laugh. Something told Shiv that she bought it.

We need her alive, he reminded himself. For now.

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