The man standing in front of Lexie was nearly unrecognizable. He was leaner than she remembered, with his near burgundy-colored hair falling in waves around his face, his beard overgrown. Instead of black, a pink eyepatch sat over his left eye. New scars appeared all over his face and leathery body, and he looked like he'd been sunburnt several times over.

But it was definitely Max. Uncle Max.

Lexie knew it as potently as she knew her own name.

He hadn't noticed her yet for whatever reason. He was still approaching Cecilia, holding his shotgun facing the sky. He also had his trusty backpack on his back and was wearing wifebeaters and leather fatigues, nearly the same clothes he'd been wearing when he'd left her. He smelled almost the same, too, although there was some additional BO included.

"Cece?" he whispered. "You…they told me you disappeared years ago."

"Yeah," she whispered, staring at him with the same amount of shock. "I did. I've been in a dungeon that whole time."

"You were here?" His eyes trailed down her form. "Why do you look the same?"

"Well...time works funny in this dungeon."

"It does?"

She nodded and then suddenly, under his inspection, she got self-conscious. She started wiping the vomit and blood from her lips as well and fixing her hair, picking out twigs from it, brushing out her bangs with her fingers.

While she did, Uncle Max's eyes finally travelled to Lexie. As their gazes mingled, Lexie's heart skipped a beat, and Uncle Max started saying, "What's this ugly thing that you picked up…"

He trailed off as slow recognition built in his gaze.

Lexie was slightly offended. Ugly thing, he'd called her. She knew she looked human, thanks to Ryn, but probably like a malnourished, pale, and sallow one.

With growing horror, Max realized that the ugly thing was his goddaughter.

Lexie watched the play of emotions on his features, picking them out one by one.

Eyebrow ruffle. Confusion.

Eyes flaring. Surprise.

Jaw-dropping. Disbelief.

Jaw clenching. Anger.

He went through the stages before his features finally congealed into something like despair.

"No." His whisper was a harsh exhalation of sound, and he stumbled back, his hand over his mouth. "Don't tell me…"

"Yes." Cynthia's voice was quiet, mourning. "It's Lexie."

"NO!" Uncle Max's exclamation was loud enough to send the birds flying. The flapping of their wings echoed on the tail of his outcry.

"WHY IS SHE HERE?" He yelled, making Cecilia wince as he turned his angry eyes to her.

Cecilia seemed too cowed to respond, so Lexie felt it was her duty to correct him.

"It's not her fault," Lexie said. "It's Naem's."

"What?"

Lexie thought about it a little more, then added, "Well, to be fair, it is not entirely his fault either. I came into the dungeon on my own."

"Why the devil would you do that?"

"Because I was looking for Theo Firebringer," she said. "And you."

"Me? You were looking for me?"

"Yes, and I got trapped. But I could have gotten out if Naem had made a deal with the Lord of the dungeon line, his brother Neqal. He did not want to, so I was trapped in the dungeon."

"Is that why you want to kill Naem?" Cecilia asked, and Lexie shook her head.

"No. Maybe at first, I wanted to kill him for leaving me here. I was angry and sought vengeance. I am still angry. But also…I don't know." She shook her head. Vengeance was her light, but the more she lived with it, the more she was able to think through its hold. "I think what Naem did was best for me. I needed to change."

Lexie still remembered herself as that scared little girl who felt out of control, running from her power, hiding her potential from the world. Scared to hurt people, even those who hurt her.

Scared of being found out.

Scared of losing.

Scared of dying.

Always scared.

Worst of all was her frantic need to control that fear and push it down while it ate at her slowly, stealing even more of her strength and purpose.

Naem had destroyed that girl and that fear. He'd given her the ability to accept and grow her power.

But he'd also destroyed everything that the previous Lexie had. Her family. Her friends. Her human emotions. He'd torn it all down to pieces and forced her to be this thing that was powerful and perfect.

Lexie didn't know if she should have lingering resentment for that. She was undecided, stuck in limbo.

"Okay," Max put his hand on his forehead and shut his eyes. "I'm lost. Someone needs to explain to me from the beginning. Why is my goddaughter here, and why the hell does she look like that?"

"I'm not your goddaughter," Lexie said before Cecilia could say anything.

"What?"

"Lexie Sparrowfoot is dead. I am Eldritch-Lexie."

"She's been transformed into a type of Eldtritch creature," Cecilia explained to Max.

That didn't seem to clear things up for him. If anything, he was even more confused.

Maybe because Cecilia wasn't explaining.

"My soul still responds to the name, though," Lexie said. "But I am no longer Lexie Sparrowfoot in truth."

Max's frown deepened. That still apparently did not clear it up.

The point was that she didn't feel like Lexie Sparrowfoot. The human part of her had been subdued and was likely all but gone.

Even though her emotions had initially run haywire when she'd seen Max again, she'd managed to get it back under control and was now back to normal.

Well, her version of normal, at least, with all the itching and voices and the urges. Eldritch normal.

Yet, it was impossible to completely control her physical reaction every time Max looked at her.

Especially since his eyes held a curious mix of sadness and anger that Lexie hadn't seen before.

She even held her breath a little as she waited for his response. She thought she would watch his anguish grow.

It must be overwhelmingly devastating to find out that someone he cared about was gone forever. She almost expected him to have some kind of emotional outburst. Not tears, in particular, but maybe loud wailing.

Most of all, she thought he would be disgusted to see what she had become, especially since her attire was painted in her black blood.

Instead, he released a stream of swear words, so imaginative and obscene that it made Cecilia gasp.

"'I'm going to kill that father-fucking bastard when I see him again, if it's the last thing I do." He followed it with. "Oh, Guardians, if any of you fucking exist, that is my one wish. Just let me see that bastard again so that I can murder him slowly. Then you may have my soul."

Something tickled the corner of Lexie's brain, easing her tension somewhat. She pressed her lips together and reevaluated.

Hm.

Maybe Uncle Max was more like an Eldritch than she thought.

"What father-fucking bastard are you referring to?" Lexie asked.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Cecilia winced. "Please, don't say 'father-fucking bastard,' Lexie,"

"Why not? If he's indeed a 'father-fucking bastard', why can't I call him a father-fucking bastard?"

"Because those are bad words that kids should not use."

"I'm not a kid. I'm an Eldritch. Plus, I know way worse words than that."

"She does." Uncle Max muttered it distractedly as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh. Okay." Cecilia didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

There was another low rumble in the ground, and Max glanced around. "We have to get inside."

"Inside where?"

"My cave. It's been my home since I got here." He glanced around watchfully. "Once night falls, this place turns into a nightmare. We need to get in. Night will fall soon."

"But it's still sunny out."

"Yeah, it's a trick. The dungeon doesn't like to warn you before it goes dark. Let's go."

But when he took Lexie's hand, she ripped it out of his and shook her head. "I have to find Ryn and Little Fae."

"Who?"

"Her Fae companions that she met in the dungeon," Cecilia explained. "They'd already teamed up before I met Lexie."

"If they're out there, then they're probably already dead."

"No," Lexie denied. "They're not that easy to kill."

"Neither are the things beyond this forest." He gestured with his gun out there. "You guys got lucky that you even landed here; if not, you would have been…" He shuddered and shook his head as though he couldn't bring himself to say the word.

"Toast?" Cecilia suggested.

Uncle Max let out a bark of dark laughter. "Funny you should say that."

"I'm going," Lexie said, turning around, but he grabbed her hand again.

"No," Max said firmly. "You're not."

Her annoyance spiked. What was it with this set of humans and telling her what to do? "You're not the boss of me."

"Yes, the hell I am. I don't care what you are, Lexie, I'm your Uncle and the only way I'm letting you go out there is over my dead body."

Lexie raised an eyebrow. "That can be arranged." She lifted a hand, activated <True Windbreaker>, and blasted him into a tree.

Cecilia screamed as Max's back hit the rough bark and he slumped to the ground.

Lexie felt a twinge of...something, but then Max groaned and got up.

She took two steps back. Was he going to retaliate? He had to be furious

But, to her surprise, he smirked at her. "You've learned a few tricks since I left, haven't you?"

Lexie gave him an arrogant look and attempted to leave again, but a shot rang out, and suddenly, quick as lightning, a grappling hook wrapped around her leg.

She frowned down at it and back at Max. He gave her a smug look. "I've learned a few tricks too."

Lexie furrowed her eyebrow, using a small void to snap the wire, but it mended almost immediately, adhering itself back together.

She hit the line with several void bullets, but the wire always healed rapidly, growing shorter and pulling tauter with each mend.

Lexie then tried burning it with a long-lasting flame, but it hurt.

Apparently, the wire could transfer its pain to her.

Uncle Max pulled another trigger, and the wire tugged her back with such a force that she landed face-first on the ground.

She spat out dirt and glared at him.

He raised a smug eyebrow. "Now, are you ready to play nice?"

Not likely.

Lexie used Fireflight to shoot as far as she could and secured herself on a forcefield in the air before discharging fireballs at his feet.

She wanted to drive him away, but Uncle Max danced around the flames. He was faster than she remembered. Also, a quicker draw. In a flash, he replaced his gun with another one that shattered the forcefield underneath her feet.

She caught herself with <True Windbreaker> and <Lightfoot>, but as she sent a hail of fire raining down on him, he blocked it with a forcefield and got out another gun, this one sending an electric pulse that reverberated through the surroundings around her, and then thundered through her direct environment.

Lexie's eardrums hurt, and the pulse disrupted her magic enough that she fell.

He caught her with a forcefield before she hit the ground and then trapped her within it.

When she looked up, Uncle Max held her gaze, brought the barrel to his lips, and blew.

The move enraged Lexie. "Oh, you...you....father-fucking bastard!"

She shattered the glass with an intense pulse of heat, and now she was out for blood.

She sent a huge fireball his way, and when he avoided it, she caught him with a woven air link and launched him toward a tree, hard enough that this time, it had to knock him out.

It didn't.

He flipped at the last moment, using the momentum to bounce off the tree and meet her in mid-air. Lexie careened out of the way, but he whipped out a gun, and without looking, he aimed it and shot her dead center.

Lexie used a <All Around Protection> to block it and gave him a fierce frown.

"You shot me!" She was unduly offended by this.

"You tried to burn me alive."

"Still." She didn't expect him to actually shoot her. He'd been her uncle once upon a time. Surely he must care about keeping her alive, even if she didn't care about keeping him alive.

She was Eldritch! He was not.

"Relax. It was only a tranquilizer dart." He smirked, devilment flickering in his eyes. "Should we keep going?"

"If you keep going, I am going to kill you," she warned him. "I've killed many others already."

"I'm probably tougher than them."

"No. You are not."

"Ah, so you're going easy on me because you don't want to kill your dear old Uncle Max."

"No," she denied a tad too quickly. That wasn't true. It couldn't be.

Although there were skills that she could use, that she hadn't yet for...reasons.

"I will hurt you, Max," she warned him. "I'm not the one you remember."

"Oh, please," he scoffed. "You're exactly who I remember. I knew you'd be a tiny terror from the day you were born. Your mom and dad both thought you were fragile and treated you like you'd break if the wind blew the wrong way. But me? I knew from the second I heard you screaming your lungs out and demanding to be fed that you were going to run them ragged in the future. And I was right." He smirked, "I don't care how much of a big bad you think you are or what you call yourself. You're still my nosy, annoying little tiger. Now come on, Eldritch Lexie. Let me see what you've got. "

Lexie glared at him. She wanted to fight him and hurt him, but also, somewhere deep inside, she didn't want to.

He was attacking her, defying her.

Killing him would bring her light.

But still...she hesitated. She didn't want to. It made her uncomfortable thinking about it.

Two urges battled within, and she waited for one of them to win.

"Guys," Cecilia called, and her voice carried enough charisma to cause them to pause for a second. She gave them the placating tone that one would give two toddlers wrestling in a sandpit. "I think there's a compromise to be had here, before you two kill yourselves and everything within a twenty-foot radius. Don't you think?"

***

Aiden took a break from reading religious texts and went through his spreadsheet again to make sure they had everything they needed.

He would be going to the tower soon, now that Vacek was significantly distracted and busy with finding the Alchemist. The Fae would also be arriving soon, thanks to all the recent chaos.

The few days after their arrival would be the perfect time to strike.

Vacek had contacted Aiden, asking if he had any leads on where the Alchemist could have gone, and Aiden had told him honestly about the dungeons and the fact that the Alchemist could project his consciousness through them.

There was no point in lying to Vacek. He would detect it, so Aiden had to be as truthful as possible.

After all, Naem always used to tell him that the best way to deceive someone is through the truth.

Aiden just needed to wait a little more and lull him into a false sense of security. Vacek likely knew he was planning something, but the association head probably thought it would be the same thing as before. By the time he figured out it wasn't, he would be tied up in too much shit to intervene.

Aiden had done a lot to get here, but there was still more to do. He needed to find out where exactly the Tower was, a secret only held in an underground vault of the Hero's association.

Luckily, Aiden once had enough clearance at the association to make a few good guesses about where the vault was. He was researching those guesses with Tate.

The other thing they had to worry about was the timing. Aiden was worried that with every day that passed, Lexie was even more lost to him, but he didn't let that take over his mind. He wanted to hurry, but he couldn't afford to. Not when he was so close.

Sure, he was pretty confident that he was strong enough to defeat and even kill Vacek if it came down to it, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the man.

After all, Vacek had captured the Alchemist at his peak, who, for all intents and purposes, should have defeated him. Vacek's magic had managed to find the man's weakness.

So, while Aiden would willingly destroy Vacek to get what he wanted, he would let that come later.

Because eventually they would need a sacrifice.

Once he found the Vault, he would also need to bypass the security system installed by the three-factor authentication system, operated by Vacek himself. That part was easy enough, although a little complicated to overcome.

After all, he'd been able to get into one of the most complex security systems at the ISTS to discover the secrets behind their power system. And it had only taken him two days.

The ISTS couldn't be hacked by magical or physical means, but he could blend his alchemy with theirs and turn the walls into his playground. He could move through them into any room he wanted. He could use them to watch people, overhearing their conversation. Thanks to Cecilia, he also knew where the souls were kept, and he'd made his way there, too. From there, he discovered the vast room containing the soul obtaining system, blocked off by a combination of complex engineering, alchemy, and magic.

Aiden had disabled the magic and Alchemy locks, but the engineering one had been tricky.

Aiden had never been particularly good at engineering.

However, Max was.

Max owned a deciphering machine that he often used to crack safes and sneak into buildings back in his less savory days.

Aiden had gotten it and used it as the final step to unlock the door.

Then he was in the system room.

After thirty minutes of submerging his consciousness into the system, he discovered something.

The guardians were asleep in the tower and were being used for more than just extracting magic into the atmosphere.

And the one the ISTS used was the Guardian of the Keys. Janus.

He was the Guardian associated with transitions and portals, as well as choices and time.

The early humans had lauded him as being the architect of the dungeons, and they claimed it was his magic that actually brought dungeons to Earth and not the Fae.

Of course, that was more superstition than reality, but the belief persisted among a small religious faction.

Aiden himself hadn't believed it until he'd found Janus in the system itself. And just like that, the plan hatched.

Janus had the key that ran the ISTS. But Aiden couldn't access the key through the ISTS because the one they had was personalized to them, and whoever had gotten it for them. It would be useless to Aiden, who had not earned its use.

Aiden needed the key from Janus, but he had to wake him up first. To wake him up, he needed to go to the tower and find him.

Then Aiden would be his champion, and he would save his daughter.

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