Kurigaess stopped outside the edge of Oriathria. After convincing Zetyrth to take a train from Atrevaar, and stopping in Orunon for a seaside meal, there was no chance she would be able to enter the city without questioning. Surely, General Rullunth had already discovered Taralim's death.

Metal wheels squealed as the train lurched forward, rolling into the station deeper inside Oriathria. The platform was nearly empty, apart from the two women and a few transit employees.

"I might not go back," Kuri said. She adjusted her hat, pushing the brim up just enough for Zetyrth to see her eyes. "Maybe it's time."

Zetyrth grunted. The berserker wasn't necessarily one for words. She had been a quiet companion. Her few words had always been statements or simple answers to questions. Yes or no. Stay here. Eat this. Never questions about Vondaire or Taralim. Never questions about their standing with the Unity Force.

"No thoughts?" Kuri asked.

"What do you want me to ask?"

Kurigaess pulled her wide-brimmed hat back down and started toward the stairs out of the train station. Zetyrth followed without another word. The two walked side by side down the narrow street. A few people that looked like they were from the countryside walked toward the station, likely heading back home after a day out or some trip to Oriathria.

Kuri smiled and each of them despite the hat hiding most of her face. She had once been one of those people. A trip to Oriathria was an event. Long before it was home, it was a destination.

"Are they going to kill us?" Zetyrth asked.

Kuri stopped. "Why would they do that?"

Zetyrth watched people pass, keeping her eyes on them until they were out of earshot. "Didn't we betray Taralim? The Unity Force?"

"No. Vondaire won. We decided to not continue the attack. It was as simple as that." Kuri squinted. The city was bright, even during the setting sun. Still alive at dusk. "We can meet with the general. If leaving was against orders, we get out together. If not, we can decide separately what to do."

Zetyrth idly touched the handles of her hammers. She was a little jittery nearly all the time. Kuri had been assuming it was nerves, but maybe it was something more.

"Who is Vondaire, exactly?" Zetyrth asked.

Kuri waved her on and kept heading toward the city. "That's a question I'd expected earlier. He's complicated."

"Lover?"

"Eh." Kuri couldn't help but smile when imagining the ridiculous man. "An old friend. Sometimes more. When he left our squad, I thought it would be the last I saw of him."

For a few blocks, the conversation faded once again, returning to the quiet serenity Kuri had grown accustomed to. Oriathria was growing around them as they headed toward the city center. Somebody, if not Rullunth, would be in the command facility.

"He killed so simply," Zetyrth said, breaking her own silence. "You were his colleagues."

"It's more complicated than that." Kuri stopped upon seeing a group of Unity Force working on a blockade at the intersection ahead. "We all joined this squad for different reasons."

An older man in the Unity Force, someone Kuri didn't recognize, pointed at them.

"Did you join out of loyalty?" Kuri asked.

"To what?"

"Izylia."

"I joined because I had to." Zetyrth had already wrapped her hands around both hammer handles, but hadn't yet drawn them.

"As we all did." Kuri gripped her staff with both hands. "What's your goal?"

"A goal?" Zetyrth didn't take her eyes off the Unity Force ahead, even as some of them headed their way. "To do something with my life. To not wither and die like my parents." She finally turned. "What is yours?"

"When we were kids, I told Vondaire I'd become a famous hero. He told me he'd make me look like a talentless worm." Kuri smiled. "I guess he was right. Nobody knows who I am and he's one of the most famous heroes."

"You knew each other before?"

The Unity Force officers were heading their way with purpose.

"We've always known each other. I joined the Unity Force and left. He stayed to support his family, and I didn't hear from him for years. When he finally arrived in Oriathria, he was grown, and the most talented hero I've ever met."

"Taralim thought you would kill a childhood friend?"

"Taralim didn't know. He never connected well with people."

"Stop!" There were four Unity Force members that spread out before them. A hunter, a soldier, a wizard, and a mender. "We have orders to bring in the two of you for questioning."

"We were on our way to see General Rullunth," Kuri said, making a point to keep her voice even, but a bit forceful. She wanted them to hear the annoyance.

"Until questioning is over, you are not allowed to walk freely in Oriathria," the mender said.

Zetyrth pulled her hammers free. "I will not be a prisoner."

"I agree." Arcane Enhance rushed through Kuri's body. Her veins glowed purple under her skin, giving the Unity Force members a clear sign that she was not joking.

The four heroes looked to the mender, who was apparently their leader.

"I don't know who you are," the mender said, pulling an axe from a loop on his belt, "but you can't threaten the Unity Force." He glowed with luminous light, opposing Kuri's own purple glow.

"You don't want to fight us," Zetyrth said. Her voice was unwavering. Very matter-of-fact. And she was right. The only problem was that neither of them could explain to these normal military heroes who they were. Nobody knew Taralim. Nobody knew their group. They were unnamed heroes.

The mender let a shard rise from his shoulder. "Stop your arcane spell, put your hammers away, and come with us."

Zetyrth raised the shard from her own shoulder, so Kuri let both shards rise from hers. As one, the Unity Force sheathed their weapons and let buffs and abilities fade.

"Will you walk with us?" the mender asked calmly.

Kuri lifted the brim of her hat and made eye contact with Zetyrth, who gave a subtle nod.

"Yes," Kuri said.

The mender and soldier led, with the hunter and wizard following behind. Just from a glance, Kuri couldn't tell what kind of wizard she was, but it was easy enough to assume some Unity Force wizard wouldn't pose a serious threat. Not to her.

It was a silent walk with the Unity Force frequently attempting to communicate in ways that Kuri easily followed. They used the same hand signs for silent communication as Taralim's squad, which made it incredibly easy to follow the unease of the four who had apparently volunteered to form the barricade, not expecting to run into anyone on the edge of the city. All the more serious groups had formed barricades near the train station to watch for the mystery heroes that the general wanted to talk to so desperately.

The mender stopped his group outside the command facility, letting a large berserker lead them inside to Rullunth, who sat calmly on a sofa with a bottle of beer in his hand.

"Dismissed," Rullunth said as soon as Kuri and Zetyrth entered the room.

The berserker bowed his head and closed the door, leaving them alone with the general.

"Sit," Rullunth said, using the bottle to gesture at the seats across from him.

Kuri immediately flopped herself into a chair.

"I'll stand," Zetyrth said, hands still resting on her hammers.

"He won't do anything," Kuri said. "Relax."

Rullunth watched them both as he took a drink from the bottle. He set it down, brushed the gray hair out of his eyes, and folded his hands over his lap. "I see my Special Division squad is dead."

"Correct." Kuri picked up a few things on the coffee table, but failed to find anything edible. "Taralim underestimated him."

"And what were you two doing during this battle?" Rullunth asked with a calm, almost lazy ease. Was he drunk, tired, or trying to throw them off?

"Fighting specters, sir," Zetyrth said. "Why are we being held prisoner?"

"Prisoner? Are you not loyal to the Unity Force?"

"No," Kuri answered quickly. "You know how the Special Division works. I'm retiring."

"Me too," Zetyrth said.

"Retire?" Rullunth raised an eyebrow as he grabbed his beer again. His strands of gray hair fell back over his eyes. "How do you expect to retire when you went on a single mission?"

"Then I quit," Zetyrth said. "Hunting heroes is not how I intend to spend my life."

"What did you think the Special Division did? I can put you back in a cell." Rullunth sat up as Zetyrth pulled her hammers free. "There's no need for that."

"No need? You threaten me."

Kuri pulled her hat off and brushed some loose strands of hair behind her ear. "She's going to come with me."

"And where are you going?"

"I don't know yet. Special Division paid for what it needed to, and now I think I'll find something better." She set the hat in her lap and smiled genuinely at Rullunth, which seemed to disarm the general. "I've killed enough for you."

"Your contracts both have years left." Rullunth raised a hand and snapped. A door in the back corner opened. A young, thin man walked out and carefully handed two pieces of paper to the general, then immediately fled back through the door. The general set both on the table, separated, and pointed at the lines that held their signatures. "Kurigaess, you just resigned six months ago. You have two and half years left of this service. Zetyrth, you just signed and have a full three years of your initial service. Your personal interests and hopes and dreams mean nothing." He jabbed his finger against Kuri's contract. "You are owned by Unity Force until the dates agreed upon in your contract. Understood?"

Arcane energy rushed through Kuri.

Three shards immediately lifted from the general's shoulder.

A shout from Zetyrth shook the room. The War Cry aura ability caused Rullunth to shiver.

In less than a second, five shards were active and humming with intense power.

General Rullunth stood with grace. His gray hair had come loose again and fell in front of his eyes. This time, he didn't bother fixing it. "You will become enemies of all Izylia. A bounty issued. Branded as criminals."

Zetyrth looked over with uncertainty.

"Finish your contract or tear it up, Zet," Kuri said. She put her hat back on and pulled it low, obscuring her eyes from the general. "Freedom is a choice."

"We will brush this under the rug," Rullunth said. "Back down and enter the cell willingly."

Zetyrth let out another War Cry. "I'm not entering a cell again."

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Even faster than expected, General Rullunth pulled a segmented staff from somewhere in his jacket and formed into one full weapon. Even as he put it together, he advanced, kicking the coffee table at Kuri.

She was barely on her feet when the table hit and launched her over the chair. The command facility had been built to withstand plenty of damage, and that was proved true as she smashed into the wall without breaking through.

Zetyrth cut Rullunth off before he could follow up the attack. Berserker against assassin was power and overwhelming force against talent and knowledge. Even as Zetyrth pressed forward and used Untethered Rage, Rullunth backstepped like a trained dancer and parried the heavy hammers with casual ease.

Kuri shook off the dust from her shoulders and used Summon Familiar. A frog-like creature with deep purple eyes and horns of mana crystals formed in a burst of arcane magic.

"Riddle, stop him!"

The frog immediately leapt over the furniture, landed firmly on his feet, and cast Energy Infusion. Arcane magic raced through the familiar's body causing its ridge of horns to glow. He pointed his crystalline staff and spread his feet. "Arcane Barrage," Riddle shouted.

At the same time, Kuri cast Shield on Zetyrth. The berserker's face was already bloody and battered from the general's staff, but with the berserker rage, she was holding on. The blue bubble shield absorbed a single hit from the general before shattering, giving Riddle the slight opening to hit the general with the barrage.

The first bits of arcane magic hit the general, then he started spinning the staff with such speed that he blocked the rest of the familiar's attack with relative ease.

Zetyrth spat a tooth and a gob of blood on the floor and rolled her shoulder. Something audibly cracked. "Revenge." She stared right at Rullunth as he swung the staff into her cheek. She staggered, ducking just low enough for Kuri to attack.

"Arcane Barrage," she said in unison with Riddle.

A flurry of arcane magic shot from two directions, sending far more than Rullunth could hope to dodge or block. He backed away a step and spun his staff, blocking more arcane bolts than Kuri had expected.

The arcane spells weren't doing enough. She needed to go for her true damage, but it was significantly more difficult inside a building.

Take it outside.

Riddle ran at Rullunth. "Arcane Beam!" A blast of arcane magic struck the general, who managed to block most of the damage with his palm. It wasn't damage Kuri was going for. The blast sent Rullunth through the window where he landed deftly and prepared for the next attack.

Zetyrth wiped blood from her lips and advanced to the window.

"Let me handle it," Kuri said.

Zetyrth turned red eyes to Kuri.

"Right. Rage." Kuri gestured.

Another War Cry caused everyone to shiver as Zetyrth leapt through the window. Her next strike snapped a segment off the staff as Rullunth blocked. He followed it up with a devastating hit to Zetyrth's ribs, which sent her back into the wall.

"Everything we have, Riddle," Kuri said as she leapt through the window. Before she could land, Rullunth advanced and cracked the staff against her knee. She felt the bones break and couldn't help but attempt to land on the newly injured leg. As soon as she touched the ground, she crumpled and whimpered.

"I thought my Special Division had more talent than this." Rullunth raised the staff high.

From the moment she had passed outside, a dark cloud had started to form. Now, on the ground, Kuri stared at the thunderhead, breath held.

Riddle stood in the window, bent to avoid hitting his crystal horns on the broken glass. The crystalline staff had faded from arcane purple and instead had a light blue shine like a clear sky. Yellow bolts raced through, almost too fast to see.

The Special Division had been picked for their utility in taking out difficult targets and for the way they could work together. Individually, they were still unique, powerful heroes. Kuri had trained for too long to die to some military general who sat around drinking.

"Electro Storm," Riddle said.

Kuri cast Shield, barely protecting herself as Rullunth swung to kill.

Riddle's verbal casting of the spell grabbed enough of Rullunth's attention that he immediately pivoted after breaking her shield and moved his staff as if to block lightning. He stepped and teleported back inside, slipping right past Riddle. Lighting flashed and repeatedly struck where the general had just been standing.

Zetyrth shoved the frog aside and climbed back in the window. Kuri stood on the broken leg, clenching her jaw, and watched as they continued their battle. Revenge caused each of Zetyrth's attacks to be stronger the more damage she took, and each time she swung a hammer, Rullunth also hit her with precision in the ribs, striking where he had already broken bone.

Kuri knew she would have gone down, unable to move long ago. But berserkers were resilient fighters. Between Rage and Revenge, Zetyrth would keep fighting until she died.

"Energy Infusion," Kuri said, filling her body with arcane magic. "Lightning Infusion." Both buffs raced through her, making her breath catch. Everything seemed to slow.

Zetyrth's hammer broke through the center of Rullunth's staff, separating the weapon into two uneven sections. He didn't bat an eye at the damage and attacked with the sections as if they had always been batons.

Kuri climbed through the window with the help of Riddle and leaned on the wall. "One chance," she said through gritted teeth.

Riddle lifted his staff, letting it shine with yellow light.

"Power 2 at Power 5," Kuri said, wincing with the effort of standing. Pushing a spell beyond its power level drained extra mana, and both of them casting it would drain the remaining chunk of mana Kuri had left.

Both of their staves shook, lightning dancing and arcing between the two. Riddle jumped off the window, planted his frog feet and used both hands to aim his staff. Kuri shifted to remain leaning on the wall, taking pressure from her leg, and aimed her staff.

Zetyrth damaged more of the weapons and even injured Rullunth's arm with a strike, but Revenge meant she couldn't heal, and she was barely holding on. Her attacks couldn't be any stronger. She would die before long.

"Lightning," Kurigaess said in unison with Riddle. Their words rumbled like thunder, the spell rising from Power 2 to Power 5. A sharp pain shot through her body before the energy into her staff.

Rullunth cracked a baton across Zetyth's head. The berserker fell limp to the ground, leaving the general wide open. His eyes snapped to her. He stepped, trying to teleport.

But everything was already moving slowly for her. Two powerful infusion buffs empowered her and let her see and think faster than she otherwise could've. Lightning had already been cast. He was far too slow compared to actual lightning to teleport.

Just as his body started to fade, the wall behind Kuri exploded. Her vision returned to normal as her mana vanished and the infusions disappeared. She tumbled outside and fell hard on the paving bricks below.

Riddle stuck his head over the side. "Are you hurt?"

"Yes," she said quietly. Unity Force was on its way. It had already been on its way, but the battle had kept out shardless heroes. Whatever Shard Heroes they could manage to gather would be reinforcing the fight shortly.

Riddle leapt down and pulled her up. "Where are your health potions?"

"I'm out."

An arrow whistled by, missing by less than an inch. Riddle leapt and intercepted a second arrow, taking it directly in the throat.

Kuri gritted her teeth and used her shard-enhanced strength to leap back into the building. Riddle's corpse hit the ground. It would dissipate before long.

Gore covered the destroyed room. Things that looked like they had once been intestines hung from the ceiling and blood covered nearly every surface. She hadn't been sure if Rullunth had survived or not, but apparently the general hadn't been wearing any magical gear.

"Are you alive?" she asked.

Zetyrth was already standing and digging through what remained of cabinets. "Yes."

"Reinforcements are on their way."

"What can we do?"

A bounty has been placed on you from the Izylia Unity Force.

You are wanted.

"We run."

Zetyrth vomited and stumbled. She wiped her mouth and closed the cabinet door. "I'm not running anywhere. Go without me." Her index appeared as she got the same notification.

"We're in this together now."

"Where are we going to go?" Zetyrth stumbled to the door the assistant had appeared from earlier.

"I have an idea, but we need to get out of Oriathria first."

A hunter climbed over the ledge through the broken wall with a shard humming above his shoulder. He was entirely focused on Kurigaess as he pulled back his bowstring.

Zetyrth stumbled and swung one of her hammers. It clubbed the man in the side of the head and splattered his brains. "That's why you don't turn Revenge off until you find a health potion." She turned back and pushed the door open.

Rullunth's assistant from earlier cowered in a corner, covering his head with both arms.

"Health potion," Zetyrth said.

The assistant quickly pointed at a cabinet in the back of the room.

A door crashed open in another room.

Zetyrth hurried to the cabinet, quickly vomited, and pulled it open. Without hesitation, she drank a full potion, then took out another and chugged it.

Meanwhile, Kuri turned, nearly collapsed on her broken leg, and held up her staff to block an incoming attack from a shining mender. The luminous attack threw Kuri at the ground, even though the mender only had one shard.

Zetyrth passed right over Kuri, ramming her shoulder into the mender's chest.

Kuri didn't spend any time waiting to see what was happening. She dragged herself across the room. Before she could reach the cabinet, the assistant passed, grabbed a health potion, and handed it to her.

She drank the whole thing, clenching her jaw as her leg started to repair itself. "Why?" she asked as he handed her another.

"I want to live."

"And you think we'll win?"

"You killed the general."

Kuri drank another two potions, and grabbed a third for Zetyrth. The assistant offered more, as the cabinet was completely filled with them. She wondered why, but the room opened on the right through an archway into a training room full of other weapons and dummies. Apparently Rullunth wasn't as big of a slouch as she had thought.

Zetyrth was sent flying back into the room by a luminous blast. Her chest sizzled as she pushed herself up.

Kuri had no mana potions, so she was going to have to rely entirely on what Vondaire and Taralim had taught her. She sprinted across the room and swung the staff, pushing aside the mender's follow-up.

Zetyrth got to her feet and a full on brawl started as the berserker and Kuri bashed the mender, who was constantly healing and attacking back. They traded hit after hit until Kuri's mana reached forty, just enough to cast Discharge. She pressed her hand to the mender's face and unleashed the electric spell.

The mender took a step back, dazed, and four consecutive hammer blows to the face sent him to the ground.

Dead or not, it didn't matter. Kuri passed the extra health potion to Zetyrth, passed over the mender, and out the broken wall.

"Run for the edge of the city. They'll be protecting the portals. We can get to a train station in a smaller town and get to Minolitana Prima," Kuri said.

"Why there?"

Commotion inside the command facility was faint but still audible. They kept their shards active as they ran, moving quickly into the city.

"Magna Regum put out a call for heroes to bolster their numbers."

"Hero companies are just another military," Zetyrth said.

Kuri turned a corner and stopped running. "I know, but it can give us an easy job to explore some dungeons and collect some alchemy things with Egnatia Lucan protecting us. It'll work. Just for now until we can get the bounty off our backs."

"You're sure?"

Kuri nodded. She pulled her hat up and smiled. "We're in this together."

***

Raif had nominated himself as the head chef of the night, whatever that meant. He was busy rushing between the oven, the stove, and a cutting board.

Meanwhile, Potilia was making drinks and serving them, despite spilling almost constantly.

Everyone else had gathered at a long table on benches that Basolia had put together. It was just big enough to fit everyone around it with Chorsay and Zezog at the ends. Althowin was gone, working on some project. Everyone else was around the sides of the tables, chatting away as the food continued cooking.

Some people had to clean spilled drinks off themselves, which Potilia apologized for with too much volume. She even gave Shade a drink despite Owin's countless objections.

Now that everyone knew about Zezog, he was far more animated, happily telling stories when he was asked. Sanem, Siora, Sofia, Shade, and even Ernie were fully absorbed in whatever he was saying. On the other side, Chorsay was playing a card game with Miya and Cixilo, leaving only Owin and Katalin in the middle.

She leaned on his shoulder. "Lighten up," Kat said.

"I'm not upset. I'm just thinking."

"They make you look the same, I think." She nudged him playfully. "Maybe why everyone thinks you're so angry all the time."

"They do?"

Katalin pointed a finger at her own face. "You have a scary thinking face. Ernie looks distracted when thinking. I probably look angry too. Everyone has an expression when they're in deep thought."

Owin frowned.

"Are you thinking now?"

"Is a horror really the best choice?" he asked.

"Hm." Katalin sipped her drink through a little straw. It left a ring of water on the table where it had been sitting and a fruity scent wafted to him. "What are the downsides?"

"Changing what I look like. Getting a weird ability." Owin shrugged.

"It sounds like Althowin knows what horror she wants you to fuse with." Katalin took another sip and set the glass back down perfectly on top of the existing ring of condensation. "Or she will when she talks to Po. I'd wait to hear her out. If she says it's a good idea, it means she's spent a lot of time thinking about it. I know she can be a lot, but I trust her completely, and I know she feels a lot of regret letting Veph manipulate her."

"What if she doesn't?" Owin could only imagine how fast Althowin could kill him if she wanted. But she had been the one to send him to Atrevaar. To Nikoletta.

"She does. I promise." Katalin leaned forward, looking past Owin, and watched Ernie nod along to Zezog's story. "I'll find time to talk to her with Ernie. Whatever she's working on now, she didn't want to be disturbed. So, later."

"Okay." Owin put his head against Katalin's arm. "I don't know how I didn't kill her."

Potilia sat herself straight across from them. "What—"

Katalin held a finger up, stopping Potilia from continuing. "It's fine that she survived. We won't let her bother you again. Right, Po?"

"I'll rip her head off!"

The whole room quieted for a moment, eyes turning to Potilia. Her cheeks turned bright red and she shrunk. "Stop looking at me!"

Chorsay dealt the cards and Zezog continued his story.

Potilia glanced back and forth, and when satisfied that she wasn't being watched, leaned back across the table. "We're all here for you."

"Exactly. Worrying about it won't help anyone. We're here for a family night, right?" Katalin asked. She put her arm over his shoulder. "We're family."

"Yeah." Owin sat up a bit. "I lost the knife you made me."

"I know. We'll make a new one." Katalin smiled. "Potilia needs a new weapon too."

"Do I?" Potilia looked around like her kanabo would be somewhere in the kitchen.

"Your Shard Hero strength will probably break it before long. You need something reinforced now. We'll ask Ernie later."

Potilia nodded with excitement.

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