Edge crossed the settlement with a smile on his face, humming to himself along the way. Ann and Lilly joining the crew was a welcome surprise—a bright moment of joy amidst the ordeals that had plagued Puppet Town in an unending procession.

  Now it was time to meet up with Sakura, share the details of what he had learned in Skill-Eater’s temple, and see if she had any insight into the mysterious tome he’d found inside the priest’s dwelling.

  He stepped into the poorest part of the residential quarter, made his way over to a dilapidated building bordered by empty lots, and knocked on the door. She let him inside, pulled the curtains closed, and then opened the hatch leading to her secret underground lair—the existence of which still blew his mind.

  After Sakura switched on a magitech privacy device and offered him a cup of coffee, they took a seat at the table and began a lengthy strategy session. They had spoken several times over the last week, but those conversations had focused on preparing for the stampede’s arrival, and they hadn’t had a chance to catch up.

  The partners had made a pact to assist each other any way they could. Today, that meant going over everything he had discovered in the temple and brainstorming on how they could use their Unique cores to take down the titanic cephalopod heading for the settlement.

  While they spoke, Edge took a good look at his fellow scion, trying to get a sense of how Sakura was holding up. The woman had been working around the clock to protect Puppet Town from the shadows and almost died while battling Wraith from the Crimson Claws.

  Since then, she had been using her powers nonstop—scrying with Remote Viewing to track the incoming horde and coordinating the teams operating outside the settlement with Sense Link and her Guide’s messenger function. She had trimmed her raven locks short, and there were dark circles banded around her piercing yellow eyes.

  Despite the chronic stress and scant sleep, he sensed a will to endure that resonated with his own. Sakura radiated focus and determination, and while it was clear she was worried about her friends, she showed no sign that she was buckling under the pressure.

  When he realized she was evaluating him and had come to the same conclusion, they met each other’s gaze and broke into laughter. We’re well-suited for each other, and I’m lucky she found me. I never would have lived this long without her.

  “All right then,” she said. “Let’s go over what you uncovered first, then spitball on how we can take down the big tentacled bastard before it gets close to the town.”

  He reached into his vault and pulled out charcoal rubbings he’d taken of the murals and glyphs, arranging them along the floor so she could read them in order. Then he took out the log the priest had carved into the hidden alcove and set it beside the rest, waiting while the brilliant woman came to her own conclusion.

  “This is a lot to take in. It sheds some light on a number of issues and raises more questions than it answers. Let me make a copy of these before I give them back to you. That way, if either of us comes across someone who can read them, we can get the symbols translated right away. I have a feeling this information is vital, but there are too many pieces missing to get a clear picture.”

  “Good thinking, Sakura. I feel the same way.”

  “Before we move on, tell me the story of what you saw in the Gardener’s core one more time, along with the vision from Skill-Eater’s past.” Edge recounted both stories at length while Sakura took notes. She stopped him several times to ask clarifying questions, pulling some details out of him that he hadn’t considered until now.

  When he reached the end of his account, she turned to him and said, “Based on everything we’ve uncovered so far, Skill-Eater’s situation is different from the other lords of Ord. The one that vanished is anomalous too.

  “It’s clear that whatever happened between the ravenous lord and its fallen sibling—the entity it called its dark passenger—had a deep and lasting effect on its mental state. That need to devour every skill on the planet sounds a lot like the hunger you feel flowing through your bond and might be a clue about the duality you sensed when your core tried to take over.

  “I’ve never had anything like that happen with Lore-Weaver. Sometimes an image or sensation comes through our link, but nothing that alters my perceptions or influences my behavior. We’ve been contracted for a while now, and I have the sense that whatever turned the lords into Unique cores fragmented their memories in addition to sealing most of their power away.

  “That reminds me, the weaver told me the lords made a pact preventing them from speaking about each other or their bearers, but I’m not sure it applies in your case. If you do manage to resolve your differences and restore what’s missing, Skill-Eater might be able to tell you more about the truth behind it all.”

  Edge nodded his agreement and said, “We need to learn more about the lords’ disappearance and the disaster that ended Ord’s golden age. Uncovering the truth might help me find a way out of this mess before it’s too late. As matters stand, I’m afraid to evolve, although I’m just as worried that putting it off will get us all killed.”

  They discussed the matter a while longer, then moved on to another topic.

  He rose from his chair and started pacing. “Once we resolve the situation with the kaiju, we need to investigate the Gardener’s warning about the monsters. The corruption-ridden world I visit every time I invade their cores terrifies me, let alone that gigantic demon I’ve spotted on several occasions. I’m starting to suspect that what destroyed their planet wasn’t a natural disaster—that in addition to dealing with a monstrous invasion, something even worse will happen when those portals open.”

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  Sakura took notes while he spoke and chimed in when he was done.

  “On top of that, the first monsters to arrive on Ord—the Ancients who can control other creatures—sound insanely powerful. The one possessing the Gardener was emaciated after being trapped in the dungeon and deprived of magicytes, but I have a bad feeling at least some of the Ancients are still lurking in the shadows. If that’s true, they’ve been alive for centuries, maybe millennia, advancing their dark agenda while waiting for the dimensions to realign.”

  “Fuck,” Edge succinctly summarized his feelings on the matter. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  Sakura rose from her chair and walked over to a board on the wall, drawing a diagram as she spoke.

  “Now that we’ve outlined our long list of problems, let’s get organized and start searching for solutions. There are five key issues for us to resolve. In order of immediacy, we need to take down the kaiju and deal with whoever or whatever raised the squid from the dead and ordered it to attack the settlement.

  “After that, we need to fix whatever is wrong with your core, evolve to stage three, and start looking into the Ancients and the planet’s lost history. Along the way, we need to either find a way to stop the merger or figure out when it’s going to happen and make sure Ord’s inhabitants are ready for what’s coming.”

  Edge nodded along as the woman continued.

  “If that wasn’t enough to deal with, we have the impending power struggle between the planet’s major factions. Even without fresh information, war seems inevitable given the situation with the Red Shield and the tension that’s been building for decades. Puppet Town is a small settlement by their standards, but we could still wind up getting caught in the crossfire. Regardless of the details, we’ve been flying blind until now and need to gather intel before it’s too late.

  “Last but not least, we have the wildcards—the twenty-one Unique cores and their bearers, or however many are unsealed. Their powers are a total mystery, although the one Skill-Eater called Death-Walking might have some connection to the undead that are plaguing us. The planet’s most powerful prisoners are certain to be making moves too, any of which could precipitate a worldwide crisis.”

  “Well.” Edge sighed. “When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound so bad. Before we move on to battling the kaiju, I wanted to get your take on this.” He activated his rune and pulled out the tome he’d found hidden inside the priest’s home.

  The book was just as creepy as he remembered it—sealed shut while muttering to itself. Sakura picked it up and took a closer look before setting it down with a shrug. “I’ve never seen anything like it. All I can say without Analyzing it is that it’s ancient, alien, and magical. There’s enough time for the spider to wake up after I use my ultimate, so I’ll give it a shot now.”

  Sakura took a deep breath and ignited her core—a look of fierce concentration twisting her features. Edge waited on pins and needles, intensely curious to find out what his partner’s power would reveal.

  He was destined to be disappointed.

  “That’s new.” She frowned. “My ability is refusing to activate. It must have something to do with the pact Lore-Weaver made not to reveal the lords’ secrets. The spider has hinted there are artifacts out there that can restore a portion of its lost power. This might be something similar, although the concept of a book implies recording and transmitting knowledge. Either way, we’ll have to find another way to study this relic.”

  Edge nodded and put the tome away. While he hadn’t learned anything new, he was more certain than ever that it was linked to Skill-Eater in a fundamental way. He had a hunch that if he found a way to open the book and discern its contents, it would help him resolve the dilemma between them. If any of Ord’s native people are still alive, maybe they can help.

  With that, the partners switched gears and tackled the last item on their agenda—eliminating the horde and the kaiju that raised it. Sakura went first.

  “Once the battle begins, I can Probe the creature’s core, learn what it can do, and share the details with our forces. That might help us kill it, but it won’t tell us anything we can use ahead of time. I can also Analyze the remains to study the magic that Reanimated the kaiju. Possibly reveal some clues about the source too.

  “Other than that, my Venom Cloud might have some effect, but getting close enough will be tricky. I can try snipping some nerves with Nerve Blade to reduce the mobility of its tentacles. I think I can pull it off by teleporting with Dart, but that’s the limit of the direct support I can offer. I’m afraid the heavy lifting is on you this time.”

  “I have some decent attacks,” Edge mused. “But that thing is stage four and so much bigger than anything I’ve battled before. Hitting it with my strongest skills will be like trying to chop down a mountain with an axe.”

  “You could always let it eat you and destroy it from the inside.”

  Edge grimaced as the memory of jumping down the garax’s throat rose to the surface of his mind. “I’ve already gone through that once—I’m not trying my luck a second time. I’m hoping Ander’s people can whip up something to help even the odds, and the keepers figure out a way to wipe out the horde without taking catastrophic losses in the process. Even in a best-case scenario, I have a funny feeling Puppet Town’s elites will have to finish the job by hand.”

  They moved on to discussing Edge’s powers at length, pondering which skills could inflict significant damage to the enormous squid and what conditions needed to be cleared to make that possible. It left him with a great deal to consider, and he decided to speak to Trapper, Ander, Earl, and Mel and see if they had anything to add.

  They ran out of steam a few hours later, at which point Sakura turned to him and said, “I have a favor to ask you. I want to get cores for Rita and Sam, but I don’t have enough Contribution Points.”

  “Take as many as you need.” Edge smiled. “I’ll save a few to refill my aether, and I want to help remodel Trapper’s lodge, but if we survive this mess, I’m sure Dialla will give me more. This way, your friends can join the defense on the wall and earn a ton of cycles right way.”

  “Thank you.” She pulled him in for a rare hug. “That really means a lot.”

  With that, they concluded their meeting. The partners shook hands, and she walked him to the door. I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon training, then head into the plains to grab some skills to feed to Warlord’s Mantle. Now that there are so many high-stage beasts in the area, two or three more days should do it.

  Edge was walking through the town square when an alarm rang out that he’d never heard in person, although he was familiar with it from his former life as a Prison World addict. That’s the signal for a living storm. I haven’t seen one for a while.

  That was when he remembered the Dome was down and Puppet Town no longer had an innate defense to protect them from the lethal magical weather.

  Oh. Shit. He started sprinting, joining the other people on the street who were running for their lives.