“The Scourge seduced Edwin Miles,” Selia said once they were all at the Fountain of Pyrene. “He was about to sell Ashe Fall out to them. The man smuggled Silver and Gold Realm Scourge Champions onto the planet. They planned a coup. A soulsmith and a bunch of gold aren’t enough to take down an Ascendant cultivator and a council of Immortal druids, but it was going to cause a whole lot of cause and instability. The Weave intervened.”

  “So what? Instead of bringing the matter to the council, your lot just killed a reputable individual? Evidence—”

  “How about you stick to what you’re good at, Susan,” Selia interrupted. “We had the necessary intelligence and evidence of Scourge spies and saboteurs. Bringing things to the light would give Edwin and the other fuckers to cover shit up or flee. I know the druids don’t like how we do things, but you know me. So, when I tell you to trust the Weave whose web expands across multiple Control Worlds, trust me. They don’t work in self-interest. Their primary objective is the security of the residents and peace.”

  “I call bullshit,” Susan said. “Assassins. Thieves. Spies. The Weave is a den of them all. I’ve been Summoned longer than all of you, and it's not the first time I’ve seen their work. It's all for profit hidden by the veil of doing the greater good.”

  “Believe what you will.” Selia sighed, rolling your eyes. “You spent the past year with your ass glued to a library chair. I shut down a coup, prevented civil war, and potentially saved millions of lives.” Her following words were barely audible. “Reading and listening to eccentric recluses has done you no good. You used to be insightful and intelligent, Susan.”

  “That’s enough,” Nil said, stepping between the two women before the exchange could continue. “We just got out of a stressful situation, and it's for the best if everyone takes some time, perhaps a few days, to decompress.”

  “That sounds like an excellent idea,” Shawn stated.

  “I agree,” Andrew added. “There’s no point getting into this now.”

  “I didn’t start it—”

  “I’m ending it,” Nil said, interrupting Selia. “Let's check in with Layla and then go home. This matter is best left for another day. It's not like we can do anything about it now.”

  “Fine.” Susan turned her back on all of them and marched away. Andrew gave them an apologetic look before following.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Nil asked Selia.

  Shawn echoed his concerns. “You’re bloody and don’t look well. I’m sure Layla won’t mind if we leave our check-in for another day. You two could go home—”

  “No,” Selia said. “The sooner we get all of this out, the better. I want to rest after finishing here and then get into training for the Cleansing.”

  “Don’t worry about Susan,” Shawn continued. “Just give her some time to calm down. The druids are old, prejudiced, and often major assholes. Getting caught in their echo chamber is not good for anyone. I’m sure she’ll change her mind after she’s had some time to herself and snapped out of the craziness.”

  The Nexus was almost as chaotic as Ashe Fall's port. The only time Nil saw the otherwise orderly multiversal organization in such a state was after returning from his first emergency quest. Oth, the Devourer, had found his way to a Beacon World. The giant space octopus was in the process of flooding the planet with lesser entities from the Void and slowly devouring all life and Wells of Power. The Nexus had organized passage of all refugees to other Control Worlds, and many were passing through the pocket dimension that house the office.

  Chatter amongst passing Nexus staff confirmed a part of the story. Edwin Miles, the multiversally famous aethertech engineer, and soulsmith, was found dead surrounded by Scourge Champions. However, most seemed to think that he had died taking them down. Most sounded furious about losing an Immortal Realm Artisan. Only a few of them existed in the multiverse and were essential for weapons, tools, and armor against the Scourge and Void.

  How the hell did the Weave take out an Immortal?

  Nil had learned that immortal didn't necessarily mean invulnerable. It was the path to agelessness and an escape from natural death. Many of the realm had the power to recover from impossible injuries and cheat death, but it wasn't a hard and fast rule. It left him wondering about the logistics of such a task and how much of a direct hand Selia had in the act. He set his questions aside for later. Letting strangers know they had come from Ashe Fall or one of them had a hand in the recent incident wouldn't end well for anyone.

  Many discussed their relief about the planet’s strongest—the ascendant cultivator—being around to bring the situation under control. Others talked about whether it was all a ploy by him to take control of the situation. Nil noted how no one questioned the druid council’s involvement and motivations. He had learned that they were amongst the most trusted group of people in the multiverse. Even though their notable accolades were from several thousand—if not tens of thousands—years ago, everyone seemed to trust them and their actions.

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  Nil considered such unquestioning faith stupid, but given his limited knowledge and experience, he didn’t feel comfortable discussing the matter outside of closed doors. He was sure there was a lot he and Selia would discuss later. Nil couldn’t wait to be alone with her later in more ways than one. Now that she wasn’t limited by Ashe Fall or their individual teachers’ rules, there was a lot more they could discuss. He wanted to know about the Weave and her activities around them. Even though Nil trusted Selia, he decided to keep Watcher’s identity a secret. The knowledge felt dangerous. Meanwhile, the matter of Iris demanded urgent discussion.

  It wasn’t long before Layla’s pink clones ushered the five of them into her office.

  “Before we get started, the Weave advised me to give you your reward personally,” Layla told Selia, handing over a marble of dark glass and silvery metal. It radiated concentrated power so pure it reminded Nil of the one immortal he had face to face. Energy Instinct saw formless, seemingly endless white. “I expect you to do great things with this.”

  “Holy, fucking shit.” Andrew’s mouth hung agape. “Is that a soul seed? I already get to work on a soul seed?” He excitedly glanced at Susan, but she was stonefaced. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Do you think you can get it ready in time for the Cleansing, Andrew?”

  “Six months should be—”

  “You have a little more than three months,” Selia corrected. “We lost close to six weeks on our way to Ashe Fall. You just had to stop for materials.”

  “It wasn’t just me.” Andrew frowned. “You lot also wanted to play hero.”

  “And we got paid handsomely for it,” Shawn said.

  “Can you manage in three?” The chaos during their departure had drained Nil’s patience. He just wanted to move on with the meeting and go home.

  “I’ll have to do it in two so Selia has time to get used to the weapon and get some practice.,” Andrew answered. “It should be possible, but we need to decide on a design and get the materials first.”

  “We’re sorted on that end.” Selia smiled. She fished a rolled and tied parchment out of the satchel she carried and passed it to Nil. “I’ll hand over the materials once we’re done here.”

  “I guess I have no excuses then.” Andrew sighed.

  “Moving on.” Layla clicked her fingers, and several screens appeared behind her. “We have a lot to get through and not a lot of time. There is a bunch of good news and some bad news.”

  “Bad news first, please,” Nil said. “We—”

  “What about everything that just happened on Ashe Fall?” Susan interrupted. “Are we just going to ignore that Selia helped assassinate a Control World’s ruler and then got rewarded for it?”

  “You mean she helped eliminate a traitor and prevented the Scourge from stealing vital trade secrets, schematics, weapons, and armor,” Layla corrected. “We’re on the same side and team. It's vital that we trust one another. Are we ready to move on?”

  No one indicated otherwise. Susan still appeared unconvinced but didn’t push the matter further. It was clear she needed some time. Nil felt bad for Andrew since he was stuck in the middle of it.

  “Very well.” The screens lit up behind Layla. “Shina has gone missing.” Multiple groans sounded around the room. Only Selia didn’t react. “Her transport was attacked on the way to the trial. Your law enforcement still refuses to cooperate with us, and we can’t tell whether she was rescued by allies or taken.”

  “That’s a kick in the balls.” Shawn’s words surprised most of the group. Time among the druids appeared to have mellowed the man. He rarely swore or was as expressive.

  “On the bright side, we managed to get information on all the children who were implanted with stolen power seeds and artificially enhanced like Selia,” Layla continued. “They’re all suffering from similar physical issues, and we’ve convinced the Schema to let us prematurely make them Summoned. There will be no dangerous quests for them. Just train and teach so they’re ready for the multiverse and learn to safely use their abilities. We’re giving them goals and short, supervised quests to earn Schema and Ascension Tokens to help fix Symbiotech’s damage.”

  “Thank you.” Selia nodded, appearing far more restrained than she used to be. Nil expected more of an emotional reaction from her.

  “You’re welcome. CIT has been working overtime in your absence. Unfortunately, we still have no leads about the symbiote. The murders and attacks are more infrequent. It almost feels as if it's taking its time and moving carefully. Almost getting caught must have scared the creature, forcing it to end the wild feeding frenzy. On the bright side, we have a few agents in the Pits and have taken out a few of Symbiotech’s partners ourselves.” Layla focused on Susan. “You’ll be working with the investigative team almost exclusively going forward. Cara Sue is taking over as our United Kingdom lead.”

  “Does she have the time for that with the Cleansing almost here?” Susan asked.

  “She decided to hand over her ticket to Zora and ascend to Silver,” Layla replied. “I tried to convince her otherwise, but she was ready to progress to the Silver Gauntlet. I don’t think she intends to continue her arena career for long.”

  The meeting moved on to more mundane topics. Layla updated them on everything that had happened during the past five months. There were minor CIT updates, changes with the Forge, and other Earth-side matters. After an hour, Layla dismissed everyone but Nil and kept him behind to discuss Emily. Nil was surprised to learn that his little sister had already progressed in her ability to Iron. Anger followed when he discovered she had signed up for the first-ever qualifiers being held at the Forge. It was a tournament-style event where the top three positions and two other best performers got inducted into the Iron Gauntlet.

  Nil imagined his father wasn’t happy about the matter. He made plans to demand a favor from Layla once he got his hands on a Cleansing ticket. She appeared confident in his ability to succeed at the Hunt and seemed sympathetic about his recent losses. However, Nil couldn’t help but feel that she was disappointed in him. He didn’t blame her.

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