Die. Respawn. Repeat.

Chapter 194: Book 3: Parallels

Coming out of the skill-induced trance of The Road Not Taken is a heady thing. Most of that, I think, is because I pushed myself to the limit and more. I hadn't really been planning to hold on to the skill for that long, but when I looked Miktik in the eyes—when she realized what was happening...

I hadn't expected or prepared for that. How could I?

I did the only thing I could. Not the smartest thing, perhaps. Not the most battle-efficient, certainly. I feel wrung out, like even trying to use more Firmament at the moment is going to burn out what's left of my core. Trying to stand up causes me to sway on my feet—lucky for me, Ahkelios and Guard are almost immediately at my side, helping me.

"Thanks," I say. "Pushed myself a bit hard there."

"You think?" Ahkelios grumbles. He-Who-Guards guides me to sit back down, and Ahkelios holds up a hand before I can say anything else. "We're taking a break," he says. "I'm going to make you a bed, and we'll make plans in the morning."

Before I can respond, Ahkelios disappears into the forest. I blink.

"We could've just borrowed a bed from the crows," I say, bemused. "He wants to make me one?"

"I believe Ahkelios wishes to feel as though he is doing more to help," He-Who-Guards says. He crouches in front of me. "How are you feeling?"

"You don't have to worry that much," I say, wincing. "I overdrew on Firmament. I'll be fine with a bit of rest. Probably."

I'm pretty sure, anyway.

"You make a habit of this," Guard says with a whirred sigh. There's a note of something in his voice—not disapproval, exactly. He hesitates for a moment, examining me. "You did more than you had to do. Was it... worth it?"

My answer is immediate. "It was."

The words are true. He-Who-Guards might not know exactly what happened, but he apparently knows me well enough to understand that I did something. I chuckle a little to myself at the thought—maybe I'm becoming predictable.

I don't mind it. What I did there was important. It didn't have to be efficient or practical.

It just had to be kind.

"Do you know where we are to go next?" Guard asks. I nod.

"Back to the Intermediary," I say. "We need to get a part for that AI inside you, apparently. Not sure what happens after that, but it should complete them. And..."

I hesitate, glancing into the distance where Ahkelios went. "While we're there," I say. "We might as well get Ahkelios through his third shift. I have a feeling we'll need it."

There's a message on the Interface, though I have yet to say anything about it. It's a notification from before Guard's attempted shift.

[Anomalies detected in dungeon: The Empty City. Attempting to resolve...]

[Attempt failed. Dungeon difficulty upgraded to reflect anomalous state.]

[New difficulty: Submerged (F)]

It worries me. There's that whole new tier of power showing up again. Submerged, as far as I know, is the way the Interface categorizes the quality of imbuement stones; if that's any indication of how many levels of power there are out there...

I shudder a little. It almost makes me feel small. There hasn't been any evidence yet that the Integrators or the other Trialgoers are capable of that level of power, and for now, that thought is what I'm clinging to: that this is an emergent level of power rather than an extant one. It'll give me another tool to use against the Integrators when the time comes.

As long as I'm right.

With nothing else to do, I begin feeling around within my soul. If I hadn't used up so much Firmament, now would be the perfect opportunity to test Soul Space and what it can do. There's something about it that rings a bell.

Specifically, it feels a little like there's something already there within my soul, waiting for me to pull it out.

I reach for it—

—and wince when an echoing response of pain blurs my vision. Guard gives me a stern look. "Ethan," he says reproachfully. "You need to let yourself recover."

I cough and look away.

Maybe I'll give it a few more minutes.

Walking around within his own corpse was, Gheraa reflected, not how he thought he'd spend his afterlife. Not that this was an afterlife, but calling it that seemed suitably dramatic and tickled him more than acknowledging the entirety of the situation.

The portal was still sitting there, ready for him to emerge and re-enter Hestia. He'd chosen not to go through it for the time being. The Heart had clearly wanted him to warn Ethan about something, and there had to be a reason he'd been chosen to do that. He didn't mind being given the task, but he needed more information.

And where else was he going to get information but from the remnant of his own corpse?

There was a little-known fact about Integrators: the Firmament they were made out of wasn't their own. Where that Firmament came from even they had no idea, but the soulrot that emerged from the very rare death of one of his kind often revealed secrets none of them consciously knew.

Secrets none of them liked, either, or there would probably be a lot more dead Integrators. Instead, there was something of a concerted effort to censor anything that was uncovered and make sure no new Integrators died. Even when the others decided his crime was worthy of death, they'd made sure to dump his body off-planet.

More fool them, really. Especially since Gheraa was pretty sure this made him the first and only Integrator to ever get to explore their own corpse.

Was it a little weird that he was excited about this? Probably! But he had to get his entertainment somewhere, and Ethan wasn't around for him to mess with.

He still remembered Ethan's expression when he shoved the All-Seeing Eye into his... well, eye. Good times. He wasn't particularly picky about what body part he was shoving into which orifice, as long as the result was entertaining.

"Hey," Zhao greeted without preamble the moment the other Trialgoer picked up. Voice calls were convenient—far better than the chat function he'd unlocked earlier in his Trial. At least with voice calls he didn't need to worry about the still-embarrassing username he'd accidentally locked in. His Integrator still refused to let him change it.

"What do you want?" Adeya's response was short and brusque, as always.

"Any luck contacting Ethan?" Zhao asked. He was getting antsy.

He could hear the irritation in Adeya's response, though. "He's still disconnected. You can see this yourself, no?"

"You are the one delving Interface dungeons," Zhao argued. "I would not see this in the Interface. You have not encountered him? He must have access to one by now."

Zhao was kind of stressed about it, in all honesty. He'd spoken to Ethan exactly once before the other Trialgoer disappeared from the chats again. Part of him felt responsible.

"He's not in any dungeon I have access to," Adeya replied. Her voice softened a little—Zhao realized he was letting a bit more of his stress bleed through than he'd intended. "I have some suspicions. Have you checked the rankings?"

"No..." Zhao hesitated. He hadn't checked them for a while, in fact.

He flicked through the Interface. Some time ago, there'd been an incident that knocked all their Interfaces temporarily offline; when they rebooted, there was an odd message about the Intermediaries being disrupted. That disruption appeared to have caused glitches within the Interface, unlocking features he was pretty sure they weren't intended to have.

First among them was what brought Ethan to their attention in the first place: a ranking of human Trialgoers across all number of categories. The second was a list of all active dungeons, also termed as "soulrot infestations" in that particular section of the Interface.

Ethan was the only one listed as having achieved his third phase shift. A third-layer practitioner. The closest behind him was Adeya, who was at her second layer and on the cusp of the third. Zhao himself was still on the cusp of the second—none of the rooms he found so far had enough Firmament to push him into his second shift.

There was something going on with Ethan and his Trial. They needed to get into contact with him. With his help, it was possible they had a chance—

Zhao paused, staring at the rankings.

[1. Ethan Hill]

[Practitioner Level: Third-Layer, Perfected. Cusp of Fourth.]

[Practitioner Title: Heir of Anchors]

"Cusp of fourth?" Zhao said, his jaw slack. Fourth wasn't supposed to be possible. They suspected their Integrators were lying to them about it, of course, but— "Wait, what does perfected mean? Is that a thing?"

"We'll have to ask him ourselves," Adeya said. "When we find him. Check the dungeon list."

Zhao's face paled when he did.

[The Empty City] [Special] [Rank: Submerged (F)]

"Submerged," Zhao said. "That is the term the Interface uses for imbuement... Have we encountered the Interface ranking things in such a way?"

"Not even the Disconnected have heard of it," Adeya said. "I checked."

"And you are sure he is in that dungeon?"

"He's the only one of us that would survive a dungeon of that difficulty at the moment," Adeya said. "And it was ranked S just a few days ago."

"It went up," Zhao said numbly. It felt like his face was pale, not that he had a way to check. "Then... then we must talk to him as soon as we can. A blowback from a dungeon of that strength would wipe out hundreds of us. He cannot fail. He should not even try! But if he is in that dungeon..."

"Then none of us can reach him," Adeya completed grimly. "No one we're in contact with has unlocked the Empty City."

"What do we even do?" Zhao fretted. "He can't die. He's our best chance against the Sunken King."

"We'll keep doing what we've been doing," Adeya told him. "Don't complete your Trial. Try not to let anyone complete theirs. Keep getting stronger. The longer we hold the Sunken King back, the better."

"So we wait," Zhao said. "That's it?"

"We grow," Adeya told him. "We make allies. We get stronger. We keep up. That's how our Firmament grows, remember?"

"Right." Zhao forced himself to calm down. "And... we have a chance. You're sure?"

Adeya smiled at him. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the smile through the Interface. It was warm and beautiful. Or maybe he was imagining things. "I'm sure."

"Because of your Skill?" he asked hopefully.

"What else would it be?"

Adeya disconnected before he could respond, but he could practically see her laughing at him.

Zhao sighed.

More waiting. He really hated waiting.

He missed the sun.