Messeras is certainly making a case for Ari’s anti-Infinity-Loop faction. Maybe it’s good he didn’t recognize Achemiss’ name. I am somewhat confused by what I’m hearing from Messeras, though: I don’t think that using something like the Infinity Loop would automatically turn someone into a selfish monster.

“How many ascendants are like this?”

“They’re definitely a minority, thankfully, and easy to spot. Now, you’re young...but you don’t seem like them. I would’ve noticed immediately and stayed away.”

“How young do those people look?” I wonder. “You said that people in Eternity all tend to look young eventually.”

“Younger than you. As far as I can tell they’re boys and girls thrown into simulation chambers as soon as they’re old enough to use energy. The luckiest ones come here. What they’re forced to do in the meantime on their old worlds with the powers of a half-step ascendant, I have no idea, and can only assume the worst.”

I’m not sure why, but my hands begin to shake. I can imagine a world like my own decades in the future, a world where major powers all have their own Infinity Loops and run them at great cost on as many young people as possible, desperate to awaken the next ascendants. And what’s to stop them from bringing someone to the cusp of awakening, only to send them to a foreign city and trigger their ascension? After my example, the entire world should now know how effective such a strategy is.

But it’s an arms race that no one will win, accelerating until one day everything burns up and nothing is left, just as Holiday foretold.

Messeras’ eyes soften, his voice barely a whisper. “You are one of them, aren’t you?”

I take in a deep breath but can’t bring myself to nod, my throat constricting. I’m not like them: I wasn’t an intentional outcome of the Infinity Loop experiment. I wasn’t forced into the loop as a teen, likely bound by powerful oaths and expected to fight for others’ ambitions.

But there is a thread of truth in his words.

“Do you know how long those children spent within their simulations before ascending?”

“From how twisted they are, I’d guess decades. Even in a simulation hand-tailored to stimulate their progression, reaching the apex of strength is an endeavor that takes time. Most people never ascend in the waking world for a reason.”

I can’t even imagine spending decades in the loop. Perhaps having knowledge of my purpose there would make the experience less soul-crushing...but knowing I’d be stuck there for potentially decades would be dispiriting in a different way.

“I...am not like them,” I finally conclude, looking Messeras squarely in the eyes. “Thankfully.”

He gazes at me for a second without speaking, then pushes himself away from the table and gestures behind at an unlit room. “You hungry?”

—

Messeras places a ceramic dish down before me filled with a dull brown broth, shredded spinach-like leaves, and small bits of white meat. It isn’t pungent, smelling vaguely like chicken soup. He sits down across from me with a bowl of his own.

“I’m going to assume you have nothing but what you ascended with unless you tell me otherwise.”

I nod slowly. “That’s not the worst assumption to make.” I have the compass, but its function, while helpful, is limited. “Am I naive to think you’re helping me because you can, or are you going to expect something like your Cedranna?”

He snorts. “What I’m doing is having a conversation with a stranger to stave off loneliness. Why don’t you tell me about yourself? At least that way I’ll be able to eat the soup while it’s hot uninterrupted.”

“What kinds of things should I try not to divulge?” I ask.

The soup spoon freezes before his mouth where he’s blowing on it. “Well, usually your past doesn’t matter here. Once you get a sense for how this place works and have some basic precautions in place, you can tell most people whatever you’d like.” He sips the soup, then replaces the spoon in his bowl. “Though you’d best be prepared to run if you have no filter at all.”

Messeras has been nothing but helpful, so I decide to try being honest with him. I give him a broad overview of how I awakened in the Infinity Loop and commenced my ascension while touching on the resulting war and its conclusion.

“...You defeated your ascendant?” Messeras says, a confused look on his face.

I am aware that killing ascendants is extraordinary, so I left that part out, saying that I bested her and then ascended.

“Isn’t that the requirement to ascend?” I ask. “She came to test me. I defeated her and then ascended.”

“You sure you didn’t just...survive the impact, put up a good fight, get knocked out, and wake up here?” He pauses. “You did say you made an enemy, which is why you ended up in Vizier’s Crown...Perhaps you did defeat your ascendant. They have power over your arrival here, and if they’re petty, they might punish you for the insult to their pride.”

...Right. Probably easiest to go with that story. “Anyway...that’s how I ended up here; I found you soon after I arrived.”

“Explains why your ascendant escort didn’t do a very good job getting you oriented.”

I feel a little bad on Holiday’s behalf. He was pretty weird and eccentric, but he did answer my questions, gave me my compass, and made sure I could use ascendant energy. He probably recognized that given Vizier’s Crown’s remote location, I’d be unlikely to meet the kind of person who’d take advantage of my ignorance.

Suddenly Messeras frowns, his hand clenching his spoon. “There’s someone else here coming toward our location.”

Could it be...Maria? “Are you an End practitioner?”

“I don’t see the arrows, if that’s what you mean. I control the wind.”

Euryphel also used to wind to keep track of the Guard and people in the palace, so it’s not surprising. “What is this person like?”

“From the way they’re burning through the forest, they’re bad news.”

Messeras heads for the exit of the bungalow, pulling on his blue-green jacket from a hook next to the door. “Don’t come out. They’re probably just passing through and don’t know that someone actually cares about this forest.” He slams the door behind him, leaving me alone with two bowls of soup.

I track the man’s vitality as he passes over the canopy until he exits my range.

“Now what?” I mutter to myself, struck by indecision. Given that Messeras just said I’m the first person he’s talked to in a long while, I doubt this is a random passerby. If it’s Maria, it might be good for me to go and straighten things out. Still, I don’t want to betray Messeras’ trust and follow after him like an unruly child.

I stand up and explore the cozy room, stopping by a bookshelf with texts written in a foreign script. The books have worn spines and yellowed pages, though look similar to the old paper books on my world. I haven’t held a book since visiting Academia Hector’s study library–paper is expensive enough that almost everything is done through glossYs–so just opening a book is a bit of a novelty. I pick an antique up and open it down the middle, noting how the ink was pressed on the page with what seems like a giant stamp, some of the type fading in the right-hand corners.

I can’t understand any of it and there aren’t any pictures, so I replace the book on the shelf and take out another one with a blue leather cover. This one is filled with pictures of animals and appears to be a bestiary. They look similar to the kinds of animals on my world, though there are a few discrepancies. For instance, horses are represented with short horns along their snouts and most lizards have feathered manes.

As I turn the page, I hear a far-off explosion. My head jerks around, but I can’t sense anything from my current location, not even any souls. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any disembodied souls since coming here. It’s possible Vizier’s Crown and this jungled plane are so depopulated that souls are completely absent.

Maria could cause an explosion with her elementalism, I reason, once more torn by whether to go or just stay put.

Messeras is a many-hundred-year-old ascendant, I remind myself. He doesn’t need your help.

I move on from the book shelf and inspect other knick-knacks lying around. I see a few decorative rocks and crystals lying on tables, and there’s a set of lion figurines carved from wood on the largest coffee table next to the leather divan.

There’s no technology like a glossY to be found. What does Messeras do all day? I think Germaine would explode if she didn’t have access to the distributed network. I’m used to being constantly busy trying to stay alive; if I leisurely passed the days in a forest hermitage, I’d want something interesting to do.

“GET OUT OF MY FOREST!” Messeras suddenly shouts from a great distance, his words echoing through the jungle and reaching the bungalow.

I don’t think Maria would be inflammatory enough to provoke that kind of reaction, especially if she’s trying to stay alive more than a few hours. It’s more likely the interloper is someone different...someone after me.

I shake my read, resolving once more to let the ascendant handle the situation. Even so, I offhandedly inspect my bone armor and ensure my soul gems are still readily accessible.

“MYSTERIOUS IAN, GET OVER HERE.”

...So much for not getting involved.

I dash through the front door while circulating the energy of the riftbeast soul gem, hopeful that it will defend against whatever person is inciting Messeras’ wrath. I fly up above the canopy in the direction of the ascendant’s voice, scanning the jungle for human-shaped vital signatures while inspecting the horizon for smoke or other signs of conflict.

After flying for half a minute, I see trees bent at forty-five degree angles and a dark haze suggesting a recent conflict, though there’s no one here now.

“You’re close enough that I can talk to you directly,” Messeras whispers over the wind. “Keep going straight and you’ll find us.”

“What’s going on?” I ask out loud while flying forward.

“Someone’s looking for you and is a bit more stubborn to chase away than I thought.”

“Isn’t it just...giving them what they want if I come there?”

“Not if we can get rid of them by working together. If they die they’ll just come back, so we need to convince them this endeavor is pointless. If you’re powerful enough to defeat an ascendant before entering Eternity, you should be more than dead weight.”

I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that Messeras is misjudging the situation. Holiday mentioned that Vizier’s Crown has very few weak points in the veil. Since Ari’s faction had a hand in sending me here, they probably chose Vizier’s Crown not just for its unbearable monotony, but because they knew exactly where I’d end up once I left its gray plains.

And whoever Ari’s faction sent to capture me...I have a feeling they’ll be ready to deal with my skill set.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I reply, freezing in place above the treetops. “I think the person I pissed off is out to make me suffer.”

“I doubt they’re that petty over a loss,” Messeras replied. “This person is getting impatient, though, so coming sooner rather than later would be good.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have hid anything from Messeras after all. “I...might have left out some details.”

“...Like what?”

“I didn’t just defeat the ascendant. I killed her.”

“Who?”

“I’m not sure you’ll recognize her, but...her name was Ari.”

“You...are an idiot.”