Karma ran her thumb along the smooth, crystalline surface of the resonance stone. It was a small, cobalt blue and roughly ovular object perhaps half the size of a person’s fist, and though it weighed more than one might expect there was still a notable lack of mass behind it. All the same its value was about as much as a boulder made from solid gold.

Even she had struggled with that fact for a while, finding it hard to grasp that something so minuscule could be valued so greatly- at least in the absence of the building-crushing powers of other, similarly priced relics. But Karma was not the little girl she had been when the existence and function of resonance stones had first been explained to her, and she had since come to understand all too well how cross-oceanic communication could, in many ways, be far more devastating a weapon than even the most destructive relics.

Deeply ingrained though that lesson may still have been, she suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to hurl the piece of rock at the wall as hard as she could. While swearing at it.

As much of a wonder as it was to know how the great arcane relays could essentially send her voice travelling hundreds of leagues, it was also extraordinarily frustrating when the voices they sent back mandated things Karma considered unideal. The most recent example had been from Lord Hercules himself.

Karma understood that, as the single most magically talented individual in Dewlz’s history, she was a priceless asset to the nation of Olympus. So, too, did she understand that the years of political tutoring and almost agonising study she had undergone in lieu of a childhood meant that it would be a considerable waste of resources for her to die. All the same, she couldn’t help but think that sending her a bodyguard in addition to the already present and persistently unsettling Kin was somewhat of an overreaction to the mere presence of a Butcher in the city. Particularly when that bodyguard would be trekking all the way from Wrath in the continent of Gol.

She didn’t voice any of these thoughts, of course. Lord Hercules was ten thousand years old, and he’d been a genius even before spending all that time learning and thinking. While she was well aware of her own brilliance, Karma knew that it was a rare occasion on which she could successfully change her father’s mind- indeed, it had happened only four times in her life. Ordinarily she’d have given it a try anyway, but the fact that her perfectly reasonable arguments would take days to reach their recipient and that his inevitably superior counter-points would take days more to return left her rather lethargic to the entire idea.

Sighing, Karma curled her fingers back around the resonance stone and slid it into the pocket of her hamah-shae, thanking Olympus’ idiotic fashion pioneers that the baggy, silken pants came with equally baggy pockets. Moving back to her sofa, she collapsed back into it- allowing her head to loll back and face the ceiling as she closed her eyes.

Her meeting with Zilch would be in thirty minutes, factoring in travel time that left her with roughly five minutes to herself. Five minutes to sit still, in a quiet set of rooms with nothing going on and a complete absence of pressing issues which would turn into disasters if deprived of her immediate attention.

Not for the first time, Karma resented her past decision to assure her father she could, in fact, handle the entire workload of an Immortal. She’d argued that she was cleverer than most of them already, and she’d been right. What she hadn’t considered, or at least as much as she should have, was the fact that unlike Immortals she needed to sleep. As a result, her calamitous success in changing Lord Hercules’ mind for the third time in her life left her spending most of her days trying to do twenty-four hours of work in only sixteen. It was a miracle her hair hadn’t started falling out.

As Karma’s thoughts turned to her seemingly miraculous beauty, she felt her mood sour. Sitting up and opening her eyes, she brought her fingers to her temples and began to massage them. Turning her attention inwards to her internal clock, she noted her remaining time- eight minutes- and sat back once more.

She needed a holiday.

***

Pyrhic knocked twice upon the door the way she always did. She needn’t have bothered, Karma had already been reaching for the handle to open it. The two of them made their way out into a waiting carriage, climbing inside without a word. So heavy was their silence, that it was almost as though the impossibly gentle footsteps of the Kin following behind them had been audible.

Though well crafted, the wheels still clacked and sent the vehicle shaking slightly as they met with the uneven cobbles below. There were some magically-created carriages which circumvented such issues, using a combination of the Patais and Utalis spheres to levitate a few centimetres above the ground rather than roll along it. Karma refused to use them on principle, however, as they were far more expensive than they needed to be and she would rather have her headache aggravated by a rocky ride than encourage such wasteful usage of the arcane.

A particularly large bump brought the creeping pain behind her eyes to a new level, and Karma briefly regretted her decision. Stifling a groan, she thought desperately for something to distract her- anything. At first she tried thinking back to her best times in life, but after a few seconds she opted to make use of a far older, more practiced power. Sheer annoyance.

She’d buried her feelings towards Gem’s “strategy”, when going into meetings with large groups of Immortals it was vital to keep any potential emotional weakness tucked safely in the back of one’s mind. Meeting the girl, however, had shaken it free. Karma had expected her to be apologetic, nervous, fearful. She had not expected her to genuinely expect praise for her behaviour. Just the thought that the girl could act in such a way even after two years of pain-staking tutorship from Karma made her doubt pushing for the Butcher to be allowed to remain in the Sieve.

Of course she’d have been slightly more confident in her decision had her plan not been undermined so annoyingly. Zilch had been quiet and subdued in the meeting, as one would expect from any person surrounded by beings capable of instantly obliterating them. That didn’t make him stupid, though. Very few Immortals were, in fact most were considerably smarter than the average person what with their centuries of practice talking circles around them. Zilch, though, had surprised her. Karma still wasn’t sure how he’d gotten wind of her plan, but she doubted very much that it was mere coincidence Unity Eden had ended up on Gem’s team after she went out of her way to ensure she’d be grouped with the safe, reliable option of Xeno Warper.

Shifting in her seat and turning to glance absently out of the window as they rode, she couldn’t help but sigh to herself. She had a feeling that the meeting would only worsen her headache. Ordinarily Pyrhic would have read out arrangements and updates to Karma while they waited, but in some small act of mercy it seemed there had been no recent updates- allowing her to more or less rest and mentally recharge.

Even still, she was far less at ease around her attendant than normal. Karma had told no one but her about her plan for Gem. Pyrhic was in love with her, she’d worked very hard to ensure that, and up until now she had been entirely certain the woman would never betray her. It was hard for her to tell whether she was being a fool for doubting her attendant’s near-fanatical loyalty, or whether she was being a fool for doubting humanity's inherent opportunistic and self-serving nature.

It became apparent when they had reached their destination, for after a temporary slow in the pace of the carriage, the ground shifted from uneven cobbles to the almost impossibly sleek surface which- after a quick glance at it through the window- Karma recognised as magically crafted stone. By her estimation it was only fifty yards later that the vehicle slowed, then stopped altogether. Pyrhic looked somewhat surprised, though Karma herself knew full well what was happening- she gestured for her attendant to remain where she was, then calmly opened the door and stepped out.

The space adjacent to the Trisux was a bizarre one. Where ordinary, or even exceptional, buildings would tower over many smaller ones to all sides of them- the Trisux instead occupied the centre of an area of completely flat, grey stone stretching out for hundreds of metres in all directions. The edges of this perfectly smooth granite floor were surrounded by a wall reaching roughly twenty feet up, and though it was too far for her to see without augmenting her vision through her strain, Karma knew already that each part of the barrier was manned with trained soldiers.

Ten more of such soldiers were standing around the stationary carriage, each holding a wheellock musket, barrel to the ground, and looking thoroughly anxious.

If the information she’d received on the Sieve’s security was to be believed, each of the men were augments- inepts who had been able to gain some very slight measure of magical power through an Umbra magic procedure. Such technology was new, having only arisen within the last half-century, and for the most common examples, the returns it gave were unimpressive. Specific, situational abilities which made them more dangerous only than the wholly non-magical. The fact that one in ten died in the process meant it was something which, even among the perpetually powerless inepts, relatively few were willing to volunteer for.

She felt a sudden presence behind her, and didn’t need to turn around to know that the Kin had climbed down from their seats on the back of her carriage. Despite their towering forms and musket-proof armour, there’d barely been a sound from either of them. augments were a varied bunch, after all.

One of the soldiers tentatively approached Karma, making sure to keep the grip on his weapon decidedly light as he did so. Men were often worried that Karma would notice how they held their weapons around her.

“Greetings Lady Alabaster, we’re here to escort you to the main building of the Trisux for your appointment with Professor Zilch."

Though he was clean-shaven and adorned in a rather well-maintained uniform, he still spoke with the pitted accent common to citizens of Arcane’s non-Solifate nations. It wasn’t a surprise, it would be easier to count the mercenaries who didn’t originate from either Gol or those regions than it would be to count those who did. With that in mind, Karma toned her elocution down to the more common accent spoken in the region around Olympus.

“Thank you, please lead the way."

The man nodded dutifully, then turned and gestured for Karma to follow before heading off towards the central building. Karma came next, perhaps ten feet behind her guide, and the Kin followed her in turn- leaving half as much distance as she did. The remaining nine soldiers fell in around the group.

As instinctively disconcerting as it was to be surrounded in unknown territory by armed men, part of Karma felt relieved by it. Few men, even among Immortals, would give the order to fire through the bodies of their own subordinates- and even from the distance between her and the men at the walls, rifled muskets could hit a human sized target more often than not. She was nonetheless tempted to use her magic to strengthen her body’s resilience, but decided against it. It wouldn’t do to make her worries apparent through such pointless precautions.

They walked in silence for some time, with all of the mercenaries remaining clearly ill at ease and the Kin being as almost-unnoticeable as always. The ground around them was unchanging, almost maddening in its banality, and their destination was ever present before them. The Trisux was a tower, of sorts.

It consisted of a semispherical, black stone base built into the floor around a hundred feet in diameter. Above this was a circular cone of equal width and double the height. The top section, however, was not directly connected to the bottom- or at least not physically. A jet of pale green light was projected from the tip of the base, reaching up a hundred yards and ending at the underside of the cone. Aside from this single photonic contact, the top of the Trisux touched nothing else- save for the air around it. This light was the reason Karma could see the building and, barely, its surrounding walls despite the darkness of the late hour. And it was also exclusively responsible for holding up the top section in spite of the natural world’s inclinations to bring it crashing down.

Many scholars had attempted to study the artefact, eager to discover the secret for its perpetual levitation. While it was entirely possible to lift things without touching them through the use of magic, such frictionless constructs required an alarming amount of magic and had to have arcstock crystals drained and recharged by the tonne just to operate for a few hours.

Trisux had remained active for over four thousand years, and in all that time there had not been a single recorded incident of fluctuation in its functionality. Just one of the many ancient artefacts or constructs the Deities of old had left behind to remind their descendants how much Adeus’ alleged war had taken from the world.

They reached the base shortly, an ovular opening in the otherwise flawless surface of the structure which was manned by two more guards. Karma could tell even from a dozen paces away that they were both mystics, rather strong ones too- she estimated them to be of roughly mid-Sage level. They would have posed no threat to her even as a duo, but were still an upgrade from slightly enhanced humans with guns.

There was no door, nor any kind of covering. Karma had read that the material from which Trisux was made had the natural effect of repelling adhesives, as well as anything else which pressed against it. That, and the fact that fitting it with hinges would require drilling holes in- and potentially irreparably damaging- the ancient structure meant that the Unixian Alliance had settled for simply leaving it open and permanently guarded. As her guide led her through, Karma noticed the other mercenaries waited outside.

The interior of the Trisux was just as sleek as the exterior, almost shockingly so. Though she kept a keen eye aimed at her surroundings as they made their way through it, Karma couldn’t see a single right angle. Even the corners of the corridors through which they walked were rounded and curved rather than edged, giving the place a decidedly organic feeling. This was further strengthened by a bizarre thrumming Karma felt in her head, not a sound so much as a feeling- light and barely noticeable, yet undoubtedly there. What little light was present came from centimetre-thick lines of arclight crystal which ran along the tops and bottoms of the cylindrical passages, seeming more to seep into the dark material of the walls, ceiling and floor- giving an almost glistening wet appearance to them. It was as though she were sliding down the gullet of a great creature.

Karma knew better than to let her discomfort show, however. She kept her face steady, her steps even, her breathing light and, with some effort, her eyes forward. The mysterious material of the ground made a dull thunk as the high-heels of her shoes bore down upon it, and so she concentrated on counting each time it did.

By the sixteenth step, she had noticed that the streak of arclight running above, below and beside her seemed to pulsate slightly. By the twenty-second she had realised that said pulsating appeared to be completely in time with the beating in her head. It took twenty-seven before they came to a stop, which was a great relief. By that time she had started to consider unsettling parallels between her surroundings and a circulatory system.

The room they had entered was no different than the others in the curvature of its surfaces, however from the centre of the floor to the ceiling there was a green pillar of light roughly twice as broad as a man was tall. Karma didn’t need her strain to recognise it as the same beam which connected the two halves of the Trisux.

Almost hesitantly, her guide gestured to the light.

“This is, uh, the… the way up to the next level. In order to use it we only…. Only need to walk over, step into it and…”

Karma could recognise a phobia when she saw one, the man was sweating bullets.

“It’s alright, I can make my way up alone from here."

The look of utter gratitude upon the mercenary’s face was almost surprising, and the way he nodded- half in agreement, half in thanks- seemed at risk of shaking his head free of its shoulders.

“T-Thank you M’lady, really- thank you."

Returning his thanks with a practiced smile of benevolence, Karma turned to the light. Truth be told she wasn’t particularly fond of levitation, either. She began moving towards it just as the mercenary headed back out the way they’d come.

Karma had flown before, indeed she still did so with reasonable regularity. It was for this reason that she could confidently say the sensation of using the Trisux’s levitating transportation was entirely different, and unfamiliar.

Flight was tricky, for most it was a difficult technique involving a specific spell which allowed the user to alter the direction of any physical force it could provide, essentially granting them the ability to launch their own body as if it were a separate object which they were pushing against- much to the chagrin of the universe’s well-made laws of inertia. This also required that the user’s body be made essentially weightless.

As spells in general took months, often years, of study and the gathering of many rare- often illegal- ingredients, it was uncommon to find anyone capable of performing one as advanced as that without having also ascended to the realm of the Immortals. In fact, the only reason anyone bothered to do so was that spells could, in some way, circumvent the need to split one’s potency across all applications of their magic.

At seventeen years, Karma was too young for any to think her capable of mastering even basic spells. Though she could in fact fly, they had been right- doing so the “proper” way, through use of a spell, had remained beyond her. For now.

The way she had achieved flight involved making use of her own telekinetic abilities to essentially throw her own body in whichever direction she wanted to move.

It was cheap, made her vomit if she changed direction more than once per minute and burned through her magic reserves like nothing else. But it was flight all the same.

Stepping into the vertical, jade light was another sensation entirely. Rather than feeling a great heaviness pulling her in any one direction, Karma was overcome by the feeling of weightlessness- as though gravity had simply relinquished its hold on her. She found her arms drifting around as she held them relaxed by her sides, noting that the limbs behaved similarly to how they would when she was in water. Then, gradually, she felt herself begin to accelerate upwards.

The change in speed was slow, many times slower than what was caused by the gravitic influence of Mirandis itself- but it was there. One of the abilities granted by Patais, naturalist magic, was influence over the forces which governed matter within the universe- it was fascinating to see its use on such a scale.

As her body quickened its upward trajectory, Karma spared a glance at the city sprawling out around her. She’d seen it from greater heights before- though never while flying herself, she had not yet mastered remaining still enough to enjoy much in the way of sightseeing- but there was something different about looking down on it from above, with no building or structure obscuring her vision from just beneath her.

An Immortal’s view.

She mused with a grin.

Soon to be my view.

Upon closing two-thirds of the distance between the upper and lower sections of the Trisux, Karma felt herself begin to slow. It was just as weak as the initial acceleration, yet she hadn’t been moving with any great speed regardless and so it was enough to bring her to a near-total stop by the time she passed through the opening through which the green light entered the great levitating cone.

The room she found herself in was more or less identical to the one she’d been lifted up from. In fact the only change Karma found was the sudden return of the rhythmic pounding in her head, something which had disappeared so cleanly and suddenly upon her entry into the gravitic light that she hadn’t even noticed its absence.

Burying her sudden annoyance and discomfort, she stepped away from the entrance and waited for the hulking forms of her ever-silent bodyguards to accompany her. It was several moments of their absence before she realised that they would not.

The Kin would have followed her anywhere, and thrown their lives away in battle to extend hers by only a few seconds. And yet it was not that they wouldn’t follow her here, it was that they couldn’t. Their armour, concentrating their natural anti-magic aura as it was, rendered them immune to any level of magical attack below a Paragon’s. It seemed that the lift provided by the green light was insufficient to affect them. Karma was on her own.

It took her nearly five minutes to navigate the winding passages of the Trisux’s interior, and no small amount of irritation at whichever long-dead Deity had decided to make each and every one of them practically identical. She had just been considering using her Eye of Analysis to find the correct route when, in-between bouts of mentally screaming at herself for dismissing her single guide, she stumbled upon a hall angled upwards through pure luck.

Karma traversed the ramped corridor, exiting it and stepping into a far larger room- unique in the Trisux due to containing actual people.

None of them seemed to notice her as she walked past them, seeming far too preoccupied with their tasks. Each was seated before a large scrying slate which had been built into a stand, and all were staring transfixed as their fingers twitched and their lips moved in silent murmurs.

All were mystics, or rather all could be vaguely called mystics. Much like Pyrhic, they were Saints. What little magic they had was useful only when concentrated into a single ability and honed with countless hours of practice. Karma imagined that these Saints were focusing on the Manamis sphere, mental magic- transferring images from one person to another and allowing the audience to observe things unfold from hundreds of miles away.

It wasn’t lost on her that there were no public events happening at the moment, but she had more pressing concerns than what the other organiser’s spies were doing on everyone else’s day off. Thankfully they had all been placed against the wall, and so it was a simple matter for her to walk straight down the middle of the room without needing to risk going near any of them.

Manamis had a bad name, of all the spheres of magic its reputation was second in disrepute only to Avis- death magic. While Karma did not buy into the stereotypes which clung to many of its practitioners- after all her own ability relied on considerable mastery over the Sphere- she had to admit that Saints who focused exclusively on it were downright creepy. It was somewhat of a relief for her to be met with a normal-seeming individual just as she neared the next room.

“Are you here to see Professor Zilch?”

The questioner was a lanky man of slightly below average height with dirty hair and awful teeth. As far as looks went he was roughly as intimidating as a sock, that didn’t matter though.

Karma was less than six feet away from him and she could feel the intensity of the magical energy wrapped around his body. Not an Immortal, not yet. But stronger than her.

“Yes I am, could you please lead the way?”

The man met her eye, something which required him to crane his neck due to both her already large height advantage and the fact that she was in high-heels. It almost spoiled the effect of his looking down his nose at her.

“Name?”

By accent he was Pangaean, if an unusually unaesthetic one. That immediately explained his disdain.

“I’m a six foot four Olympian teenager wearing clothes which cost more than most houses arriving at the very specific time arranged for such a person’s appointment, and you’re asking me who I am?”

The look of forced, placid superiority almost made way for a sneer on his lips.

“I’m afraid everyone has to follow protocol, Princess. Name?”

Karma was used to being disliked, particularly by Pangaeans- a people who practically pioneered entitlement. Nonetheless she wished more people at least made the effort of keeping such feelings to themselves, like she did.

“My name”, she acquiesced, “is Karma Alabaster. And I am here to see professor Zilch."

“Alabaster…”

The man made a point of retrieving a small notebook from his top pocket, flipping through it briefly as though he actually needed to. He probably thought it was very clever of him to slight Karma in such a way, it was not. Particularly because the grubby stickiness of the pages told her that Zilch was both visited with considerable regularity and leaving his security up to a man stupid enough to need a notebook at all.

Either that or he was merely feigning stupidity to catch her off-guard. Karma really didn’t like dealing with people, it was so exhausting.

After a few moments the Pangaean was gratuitous enough to drop his facade, flashing Karma a grin which put his neglected dentition on full display.

“Ah, here you are. Right this way Miss Alabaster!”

He didn’t wait to make sure she was following before he turned and began walking.

Moving deeper into the room from which he had spoken, the man turned right and quickly disappeared down a corridor. Karma quickly hurried after with long strides, barely glimpsing the direction he went before he had moved on.

She caught up to him as he went into another room, the largest yet in fact. There were more Saints working, though unlike the others they were far more mobile. At the centre of the sprawling chamber was something that piqued her interest very, very much.

A great orb perhaps ten feet in diameter was at the centre. Karma realised they were directly at the centre of the structure, as the sphere was held in place by the very same pillar of light which had lifted her between sections. Two rings were around it, spinning sluggishly as though in orbit- neither one ever touching either one another or their focus. The entire thing practically throbbed with power, enough to make Karma’s hair stand on end.

This, she gathered, was the Quanturner. One of only a few things in the world which were called “world shakers”, Deities and Demigods not included. It was responsible wholly for the fluid spatial manipulation which allowed the Sieve to function as it did, as well as much more- if the rumours were to be believed at least.

“Impressed, are we?”

Karma turned to the now rather smug face of her “guide”, weighing up the pros and cons of punching him even as she answered.

“Close, the word you’re looking for is “late”, thanks to your idiotic guest management skills. I suppose a map would have been beyond your technological capacities?”

Much to her satisfaction, the aggravating smirk turned into a grim scowl. The Paragon continued on his way across the room, and Karma followed.

“Shouldn’t have expected you to appreciate…” he muttered, clearly not bothering to keep his voice quiet enough to avoid her hearing from a mere five feet behind.

“One of the most impressive things in the world, the pride of both the Factions…”

Both Factions, not two of the three- both. How like a Pangaean to forget the very existence of Chrona Kasta’s Jaxif Faction while still managing to bear animosity towards Olympus for their allying with it.

Regardless of whether it was the pride of all the world’s Factions or only two-thirds of them, Karma was glad to increase the distance between herself and the Quanturn. She wasn’t one for superstition, but being near it made her feel as though she were being watched.

There was only one door- or rather archway- in the room besides that through which they had entered, and as they came to a halt several paces from it the man turned to Karma with a serious look in his eyes.

“Don’t make any sudden movements, or activate your magic. If you do either of these things, you will be restrained immediately and- possibly- fatally."

His disliking of her aside, Karma knew a genuine warning when she received one. Though there was no time to inquire as to what motivated this one, the moment before she could ask they were moving once more.

After being mentally assailed by the infernal heartbeat of the very walls around her, Zilch made an almost comical sight. Small, pale, sickly-looking and bald. He was dressed in simple robes, crisp and gaudily dyed a Zoric cyan. The emblem of the Unixian Alliance was on the left of his chest, just over his heart, and he looked very much as though the weight of the small badge might topple him.

By comparison, the other eight people in the room were far more… substantial.

People may have been the wrong word to describe the Beacons, though precious few could even begin to capture the nature of such things. They were tall, as tall as Kin at least, and just as heavily armoured. Yet where the Kin wore practical, sleekly designed armaments- the Beacons were adorned with great pauldrons and fancifully engraved sheets of pressed metal. Superficially, though, this greater extravagance detracted little from the striking similarities between the two.

“Lady Alabaster."

Karma returned her gaze to Zilch as he spoke.

“I… believe I know why you scheduled this meeting."

She forced a smile.

“And why is that?”

“Because you are… upset with me."

His tone was frustratingly tranquil, far more so than during their private chat some hours prior. Karma supposed his being surrounded by Beacons was responsible for the sudden appearance of a backbone.

“What an outstanding deduction, could you explain what led you to such a leap of logic?”

The fae sighed.

“Because you attempted to manipulate the Sieve’s system for your own ends, which I suppose backfired."

It wasn’t lost on Karma why the fae had sabotaged her plan for Gem. Though the girl’s public image was overwhelmingly positive, her friendship with Karma had convinced many in the Unixian Alliance that they were best served undermining the level of esteem she had.

It was still fucking frustrating to be seen through so easily, not least because Karma still had no clue how the fae had gotten wind of her goal.

“And you don’t think your active role in preventing it from succeeding is the root cause?”

Surprisingly, the fae smiled.

“Lady Alabaster, I would ask that you not presume me to be on the same level of petty politicking as our fellow organisers."

The way he spoke made her want to throw him as hard as she could into the air and watch him land.

“You were given valuable information as to the inner-workings of the Sieve, firstly that I, through the use of the Quanturner, monitor the interactions and dispositions of the contestants, secondly that I use my observations to determine their compatibility when assembling teams. Am I correct?”

She grit her teeth.

“You are."

“Of course I am”, he said with a smile that showed more arrogance than teeth. “And so, in accordance with my assigned duty, I observed the interactions had by Gemini Menza, as well as many other contestants, and determined that the most compatible possible team formation for her included Unity Eden."

“Which was a stupid fucking decision”, Karma snapped.

It was often unwise to show emotion to Immortals, however when they were taking pride in something- for example being more level-headed and in control- giving them what they wanted was often the best way to receive information.

“I don’t make stupid decisions, Princess. I can see and hear everything on this island. At all times. Bermuda cannot hold a single secret from me, no matter how small. Consider that the next time you plan to deceive me."

Feeling her temper straining to control her rage, Karma worked over his words in her head. Much to her dismay, they made sense. She’d been worried about information leaks, convinced that the impossible had come to pass and she’d been either betrayed by Pyrhic or out-manoeuvred so thoroughly as to give Zilch information before ever having spoken to him. She should have remembered the reason for his paranoia, Immortals who specialised on something with everything they had could do astonishing things.

The revelation that she’d practically been pulling her own hair out when he had simply cheated was one that brought a familiar rush of hot blood running down to her hands and curling their fingers into fists. She barely managed to restrain herself from shouting as she spoke, reluctant even in the grips of her fury to give anything so deadly as a group of Beacons any cause to view her as a threat.

“You…”

Her voice surprised even her with the jagged edge behind it, and yet even that didn’t prevent the smug fae from cutting in and interrupting.

“You have other plans this evening. No? I’m sure you wouldn’t want to interrupt them just to vent your frustrations, not when you could be dramatically arriving at places you weren’t previously expected to attend."

She met his gaze, staring dead-centre into those pale blue eyes of his as she internally strained to keep her anger from externalising itself as trembling. The two of them remained locked like that for no more than a few moments, though it felt like far longer. Slowly but surely, the gears of Karma’s mind started whirring- scraping free the rust and grime of emotion and leaving nothing but the cold logic and pragmatism she was used to operating with.

The wrath of an Olympian showed itself quickly, disappeared quicker still and left consequences which far outlived it. Karma had been trained to collar it for that very reason. That didn’t mean her rage was gone, of course. But she had found more productive ways to channel it.

“Tell me Zilch, how long do you think you have?”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?”

“It confused me that you were so in favour of the Butchers’ presence in the Sieve”, she continued. “After all your paranoia is more famous than you yourself are, and you showed first-hand how intense it was when we arranged this little meeting. It took me a while to figure out what it would take to make someone like you decide that being surrounded by Butchers was a favourable outcome."

The fae swallowed, replying equal parts curtly and defensively.

“I told you, my only aim is to ensure that the Sieve-”

It was Karma’s turn to interrupt.

“The answer was quite obvious, in hindsight. After all the God-Hunter’s been mostly focusing on higher-ups in the Unixian Alliance, haven’t they?”

Zilch paled at the mention of that most feared of individuals, voice bearing a distinct tremor as he tried to speak- probably to dismiss what Karma was saying. She continued as though he had made no noise at all, silencing him with her indifference.

“I assume this-” she gestured to the building around them “-is only for personal comfort? You can’t really believe a few dozen augments and even less low-level mystics will make any difference against someone who’s killed Avatars. Certainly you must know that Danielz and his ilk won’t be willing to guard you personally."

The fae had stopped trying to speak, now only staring. Karma showed him the most sickly-sweet smile she could manage.

“So, how long do you think you have? How many days, weeks or months before I’m still alive, pettily politicking away, and you’re a rotting corpse?”

There was a peculiar expression on the fae’s face, something between shock, awe and utter hatred. After a few moments he managed- for it seemed doing so at all was a struggle- to force words out from his lips.

“I-”

Allowing herself to politely smile, and suppressing the urge to begin laughing like a banshee, Karma interrupted one last time.

“I have other plans this evening, Professor. But thank you for meeting me, it was… illuminating."

She didn’t wait to ask for permission before turning to leave.