She staggered upright as the creature landed and bounded towards her. Vanessa fired two more bolts of energy into the monster – one hit it in the side and the other went into its mouth. It staggered, blood starting to soak into the sand beneath them.

Vanessa tripped as the monster lunged at her from close range. She avoided the attack but fell to the ground before it. She rolled to the side, raising her gauntlet and blasting off another shot at the creature. The bolt bit into its skin and the monster gurgled, opening its maw and biting down at her.

She scrambled back, firing two more bolts that did nothing to stop the creature’s bulk as it descended towards her. Angel slammed his hand against the ground, sending a stone spike to block the Mouther from crushing Vanessa.

Silver was faster. The man rose, closing the space between him and Vanessa in an instant, and backhanded the creature in the face. It thudded to the ground, splatting against the sand.

“Shooting at something falling towards you isn’t going to do anything,” Silver said, shaking his head. “Get out of the way instead. No point killing your enemy if you die right after.”

The Mouther let out a grunt, its wounds finally starting to catch up with it. Vanessa slammed another canister into her gauntlet and scrambled upright, firing four more shots into the creature’s head.

With a final shudder, it fell still. Vanessa’s chest rose and fell heavily and her face was matted with sweat. Her eyes darted from the dead monster to Silver as she started to catch her breath.

A streamer of blue energy curled up from the monster’s mouth, dancing through the air before flooding into Vanessa. Her arms stiffened and she drew a sharp breath as her eyes glazed over. It passed quickly and Vanessa shook her head, coming back to the present.

“Passable job,” Silver said. “It would have been better if you didn’t need our help, and this thing wasn’t particularly strong, but you did okay.”

“Thanks. I think,” Vanessa said, looking down at her hand. She grimaced, wiping the sweat from her brow. A cold wind passed through the desert, reminding them all of the time. “What now? Do we keep moving?”

“Absolutely not,” Angel said. He flopped down into his blanket, wrapping it around himself. “It’s my turn to sleep. Have fun with the watch, Lilian.”

“How can you sleep after something like that?” Vanessa asked. “What if we get attacked again?”

“Then Lilian will wake us up,” Angel replied. “If you live on edge constantly, you’ll lose your hone. Forget about the fight. It’s done, and your adrenaline isn’t going to last forever.”

Silver nodded, returning to his own bag and sliding inside. Vanessa shook her head, standing there for a moment before following their lead. Angel turned over, closing his eyes and letting the tension out of his body as he slipped back into a light rest.

There were no further surprises that night. The following morning, after a quick breakfast, Silver and Vanessa spent a short while training. Even with the fight the previous day, the former bandit showed no signs of going easy on Vanessa. Once they’d finished, they set back off.

The day passed quickly and without trouble. When they set up camp again that night, Angel reviewed Vanessa’s scribework with her. Her practice had started to pay dividends, and while she was far from as good as Angel, her lines were more than passable.

Angel began teaching her the most basic pattern to imprint in a canister – his lightning bolt. After firm instructions not to try anything without him, he returned to bed. The next few days passed in much the same manner. Vanessa trained with Silver in the morning and Angel in the evening, traveling in between.

They were occasionally attacked by monsters, but Silver had Vanessa challenge them on her own each time. She had to be bailed out several times, but the girl was getting stronger at an incredible rate. Silver’s brutal methods were almost disturbingly effective.

Her progress with the scribe was slightly slower, but still impressive. After three days, she was able to properly create a canister with a lightning spell. Angel gave it a thorough inspection before declaring it safe, much to everyone’s delight. Even Silver cracked a small grin at that, although he hid it before Vanessa noticed.

Meanwhile, Angel had success of his own. The same night that Vanessa managed to create her first functional canister, the orb that he’d gotten from the Great Catacomb finally spilled its secrets to him.

Faint blue light lit up Angel’s face as the two halves of the orb spun on either end of the metal tube. The orb lifted out of his hands. A slot opened within it and a beam washed over Angel.

“Booting up. Please wait while Unit 912 refreshes memory bank.”

The words, spoken by a robotic female voice, were so silent that Angel could barely hear them.

“Boot up successful. Memory banks zero through four corrupted. They have been wiped to ensure proper operation.”

“What is that?” Silver asked, eyeing the orb with one hand on his sword.

“Shush,” Angel said, not glancing away from it. “It’s shiny.”

“Please insert new owner identification,” the orb chimed. A thin needle emerged from the metal tube.

Angel grimaced. He lifted his thumb to the needle and pressed into it, drawing a nick of blood. The needle retracted back into the sphere.

“Owner set. Please choose system access moniker. Please note that this change is not reversible.”

“Ah… Angel?”

“This name is already taken.”

“Wonderful,” Angel muttered. “What about Awesome Seeker?”

“Wonderful is not taken. Your system access moniker is now set. Initializing connection to System. Estimated time: 2 weeks.”

With a hum, the orb snapped back together and dropped out of the air. Angel caught it and the four of them stared at it for a few moments.

“Is that a system artifact?” Vanessa asked.

“What gave that away?” Angel asked dryly. “A rather sarcastic one, given its name choice decisions.”

“That could fetch you a pretty penny,” Silver observed. “If you hadn’t bound it to yourself, that is.”

“That’s fine,” Angel replied with a shrug. “I’m not in it for the money, and I’d much rather have the artifact. I don’t think I’ll be taking this one apart. I’ve learned a few things from it already, and it might be better than my current artifact. It certainly seems smarter.”

Vanessa reached into her bag and pulled out two disks and the tiny orb – the artifacts she’d gotten from the bandit barge. “Do you want these now?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Angel said, accepting them from Vanessa. He gave them a glance before tossing them into his bag. They were all covered with runes and lines of Old World magic, but he was too tired to look further into them today.

With the excitement finally over, the four of them went back to bed. The days ground onwards. The small group pressed onwards through the desert, traveling over the endless dunes towards Molten Ridges. And, finally, after what felt like a week that would never end, obsidian walls rose up on the horizon.

Mixed within the scorched black rock were streaks of brilliant orange and red stone that glimmered like a gem. It had been many years since Angel had last seen the city, but it looked exactly as he remembered.

“Wow,” Vanessa breathed. The howl of the wind made it impossible to hear her words, but Angel could read her lips just fine – especially since he was thinking the exact same thing.

Tall spires rose up within the city, which was easily as large as Bronze City if not larger. Several of them scraped a path through the faint clouds in the sky. As the group grew closer, the temperature rose.

Sand grew glassy and hard and the smell of brimstone slipped into the air. Beyond Molten Ridges, the desert came to an abrupt stop. It descended for hundreds of feet, melted completely solid by the pool of bubbling lava behind the city. Tall metal arches lined the edges of the pool, faint blue energy glimmering between them.

“It’s beyond me why anyone would ever build a city here,” Silver yelled over the wind.

“Power,” Angel replied. “They harness the heat of the lava pool to power the city. It’s incredibly efficient and effective. There’s a reason that it’s one of the safest cities despite being in the center of the Barren. Not many things, human or monster, can stand up to a lava cannon and survive.”

“Good thing I never tried robbing them,” Silver said. “I was seriously considering it. The nobles here are all wealthy little slime-grubs. I could have bought myself a new chopper and had coin to spare.”

“Please control yourself. At least while we’re here together,” Angel said, rolling his eyes. Silver smirked at him. After a moment, he cleared his throat. “There might be a few people that would recognize me here. I might need a disguise.”

They all started to slow as the gates of the city came within walking distance. Angel hopped off his board, then grabbed Cowl’s mask from its spot at his side and tossed it to Silver. “Here. You might as well get some use out of this.”

Silver examined it for a moment. “A bit morbid, don’t you think?”

Angel shrugged. “He promised to protect Vanessa. Just see this as a way for him to fulfill that promise.”

Silver placed the mask over his face. It remained in place and Silver let out a small hum. His voice came out in the same staticky crackle that Cowl had always spoke in. “It fits well enough.”

“That’s just weird,” Angel said. “I guess we know what was changing his voice now.”

They continued across the hardened, semi-translucent sand until they stood directly before the towering gates of Molten Ridges. Two guards, each wearing black and orange armor that looked like it was meant to protect a vehicle more than a person, tracked their approach.

Each man stood more than a foot taller than Angel and carried a thick gray staff. The group came to a stop before them.

“Welcome to Molten Ridges,” the guard on the left said. His voice was muffled by the helm that covered his face. “It isn’t often we get small groups traveling through here. Which of you is the noble – the younger girl, I presume?”

“How do you know there’s a noble?” Angel asked.

The guard let out a bassy laugh. “Your caution is commendable, but there’s nothing to worry about. Molten Ridges is a neutral zone. Political infighting is not tolerated. There’s nothing here for normal travelers, and you’ve got a girl barely old enough to drive an airship in your party.”

“Well, I’m afraid we’re just passing through,” Angel said.

“Suit yourself. No need to tell me,” the guard said. “The school is at the eastern section of the city, though. Just so you don’t have to ask someone for directions.”

Angel didn’t respond to that. The man stepped to the side and gestured for them to continue. As they walked past him, Angel forced himself not to cast a glance over his shoulder. It seemed as if Molten Ridges was already ready for them.