When he awoke the next morning, Angel went straight back to working on the relic. He managed to get through the rest of the unknown runes and got a rough understanding of what they all did.

He sat on his scorched chair and rested his chin in his hand. “I don’t get it. I know what everything does, but I don’t see how they go together,” Angel complained.

“Perhaps you need to change things up,” Blue suggested. “You have other projects that could be worked on. Speaking of which, I believe she is coming now.”

“How can you–”

Someone knocked on the door. When he opened it, Lilian greeted him with a curt nod.

“Am I too early?”

“No, I’m at a break point,” Angel said, walking back over to his desk. She followed in behind him. “Blue, how did you know she was coming?”

“Her footstep pattern is unique. I was relatively confident that it was her based on your previous interactions,” Blue replied.

“Didn’t realize you had such good hearing. I’d love to take a look at what runes are permitting that.”

Blue’s lights flickered and the orb floated to the other side of the room. “Please don’t disassemble me.”

Angel grunted. “Lilian, any changes with the core?”

“Nothing significant,” Lilian replied. “But it’s still losing power.”

“Let’s have a look, then,” Angel said. He grabbed his blanket from the floor and brushed the soot off his desk, laying the blanket on top and patting it. “Just like a bed.”

Lilian gave it a disdainful glare. “Did you always work alone before you met Vanessa?”

“Yep.”

“I figured,” Lilian said, climbing onto the table. It rocked precariously as she put pressure on the warped leg, but Angel caught it before the sudden motion tipped her off. Once she was situated, Angel pulled her shirt back and popped the latch on her side open.

The orb still floated in her chest between the triangular prongs, faint blue light emitting from within it. He double checked all the runes on it and the surrounding area. While the work on her original Magitech was fine, some of the core’s runes had warped. They weren’t damaged too badly, but it was more damage than he’d expected for the time she’d been using it.

“That’s weird,” Angel said. “Have you been doing anything that might have damaged my core?”

“No,” Lilian replied. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“It’s a bit off,” Angel said, chewing his lower lip. “The runes look like too much power has been running through them. It’s not going to blow up or anything, but it does mean that this’ll fail before I expected it to.”

“That doesn’t sound good. Is Soul’s core functional?”

“Ah. I haven’t gotten a chance to check it yet,” Angel admitted. “I’m sorry. I can take a look at it today.”

“So I should just walk around with a melting core inside me?” Lilian asked, sitting up. Angel pushed her back down.

“Of course not. I can make another one. The last ran for a few weeks, so this one will as well. I’ve got more than enough materials to work with, so this won’t take me long.”

Angel went to the cabinets, pulling several components and making his way back over to the table. He tossed them down on the blanket next to Lilian and got to work. Liquid Metal helped him roughly shape the components, and he used his scribe for everything else.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got a plan for how to deal with the Reawakening yet?” Lilian asked, watching him work out of the corner of her eyes.

“You mean with the Key? I’ve got a semblance of something. The funny thing is, if they really don’t have anyone talented with runes, there’s no possible way they could have used the information we found on the walls. It’s almost impossible to rebuild, even for me.”

“Trial and error are effective when you’ve got enough bodies to throw at it,” Lilian said. “They’d have figured something out.”

Angel put the finishing touches on his new core. He fished the old one out of Lilian, then replaced it. She let out a relieved sigh and sat up. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Angel replied, inspecting the old core with a frown. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to fiddle around a little more in there. Something was messing with my runes, and I want to know what.”

“You know, most people wouldn’t be very happy to hear that you want to poke around inside them,” Lilian observed. “Please don’t break anything.”

Angel stared at her. Lilian sighed and laid back down. “Keep it short, please. I’ve got things I want to do today.”

He ignored her, peering inside the latch. Most of the runes were no longer of any particular interest to him since he’d already figured out what they did. There were only two components left that he hadn’t gotten around to deciphering.

Both were located at the back of the compartment. One was a circular valve, and the other was a cube nestled in the corner. Angel started with the compartment. With a few suggestions from Blue, he was able to determine that it was meant to connect with something external.

Without taking her apart, Angel had no way to determine exactly what that thing was. He suspected that Lilian would object to that, so he turned his attention to the box. To his surprise, it didn’t seem to serve any purpose in relation to the rest of the Magitech.

The complex rune patterns on the box were all there to protect it from all sorts of interference. Some made the metal more physically resistant, while other patterns seemed to imply they were meant to stop magic.

“What’s the point of covering a box of metal with anti-magic runes?” Angel asked rhetorically. “And for that matter, do anti-magic runes even exist? That seems like an oxymoron.”

“They do,” Blue confirmed. “Some of the artifacts you requested I scan contained them.”

“What’s the point of putting that on a thick metal box, though? It should already block magic.”

“Perhaps they were made to avoid more powerful magic that specifically seeks to gain information?” Blue suggested. “Such as the System.”

“Well now I’m curious,” Angel said. He was tempted to just use Liquid Metal to pull the box open, but he stopped himself. “Lilian, you know how you said you didn’t want me breaking anything?”

“What did you do?” Lilian asked, resigned. “And am I going to die in the next few hours?”

“Nothing yet,” Angel replied defensively. “I was going to ask if I could break something. I promise I’ll fix it.”

“Why would I ever agree to that?”

“Well, you’ve got a little box hiding something in you,” Angel replied. “I wanted to see what it was.”

“Hiding something? What?”

“If I knew that, there wouldn’t be much point to this conversation.”

Lilian grunted. “Right. Dumb question.”

“So? Can I open it? I’ll put it back together, mom. I promise.”

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I’m probably just as insane as you are, but now I’m curious too. I’ve got no clue how my Magitech works, but I didn’t realize I was lugging around some treasure. Are you sure you won’t accidentally blow me up?”

“Mostly.”

“That’s reassuring,” Lilian grumbled. “Fine. Just be careful.”

Angel rubbed his hands together. He gave his arm a stern look. “I see one purple spark and you aren’t going to eat for the next month. Understood?”

It didn’t respond. He took that for agreement and reached in. A needle extended from his fingertip, giving him the extra reach to just barely reach the back of the compartment. Angel scratched out one of the runes, then used Liquid Metal to peel part of the box back.

“Buried Gods,” Angel muttered. “That explains a lot.”

“What?” Lilian asked. “What is it?”

Stored safely within the box in her chest was a tiny yellow gem exactly the size and shape of the Star Fragment he’d found all those weeks ago in a catacomb.

“I think I found out where you and the rest of the Reawakening got your magic.”