“You know, if there really is a stable portal, it’s going to need to be huge,” Alan notes as we follow the compass toward the veil vulnerability. “Otherwise the centipede wouldn’t be able to use it.”

That’s actually a good point. The portals that lead into the lost quadrant are fairly large–like the size of doors to a throne room–but that’s nowhere close to the size of the centipede’s body. I don’t know much about rift theory, but being with Karanos has given me enough knowledge to be dangerous. Making huge portals and keeping them stable is definitely harder than making small portals.

“Or, the centipede isn’t as big as we might think it is,” Maria says. “Wrong assumptions here will be our downfall.”

The void grows gradually hotter, suggesting that we’re getting closer to the violet nethereal lights sustaining Vizier’s Crown. After another two minutes, it feels like I’m roasting over an open flame.

Marcus eyes all of us, then sighs. “Stay relatively close to me and I’ll make you partially incorporeal. Fully incorporeal and we won’t be able to move.” He gives me and Maria a look. “The dragon doesn’t need any help, does he?”

I shake my head. “He’s just about heat proof. Maria, too.”

Alan is already next to him hanging on the other side of Sah, so Vik and I fly ourselves in closer, narrowing our formation.

My arm turns translucent. Since most of the backdrop is inky darkness, I almost look like I’m half made of shadows, but when I raise my arm in front of the nebular skylights, it’s like I’m wearing fabric fashioned from an aurora.

I know where my next outfit inspiration is coming from, I think to Maria.

It’s weird to see you like a ghost, she comments. I’m glad you aren’t a Dark practitioner.

The heat largely abates, but gradually creeps back up to its former level, even with Marcus adjusting our corporeality. The beauty around us increases proportionally with the heat, our surroundings slowly consumed by the nethereal lights circling like an ouroboros.

“Without me, you’d all be dead,” Marcus points out. “It’s extremely hot. There’s no way a centipede can survive here long term, portal or not.”

“We’re so close,” I reply. “I think the veil vulnerability is probably in our line of sight. The tricky part is tracking its exact location down.”

“If it’s just a vulnerability, this won’t help much,” Vik says, raising her hands out in front of her. “But if it’s something more–a stable portal–then I should be able to find it. Everyone, empty your lungs and keep yourselves alive for the next fifteen seconds. I only have a limited amount of air, and I’ll need all of it for what I have planned”

Alan grimaces. “Vik, you know I don’t do well in the void.”

She rolls her eyes. “Alan, how many times do I need to tell you to bring earth with you, everywhere? You wouldn’t be so useless if you carried a slab of mountain around.”

“In my defense, everywhere besides the void has earth, and unlike air, earth is massive–I can’t just cart around a–” he makes air quotes, his pink cape rippling “–slab of mountain.”

“I’ll just make us both fully incorporeal,” Marcus grumbles, shooting Alan a disapproving look. “You won’t be able to breathe, but that’s it.” He levels a look at me. “And what about you, are you also useless in the void?”

My eye twitches. “Long term, without artifacts? I’ll die. For a few seconds? I’ll survive.” I withdraw a prismatic soul gem from the void storage on my belt.

He scoffs. “Mortals can survive in a vacuum for a few seconds.”

I wish Marcus weren’t so disparaging. At least he’s useful. “For as long as I can go without oxygen, I can survive, and I bet that I can last longer than you,” I retort. “Maria’s obviously fine without any assistance–of any of us, she’s probably best equipped for this environment.”

Marcus grunts grudgingly in assent.

“Ready, and...start!” Vik bellows. The protective shell of air around us dissipates. Using the soul gem as a battery, tendrils of oily Death energy cling to my skin, except–

“Marcus!” I mouth. Vik isn’t relaying our voices anymore, so he can’t hear me. Shit. My Death energy isn’t able to apply pressure while I’m partially incorporeal, but Marcus’s incomplete protection isn’t enough to fully protect me from the void. I barrel forward toward Maria, leaving his range of influence. He seems to realize that something is amiss, but doesn’t understand what. He’s not a Death practitioner–he can’t see my flesh starting to expand and die. I feel like I did when I first entered the void: helpless.

I know immediately when I reach the edge of Marcus’ range, the effect of his Dark affinity fading. Death tendrils billow and clump tightly around me, layers of cocooning threads providing insulation against both the extreme heat and the vacuum’s lacking pressure.

I don’t have any air to sigh out in relief, but Y’jeni, that was annoyingly close. Maria blasts herself over to me, her eyes filled with muted concern, but I shake my head. I’m fine. Didn’t realize that being partially incorporeal would mess up my technique.

Now that I’m not in danger of dying, I turn my focus to Vik. Wind courses around her body, splintering off into slim, invisible vectors marked only by the tinge of ascendant energy around their edges. They pepper the void, growing indistinct with distance.

A small tendril of wind passes by our ears: “I can’t believe I found it!”

The wind reverses course and returns to Vik, all but a tiny, blue pinprick that marks the point of interest. The wind shell rematerializes, letting us talk.

“So what did you find, exactly?” Alan asks.

Vik looks at him like he’s dumb. “What I was looking for–a portal. Er, rift?”

“And how big is it?” Maria asks. Since my close call, Maria’s been floating next to me, maintaining a respectful distance.

“Not that big. But I sent some wind through, and there’s definitely something large and insectoid on the other side. I say we wait nine minutes or so–until our spawn points reset–and then send in Marcus to scout. We could all go, but if something unexpected happens, it’d be best to avoid a full wipe.” She gestures to Marcus. “Hence why we should send in the guy who supposedly is a master at staying alive.”

The Dark practitioner snorts. “If I go, you’ll burn up.”

Maria smiles politely, though I sense her indignation. “I think I can handle it. Sun practitioners generally have a knack for controlling heat.”

“Fine,” Marcus says.

Ten minutes later, our team hovers above the portal. It’s a shimmering membrane that’s nearly black, with glimmers of violet–almost impossible to see in the darkness of space.

“Wait,” I say. “It’s going to be pitch black on the other side. If we’re expecting this centipede to be alive–and I assume we are–then it’d be best for someone with non-visual perception to enter.”

Marcus gestures to the portal. “Be my guest.”

“This time, drop your incorporeality completely, please,” I mutter. “I can handle a bit of heat.”

Understanding dawns on him; I catch what might be a fleeting expression of guilt over my near death earlier. “I’ll drop it when you’re ready.”

I hover in front of the portal. Death energy blooms around me like a sinister flower, while ascendant energy casts a faint, electrified glow on my skin. “Ready.”

I pass through the rift wrapped up like a mummy, not a single inch of skin uncovered, and not a speck of ascendant energy glow visible. Silent, thermally insulated, and black as space, I’m as low key as I can hope for.

At first I don’t know what I’m sensing. Off-white vitality fills the space around me, layers and layers of it overlapping like streamers.

Then I find a head, one that’s wider than I am tall, but nowhere near the size of its supposed parent.

Then I find a second, and a third.

They’re all connected. It’s like that ghastly scorpion outfit Ash wore to the dinner, a number of centipedes melded together into one mega centipede, some bigger than others. Where does one centipede end and another start?

I almost can’t believe that this thing is our supposed quarry. It looks completely infeasible–how can it even move? Thankfully, it appears to be in a dormant state, so it doesn’t notice me. I backtrack through the portal and reappear before everyone.

“So?” Vik asks expectantly.

“Yeah, we found it. It’s like...uh…” I struggle to describe it. “It’s asleep–just look for yourselves.”

Marcus, Alan, and Sah all give me an identical peeved look. Sah, what did I do to you? “Right, you guys won’t be able to see it.” I bring out a few lesser soul gems from my storage. “I can give you guys vital vision.”

Alan practically snatches a gem from my hand, promptly crunching it between his fingers and dumping it into his eyes with practiced ease. He blinks, then grins. “I immediately feel much more useful.”

I’ve never seen a non Death practitioner be this familiar with vital vision before. Usually people are left at least slightly disoriented the first few minutes they can perceive of vitality, even when they’ve practiced in the past.

“You seem surprised,” Alan notes while Marcus snatches a soul gem of his own. He turns to Alan and mimics his previous action, trying to crush the gem so it turns into a fluid that can be dumped into the eyes.

“I am,” I reply. “Do you often use soul gems for vital vision?”

“No, I don’t, but often isn’t always. There are times when perceiving vitality is extremely useful–times like now.”

Marcus narrows his eyes. “Dunai, can you crush it for me? I’m not used to applying it myself.”

I give him an amused smile. “I was going to do it for the both of you before Alan took the initiative. The more time I spend with you, Alan, the more unfathomable you become.”

His smile is without humor. “You really don’t know the first thing about me, Ian.”

“I’d like vitality perception as well,” Vik interrupts.

“No problem.” If Vik were back in the atmosphere, she’d be able to wield the wind to see everything in stark clarity. Here, in the void, her supply of air is limited; I doubt she has enough to get a clear picture.

Alan and Marcus let go of Sah’s harness. “Everyone, go in and take a look–I’ll stay with Sah. Just come back before I suffocate.”

Maria, Vik, Alan, and Marcus pass through the portal, taking Vik’s air bubble with them. Sah swims through the air like a crocodile, completely at home in the hot emptiness.

I gaze at the dragon wistfully. If I had a ring of flesh shift for a frost dragon, I could explore the void without worries. There are numerous artifacts that enable void travel–such as the suit that Karanos gave to Crystal–but shifting into a frost dragon must be one of the coolest.

I turn to face the mentors. They’re at least a hundred meters away; I can’t see their features clearly at this distance, especially with Jeseria’s wind shield casting them in a slightly translucent red light.

Suddenly Marcus, Vik, and Alan reappear. But they didn’t return through the portal–they respawned. Their clothes are all thankfully persistent, but I can’t imagine that all their storage artifacts are.

But where’s Maria? I can’t hear her over our bond when she’s in a different plane.

I expect Vik to launch into an explanation, but Alan takes charge, placing a hand on the wind elementalist’s shoulder. “It locked onto our vitality,” he says. “Maria’s okay because she isn’t alive.”

My thoughts race. “And I escaped its detection because I smothered myself in Death energy.”

Maria passes through the portal a moment later, bearing a belt over her shoulder. “That was a slight disaster,” she remarks. “I grabbed everyone’s items. At least, I tried to–it’s hard to see inanimate objects, even when combining vital perception and heat vision.”

Vik nods. “Thanks.”

“Whose belt?” Maria asks, raising an eyebrow.

As they sort out the belongings, the mentors approach. Jeseria merges her air sphere with Vik’s, allowing us to converse.

Farona Pyre is first to speak. “So, you’ve finally seen the centipede. About time!”

I frown. “You already know what our quarry looks like?”

“We have some idea,” Ascendant Mordika says. “We haven’t seen it in person like you have, but we know a few things. Now that you’ve engaged it and died, we can help you defeat it.”

“I don’t understand how it killed me,” Marcus says. “I should’ve been invulnerable.”

“Dark affinity can’t protect you from everything,” Mordika chides. “You should know better than to assume.”

“So, on that subject, how did you all die?” I ask, looking between the proteges.

“It happened so quickly that I’m also not sure,” Vik admits. “Maria should have seen.”

Maria’s brow furrows. “You floated toward the centipede monstrosity and died without warning–it was instantaneous. I didn’t see a physical attack, but the centipede began to stir after killing you, as though waking up. One of its heads swung toward your corpses, but you disappeared before it could eat. You triggered its trap.”

“Trap?” Alan repeats.

“Yes,” Maria asserts, looking to Farona Pyre, her End and Sun affinity mentor. “I think it was an End array, but made of its entire body.”

“You’re an End practitioner,” Pyre says, leaning forward, eyes glinting with confrontation. “You think there was an array? Was there or wasn’t there?”

Entering Eternity reduced Maria from a despotic sovereign to an outclassed mortal. She doesn’t speak much of her initial time with Karanos, when he used her End affinity to hunt me down, but it left her on edge, meek. His rage over losing Ari was such that one wrong word, and he’d have killed her. Now that she’s immortal and able to compete on the same level as other ascendants, she’s regained much of her confidence.

Maria narrows her eyes, lips curling with indignation. “There was an End array.”

Pyre smiles while glancing at Krath. “Then it’s time for my lesson to begin.”