"Do we have much time?" I asked. "It's a long story."

Brother Augur closed his eyes. Something quivered through my magical awareness, a disturbance as another mind spread itself through the area. His senses encompassed every blade of grass in a wider radius than I could imagine. Just how powerful was my teacher? Looking at him revealed no visible aura.

My investigation was interrupted as the orb of organic matter spinning next to the philosopher collapsed into a pile. Could he not maintain that power while also expanding his senses throughout the Gardens? That gave some idea of his limitations.

"There are other spider-demons within the Gardens," said Augur. "They are avoiding this area for now, but two of them are heading towards the center. Mara and a couple of the Karystans still remain. Avarus and some of the surviving philosphers are there to protect them."

The memory of Mara's betrayal sent a pang through my chest. "Why are they within the tesseract still? Haven't most innocent people left by now?"

"Well," said Brother Augur, "if that is the criteria, I suppose they must not be very innocent. You do not have to be a terribly evil person to be stuck here, however. The Goetia consider breaking a serious oath, for instance, to be a crime as grave as murder."

The philosopher began to set off towards the center of the Garden at a leisurely pace.

"I still don't really understand what karmic magic is," said Felix.

“Powerful demons may alter their own destinies," said Augur, not bothering to glance back at us. "So can we, of course, but they are creatures of bonds and curses. Their words have a power that ours don’t. The human act of promising is a twisted reflection of what they can do, corrupted by our free will. We can always break a promise by lying. They cannot. Still, it is no small thing for a mortal to break his oath to a demon.”

Felix stared down at his feet. “Is it impossible?”

“Of course it is not impossible.” Augur held up a fist and began to raise fingers as he listed out the ways to do so. “The Increate can always descend from Paradise and grant your wish. The universe may end and the contract is made null. You can die, or your master is banished from reality. Otherwise it’s unlikely either of you escape.”

“So you know we’ve made oaths with the Goetia," I said.

"That much is obvious," said the philosopher. "Both of you have expended much of your magic recently. The traces of it still linger around you. You could have become Echoes of Sound, but I know the two of you well enough to guess the truth. Despite your cursory studies of the staccato, both of you remain completely transparent."

"I still do not really understand what karmic magic does," said Felix.

"The use of karma is not exclusive to the Goetia, though they have a greater individual connection than we do. Think of mankind as a collective consciousness. United as a common people against the outside world, our will influences reality. This is why we have created a religion centered around the Archons. Our belief in them and their divinity strengthens us as a people. We generate our own karma through our collective actions, though no single person can do much to influence things on a greater scale."

"So when the Goetia wage war, it is against our psyche," I said.

Augur nodded. "Invading the Civilized Lands acts in contradiction to the will of its people, and so it acts as a sort of karmic defense. When the Goetia undermine our beliefs and our traditions, they weaken us at certain points. When their oracles were sacrificed within the Amphitheater, it was not for the benefit of mankind. It was to make us afraid of the Goetia's retribution, and to give justification to the demons for their invasion."

Felix cursed after a thorn scratched his cheek. "Can we win? Those spiders were annihilated easily enough."

"Lesser demons such as them contain no trace of the divine. They are nothing more than scouts."

"Your own power earlier," said Felix. "That was remarkable."

"Masking your curiosity as a compliment." Augur observed his fingernails. "Not the worst idea. To answer your unspoken question, my powers are a consequence of a rather tumultuous youth. That is a story for another time, but suffice to say, Aramadat was not amused when I decided to leave his service. From time to time I still perform some favors for my old master."

Aramadat was the Archon of Earth, responsible for much of the architectural wonders throughout the Civilized Lands. He spent his time ensuring that mankind flourished peacefully. His creations included the walls surrounding around most of the Great Cities, none of which had ever fallen to a sustained assault, as well as the fortifications along the Frontier. The Gardens were speculated to be one of his projects as well, one of the world's great Wonders created with the assistance of the Archon of Flowers.

Though the philosopher spoke with confidence, something about Augur's words seemed off. Since the first time I met the man, he had made a point of obfuscating the truth. Could his display from earlier truly have been a manifestation of his control over the earth? What I saw looked more abstract than some ability to manipulate the ground, though perhaps gravity could be an off-shoot of earth magic. While what he said made sense, he was not telling the full story.

"Seems like you can't toss a coin without hitting an Echo nowadays," said Felix.

"Oh," said my teacher, "we are a rather small community, but in times of crisis we are forced to reveal ourselves."

"For what purpose?" I said.

"The title of Echo means very little by itself. Many of the powers bestowed upon us vary wildly in usefulness. Sensi, for instance, was by no means a traditional combatant. Still, her talents would have been useful during these times. Her passing is a great tragedy. Tell me what happened."

We followed Augur off of the main trail, pushing our way through overgrown foliage. Despite the long winter, the undergrowth this deep in the Gardens remained dense.

As we continued along, Felix explained most of what had happened, starting with him being trapped within the tesseract. He glossed over my contract with Paimon, instead mentioning the Captain killing itself one day and the tesseract collapsing. Not the full truth, but not exactly a lie, either. Augur merely listened without comment.

I paid more attention as Felix described what had happened to him after I left. The healer reported him to the authorities in exchange for a reward. No great surprise, though she had seemed trustworthy enough at a glance. How naive we both were, despite everything.

When he began to talk about our escape from the palace, I held up my hand. "You never know if he's listening."

"'He' is not so powerful that he can listen in on every conversation in the city," said Brother Augur. "Especially now, with so many other distractions. I can feel the tremors through the ground from him expending his power on the other side of the city. Whatever is happening over there is destroying a significant portion of the west side."

"The thing I don't understand," I said, "is why you are helping us."

"Good question," said Augur. "Would you prefer I abandon you? Or strike you down where you stand? I also made some mistakes in my youth, but in the end I think I have been able to find the right path. Out of all the culprits here, you are some of the least. Besides, if I did not want to be here, I would have never entered this so-called 'tesseract' of yours."

Felix unsheathed his sword and chopped at a particularly thorny cluster of vines blocking his way. "You chose to enter?"

Augur did not seem to mind the wanton destruction of the foliage. Should an Echo of the Earth be more concerned with such things? Maybe not---life and death was part of the cycle of the world.

"Yes," said the philosopher. "Interesting things have been brewing in Odena for a long time now. It is my responsibility to ensure this land does not fall. What the Goetia have set in motion here is only part of a greater plot. The fighting along the Frontier has been especially deadly as of late. Winter himself has become involved. The consequences have led to this endless snow. I do not want to know how many innocents have died from that alone."

"What is the point of this tesseract?" I said. "What designs does Astaroth have on this city?"

Augur stopped and shot me an annoyed glance. "Careful what names you use here. Now the Archon may be listening. If so, let me remind him that we have an agreement that I will not be eavesdropped upon."

For a moment, silence, then there was a sound like a bell chiming.

The philosopher nodded in satisfaction and continued along. "Good to see that Vasely is not pressed so hard that he cannot divide his attention. But he may not have been the only one who heard. The Duke you speak of is one of the Goetia who despises humanity the most. He was the right hand of Morningstar until the Great One's fall. While most of the demon lords maintain their independence, there is a great faction amongst them that opposes the existence of mankind. That is what you have agreed to serve. Whatever their intention is, it must be stopped."

Felix looked away. "But I can't defy him, can I?"

"Has he asked anything of you so far?" said Augur.

"Not yet."

"Then you may live for now, Felix," said the philosopher. "But if he asks you to oppose me, there will be no mercy. Understand?"

My friend grunted something that may have been agreement. I mulled over everything the philosopher had revealed. Nothing he said contradicted his story of being an Echo of the Earth. As far as I could tell, he was speaking the truth.

Something nagged at the back of mind. Would he really allow Felix to live after the boy revealed himself as one of his enemies? Brother Augur did not strike me as a particularly sentimental person. I would never allow him to do it, of course; I still had around an hour of time magic, enough to head elsewhere in the city far from the philosopher. But shouldn't he at least make a move?

There were still so many questions I wanted to ask him.

Before I could, the philosopher raised a hand to stop us. "There is a spider coming in our direction quickly. Two hundred paces towards the north. Let me see what you boys are capable of."

Then he disappeared without a trace.

"Is he serious?" said Felix.

"Give me your extra sword," I said.

He tossed the scabbarded blade that had finished off Jokul my way. I snagged it from the air and both of us assumed defensive postures.

Dasein would be useless in this situation. The spider-demon had no magic for me to nullify and using my time power in front of Brother Augur seemed a poor idea. After the fight with Jokul, my body was wracked with various aches and pains. Ordinarily I would do my best to avoid such an unnecessary encounter. But Augur would not let the spider-demon tear us apart, would he?

The abomination appeared as a blur in the distance, leaping from tree to tree. Now that one was coming straight at us, its speed seemed incredible. The dozens of chitinous legs sprouting from its head flexed and propelled it forward, humanoid body bobbing about like some useless sack of meat. What would be the best way to kill such a creature?

The spider-demon was upon us before I could figure on a plan. At this distance its grotesque face was apparent: a rudimentary mouth below a dozen black, bulging growths that must have been eyes. Its legs speared into the tree right besides us and it perched there for a moment like a tumor upon the trunk. Then the spider-demon launched itself at us with such force the upper half of the tree bent backwards, wood groaning.

Felix and I rolled in opposite directions. The ground shook from the spider-demon's impact as it landed between us. Luckily it fell onto a patch of ice and lost its balance for a moment, teetering on its rightmost legs.

My friend came to his feet and slashed sideways. His new sword sliced through two of the supporting limbs in a spurt of blue ichor. The remaining legs crumpled, unable to support the demon's precarious weight. I leapt into the opening as the humanoid body collapsed to the ground. My blade chopped into the demon's neck, halting after a couple inches. The gristle felt as hard as bone---it must have been unnaturally strong to support the body as it bounced around.

Its legs speared into my body from multiple directions. With no other choice but to reveal my power, I reversed time.

That plan had been a failure. Hell, it may still be able to move as a head suspended between legs even if I decapitated it. Best to go for its remaining limbs first.

This time I wrapped both hands around the handle and brought my sword down in an overhanded chop. Another leg down---nine to go. The demon recovered, its remaining limbs moving in unison to spear at Felix. He backpedaled out of its range, deflecting a chitinous limb to the side. The demon attempted to chase him but it moved awkwardly due to its missing limbs. We had to end this fight before it adjusted its balance.

Compared to the Champion, the spider-demon was not such an intimidating opponent. Up close, its stench was horrendous enough to be nauseating---like mold and rotting meat. The mere sight of it invoked disgust. But it struggled to keep up with us as we circled around it, lashing out to chop gouges from its desperately flailing legs. Ichor leaked from dozens of small wounds and it looked like it was on the verge of collapsing.

The demon bunched all of its legs together into a point beneath it. They flexed, and the demon launched itself high enough to latch onto a nearby tree.

Unacceptable.

I reversed time. Deep breath.

When the spider gathered itself for a leap, it left itself wide open. I leapt forward and thrust my blade into one of the largest central eyes. No more than a thin membrane, it burst beneath the steel, a foul black humour spurting out.

The demon's deafening shriek made my ears ring. Its legs flailed madly, desperate to put some distance between us. I followed, unrelenting. My next thrust caught it in the same spot, splitting its skull and burying the sword deep within its brain.

Its flailing continued for a few more moments, non-purposeful, before finally subsiding.

I panted, trying not to vomit from the smell of the thing.

Augur appeared, sitting on a thick branch above us. He clapped a few times. "Perhaps there is a chance, after all."