I woke up on the floor, Felix kneeling at my side. He did a poor job of masking his concern, eyebrows drawn together and mouth gaping open slightly. I had to admit, I was a little concerned myself. Though I would have killed for fifteen hours of sleep, I should not have had a random fainting episode in the middle of an important moment.

The contents of the vision were a separate but perhaps more pressing concern. My conscious mind could not decipher the dream's specifics, but the impressions it left on me were indelible. A warped dimensional space---a prison, a home realm, perhaps something else entirely? Within it, a presence that inspired respect even from a demon lord like Paimon.

Several of the forbidden books within Lakken's library contained an approximate hierarchy of the Goetia, though all of them contradicted each other. What little I had found about my benefactor placed him in the upper echelons. None of them referenced Morningstar, though I knew I had heard the term before. From Sensi? The Captain? My memories felt blurred.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows, grimacing at the familiar migraine pounding behind my temples. This one was annoying enough to set my left eye twitching.

Brother Augur stood near Caedius, arms crossed. Though his hair was a natural-looking blonde now, he looked exactly like the man from the vision. The dream must have been somewhat recent, but I had never seen the philosopher with dark hair before.

Why had Paimon not told me he knew about Augur if they had met before? Seeing the philosopher traversing the Mental Realm was not a great surprise---he had taught me the memory palace, after all---but to see him rubbing elbows with my benefactor and some mysterious greater demon rang some alarm bells in my head.

What was he doing here? What was his purpose? Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I knew he was no Echo of Aramadat. I felt more like a prisoner under his watch than in any of my previous incarcerations. As I stared at him, I began to remember words from the end of the vision. Paimon, giving me his first official set of instructions.

Find a way to kill the man who calls himself Brother Augur.

At least that confirmed he was a mortal man.

I hauled myself to my feet, waving away Felix's offer to help. The world spun around me in a bout of vertigo; I extended my arms to help balance myself until it passed, feeling a bit ridiculous. At least it distracted me from looking at the philosopher. After everything he had revealed, I would not have been surprised if he could read my mind as well. He had shown no hostility toward me so far, but the sight of him crushing Avarus over a mild disagreement was not easily forgotten.

Once the dizziness passed, I smoothed the front of my shirt with shaking hands. "How long was I out?"

"Only a few seconds," said Felix.

"How do you feel?"

"Awful."

I was tempted to reveal what I had learned to Brother Augur and see what he said. Likely an exercise in futility. The man had no compunctions about lying to me. There was no predicting his reaction when I confronted him either. Better to wait at least until my time magic recovered to a functional level. While he would be able to sense my use of magic, nothing he had done made me suspect he was retaining his memories whenever I reversed time. Brother Augur was not omnipotent. Even if he did remember, the extra layer of security couldn't hurt.

Learning to suppress my aura would have to be my greatest focus in the future. Experimenting with Dasein to amplify my powers would be beneficial as well. While they appeared to be contradictory pursuits, both were two sides of the same coin: control. Hell, Brother Augur could even give me some insights. May as well take advantage of the lunatic.

Trying my best to keep my thoughts off my face, I slipped next to the philosopher and Caedius. Such close proximity to the philosophers made my skin crawl, but I kept my face composed. I was hyperconscious of how close my right hand was dangling next to the steel blade at my side. At least Paimon's order was not a compulsion to strike him down immediately. Patience was necessary. As cowardly as it was, perhaps Zephyr was on to the right idea when it came to poisons.

Caedius remained silent as Brother Augur selected several of the pieces of paper from the stack. After observing each for a moment, he splayed them out along the desk for us to view.

The same image, repeated over and over: a complex geometric figure of a five-sided star encased within a circle, bisected by parallel lines ending in what appeared to be small dots. On closer inspection, the small dots were infinitesmal runes sketched with inhuman precision. The letters A S T A R O T H wrapped around the perimeter of the figure like an ouroboros. Other interlocking runes were scattered around the paper, seemingly at random. If I had not seen Caedius' frantic writing, I would have suspected the identical images had been created with the help of some sort of instrument.

"The demon made me draw this over and over," said Caedius. "So many times. Never perfect enough."

He held up his trembling hands. Angry, red, with burst blisters glistening on the palms and between his first three fingers. Streaks of blood had dried along his wrists. How much writing would it take to cause so much damage? Days?

"What is that?" said Felix. "His sigil?

Brother Augur crumpled one of the drawings into a ball and tossed it to the side. "I told you, Astaroth means to descend onto the material plane. His sigil is an essential part of constructing a summoning circle. That girl Lyra's paintings contained some of the runes, distributed throughout the city in a random fashion. I would suspect that is the most important task Astaroth intends his legion of new Echoes to accomplish. Fill in the blanks to form the proper configuration."

Hearing the philosopher use Astaroth's name out loud still made me feel uncomfortable, but apparently he thought nothing of it. "How do these drawings help create a summoning circle?"

"I would not be surprised if the entire city is the foundation of the circle. They are building from there. Remember that Astaroth specializes in mathematics and the like. Every line must be perfect, every ceremony observed. If there are any flaws in the pattern, the consequences would be disastrous."

"So we can disrupt his summoning?" said Felix.

"We could, theoretically." The philosopher rubbed his chin. "However, there are two things to consider. First, when I say the consequences would be disastrous, I mean there is potential for a large-scale catastrophe that wipes out the entire city. All of Avanche could become a crater. Second, have you considered that it is not your duty to stop him?"

My friend shook his head in frustration. "What happens if he descends?"

"If Astaroth has his way, then every human within this city will die. Maybe he will spare his Echoes, maybe not. He is not exactly konwn for his cooperation with mortals. I suppose he does not consider us his equals. Unfortunately for Astaroth, he will not be having his way." Augur blinked several times before continuing, his voice strained. "I will now be returning to the Gardens. Meet me there. Do not make me hunt you down."

The change in his demeanor struck me off guard. Then I realized what must be happening: the spider-demons must be infiltrating deep into the Gardens at this point. While they were no match for Augur, how would the others fare? Lakken was an old man who could barely stand without a cane. The others were competent and had the benefit of Avarus' guidance, along with the unknown factor of Elys. Still, I had experienced the power of one of those so-called scouts for myself. One was dangerous; a pack was certain death.

"Wait," said Felix. "What do you mean about stopping him? Are you strong enough to do that?"

The philosopher's eyes narrowed. "Forgive me if I hold my tongue, Echo of Astaroth. Rest assured, I have complete control."

The skepticism in my friend's face was obvious. For a moment I thought Brother Augur would lose his temper. Instead he simply disappeared, not even bothering to make a hand gesture.

Caedius had spent the whole conversation staring at one of his drawings. Even when I hoisted him up from the chair and told him to follow us, he kept staring at the paper, his lips slightly parted. Felix and I dragged him after us. My feelings about the other acolyte were complicated. He and Mara had betrayed me. I would have been shipped back to Velassa in chains and burned as a public display.

With all the blood on my hands, where did I draw the line? Barrow and Jokul both opposed me and I ended their lives. What Caedius had done was not much better. But I could not help but pity the lost look on his face. I had spent so much time lamenting my own cruel fate. What had Caedius witnessed? The death of his family and everyone else in the tesseract. Living as the final survivor of a bloody massacre. Had the fly-demon even bothered to explain anything to him? His mind must have cracked under the pressure. The thought brought me no satisfaction.

"Let's get out of here," said Felix.

Wordlessly, we set off down the hallways. Caedius closed his eyes when the first corpse came into view, muttering nonsense under his breath. The sickening stench of death intensified as we approached the sitting room full of the corpses. At least no swarm of flies defiled their body anymore. Caedius, perhaps realizing where he was due to the putrid aroma, stopped moving altogether.

"Hurry up, Caedius," said Felix, nudging him with an elbow. "Get it together. We've all been through some shit. This might not be reassuring at the moment, but in the future you are going to look back on this and be so glad that it's over. But right now, you have to put one damn foot in front of the other and walk."

I wanted to add my own encouragement, but the words died in my throat as I thought again about his betrayal. If I wanted to blame someone, Caedius seemed like an easy target. Killing the Magister was the first of a bloody streak of murders, each of them stripping away a little more of my soul.

Felix's encouragement did appear to work, however. Caedius opened his eyes, staring straight ahead. Though he refused to look around, he took the lead to direct us to the entrance of his aunt's manor. When we came to the entrance, the large boy gestured for us to stop. Hesitantly he extended a hand towards the door. At first I had no idea what was going on, then relief burst across Caedius' face and he broke out in a sob. He was feeling for a barrier that was no longer there. He was free.

"I'm so sorry, Leones," he said. "I think this is my punishment for what we did. Me and Mara. I'm so sorry. Tell me she's alright, at least. Tell me this didn't happen to her, too."

To my surprise, I felt nothing at his apology. Only the pity remained. I thought of the previous timeline where I saw Mara along with the others, alive and healthy within the Garden. Should I reassure him? Condemn him? Unsure what to say, I opened the door and walked out into the light of the setting sun. The others joined me, falling in at either side, savoring the fresh air.

"Well, I suppose I did end up killing a few of your heroes, so maybe we're even," I said. "Mara is fine. For now."

"I don't understand," said Caedius. "What's happening?"

Felix gave a bitter chuckle. "Hell of a question. More importantly, did you catch that, Leones?"

"What?"

"All the sudden, he just left us behind in a rush, right?" My friend nodded as if amused by his own brilliance. "There's a limit to his power. He brought us along with him before, but not this time. He made it all look so easy, but in the end, he's just another bastard."