"What was the point of that?" said Felix. "You could have taken care of that thing yourself in a few seconds."

Augur slid off the tree branch and plummeted fifteen feet to the ground. He landed in front of us, knees slightly bent, cloak whipping around him. "Curiosity. While you both are impressive for your age, I do not see what the Goetia hope to accomplish with you as their Echoes. I suppose if they had several hundred like you, that would supplement their forces, but was it worth all of this effort?"

His glib tone made me clench my hands into fists. If I had not used my time magic, that demon would have torn me into pieces after I failed my first attack. Was the philosopher so in control that he could save my life at the last minute? Or would he have watched it slaughter both of us if we failed?

My biggest concern was about whether or not he had sensed any traces of my time magic. If so, he had not given off any reaction, but that meant nothing when dealing with Brother Augur. The temptation to flee an hour back in the past remained. Even if he could sense some disturbance in the surrounding area from my time magic, would he be able to trace it back to me?

But after witnessing Augur display his power, staying by his side seemed to be our safest bet. He was the one who taught me about the memory palace, allowing me to expand my powers and bond with Paimon. The latter may have made me a puppet of the Goetia, but at least I was alive. Could I have managed without the void? It was possible I would still be trapped within the tesseract. Though such a delay may have even been beneficial in the end, granting more time to train my powers. Maybe Sensi would still be alive...

There were plenty of regrets from the past to linger on.

The philosopher rested a hand on the trunk of a nearby tree. "The last two demons are heading towards the center. Stay here while I handle them."

He disappeared in front of us. Into the tree? The ground? Something else?

Felix stared at the empty space for a few moments. "Do you think he's really gone?"

My magical awareness picked up nothing around us. Not that it meant much. "I think so. Why?"

"I don't trust him," said my friend. "All his muttering about a mysterious past and being an Echo. But he just accepts us having bonded with the Goetia? Shouldn't we be his enemies? He taught you some things, sure, but I've never exchanged a word with him until now. He knows I'm associated with the Goetia and just...doesn't care?"

"Would you prefer he fused our bodies together?" I said.

"Look." Felix rubbed the patchy stubble invading his jawline. "He pretty much said that he's here to stop whatever the Goetia are planning. I can't imagine working with him is in my best interest. We are sort of trapped here though, aren't we? He can find us easily."

Not necessarily. I still had enough time magic for us to avoid the Gardens. That would also drain most of my reserves. Perhaps I could experiment with Dasein amplifying my time magic. It was possible using the sword would allow me to use less power for the same effect. That carried its own inherent risks. Best to stick with Brother Augur but keep our guards up.

Something was certainly off about the man. He seemed so casual about this entire situation, even choosing to enter the tesseract of his own free will. After such a striking demonstration of his magic, he had done nothing else but walk around with us and have us challenge a spider-demon, seemingly for his amusement. Shouldn't he be protecting the people of Odena? Aiding the Archon in his battle on the other side of the city?

"Well?" said Felix, snapping me out of my reverie. "What do you think?"

"Look, I thought the same thing, but what choices do we have?" I said. “Why don’t we just ask him what he is going to do?”

Felix crouched down, back against a tree. His eyes drooped as if he was struggling to stay awake. "And you think he will just tell the truth?"

"Well, what was your perfect plan again? Maybe we should find one of your spider-demon friends and ask it to protect us? Funny, that thing took a swipe at you as well."

Felix started raising a finger in my direction. Halfway through he thought better of it, leaning back against the tree trunk and closing his eyes. Silence hung heavy between us.

I crossed my arms and waited. The argument seemed petulant the more I thought about it. I considered taking my words back but damn, Felix's surliness and contrarian nature could be grating at times.

After a while, my friend sighed. "Sorry. I just don't know what to do. It doesn't seem like there are any good options left."

I nodded, my anger dissipating just as quickly as it had appeared. "I'm sorry too. The stress of everything is just squeezing me. I feel like I'm holding up fine mentally, but when I focus on it I realize how clenched up my entire body is."

We nodded at each other. That settled that.

***

One Step carried Zephyr into the Garden.

The boy’s scent wafted through the air. It had not been long since he walked this path.

The wind had spoken to her since she was very young. Now it said that Leones Ansteri had spent much of his time within this place. Unsurprising for an acolyte, but to her knowledge the boy had spent less than a year in Odena. His scent was everywhere, and the wind disagreed with itself on how long he had spent where.

She had not been to the Gardens in over a decade. Her work did not permit much time for leisure nowadays. Back then Vasely had brought her and the other Winds he had selected from the tribes. Including, much to her pride, her blood sibling Barrow. The place had been overwhelming then too, permeated deep with a bouquet of magics. Its very existence had blossomed from the Archon of Earth’s divine blessing. Mystical land warped reality.

It still made her uneasy.

From what she could gather, Leones was an Echo twice over. He smelled white and silver to her---an impossible scent to define to others, but Zephyr had smelled colors and seen scents as far back as she could remember. No accounts existed of any dual Echo who had not succumbed to madness within five years. Those were all honorable men, the strongest and wisest, bestowed with gifts that were truly curses. All of them went insane.

Leones Ansteri never had a chance. Heretic blood ran through his veins. So much trouble could have been avoided if she had executed him at that abandoned farm. The way evil prospered was by taking advantage of the good. Now..she squeezed her eyes shut…now the city she had sworn to protect had become a domain of the Goetia. A stronghold in the heart of the Civilized Land.

The familiar scent of Odena had turned to blood and fire.

She directed a small stream of Will into her seven-league boots, activating them. Her next Step took her to the strongest source of blood in the area. A decapitated female philosopher. With a sigh, Zephyr retrieved her head from some distance away and placed it above the stump of the woman’s neck. She muttered a prayer before rubbing snow between her hands to clean off the congealed blood.

Another small Step. A male dangling from a tree branch and a butchered demon, its limbs and head arranged in a pile. She forced herself not to look away. The dead should be remembered.

She was preparing to activate her boots again when a figure appeared on the path in front of her. A male philosopher, arms crossed, with sad eyes and thin scars all over his exposed skin.

The air around him screamed of wrongness in a way she had never experienced, even with the spawn of Desolada. It was as if reality itself wished to expel him from existence. So many contradictory scents. An inscrutable miasma.

Half of her wanted to execute him at once, the other half wanted to flee.

“You have made yourself into a problem, Zephyr.” His voice was dead. Low and flat and hollow. “You were doing so well before.”

She went for her sword. He was faster. One hand wrapped around her neck, the other around the wrist of her sword-arm, locking her in place like shackles. When she prepared to take a Step, he swept her feet out from under her and slammed her into the ground.

Desperate, she clawed at him with her free arm, pounded her knees into his body. No reaction to any of the blows.

His grip tightened.

***

Brother Augur reappeared two minutes and fifteen seconds later, calm as if he just returned from a leisurely stroll through the Gardens. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back. No weapon. Radiating the simple confidence of a man fully within his element, certain he would conquer whatever came next.

"Quite the dour expressions, you two," he said, a hint of laughter in his voice.

Felix glared at the philosopher with intense eyes. "What is your purpose here?"

Augur tilted his head and looked off into the distance. His lips twisted into a little smile. "To bear witness. There are certain events that are inevitable, so tightly woven into the fabric of the cosmos perhaps not even the Increate could reverse them. In a place like this one finds the most interesting things." He glanced my way. "I must admit some fondness for my student as well. You have progressed as well as one may hope. And you've even found a fascinating companion along the way."

"Did that seem like an answer to you, Leones?" said Felix. "The only thing I got out of that is that he has a strange liking for us."

The philosopher's face remained blank. For a moment I had the ridiculous thought that he wanted to end Felix's life then and there. Just...compress him into an orb the size of a marble. Instead, Augur touched his forehead with two fingers before resting them against his heart.

"I make an oath on my mind, my soul, my being," he said, "I intend you no harm. Both of you. Consider me a sword and a shield. I am here to protect you and all of the other worthy souls within this dark world."

"Why me?" Felix slammed a fist against his chest. “I understand why you would protect Leones, but why me?"

"When you put it like that, there is only one reason to do anything," said Augur. "Because I want to."

The ground quaked beneath our feet for several seconds.

My friend shook his head in frustration. “What is going on out there? How much do you know about Astaroth’s plans, Brother Augur?”

The philosopher smiled. “You should have some idea. Your master accounts for every eventuality. He is fluent in the language of fate. So many variables to take into account here. To exert this much influence on the Mortal Realm, he must have one grand intention.”

“Which is?” I said.

“To descend.”