January 17, 2019, 6:22 pm.

"Well, this appears to be a useful find," Roberts continues as we encircle the console. Which I immediately analyze.

"Object Analyzed: Yrken Console. Used for accessing and displaying information.

Condition: damaged."

Wow, shortest analyze description yet. Didn't even tell me anything about the material.

"So, uhm. Are we going to move the…." Josh wonders, gesturing at the Yrken skeleton.

"I think we can leave them undisturbed," Roberts suggests while I try to copy the map of Akilo into my journal, pausing so I can dedicate time to the task.

When I'm done, it's not perfect. It's not even good, but it's pretty amazing for four minutes. It's still weird to me that I can draw with my mind yet the quality is worse than if I did it by hand. At least I have a decent outline.

There's a small flashing red dot on the easternmost part of the map which I'm guessing is our location. Just to the west of that dot is a massive mountain range that stretches the length of the entire continent, running from the north to south. In the middle of the mountain range is a yawning pit which is denoted as a giant black patch.

There are multiple other dots on the map, each one a small black dot inside a circle that doesn't flash. I'm guessing those are other Builder cities. Or points of interest at the very least.

As we're all inspecting the maps, Beth wonders, "do you think this is really Akilo? There are only three continents and a hell of a lot of islands."

"I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. There was a time where the earth was a single landmass," Roberts reminds us while still studying the map.

"I've created a crude copy, but I wish I had proper drafting tools," I tell the others, which makes Josh jump before he shifts away from me.

Okay, seriously. What's going on. I know I didn't imagine it this time.

"Hmm. Perhaps we can ask Raz if he has any supplies," Roberts suggests as Rufka whispers in my ear, "No, you're crude and sloppy."

Even as Rufka's talking, Beth bumps the skeleton, sending it to the floor. At the same time, the map flickers, replacing Akilo with the familiar outline of Ukila but in greater detail. Trying not to laugh at Rufka's comment, I struggle to keep a straight face, but I fail, giggling as everyone else jumps back.

"It's not funny, Alexis," Josh snaps at me.

"I wasn't-," I try to apologize as he turns away, storming past one of the metal consoles out of sight.

"What the hell?" I exclaim softly, watching him stomp away.

"He's been somewhat unsettled since our battle with the Fallen," Roberts mentions his eyes following Josh.

"But what does that have to do with me?" I ask as Roberts speaks again.

"Some guys don't handle it well when a woman is more powerful than them," Beth mentions, looking in the direction Josh stormed off.

"That is true. Far too often. But I'm not certain that's the case here. Josh has said… Well, it's his story. But he's had some bad experiences. He's also uncomfortable with how Alexis acted during our battle."

"But I'd never hurt Josh," I declare, confused and upset.

"I don't know what to tell you," Roberts responds with an apologetic shrug, "I just know he's afraid."

I take a deep breath before replying, "I guess that makes sense. There's a lot of crazy stuff that's happened to us pretty suddenly. I keep forgetting that you guys were out cold. Maybe we should head back to Raz's."

Beth's eyes flick to the still glowing console before refocusing on me, "I'd prefer to investigate a little more first. I'm sure Josh will be okay for a little longer."

Nodding, I reluctantly float over to the console next to her, catching a flash of Josh's armour by the stairway.

"I'll talk to him," Roberts tells us as he moves to join Josh, his cloak rustling as he turns.

"Okay, first. Can you get Akilo back?" Beth asks.

Doing my best to put Josh's reaction out of my mind, I read through the limited symbols on the console, explaining them to Beth.

"The first one, the one sitting by itself in the top left corner reads status," I start. "Currently it says 'Stable'."

"This is a zoom bar, I think. There's a plus and minus symbol at least," I inform her while pointing to the bar in the lower-left corner.

"Filter, map," I list as I point to the remaining two words in the bottom right corner.

"So, you think it's this one?" Beth checks, her finger hovering over the word, map.

"It does have the word map," I answer, shrugging.

"Well, here's hoping," Beth mumbles quietly as she taps the map button. It doesn't bring up a map of Akilo, instead, it lists a dozen different words. It only takes a second to discern they're alphanumeric designations which I note are all variations of MWVAE-220##.

Once I tell Beth, she goes through, tapping on each one until she finds Akilo again. Or as the console calls it, MWVAE-22003. I spend another pause improving my map, then ask Beth, "what do you think happened to them?"

Glancing to the skeleton to her side, Beth shrugs, "hard to say. Accident would be my guess."

Then turning her attention back to the screen, she looks at the screen for a moment before she tries adjusting the zoom. When it doesn’t respond she starts playing with the filters.

"Huh, the mana-flows filter kind of resembles a weather map, doesn't it," I mention as Beth flicks to the next filter, labelled mana-faults.

"Hmm. Kind of," Beth replies flipping back for a second before returning to the mana-faults overlay.

The pattern is vaguely familiar. Beth is reaching to switch to the next filter when I grab her hand.

"One second," I interject as I open my rune pages while Beth stares at me, her lip quirking up with her brow raised. I barely notice, pausing time as I inspect the map, comparing it to my runes.

I was right. The fourth rune in my Return spell matches the mana-fault map filter. Well, mostly. As I'm inspecting the map, I see dozens of mistakes that I start correcting. When my pause ends the rune is vastly improved. It's also given me a theory about how the spell might be used to travel to different parts of Akilo. Too bad I'd still need to know where the other nexuses… Nexi? Nexuvians? Whatever. I’d need to know where the other teleport locations are.

"Sorry, matched one of my runes," I explain to Beth as I release her hand.

"That matches one of your runes?" Beth questions, shaking her head with a chuckle before flipping to the next filter which seems to show waterways.

She keeps flipping. We find geological fault lines, heat maps, precipitation patterns. Everything you might want to know about a planet, there’s a filter for it. I take as many notes as I can, even though I'm not sure any of this is going to be useful to us. Luckily, it only takes a moment to copy any mental image I've already created in my journal, so I soon have pages of maps of Akilo with rough annotations of the overall patterns.

"Does this seem like a monitoring station to you?" Beth asks after having flicked through all the filters a couple times. Several of the overlays are dynamic, changing roughly every ten seconds.

"Yeah. What do you think they were monitoring?" I wonder as Beth changes the map.

"I'm inclined to say 'everything' ," Beth answers, the sound of Josh and Roberts talking in low voices grabbing my attention for a moment before I refocus.

Glancing up, I see she's displaying the map of Ukila. Then she changes it to one of the other celestial bodies, a gas giant that resembles Saturn. She only reviews it for a moment before switching to the next. Cycling through.

She pauses when she gets to one labelled MWVAE-22009. It's different from the rest. It’s a facility of some type. A space station, I think. Hard to gauge the size, but I’d say it’s bigger than the city we’re in now. Unlike every other map, the status 'window' in the upper left corner displays the word Active instead of the word Stable.

"Interesting," Beth comments as she returns the screen to Akilo, "but I'm not sure how useful most of this is. It would be more useful if we could bring it with us."

"This though," Beth adds, switching her focus over to the 3D map of the city.

"Damn," Beth swears as we investigate the city map. There are a few locations noted on the map, but none of the navigation features work, so we're not able to get much other than a few points of interest and the general layout.

Not that we know what the points of interest are. They could be something like, 'find great treasure here.' But they could just as easily be 'this monster smells like sewage, avoid it.'

"I think we're done here people," Beth yells towards the centre of the room. Looking about, I realize that Josh and Roberts must have continued exploring while we were checking the maps, as they're no longer near the entrance.

"I think we may have found something," Roberts calls back from the far side of the room. Beth and I glance at each other before moving to investigate.

Passing by several additional dark consoles we find Josh and Roberts paging through a book.

"Hmm. Well, this is unexpected," Roberts comments as we approach.

"What is it?" Beth wonders curiously. Josh still has his full armour up, helmet in place as he looks over Roberts' shoulder at the book in his hands. Roberts turns a solid rectangular page before he answers. Huh, is the book made out of plastic?

"I believe it's. Yes. It's definitely pornography," Roberts answers, handing the book to Beth. I can't help staring at the pictures that show several large green creatures doing…. something. Something that looks like it would be very painful. At least for the one in the middle.

"Ha. It just gave me a quest to translate the language," Beth laughs as she flips to another page with a bunch of viewer letters on it.

"I'll get you to help us with that later if you don't mind, kid," Beth asks as she stows the book in her inventory.

"Sure," I answer with a blush as Beth directs us to head towards the stairs.

"Hey, uh, Josh. I'm-" I start to apologize as we pick our way over, but Josh interrupts me.

"It's fine, Alexis. Just forget it," he snaps quickly, the odd echo from his helmet filling the room as he turns away.

Ouch.

No one says anything as we awkwardly make our way towards the stairs. As we pass by the twisted metal form of one of the consoles, I wonder if I can manipulate these. Running my hand across the surface I discover a mix of titanium with what I think is plastic. The metal is incredibly resistant to my efforts to reshape it. It’s reinforced to resist metal manipulation somehow.

I follow the others down in silence until we cross the threshold back into the room where Tipan and Rufka are still playing Astra's Stride.

"Oh? You're done? Excellent timing. We're just finished ourselves," Rufka greets us cheerily, turning away from a game she appears to be losing. Though not badly.

"We were?" Tipan leans back confused, noticing us entering.

"Yep. So, find anything interesting?" Rufka asks as she begins carefully gathering up her board.

"A few things. A console with multiple maps, another skeleton and a book. We’ll need to come back to explore the rest though," Beth answers while climbing the stairs before continuing to the tunnel above.

I barely register her words as I glance at Tipan, a thought taking hold. My brain just goes on hold as I recognize that Tipan closely resembles Bel'dast. Was Bel’dast her sister? I stare at her as I wonder if I should give her Bel'dast's crystal.

As I'm staring, Roberts and Josh both make their way past me. Roberts simply steps around making his way up behind Beth. But when I glance at Josh, he visibly finches before hustling up the stairs behind Roberts.

I feel a spike of anger. Anger that he's upset about me doing what I had to. Anger that he's afraid of me. It's not like they were playing nice. They were trying to kill us!

I'm about to fly after him, but before I can move, I find myself draped in Rufka's arms.

"Hey, Lexi. You look like Vaus herself just tried to crawl up your arse," she comments quietly, weighing me down as Smoulder butts against me from within her special pocket.

I can't bring myself to respond even as Tipan approaches, awkwardly patting me on the shoulder before turning away to follow the others up the stairs.

"Thanks," I finally mumble into Rufka's shoulder while trying to convince Smoulder that despite my irrational surge of anger, she doesn't need to come out to smash a hole through Josh. Smoulder's solutions tend to be a bit on the simple and brutal side, but the sentiment is appreciated.

"We'll see you guys in a few," Rufka calls when Tipan reaches the top of the stairs. Tipan turns back for a second, looking us both over before nodding then continuing ahead.

"Maybe we should stay and talk," Rufka offers.

"No. It's fine. You don't have to worry," I disagree half-heartedly, not really meaning it.

"I think I do. And I think you're not being honest," Rufka rebukes me with certainty.

"You're right." I concede, glancing up in the direction of the others.

"Of course," Rufka says, taking my hand while leading me to one of the benches at the side.

We sit for half a minute several thoughts fluttering through my head. Josh's flinching, Tipan's awkwardness and my father's prone form, lying in bed all coalesce and before I know it, I blurt out, "Am I a monster?"

Immediately, Rufka rises from her seat, turning to face me. I'm staring down at the smooth packed floor when Rufka lifts my head to look her in the eyes. Her upper eyes are closed, ensuring I know she's dedicating her full attention to me.

"Yes," she answers, sending me reeling. But she has a solid grip on my arm. Even if I went into a pause, I wouldn't be able to escape her grip. That doesn't stop me from clawing at her arm, trying to escape.

"Lexi, listen to me," Rufka shouts in my face, causing me to flinch before I make myself meet her eyes.

"You're a Vaus-damned monster but it doesn't matter. You think I'm any better? You think any-user is!" she declares passionately, gesturing wide.

"We're all monsters. That's part of accepting the system. If you don't want to be a monster then you can run away to a void-blasted Builders' city to live the remainder of your life with the rest of the cowards who refuse to face the world," her passion clear even as her voice goes low.

Staring at Rufka in shock, I can't conjure words but my relief is palpable as I hug her fiercely. Not strongly, since I'm still weak as a kitten, but as fierce as I can. Then she hugs me back.

Note to self, a K'tharn hug is very secure. And comforting.

"Every-user is a monster, Lexi. We have been since the system came. But that doesn't make us evil," she notes over my shoulder as we just stand there for half a minute.

As I'm reaching down to reassure Smoulder with some head-scritches, I can't help but wonder, "How the hell can you be such a good friend to me when you barely know me."

"Skill and dedication. At least that's what I would say, but someone seems to think I rely on shortcuts," Rufka teases me.

"So, you're just lucky then," I tease back.

"I'll say. It's been too long since I had a friend who can hold her own," Rufka informs me, causing me to blush as she pulls away from me while keeping me held secure with both left arms, "Speaking of which."

I don't know if she's trying to hold me up or prevent me from escaping, but either way, she doesn't let go. Then she pulls out two cups and her moonshine.

"Hold these for me, would you?" Rufka requests, handing me the cups.

"I'd rather have tea," I mention as she pours the first cup.

"Tea is for breakfast. Or lunch. You're such a silly outlander," Rufka states flatly, pouring the second cup.

"But we still have the buff from earlier," I point out.

"And? I need a drink. And I'd say you do too. So, drink," Rufka commands, lifting her cup.

Eyeing my cup tentatively, I sip carefully. I must be getting used to it. While it's still unpleasant, it's not that hard to down my cup. Checking my status, I confirm that it just resets the condition. It doesn't double the health edge or stack the duration.

As I'm looking at my conditions, I notice that all of the Forerunner conditions are greyed out. NEWB protection, Survival Focus and A Good Night's Rest are still in the current conditions tab, but there's an asterisk next to them.

"There. That wasn't so bad was it?" Rufka prompts me while handing me her dirty cup, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"The only reason you keep me around is cause I do the dishes, isn't it?" I kid while checking the asterisk.

"*Unconfirmed condition: Isolated for the safety of the citizen. Please connect to the primary network for proper assessment."

"I wouldn't say the only reason," Rufka answers while I clean both our cups before handing them back to her. Looks like Wyonna's not the only thing that was locked away.

"Yeah. I'm good for drama too," I sigh. I really wish I'd stop embarrassing myself. This is why I just stayed home all the time. Caring what people think about you is such a pain to deal with.

"Yep. That's why you're my favourite monster," Rufka tells me as she starts leading me upwards.

"Thanks. I think. I'm feeling better now, we could fly to catch up to the others," I suggest but I don't cast the spell yet.

"Nah, you can just call them, right? Let them know we'll join them topside," Rufka instructs me as we pass yet another corner.

Shrugging in acquiescence, I connect to Roberts, "Uhm, Rufka and I are on our way to the surface. We'll meet you guys there."

"Excellent. Thank you, Alexis. We'll see you shortly," Roberts responds.

When we emerge, the others are gathered together, assembling their gliders. We really need to figure out a faster method for them. Tipan is able to use hers instantly, but the others don't have flight harnesses built into their regular clothing.

Instead of joining the others, Rufka pulls me to the side then we check the nearby area for Fallen before settling on a nearby roof. We sit on the edge, our feet dangling over the side, Rufka still keeping one hand in mine.

"Lexi, can I ask you a personal question?" Rufka asks as we wait, Smoulder sneaking her way out of my pocket now that we're safely settled on the roof.

"After the way I've been acting today? I'm pretty sure you deserve to," I answer, giving Smoulder head-scritches and dried fruit while enjoying the quiet.

"How even are your attributes?"

"Huh?" I respond, "How is that a personal question?"

"Attributes are personal. Like your diary. Anyway, I'm uncertain, but I believe you're experiencing side effects of rapid attribute change mixed with unbalanced mental attributes," Rufka explains when I don't answer her question.

"That's a thing?"

"Yes. Mum insisted that I don't exceed a 2:1 ratio for any mental attributes or else I'd be likely to go crazier than a wennigo in rutting season. On top of that, the rapid change to your attributes may be making the situation worse. Like with resistances, you need time to adjust to the changes."

"Wait, so I'm making myself crazy with unbalanced attributes?"

"Not crazy. Just unbalanced," Rufka denies, then as if she's trying to change the subject, she adds, "One needs to be careful with the physical attributes as well. There's less danger of imbalance affecting your behaviour. But it's likely you'd end up hurting yourself. Until you adjust. Mum is certain the imbalances are why the System requires us to reach the maximum in every attribute before we can advance to copper."

"So, you think if I raise my other mental attributes, I won't get angry as often?" I ask hopefully.

"Eh," Rufka shrugs noncommittally, "I don't know. But probably."

Looking at my attributes, I'm tempted to put every point I can into Resolve this moment. Instead, I just put a single point in. I can add another point in an hour if it still feels like the right call.

The others just about look ready to fly when I look over to them a moment later. I connect to Roberts again, telling him where we're waiting while waving down at them.

"We're ready to go back to Raz's for the day. Will you be joining us?" Roberts checks.

"Of course," I respond, prepared to float away from the edge. But Rufka still has a firm grip on my hand.

"The others are headed back to Raz's," I tell Rufka as we watch them assemble then strap into the gliders below.

"Good. I'm getting hungry," Rufka informs me. But she still doesn't stand up. Or join me in floating.

"But?"

"I think it would be best if we escorted them from a distance," Rufka suggests, pointing to where Josh is struggling with his glider.

As I'm watching I see him glance up in our direction, stumbling back when he meets my eyes, causing him to get completely entangled in his glider.

"Oh. Right," I grumble as I settle back into place, turning my gaze upwards to the night sky while settling back down.

"Wow," I whisper when I see the way the evening sun lights up the green and blue orb of Ukila in the sky above.

"Yeah," Rufka agrees, focusing on the view beside me.

"We found a map of Ukila inside," I mention offhandedly while we gaze at the sky.

"Huh. You know, my mum used to tell me stories about Ukila."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. She told me our family made it there. Back before the System even. Her grandmum, Melcia was an explorer from the western continent back before the System arrived. They crossed the boundary. Vaus knows how they did it. Mum never was clear on that bit," Rufka starts, her eyes focused on the distant planet.

"When they arrived, they discovered they weren't the first. There was an entire civilization of K'tharn there. Advanced beyond her understanding. Hidden from our world so as not to 'interfere'."

"She spent years there before returning to Akilo. But neither her nor the other explorers told anyone what they'd discovered. Not until decades later. Instead, they said it was wild and dangerous. That they'd lost half their numbers to Ukila. That there was strange and terrible magic," Rufka pauses, leaning forward then motioning for me to get up.

We fly into the air following the others back to Raz's as Rufka continues.

"They did lose half their number to Ukila, but it wasn't as dire as it sounded. Not then. That half were the ones who had chosen to remain behind. Melcia wanted to stay, but she had responsibilities here. When she came home, she never expected she’d be able to go back."

"But that was before the System arrived. Melcia used to say that 'the System makes the impossible merely kind of improbable.' Mum prefers to say, 'the System makes the mundane kind of murderous.' I think they're both right."

I snort in amusement as she continues.

"Anyway, Mum said her grandmum went back. This was after she'd reached the heights of her power, shortly before the great exodus. But Ukila's great civilization had vanished with the arrival of the mana swarms. They’d received no Builder cities or System. When we underwent inclusion, they'd been left with nothing but their own wits. Whatever they'd used to hide from us, had worked on the System as well. But mana-storms didn't care how well they hid."

"When Melcia arrived, she'd found ruined buildings and precious few survivors. She was surprised to discover there were no manaborne there. There were only the local creatures, infused with Ukila's mana. And the Fallen."

"Her arrival brought the System's attention to Ukila which brought the planet into the inclusion. However, the System didn't help the few K'tharn who remained free. They were little more than quest objectives for Melcia and her companions to the System. The scattered refugees that Melcia found were returned to Akilo as survivors from one lost Akilo city or another. They were escorted into the Builder cities where they could live out the rest of their System-less days."

Rufka pauses once more as we land on a rooftop, watching the others land outside the entrance to Raz's as they make their way inside.

"Every twenty years or so the System would issue a quest sending our upper copper ranks to Ukila. Until the Aetherium gained control over the portal. There hasn't been an excursion to Ukila for over a century."

"My mum said that Ukila sleeps, waiting for a great hero to find the lost civilization, which is still there, hidden out of sight."

"Wow," I mumble staring up at Ukila as it casts its reflected light across the street.

"Thanks, Rufka. For sharing," I add a second later.

"No problem Lexi. Just remember one thing."

"Yeah?"

"My mum likes to lie a lot."