Theglia's hand fiddled with the empty flask at her waist as she waited. Soon the messenger would appear. That's what the System had promised.

As to whether it would deliver… Theglia had reason to distrust the System. More reasons than most. But in the last two decades… things had changed. She’d been sent halfway across the galaxy. The quests… she never would have expected the System to seek to preserve…

But the results spoke for themselves. Twelve worlds that would never be enslaved. Never to be entered into the System’s official registry. Small worlds. Weak. Places that would've been crushed beneath one of the Consortium’s Mercantile Expeditions or a Ploxid Crusade.

Never mind the direct attention of a Creator.

And now it had led her here. To speak with the System's chosen champion, the child her AI had bound to Theglia’s greatest achievement.

Her diamond-like eyes crinkled at that thought. She still didn’t understand why the AI had chosen a child of all things to-

Brilliant rainbow-hued light interrupted Theglia’s musings as the child appeared. An elvenoid with rounded ears, pale skin, dark brown hair and equally dark eyes.

Theglia introduced herself quickly, ready to move on to business.

Then the child turned those eyes on her with a small smile. “Hi, my name’s Alexis.”

A chill colder than the galactic core wormed its way up Theglia's spine. Even now, in a System created mana-void, Theglia could feel the mana wafting off the child.

Maybe there was still a chance.

January 26, 2019, 11:47 pm.

Theglia stands in front of me, her thick and colourful wrappings barely moving as she weighs my response. I can’t believe Wyonna tore me away from the others for a private conversation, then left me alone with her creator. And I can't believe I spoke before thinking.

Not sure I’m ready for this so soon after everything we’ve been through. I definitely don’t feel ready to have a secret meeting with the person who sent us to Akilo. Still, I need to say something.

“You’re the founder of the Forerunner Initiative? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to ask for your help.”

I can’t stop the laughter that bursts out. She tries saying something, but I can’t hear her over my hysterical cacophony.

“Are you okay? I’m unaware of what is so amusing.”

“You… you sent me to another world. Gave me the power to warp Space-Time. Stuck an AI in my head. And now you want my help?” I gasp once I’ve calmed slightly. Why did she have to appear inside the temporal space, where I have such limited access to the reassuring feeling of mana. Wyonna didn’t even leave Smoulder for support. My fluffy little manahare better be okay.

“Yes.”

“Seriously? What can I even do for someone like you?”

Theglia doesn’t answer immediately, instead, making her way to the table we’ve been using for meetings when in the CMCC. Her wrappings are surprisingly tight, accentuating her movements with flowing undulations. She gestures to the seat across from her at the table, folding her hands in her lap, waiting.

I don’t know if there’s a point to this, but I decide to oblige her. The moment I’ve sat, she speaks, “There are things you can do. Things I can’t. Things that no one can. Well, no user can.”

“Yeah? And I’m supposed to... what? Help you just because you gave me these powers? I’ve learned some unpleasant truths about the Forerunners. Like you’ll experiment on children and innocent people.”

It’s hard to tell, since all I can see are her sapphire-esque eyes, but Theglia doesn’t seem upset by my accusation.

“I’ve made many lamentable choices. Choices made to achieve the impossible.”

“Not impossible. Just highly improbable,” I respond, borrowing a line from Rose. Who’d have thought that once the K’tharn Kalim fused their memories with my neighbour Josh, he’d be such an inspiration?

“Yes. Well… Look, what do you want?” she asks, leaning forward as her voice climbs an octave.

“I’m sorry?” I reply, keeping my face as still as possible. Is she trying to confuse me?

“For your help? What do you want from me?” Her eyes blink repeatedly like flashing LEDs.

“Uhm…”

“Essence? Equipment? Anything!”

“A way to save Earth from the mana-swarm?” I ask. I mean, if she’s offering, it’d be great to solve the problem.

She leans back, her eyes dimming as the flickering stops.

There’s no other response, so I sit waiting patiently. After a few minutes, I’m starting to worry I broke her. I’m about to poke her when she lets out a rather human-sounding sigh. “I might be able to help you with that. But you’d need to do most of the work. All I can do is provide you with guidance.”

“Wait. You can actually help?”

“Yes. But it will take a veritable fortune in Essence. Billions.”

I choke on nothing, before asking, “Billions of iron-grade essence?”

“What? Iron-grade. Of course not.”

Sighing in relief, I try to imagine how much effort it would take to gather a billion mortal essence. Technically one-tenth as much work as gathering iron-grade. As I’m calculating how many battles like the one against Ivicka it would take, Theglia interrupts me.

“If you want to protect the entire planet, they’d need to be copper-grade mana essence.”

I stare at her as my calculations grind to a halt.

She looks away from me, waving her hand in the air as if typing on an invisible worksurface while she rambles out, “Of course, Sanctuaries would be more feasible. There are even several that could be used. And she’d be able to help me in the course of wresting them free. Still need thousands of essence but-”

“Sanctuaries?” I interrupt, reminding Theglia that I’m here.

Her eyes flash once before she turns her gaze back on me. “The Builders' toy cities. They’ll need to be broken free of the System. But each would allow you to shelter large numbers of your people through the initial turmoil. They may even offer some measure of protection from the Creators' experiments.”

“Uhm. So you want me to steal Builder cities?”

“No. I have no need for their cities. I only need the archives. And while you’re retrieving the records, I can have the AI help you salvage the Builders' abandoned cities.”

“Is that why you sent us here? To get access to a bunch of abandoned records?”

“What? No.”

“Then… why?”

Theglia looks away, her eyes blinking rapidly again. It takes ten seconds of silence for me to realize she’s not going to answer. In fact, other than the blinking of her eyes, Theglia remains rigid. Deciding I don’t want to continue sitting in silence, I decide to move the conversation forward, “Okay. Fine, so you need access to the archives. And in exchange, you’ll allow Wyonna to help us. Even though she probably would have anyway?”

As if the change of topic has reanimated her, Theglia leans away, tapping her chin. “Wyonna? Oh. You’ve named the Artificial Intelligence. But no, I will give you all the aid I can. All I ask, is if you find the records, you have the AI archive them until we can meet again. I’ll train you to make the changes. I do have some skill with rewriting System permissions.”

“Why don’t you get these records yourself?”

There’s another long pause as she goes rigid again. I’m certain this is going to be another question she won’t answer, so I’m about to ask something else when she finally speaks, “I can’t travel to Akilo. Or any Sanctuary world for that matter.”

“Why not?”

“The System prevents it.”

“Really? Didn’t you just say you were good at changing the rules?”

Her eyes flash unusually bright, the brilliant blue light casting the room in stark relief. Then the light fades as she shakes her head. “The rules can be bent, not broken. I’m not allowed on Akilo.”

“Not allowed, huh,” I mumble to myself. I wonder if she means world-ending not-allowed like what the System was going to do before we proved the Reaper ran away. Well... proved seems a bit strong. The Reaper was able to hide from the System before, maybe he tricked it again.

I wouldn’t be surprised.

“If I were, then Phrasis might still… No. Too late to change the past. Though I suppose you might… But then you’d… No, better not to consider it.” Despite her back and forth with herself, Theglia sounds remarkably certain.

“Consider what?“

“Nothing. You know, I didn’t expect you to be so elvenoid in appearance.“

“Me? An elf?” I snort.

“Very much so. Same colourations, muscle distribution and general size. There are some minor aesthetic differences.“

“Ha. Like the fact I don’t have pointy ears?“

“Hmm. And your chin isn’t as sharp. Still, compared to the difference between most species, you’re essentially the same. A shared genetic ancestor perhaps? That would be a remarkable discovery. I can’t imagine the Calum Discordia would be pleased.“

“Calum Discordia?” I ask then I realize we’re getting off track. “These builder cities, you really think we can take them to Earth?“

“Of course. With suitable preparations. It’s far easier to leave a Sanctuary world than it is to enter.”

“So, what do I need to do?“

“Ah yes,” Theglia starts placing several crystals on the table. At first, I think she's placing them there for me to take, but when I reach for one, she lightly slaps my hand away. Once she's placed over two dozen crystals on the table, she feeds energy into them. A moment later, I receive a notification.

"Citizen Theglia has requested access to your interface."

"Warning. Granting Access to your interface will allow Citizen Theglia to see your Status Screen."

"You want access to my interface? Seems kind of personal. Why should I trust you?"

Theglia halts again. "It's required. How else am I supposed to instruct you?"

"How about through Wyonna? You can do that, right?"

"You'd rather have my instructions passed through the AI?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No. In fact, it should make things a great deal easier." Theglia goes silent for several seconds as the crystals flash again. I didn't notice the first time, but her eyes are blinking in sync with the crystals.

"What have you done to it?" she demands after ten quiet seconds.

"Sorry. What do you mean?"

"I can't access its code. I'm completely locked out."

"Wait. You're saying you can't change Wyonna?" A swell of relief spreads through my chest at the thought. Suddenly, it occurs to me that I can ask Theglia about Wyonna's hidden protocols. "And what did you order her to do in the first place? She won't tell me."

"After you were sent to the planet, it needed to ensure you made contact with Forerunner command. Which is what this is." She waves to both of us. "I never expected to be the one handling the call personally."

"That's it?"

"No."

I wait for her to elaborate, but once more, she remains silent.

"Can you tell me what else she's been ordered to do?" I press, my voice hitching near the end.

"I'm sorry. The AI was a collaborative effort, but Duluth handled most of its programming. The only part I had in the AI's design was ensuring it would interact properly with the Matrixes."

"You could ask him."

"He's dead."

"Damn," I sigh. I don't know if she's telling the truth, but even if she's lying, it doesn't look like I'm getting any easy answers out of her. At least she can't make any more changes to Wyonna.

I just hope whatever programming remains isn't going to hurt us. Or Wyonna.

Theglia breaks me out of my thoughts with another flash of the crystals. Before I can ask what she's doing, she says, "It would appear I can still send the AI data packages. It's not as efficient, but I should be able to teach her what you need. However, I can’t guarantee it’ll work."

"Right." I wonder if Beth's going to be happy that I found a way to save Earth. Well, the people. It's not ideal, but it's better than anything I've come up with.

Since she's here, there are probably some other questions I should ask her. Little things. Like...

"Why me?"

"What?" Theglia asks, because of course I mumbled.

"Why me? Why did you choose to send me here?" I repeat, stating it as clearly as possible as I meet her glowing eyes.

"I didn't. All I did was give the AI parameters. You must have been the best candidate."

"What kind of parameters."

"A full explanation would require hours, and I'm afraid we don't have that much time. Suffice to say that if you were chosen for the Endless Matrix, you have excellent dimensional affinity."

“Okay,” I mumble. “So, I’m compatible. Great.”

“It’s wonderful. Oh, to be able to study your abilities. But again, not enough time. Never enough. A problem you don't share, do you?” Theglia asks, her eyes flashing rapidly. “And the transfer is complete. The AI should be able to assist you now.”

“Hey,” I interject, grabbing her arm as she turns away. She pauses, looking down at my hand before tracking my arm up to my eyes. It’s almost enough to make me freeze, but I shake it off, meeting her unblinking gaze. Despite everything that could have gone wrong... Looking at her now. Being sent to Akilo. Being given a chance to rediscover my magic. Rufka.... “Thank you. For everything.”

“Oh. Well, you’re welcome. It was… we did all we could with what we had.”

“And I appreciate-“

The rest of my words are lost as she blinks out of existence, the rest of the party appearing behind me in a cacophony of noise.

Taking a deep breath, I run a hand through my hair as I brace myself. Then, turning around, I smile at everyone.

“So, there's the good news, and there's the other news.”