As I climbed down the stairwell from the attic, I heard my parents' voices hissing at each other from below.

“What’s she doing in our living room?!” Mom’s accusing tone resonated. Okay, it was just her who was hissing. Dad sounded a lot calmer.

“Sleeping, obviously.” Dad’s answer came back with a casual tone.

“Sleeping? Without her armor? On MY COUCH?” Mom’s voice went up another octave. “IN THE LIVING ROOM?”

“Yes,” Dad replied.

“Who is she?” Diana glanced out of her room at me.

I made the “I have no idea” face at her. I had no possible clue as to whom mom found sleeping in our living room this afternoon. Did dad cheat on mom? It seemed to be the implication, judging from the incredibly outraged sound of my mom’s voice.

“WHY?!” Mom growled.

“She wasn’t feeling well,” Dad replied. “So... I let her sleep on the couch.”

“SHE WASN’T FEELING WELL?!”

“Yes,” he added. “She has conflicting Vows on her soul.”

“Oh so… YOU KNOW ABOUT HER SOUL DO YOU?!”

I glanced at Delta. She made a confused face at me. High-level though she was, she couldn't see through walls that well. The Infoscope was limited by line of sight.

“What’s this… lady, look like?” I inquired from Diana.

“Redhead lady.” My younger sister commented. “Tall. Freckles all over.”

Delta flashed down and then up.

“The Overseer’s here!” She growled, her hands unfolding into a thousand blades. Thousands upon thousands of bees descended from the attic in another minute, forming a protective ring above me.

“What-the-bees?!” Diana yelped, backing away into her room.

“Uhm, it’s Great-Aunt Delta’s bees,” I explained. “Don’t worry, they’re under control.”

“R-right,” Diana glanced out of her room at my bee-defense.

“Cass, what did you expect me to do about her, exactly?” Dad’s voice asked.

“Say no!” Mom resounded from below.

“Say no… to an armed Imperial Overseer?”

“Ye- yes?” Mom’s anger suddenly deflated. “She’s armed?”

“Yes, she’s armed with that magitek bracelet of hers. She’s sleeping on her right hand. You probably didn't notice it when you walked into the house.” Dad explained.

“I see,” Mom replied.

“Stay in your room,” I ordered Diana as I descended down the stairwell to the living room.

She made a deep sigh at me, her curiosity not satisfied.

As far as afternoon luncheons went, this was probably the most absurd one in this house.

Overseer Kliss had been woken up by a light bee-sting in the neck.

Her eyes looked blood-shot red and there were dark circles under them.

She held a teacup in her hand and unblinkingly stared at the figure made of bees sitting next to her. The teacup shook as she pretended to take a sip.

“So, what do you want from my apprentice, Overseer?” I spoke through the [Vox Colony] as Professor Kerenski.

The teacup in her hand nearly spilled all over her white dress.

“I… I want… to help… my f-friends,” Kliss spoke with slow deliberation, as if she was trying to pull every word out of a deep, thick mire. “P-please...”

Her body twitched and the armacus in her right hand shimmered as she shot something at… herself.

[That was a LV 99 healing spell,] Delta commented.

“We are not your friends, Overseer.” Mom spoke from her chair. “I don’t know who gave you that idea.”

“Delta did,” I said through the bees. “The Overseer is bound to the Alan family by a Vow of friendship.”

Kliss nodded, her hands shaking. She put the cup down and hugged her body, trying to scooch as far away from the bees as possible.

“Elder Delta...” Mom looked at the figure made of bees. “...bound an Overseer to us twelve years ago and didn’t think of telling us about it? Some ahead warning would really be appreciated next time.”

“T-there ww-w-won’t be a n-n-next time,” Kliss pulled another string of words out of herself. “I.. n-n-need… you…” She glanced at our dad.

Mom’s glare intensified. Great choice of words, Kliss.

“An Imperial Inquisitor is coming in a few months,” Dad said. “She is saying she needs us to leave Skyisle, to relocate to Agamemnon.”

“Out of the question,” mom stated decisively.

“Temporarily?” Dad asked. “Maybe we could…”

“Out. Of. The. Question.” Mom declared forcefully.

“But we met in Agamemnon, surely we can stay there for a bit…” Dad asked hopefully.

“That was years ago,” Mom said.

“Your Vow got stronger?” Dad inquired.

Mom’s glare looked like it was going to set him on fire. She glanced at the Overseer.

“She knows,” Dad said.

“You told her… about MY Vow?!” Mom whisper-shouted at him.

“Kliss, you are not to reveal anything you learn from us to anyone else,” I said.

Kliss nodded.

Mom’s glare turned on me.

“Kliss has a Vow to obey Dante,” I said through the bees.

“Why?!” Mom’s face was an expression of exasperation. “He’s only twelve!”

"He's the chosen one," I insisted. It didn't seem to move mom one bit. She was far too angry to be sensible.

Dad looked at me. “Dante?”

"Yeah?" I looked back at him.

“Don’t make any Vows to anyone, under no circumstance,” he said. “Promise me, okay?”

“I promise,” I nodded. I didn’t tell him about my three Vows to sacrifice Destruction, Infoscope and Transient Soul. Thankfully, I haven’t been alive in the Astral Ocean, so my Vows haven’t grown at all in twelve years according to Delta.

“Vows get stronger with time, even if your level is capped out they become stronger… If they’re in conflict, they can tear a person’s soul almost completely apart, inflict terrible pain and suffering.” Dad nodded in the direction of Kliss. “The older a Vow is, the stronger it is.”

I nodded. If I waited long enough, if I didn’t do anything about them, my Vows would start to influence me, maybe even prevent me from talking to Delta completely. I looked at Kliss. She was in pain, incredible pain it looked like. Why? This wasn’t the case before. Was she actively fighting her primary Vow now? Had she switched sides? Was she really with us now? Was just a trick, a devious plan to get me killed when I let my guard down?

[Delta, is Kliss a danger to us?] I mentally inquired.

[No. Her body is showing signs of extreme exhaustion and... organ failure. She’s barely staying upright. The healing spells are keeping her alive. A bit of wind could knock her over,] Delta observed.

I suddenly felt bad for the Overseer. It was my fault that she was in this situation. I made her say the Vow to me twelve years ago. I really needed to figure out how to destroy… Vows. A small ping resonated across my soul. I felt it then. Something unnerving, unnatural, alive… My own Vow was telling me that I was not allowed to Destroy things, especially Vows. That it would stop me if I tried! I had enough XP to level up today, but if I did that… then my Vows would get a lot stronger too. Argh!

I focused my attention back on our little party of co-conspirators.

Mom’s fiery glare continued to slam against dad. He ignored it valiantly. I decided to help him a little by redirecting her fury.

“Cassandra,” I spoke through the bees. “Why can’t you leave Skyisle?”

“Urm…” Mom turned to the figure made of bees. “When I was fifteen, I made a Vow to my parents to… watch over this Village. It’s gotten a lot stronger over the years. It feels like… my heart will stop if I take a step out of Skyisle.”

Modify the Vows? I could modify them! That wasn’t destroying them… No painful ping this time. Excellent!

[Can we Modify the Vows?] I asked Delta.

[It would probably require a very specialized version of Modify,] she replied. [Yours is set to Create-Modify wards, not Vows. We could spend a few months modifying your Modify… sure, the primary question is - what would we even modify them to?]

“Kliss, can Vows be removed?” I asked the pitiful-looking Overseer.

“N-no. T-they can… be… changed, m-made stronger with a-another sacrifice,” she uttered. “But not removed. Equality will never… ever… let go of me. Even if I stop believing, she owns my soul… she can cast me into the Void, or thrust me into one of the many hells where my s-suffering for my sins would be eternal, a place of monsters that would feast on me for all eternity.”

She covered her face with her hands and started to sob softly and her tears seemed... genuine. The deep Astral was indeed pretty hellish. Did the Empire know what it was like down there? Did they have some kind of magitek... Infoscopes to observe it? How much did Kliss know about the Astral? Here, in front of me was a vast resource of information, a mine filled with facts about the Empire and its magitek tools and spells.

[Delta?] I asked.

[Yeah?]

[Move the bees, let me sit next to her.]

The figure made of bees moved off the couch, standing beside it. I sat next to Kliss.

“Kliss, be honest with me, as honest as you can please.” I said.

She nodded.

“Are you with us? Are you on our side?”

“Y-yes,” She sniffed, wiping her face.

“Why?” I inquired.

She shot another healing spell at her chest and unfolded.

“I… remembered everything. It took a very long time, but I remember... I killed your parents. I killed you, twice… For decades... I’ve been sleepwalking, not really alive. Twelve years ago, I let the Vow of the Overseer guide my hands. I was young and foolish, got the Imperial Citizen's Vow to Equality hung on my soul when I was only ten... Upgraded it to the Overseer's Vow when I was nineteen."

I nodded. The Gregarius Empire liked to recruit its obedient... citizens very young, it seemed.

"The Vow your Great-Aunt Delta put on me… it broke the chokehold of the Vow to Equality over me. I’m not free, not by a long shot... I’m not a good person.” Her words echoed my own final speech on the day I had destroyed Aralsk-7. “I’m barely human. I’m a killer, a monster… but I don’t want to be one. I... want to be... free.”

She winced and choked as she uttered the last word as if an invisible hand closed over her neck. I looked into her emerald, tear-filled eyes curiously.

She looked back into my eyes and a spark of sudden understanding flashed there. For but a brief second, I understood her and she understood me. An unspoken agreement, a look passed between us.

She whimpered, her nails digging into her arm. Streaks of tears glittered on her cheeks as she hissed in pain. Another healing spell fired from her armacus.

“I don’t know why I’m talking to you… I don’t really know what’s going on with you and your family… I don’t, can’t understand why a twelve-year-old boy from a tiny mountain village is surrounded by high-level wizards. Nothing about you makes any sense to me and it's driving me insane. You are a mystery I cannot resolve, a book I can’t open,” Kliss said, her eyes not wavering from me.

“Elder,” dad suddenly spoke up. “The Overseer told us that you haven’t been taking our son to Agamemnon.”

I glanced at Kliss. You little, redhead snitch.

“She is mistaken,” I insisted through the bees. “Look at her, she is in incredible pain, talking nonsense, not thinking straight.”

“Right,” Dad nodded. “I just want to make sure my son is… safe.”

“He’s safe… enough.” I said through the bees. “He is learning quickly. The day may come when he will be able to defend himself, protect you and Cassandra, even save Skyisle. It is incredibly important that he is given space and time to learn.”

“Save… Skyisle?” Kliss croaked, emerald eyes digging for the truth. “How?”

[You should really stop telling her our plans,] Delta commented. [She still got that Imperial Vow on her. It’s not gone. It’s huge, very high-level... like a lumpy tumor that's sucking life out of her soul. The one we put on her is smaller, weaker. She might be honest now, but could betray us anytime, turn on us, kill you again.]

[Just the two of us won't be able to repair the Alanian tower. The batteries and the core are buried deep and defended by anti-spy runes. We need aid,] I replied. [We need information about the Gregarius Empire. Now, more than ever. Time is running out. An Imperial Inquisitor is coming.]

[It’s dangerous to trust her. She is an enemy. It's dangerous to rely on her aid and information.]

[I’m aware, but I’ve been taking risks far worse than this... my entire life. I signed up to fly into the detonation zone of the Tzar Bomba, to observe it up close and record the results, even though it was deemed a suicide mission… I wanted to be a hero like Gagarin, wanted to prove myself, wanted to change the world. I became the administrator of Aralsk-7 because I showed my bravery, demonstrated my absolute devotion to USSR on that day. Kliss is nothing compared to what I faced during the hydrogen bomb test. She’s just a girl bound by Vows, just a human who wants to be free, a person bound by a monstrous system... just like I was once, long ago in another world.]

[We should run. We should hide.] Delta insisted. [We need more time to get stronger.]

[I won’t abandon my parents or Skyisle,] I sent. [You know that.]

[I do,] she sighed. [I know you too damn well… It’s up to you to choose what you want to do about Kliss. I’ll follow you no matter what you decide, you know that, right?]

I nodded and looked at Kliss once again. Was I right or wrong about what I felt? Could I… trust her?