“Myrrdin? What happened? Are you—“

I ended the call with Sara.

There were no easy answers to the questions.

Only suspicions, all of them too horrible to voice. The underside of my jaw tingled as I struggled to keep myself from vomiting, eyes still glued to the spot my foot had impacted the ground. Beneath my boot was a piece of dark red tissue that was stretched to the point of tearing. A mix of yellow-black liquid pooled under my foot. Almost camouflaged by the red lighting, a thin veneer of pink-and-red flesh extended outward. It cut off with a horizontal abruptness at what, I assumed, was the region barrier. From there, it expanded outward into the region.

I recalled my bike into my inventory, and cautiously placed my other foot down, fully prepared to throw myself back through the barrier if it did something I didn’t like. The pink flesh retreated with a gurgling slide, unrooting itself and revealing asphalt beneath.

I took another step, then another. The flesh skirted away from me as I walked into the district, forming a perfect circle around my feet.

My armor has Eldritch resistance. It’s being repelled because it’s Eldritch.

The feeling of wrongness was overwhelming. I passed what was once a metal city bench that was now dripping, four flesh medallions hanging from thin ropes of skin, the skin itself petechial, marred with stretch marks and abrasions. I found myself fighting to avoid mentally calculating the logistics of it. On the ground next to the bench, a simple blue pacifier lay lopsided, partially immersed in the flesh layer of ground.

Beyond it was a trail of clothes that were strewn about, as if the previous wearers had simply disappeared.

My mind struggled to connect the two scenes—the small city block I’d ridden my bike through countless times, and the twisted hellscape before me. The two images didn’t connect. I knew that there was a little Mexican place with a car theme on the corner, but the flesh covered even what remained of the sign.

When Dad was alive, we’d eat lunch there every Sunday, and go to Marble Slab for ice cream after.

There was a tiny playground, just a slide and a swing that Iris frequented after those outings, rushing to the slide the moment we emerged from the restaurant, trying to maximize the number of times she could go down it before it was time to leave.

I struggled to make sense of it in my mind.

This was supposed to be a correction. At some point, there was a lesson to be learned.

What the fuck was the lesson in this?

Movement.

I spun, searching for the source. Just down the street, an ankle-high wave of flesh rippled, and a metallic object reflecting light appeared at the top of the wave, landing flat. The wave came again, carrying the object another few inches along the ground and struggling to raise it up to the curb.

Keeping careful watch on my surroundings, I jogged towards it. The flesh became less reticent as I passed, more daring. As if cognizant of my destination, it began to raise before my feet, sizzling as it made contact, trying desperately to trip me.

It nearly succeeded more than once, my heightened Agility helping to restore my balance and keep me moving in the right direction.

The flesh around the object intertwined and transformed into a jointless finger, pushing the object up onto the curb. I intercepted it, recognizing the object before I grabbed it. It was smaller, less vibrant than the monster or User cores had been.

Down both streets on the crossroads, I saw hundreds of tiny cores being pushed in my direction. Several orbs of lux alongside them.

The idea of righteous anger has always been something I’ve looked down on. It’s rarely more than a farce at best, a paper thin excuse to impose moral strictures on others at worst.

But right then?

I felt it. A rage as white and hot as the sun itself, burning slowly ever since Jinny died, that spread. I gave myself a moment, and stared up at the blood-soaked sky and removed my mask. The anger stoked within me, growing stronger and hotter until it consumed every other emotion. What did people do when they felt like this?

If I were Nick, I probably would have screamed my rebellion to the heavens. But I wasn’t Nick. And as devouring as the anger was, I knew, given the announcement at the beginning of the transposition event, that the Overseer was likely watching me in particular.

If you mess this up?

If you fail to take me off the board early, and I gain even a fraction of the power of those Ordinators in the footage you showed?

I’ll find you.

I replaced the mask, allowing the anger to slowly wink out to nothing. Once it was dispelled to the point I trusted my judgment again, I walked in the direction the flesh was pushing the core. There was a set of double-doors that led into a small shop that looked like a combination of a grocery and hardware store. The flesh became thicker, unwilling to move. It grasped at my feet, doubling its efforts to stop me. There was an orb of lux being pushed towards a dark hallway in the back, emitting red light.

The receptacle was a simple glass column, chest high, with a silver rim. It was over three-quarters full, and radiated with a dull red light. There was a single lux on the ground, being slowly pushed towards a desiccated upper torso embedded in a wall. He was so disfigured it was difficult to identify him as once being human, little more than an arm, ribcage, spine and a gaping-mouthed skull with hollowed out eyes. He strained his one arm towards the lux on the ground.

I scooped it up just out of his reach, hopping away when he lunged at me with a feral growl, only to snap back against the wall. Then I studied the lux with a frown, glancing back at the receptacle. Even with the variable quality of the lux, not nearly enough had landed in the region for it to be that full.

Unless—

I half-walked, half-ran out of the room, as the weight of something very heavy settled over my shoulders. The tingly feeling of a panic attack was settling over me, only held back by and the mask.

With shaking hands, I pulled up my contact list and called Kinsley. In the background, I saw the collective allotment of civilian cores and lux drawing ever closer.

“Thanks for calling bargain bin potions, where we give our items away for a literal steal,” Kinsley said.

“The receptacles can be filled with civilian cores. Maybe Users, too,” I said, the words coming out in a rush.

“Oh. Okay, um, that’s bad. How’d you find that out?”

“Some eldritch monster—or hive of monsters, I don’t know, wiped out region six. They’re using civilian cores and lux to fill the receptacle here.”

“Wait. The monsters are fortifying the region?”

“I need—I need a touchstone. That would normally be Nick, but Nick’s gone, and I’m lost in the wind here. I think I know what to do, but if I’m wrong… If I’m wrong…”

There was a moment of silence, and the background noise from Kinsley’s voice call faded. When she spoke again, her voice was steel. “Tell me.”

“They’re not just monsters. The people are still here. Their cores are gone, and they’ve been twisted into something… awful, but they’re still here. And they’re trying to fill their receptacle.”

“Matt, are you okay? I’ve never heard you sound this shaken.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead and found the mask instead. “I made a mistake, Kinsley. I thought I had it all worked out and handled. Then someone died.”

“The core you sent?”

“Yes.”

“Someone you cared about?”

“No.” Then after a moment. “Maybe. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

One of the cores came close, and I kicked it away, sending it skittering across the fleshy ground. I hated it when people said that. My voice was cold. “Yes. It was. People like us don’t get to make mistakes.”

I could practically hear Kinsley throwing her arms into the air in frustration. “Fine. How exactly does that translate to this?”

“For now, whatever happened to them is contained to the region,” I said, tapping my fingers against the wall. “The question is what happens after they fortify?”

“Best guess?”

“Whatever’s happening here spreads to the surrounding regions. But…”

“What if fortifying changed them back?” Kinsley realized.

“Exactly.”

It took her a long time to respond. Meanwhile, I kicked away several cores and lux orbs, setting their progress back by minutes.

“Matt. Listen to me. I’m not there. I can’t see it, I have no idea how bad it would be if whatever’s happening there got out.”

“I know.”

“But I can tell you that I trust you. I trust your judgment. Maybe more now that I know you’re human and don’t always get it right.”

I rolled my eyes. “I thought you were getting antsy. And what you just said doesn’t make any sense.”

“Trusting and wanting to not be left in the dark are two different things. But that’s irrelevant right now. Go with your gut. What—Shit, I’ve gotta go.”

There was a beep indicating the voice communication had ended.

With Kinsley gone, I stared out at the wasteland of encroaching flesh.

And made the call.