High overhead, a colossal moon hung above the planet, easily ten times larger than the moon I was used to. I had not had a great deal of time to look at it since my arrival – since I was delivered, I had either been unconscious, inside or looking out of a window pointed mostly down. It was strange – the moon I was used to had been silver-white, a barren, tidally locked rock. But this moon – was green and blue and gold – it looked a lot like a planet.

I shook my head, mentally scolding myself for getting distracted – it was difficult to refine Experience while I was walking, but it was something I would need to get used to. Sitting still might be great for refining, but it was terrible for cultivation, after the Focus stage at least.

Dropping into my centre, I once more began to generate Praxis, the liquid, plasma hot joy rolling through me in pulses and forcing a grin onto my face. I watched as the Praxis flowed out of my centre, around my body and back into my centre once more, before it cycled back out again, accelerating my healing and strengthening my body. The golden ocean of Experience was notably lower than it had been earlier that day, and I knew I would have to cultivate as much Experience as I could in the coming days. In order to complete the Core stage, I needed to fill my centre completely with Praxis, which I obviously could not do if I kept spending it recklessly.

It took the three of us hours to reach the destination indicated on the piece of paper Quhei had given us – it was close to the centre of the city, each dwelling a vast mansion with extensive gardens. It was a sharp contrast to cities back on Earth, where the closer to the centre of a city you were, the less room was available.

The house we were looking for was a little different to those around it – while they had walls, they were mostly decorative, the grounds clearly visible beyond. This mansion had walls reaching 30 feet, with a vast double door bound in a viridian metal I did not recognise.

“Do we... knock?” I was not sure of what protocols or local customs may be involved in assaulting a mansion, so thought it better to ask than to simply run at the door roaring.

“We do not.” Walker did not stop and I followed after, nervous energy filling me with fear and excitement and roughly equal measure. For his part, Reff was silent, though I did notice the rocks he had been holding earlier were back in his huge hands.

As we approached the doors, blades of every shape and size spun into existence around us and that vast terrifying aura once again rolled outwards causing me to miss a step. Firming my resolve with the knowledge that none of that danger was pointed my way, I continued to follow the giant pair. I expected the blades to strike at the door, but instead Walker simply... walked into it. The door may as well not have existed for all it slowed my dark mentor’s stride. The wood splintered and tore and the green metal bands were simply wrenched apart as the two sides of the door exploded away from him, dragged away from the supporting walls with the sound of cracking stone.

Beyond the gates, people in black were climbing to their feet, weapons appearing in hands as they ran to meet us. They did not get far.

A dozen blades separated from the roiling mass above us and flickered from view with a series of sonic booms. Those running towards us were flung aside as the blades speared them, pinning them to the grass before cutting themselves free, bisecting each of our first opponents.

Arrows – of both more traditional materials and various energy forms – flew at us from the windows of the dwellings, another series of cracks marking their passage as they flew at us faster than bullets. More blades flashed, cutting the arrows from the air with seeming effortlessness.

“There is no egg within the mansion, though there is a structure below. Come.” Walker’s voice was frigid, though I knew him well enough by then to know just how angry he was.

By the time we reached to door to the mansion, the rain of arrows had ceased and we had faced no additional opposition. These doors fared no better than the first, bursting apart like rotten fruit shot from a cannon.

The entry hall of the mansion was vast, with a vaulted ceiling high above and a floor of polished pink marble – it was also empty.

“The stairs are this way – be wary, something is limiting my senses down there.” Walker strode away from the broken remnants of the door, and I noticed that Reff hands were now covered in roiling lava, glowing bright orange in the dim light of the entrance. I could feel the heat radiating from where he stood and I left an extra foot or two between us when he followed my mentor.

Following behind Reff, I worried that something existed that could limit Walker, one of the strongest people in the world. I hoped that whatever it turned out to be, it would not squish me.

The house was quiet now, our steps echoing eerily in the stillness. No arrows flew from above and nobody ran in from the wings to try and bar our passage. I thought that perhaps the group – the Risen Throne - had grown some sense and made a run for it in the face of an angry Apex, but my experiences so far seemed to indicate that bravado usually ran roughshod over wisdom.

Walker, still surrounded by spinning death, led us to a doorway to the rear of the hall and stepped through and down without hesitation, the blades streaming in before him as he descended the wooden steps two or three at a time with his long stride. Reff went next, the light from his molten hands illuminating the passage down and the heat blackening the wood of the banister, despite not touching it.

Last came me, of course, holding the rear and feeling slightly out of place as I awkwardly rubbed my still sore arm and ribs. I was pretty sure that I looked cool as hell when my Focus was active, but I could not just run around like that – not only were my Praxis reserves on the slim side, but I stood a solid chance of taking myself out of the fight that way. Compared to my companions’ effortlessly showy Foci, I definitely felt more like the odd one out than ever.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and spread out a little in the bi-directional hallway at the bottom. Doors and passageways were scattered along the hallway’s length, much like the one I had found myself after my first encounter with this group, though it seemed to be on a larger scale.

“Whatever is limiting my senses is too strong to be mere Spiritual Weights. I will go this way, you two go the other. Take this,” Walker manifested a dagger and handed it to me, “my senses may be limited down here, but I will always know where this is. Attempt to break it if you encounter something you cannot overcome.”

I nodded and looked at Reff.

“With enforced calm, let us eschew the bubbling of gum, Hunter. I will proceed ahead – my Path can be quite destructive.”

Without another word, my mentor strode along the corridor away from us, blades darting in and out of rooms, usually ignoring the doors.

Reff and I walked our own path, the giant in the lead, though I did have to open doors for him – as it turns out, his hands instantly melted most handles.

We found a few prisoners in rooms bound by Spiritual Weights – we opted to leave them where we found them for the moment, not knowing if they were acting in order to make their escape. Those doors Reff melted to prevent escape, knowing Walker could break the doors later.

Coming to our first intersection, Reff stood back, guarding the main root of the hall while I checked down the branch's length. It was mostly storage, though I did find a locked door near the other end, where another long hall ran parallel to the one we had come down. I tried to kick the door open, bound as it was in the same green metal that had protected the gates above, but even with all the effort and strength I could muster, it did not budge. I waved for Reff to come give it a try, and he started towards me. After a single step, the world shook – or at least it felt that way – and with a loud crack and a wave of dust and dirt, the tunnel I was in collapsed.

*

***

*

Coughing, I pulled edge of my sleeveless robe over my face, waving futilely at the air. It took a minute or so for the floating particles to settle enough for me to be able to see – the tunnel was completely blocked by rubble and dirt, starting a few feet from me and, if my memory was accurate, stretching all the way back to where Reff had stood. There was no way I was digging it out any time soon, even with my enhanced strength, there had to be hundreds of tons of dirt and other assorted crap pressing down on the stuff blocking my way.

“I am so fucked.” Fear was starting to crawl its insidious way through me, but rather than fight it, I opened myself up to it, embraced it – Experienced it. In that embrace, I started my fear full in the face, looked into its core and dismissed it, even as I drained it dry of to power my cultivation.

“Fucked or not, the only path is forward.” I slapped my cheeks and bounced about on the balls of my feet, psyching myself up as I moved into the still open adjacent corridor.

Looking both ways, I guessed that the direction leading back the way Reff and I had come would connect back up with Walker’s tunnel, and for a moment I was tempted to go that way – but I had a job to do. I had to move forward.

Squaring my shoulders, I stepped in the direction Reff and I had been heading and up to the first door – the door was open and filled with a figure in black hurtling towards me. Warned just in time by my unique ability, I stepped back, avoiding the figure as it lunged out past me. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I stopped back in behind the figure, twisting my hips, rotated my heel and drove a punch as hard as I could into the back of their head. The figure in black physically lifted off the ground and flew across the short distance of the tunnel, their head impacting the wall opposite with a sickening crunch.

I waited a moment in case the figure got back to their feet – I did not think they would but I had seen more fantastic things since my arrival. Several seconds went by, the now prone figure failing to rise. I frisked them – him – and took their ring and pendant. Waste not want not.

Checking inside the room, I saw what looked like an armoury, filled with weapons of the same silvery metal as the swords in my own rings. I took a moment to grab a couple of different weapons, a mace, an axe and a long, weighted chain. I wanted to take a spear, but there was no way it was going to fit inside my rings, and I did not want to carry it around with me, since I had no idea how to use one.

Moving along the corridor once more, I checked each door I found, they were mostly bedrooms – relatively small, utilitarian spaces – with the odd personal knickknack. I did not bother checking them – there would be time for loot later.

I reached the end of the tunnel after 5 or 10 minutes, having found no other branches or any room which looked like it might be a laboratory or vault. The end was marked by a single door, which proved to be unlocked as I turned the handle.

On the other side, I found my lab, though it lay in ruins. In the centre, Reff was fighting almost faster than I could see against the green cat-guy that had tortured me, the bodies of other black clad Risen Throne members scatted about the room, burned and blasted.

At the other end of the lab, stood a man in a pale grey suit of a style I was not familiar with. His face was masked in shadow, but in his hands was an egg. Golden and with flames of white running over its surface like liquid, this was clearly the phoenix egg we had come seeking.

A wild, mad laughter filled the room, its source obviously the grey-clad man and I watched in shock as the world was eaten away behind him, revealing a dark mist shrouded forest.

I pulled the dagger Walker had given me from a ring and drove the point into the doorframe, yanking hard. The wood splintered and the dagger came free in my hand – slipping the slender blade into my belt, I hoped it would be enough.

I dashed forward, avoiding the frantic fight between Reff and the werelion, hoping the shadowed man was just a deliveryman, but knowing deep down that I was chasing somebody vastly beyond my league.

The laughter echoed hollowly around the room as I ran as fast as I could towards the figure in grey, and casually he stepped through that hole in creation. The frayed edges of reality began to solidify as I drew closer and I dived hoping to jostle the egg from his hands.

I fell through the hole even as it snapped shut, my hand missing the man by a fraction of a millimetre as he shifted slightly to avoid my touch.

In the dark of the forest I jumped to my feet, glancing back to there the door had stood mere moments earlier and regretting my actions somewhat. Turning back to the man, now lit only by the flames of the egg he still hand.

“Ugh, gimme the egg, please?” As demands went, it was a little lacking, I will admit.

“How curious. You should not have been able to cross, little Core. You’re not a secret Apex, are you?” The voice was seemed to be edged with laughter, though it was paradoxically empty of emotion. The cold emptiness of it made me shiver when even the icy, curling mist of the forest could not.

“That’s me. Apex of the Secret... Apex. So... gimme the egg?” The figure’s face was still obscured, but I felt I saw a deepening of the black that suggested a smile to me. It was not comforting.

“Little World Walker, so brave in the face of annihilation. Would you like to me to eat you, little one? The burden of existence hangs so heavy, does it not?” That dead laughter washed out amidst the stygian trees before rolling back in like a hollow wave, crashing against me like blows.

“Ugh, no thank you... It’s a... nice... offer, but just the egg would be great.”

The still invisible head tilted to one side and I felt something press against me – no, against my soul. I felt the Praxis first, and then the Experience within me vanishing and my eyes flared wide as I took a step back. Before the ocean within me vanished completely, the process stopped with a disgruntled sigh from the man in front of me.

“Not even enough for a snack. Maybe when you’ve had time to mature... here, take it. You’ll need the light.” The figure tossed the egg to me and I grabbed it with both hands, fumbling slightly, almost dropping it as I anticipated the burning pain. There was no pain, which surprised me, just a warmth which was more than pleasant in this frigid forest.

“Grow strong, little World Walker. You’re my meal now – that's a lot to live up to.” The laughter once more filled the silence and the figure turned, casually walking off into the darkness.

As I stood holding the phoenix egg, feeling as truly alone as I ever had in my life, the smoky grey class of Xiournal’s tablet popped into view ahead of me, without any effort or intent on my part.

Assignment Received... Difficulty E-… Time Limit: 4 days, 8 hours, 31 minutes.

Make your way into Everwood City, locate the creator of the Grand Harvest Body Refining Pill and ensure another cannot be created.

Good Luck, Alex. Make me look good.

Bonus Reward: Do Not Kill the creator, or allow his death within the Time Limit.

Assignment Received... Difficulty B+... Time Limit: Before Death

Return to the world I put you on, idiot.

Bonus Reward: Do Not Die.

“Fucking B Plus? What?!”