“It has to be us, somehow.”

My mind raced as I considered the possibilities; there had simply been too many opportunities for the Risen Throne to kill us on our way; we’d been away from Walker and the other Apexes for more than a month, there shouldn’t have been a need to wait.

Which left something changing with us... which really left Cad.

“Why’re ye looking at me like that? Anyfool’d think I’d stolen ye best jug.”

“With calming assertion, you are the only variable to change since we set out, Cad. When presented with two or more equally predictive theories in regards to the same deduction, the theory that requires the fewest assumptions is usually the correct one.”

“Don’t ye be comin’ at me with ye damned law of parsimony; that uttered without evidence can be dismissed without bother, as my Ma says. Maybe they just found young Sparky’s hand? That looks to be fairly recent, aye?”

“That’s a fair point, Cad. That asshole did take my arm fairly recently. Could that work?” I looked around at the group; my question was not really directed at anybody in particular. My lack of general knowledge made it difficult to guess what was actually possible, sometimes.

“By which asshole? This asshole, the group of crazy, deluded, crazy bastards attacking a da-an Elder? Well, there ye go, ye damned conclusion jumpi-”

“We have no way to be sure, this is all just speculation! For all we know, he has a crush on Reff and he can follow his love anywhere!”

“With a great deal of doubt, I do not think that is the case, Darina. We have only met once, and we did not converse. To form such an attraction after so limited an interaction seems unlikely.”

“You’ve got a damned fine sense of humour there, Biggun.”

“I was just pointing out that we don’t really know how his abilities work, Reff,” the Apprentice said, her tone patient for once.

“Let’s all calm down. I don’t think they’re going to try again, now their gambit’s failed. We’ve all been in close proximity with this group recently, let's check ourselves and make sure we haven’t been bugged or marked.”

“I guarantee you’ve been bugged, Sparky; have you see the bastard insects in this damned jungle?”

“That’s not what I mean, I mean... I mean some means of listening in or tracking us.”

“Then why not just say that? You have some weird idioms, Sparky.”

“I think I like you, Cad. Sorry about the mango, we should have warned you.”

“Never ye mind, lass. As I said, I have five older sisters, who all had very definite ideas about me lackadaisical tendencies. And me Ma was a dab hand with a switch...” Cad rubbed nervously at his neck, looking around as if expecting one of his relatives to burst out of the foliage.

“With focusing resolve, it is a good idea. We should all check for... ‘bugs’.”

I gave Riffa a thumbs up, which she returned to me with barely a trace of confusion; my friends were getting used to me, which was something I liked, given that it made communication easier, but I was not entirely sure it was a good thing. I did not want everyone thinking they were weird...

We each took a few seps away from one another and began to go over ourselves carefully, looking for any objects that could have been placed upon our person. I finished fairly quickly, as I did not have any pockets, and while I found a few bits of plant matter and what looked like an insect leg, as explained earlier, that was not the kind of bug I was looking for.

“I’m just going to go behind a tree and try and, uh, look for marks. Be right back.”

I moved behind a tree at the edge of the clearing, making sure it did not have a phoenix in it; I knew that Flame Ever Dancing would be able to perceive me, but she could perceive me through my clothes, I was pretty sure so – ok, so we were definitely idiots.

Walking about out from around the tree, I could see the others moving off to find tree of their own, so I quickly shouted, asking them to come back. They each moved back towards me, offering me questioning looks.

“So, we were being kind of dumb. Uh, Elder Flame Ever Dancing, can you check us to see if we have any sort of tracking, or marks, or... anything... on us?”

The Elder was sat crossed legged now, cooing softly at their egg, but hearing my question, the humanoid phoenix stood and, after a moment, pointed at Cad without hesitation, head tilting to the side.

“The only oddity is in this one’s pocket; it is difficult to sense, barely there. I can just feel the stone and leather. Did you bring these thieves down upon me, boy? Tell me, from where do you come, so I may offer them proper... gratitude."

“Me pocket?!” Cad’s voice was higher than was normal, his grey eyes wide as he slapped at his pockets furiously before drawing out a Risen Throne pendant.

“This? Sparky gave me this, I swear yerHonouredElderosity! I had nothin’ to do with wi’all this nonsense!”

I raised my eyebrows, thinking back to the scene in which we had met the hammer-wielder. I had indeed given the pendant to him, after taking it off the body of one of the two he had killed. I remembered him placing it in his pocket, and thinking nothing of it at the time; but why his pocket? I had seen pockets, but they mostly seemed to be for convenience, nobody seemed to store anything there long-term, instead opting for storage devices, like my rings. To be fair, my sample was limited to very successful people, but surely a Foundation stage mercenary counted amongst the successful? The Legion commander we had met, Nadja, had been at the Foundation stage and she was certainly successful, though her abilities were also somewhat more impressive than boozy breath, but still...

The Elder nodded and the pendant flare red and then white hot before exploding into vapor, all in the space of a second; with wide eyes of my own, I flung my hands up before I had chance to register the fact that my Precognition had not triggered, or that I was fine. Neither the heat or force of the exploding necklace had reached me, or any of my friends. I had thought Reff’s ability to control heat had been pretty amazing, but I guess an Elder level fire user had to be on a whole other level. Thinking back to Crownman, I was even more astonished that the rime-covered thing had withstood the flames for as long as it had.

I was about to ask Cad why he had placed it in his pocket, rather than storing it when a smoky grey, crystalline tablet popper into existence in the centre of my vision.

Assignment Received... Difficulty C+ (Revised)… Time Limit: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes.

Cure the Phoenix Plague and return the Phoenix Egg to its parent.

Bonus Reward: Do Not cause a Calamity.

Status: Complete! Bonus Reward Gained!

Please choose:

1) Purchase new Red Ability.

2) Upgrade Red Ability.

3) Purchase Green Ability.

4) Defer Reward.

I had not seen Xiournal’s prompt in a while; knowing my objective and time limit, I had not seen the point in checking recently, but I was gratified to see that the difficulty appeared to have been upgraded, which was a relief. If dealing with mysterious people and organizations, with members far stronger than me had only been an F, I had been sort of dreading heading into high difficulties.

Dismissing the images of all my scrapes with death, I mentally selected option 3; I had been planning on purchasing Shape Energy (Lightning) which was an ability I had seen in my long days of checking through the list of abilities. The ability did not have a Red equivalent, and I had dismissed it on my initial pass as I had no idea if I would have energy to shape, but it was largely similar to Soul Constructs, with the obvious limitation that it required lightning. Now, I know it may not sound great in comparison, given they share the same tier, but what it lacked I convenience it made up for in the added effects of the energy you were shaping, and it not directly wounding your soul. It would allow me to construct weapons from my lightning, possibly even bypassing the limitation of my time compressing abilities. But please note, I said I had been planning on buying it, right up until that last fight.

With a sigh, I focused on another ability I had dismissed, images of coruscating blades and chains flittering through my mind’s eye. Undrainable was a workmanlike name for an ability, but it did exactly what it said; ‘Your energy is your own; it cannot be taken from you by any means, unless to not do so would harm you directly.’ The metadata I got along with the description suggested it might stop me getting cold, but would not allow me to be boiled alive by my own retained heat. It also suggested that all Experience would stay mine, regardless of what was trying to take it. Again, I had not given this ability much thought, as it was fairly niche on the surface, but my run-in with the black stuff had changed my mind; a second or two had been almost enough to kill me, and that seemed like a fairly unassailable disadvantage without something to counter it. I had also heard Walker mention vampires at least once, and I had spent enough time being awake at night for two lifetimes.

With a mental click, I selected Undrainable and dismissed the grey window, focusing once again on my companions, who were all staring at me. It took me an embarrassingly long couple of seconds to realise why; from their perspective, I had shielded my eyes and then just... stared into space for half a minute.

“Sorr-”

As I began to speak, the prompt sprang back into existence, this time bearing a new quest.

Assignment Received... Difficulty B+… Time Limit: 1 year, 13 days, 18 hours, 59 minutes.

Prevent the escape of Anan Al’monhad.

Bonus Reward: Prevent the death of Anan Al’monhad.

“Really, Xiournal? Again, with the vague?”

I swiped the tablet away again, irritated by the lack of helpful details, only to find myself the recipient of even more strange stares, specifically from Cad and Darina. Recalling my recent decision to offer them no further ammunition for their curiosities, take a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh.

“Before you ask, it doesn’t matter. Somebody sent me a message, and it was very irritating. Anyway, Cad; why did you put the pendant into your pocket instead of storing it?”

“I just bloody answered that, ye damned moon-brained fool.”

“You did? Wait, what? What’s moon-brained supposed to mean? Like, it’s huge? No, no, forget it. I probably don’t want to know. I’m sorry I missed your answer, Cad; I guess I was more distracted by my message than I thought.”

“With accommodating tolerance, Cad does not possess a storage device currently. It was... confiscated by his superior under suspicion of containing... contraband.”

“Aye, that’s the truth. But it’s all a big mistake, that stuff was for sampling new substances to maybe add to me Focus.”

“Wait, add to your Focus? Aren’t you at the Foundation stage?”

“Oh, aye. But my Focus is actually to sample, reproduce and emit substances; it’s not just producin’; booze, ye know. ‘Tis actually what got me the job in the first place, as it’s similar to the directions many alchemists head in. Though, their delivery tends to be less... fun.”

“You mean indiscriminate?”

“I mean fun, lass. But aye, I’m sure ye could characterise it that way, should ye have a mind too.”

“But how’re you expected to carry enough water to travel to deliver your message, without a storage item?” I interrupted the two before they could antagonise each other; I did not think it would lead to any trouble, given their respective personalities, but better safe than sorry.

“Well, Sparky, I can run damned fast, as a Foundation stage cultivator,” Cad puffed his chest out and looked smug... for a full second before cracking a grin. “But they gave me these new pills developed in Everwood City that hydrate ye for th’ day. Amazing things! If I actually manage to give meself a hangover, they’re like tiny balls of mercy.”

“Oh wow, you have some too? Tang said they were new, I didn’t realise they were for sale outside of Ro’s shop, but I guess it makes sense that he'd provide the recipe to the Association.”

“Oh, aye, ye said ye knew Master Ben Won Ro. And that ye’d put in a good word.”

“I was definitely planning on it, but I have to ask – and I’m sorry – but how do we know you’re telling the truth about the storage device?”

“He is telling the truth.”

I looked at Flame Ever Dancing, who was sat once more and had answered without looking up.

“Well, I guess that answers that. Pure, unfortunate coincidence. I’m usually pretty Lucky, but looking back over the last few months, it does seem like a bit of a mixed bag.”

“You are definitely more lucky than good, given the speed of your progress and my experience with you.”

“Thanks, Darina. It’s good to know you’ll always be there to keep my vast ego in check.”

As I spoke, my voice was deadpan, but that fact seemed to fly right over Darina’s head, as she nodded, putting on a face I thought was meant to look wise.

“Speakin’ o’ lucky, I wanted to have a chat with ye about that; me Path is one ‘fate, ye se. I twist probability around me to bring meself fortune in battle, at the cost o’ me opponents. Damned effective, especially when they’re smashed off their feet. But I noticed some odd interference comin’ off’o’ yer person. Do ye happen to have some fate-fuckery in yer own Path?”

I fought to keep my face straight as Cad spoke; I had never expected anybody to actually be able to detect the abilities Xiournal had given me, but I guessed that it sort of made sense, if the effects were related. Of course, I did not want to get into all that; I had no idea what other terrible things Agents had got up to on that world and so naming myself one openly by explaining seemed like a bad idea. It did not help that I was a few feet from a living lie-detector...

“No, my Focus is lightning related, and my Path is... I think time related.”

“Ye think?”

“Yeah, it’s new. Only been on my Path for a week or so.”

“Damn, that’s pretty new, Sparky. Maybe it’s got some facets ye aint aware o’yet.”

“Sure. That’s a possibility.”