By the time I remembered that I had questions for Walker, he and Aella were long gone. Slapping myself in the forehead, I went over what I still needed to do in my head, but quickly came to realise that I had done everything I needed to do before we’d leave – I had topped up my supply of alchemical potions and pills, purchased emergency clothing, given Gia her message, and Sonja the body to study. Which left me with nothing much to do; I had expected practice and subsequent discussions to take significantly longer than they had, leaving me somewhere in the late afternoon at a loose end.

For a moment, I considered going to find Toria to take her up on the offered spar, but quickly dismissed the idea, as she was likely staying in the giant wheeled palace, and I had no interest in running into Chian, Kestin or... pretty much anybody else involved in her religion. While I knew that the Apex of the Sun’s Judgement and Kestin were not necessarily representative of the entire religion – especially given there was no direct contact with the gods – neither one of them had made a favourable impression. There was also the fact that, as I understood it, the way a person became a Paladin – or a person of any real tank in a religion there – was by integrating some kind of divine spark, which was only available when a person was truly in line with a deity. Which in turn probably meant Weilou was a real asshole.

I set off to find my friends, but stopped before I made it out of the room; I had no idea where any of them where, and it was not like the Blacksand Citadel was a small place. On my last visit, we had mostly met at agreed upon places at agreed upon times, but we had utterly failed to make any such plans on that day, which I attributed to the sheer amount of things going on, and the fact that we had spent a good while within a few hundred feet of each other. You do not need to arrange when you are sleeping within a few feet of each other.

It also occurred to me that while we had agreed to fly with – I was starting to suspect I was doomed to spend a lot of time inside people - the Apex of the Crystal Drake the next day, we also had not determined where or when... Maybe potentially limitless lifespans made planning ahead less important? Still, as somebody who had only been on that track for less than half a year, I should be doing better. But there was a solution, though it was only available because my ride was an Apex.

“Uh, Jorl? You Apex of the Crystal Drakeness?” I felt his attention focus on me, like an entire hall of people turning to look at me at once, and listening. “Ugh, what time are we supposed to meet tomorrow? And where?” Images and sensations – supposedly muted by my Agency – flowed about me, flitting into my mind and giving the impression of a rising sun and sand beneath vast doors.

“Outside the main gates, at dawn?” I felt a phantom slap on my back that made me want to stumble, followed by the sensation of a heavy guffaw, before the attention relaxed and faded to nothing.

“Right then. Thanks!”

Not knowing what to do with myself, I decided to get some practice in - I knew I would have about a week before we arrived at the prison, which was plenty of time to cultivate, and with the added Experience of flying - inside – a giant crystal dragon! That was not something that happened every day, even on a world so packed with wonders.

*

***

*

I woke up well before dawn, as I most often did by now, given my decreased need for sleep. But unlike most days, when I emerged from sleep on that day, I felt a tingle of excitement inside. Even with as spectacular as my adopted home was, most of my days had been traveling or trepidation, with the truly invigorating things coming as surprises, not presenting me with the opportunity to anticipate.

But there I was, waking up to go dragon-riding, to visit the prison of a world-killer, and despite the gravity of the situation, I could not help but grin as I shot out of bed. I had almost a year to stop it, which meant I had plenty of time to enjoy beforehand.

Dressing quickly, I made sure I had everything in my rings, and not wanting to wait, ran for the nearest moving platform to begin making my way down to the ground floor.

When I arrived, I was only slightly surprised to find my friends waiting for me, though I was significantly more surprised to see Riffa standing next to her brother. Of course, Toria was nowhere to be seen, and I suspected she was still within the golden palace. Probably being lectured, as Chian seemed the type.

Walking over to the group, smiling in greeting. It was strange to me how quickly I had grown used to seeing them every day, to the point that even my sojourn to another world for weeks on end had not really shifted the expectation.

“Hey, guys! I wasn’t expecting you, Riffa; I guess you managed to convince your brother again?”

“In marked happiness, I was unable to convince our elder brother this time, Hunter. It was Reff on this occasion who stepped in to argue for my presence.”

I blinked in momentary shock; the first time we had headed together, Reff had gone out of his way to dissuade his little sister from accompanying us, even to the point of having the two of us spar. I had to wonder what had changed, since if anything this was likely to be more dangerous than the last time.

“With partial falsehood, I believe it will be good for Riffa’s growth. You have a tendency to attract unexpected situations, Hunter. In addition, my sister’s sand sculptures were of assistance on multiple occasions.”

It was not hard to see the big guy was hiding something, and not simply because he literally started by saying so. Reff’s tone had that weird tone people get when they’re trying to be overly convincing, even if it was somewhat muted by his relative lack of expression. To me, it said simply that he had become as used to having his little sister around as I had all of them, and he just wanted to spend more time with her. It was sweet, but also a clear indication that he had more respect for her strength than he had before.

I felt my smile widen into a grin and I slapped my giant fiend on the leg, to which he raised one perfect black eyebrow at me.

“It’ll be good to have you with us again, Riffa. Somebody’s got to keep Reff in check; all the joking and tantrums just get out of hand when you’re not around.”

I heard Darina snort, though Riffa merely nodded and took what I said at face value. It still amazed me that they considered my friend’s behaviour to be anything but exemplary; I had seen him enraged, and it was still pretty sedate compared to people. I had also sort of seen his brother Raaf express anger, though it was tough to call a giant stone hand rising from the floor really seeing him. But it at least showed that a temper – however minor – ran in the family. And it was not as if I had never seen Riffa herself cut loose a little. It made me wonder if there was more to Reff’s supposed rage that I had yet to see, or whether there were subtleties at play that I was simply not picking up.

“Did you guys already say goodbye to your brother and Master? Walker had to leave suddenly with Aella yesterday.”

“With careful tact, our brother was... most vexed with us, after the effort we put forward in convincing him.”

I tried to imagine the siblings calmly hassling their older brother in even tones and almost laughed at the image popped into my head. I imagined it had probably taken a lot of very level badgering.

“My Master gave me some pointers on how to further Integrate my Exemplar last night, but left with the Apex of the Wild Bounty for the Sha Forest shortly after. I think they were spurred on by the event that caused the Apex of the Infinite Blades to leave.”

I nodded slowly at that, thinking that the open and direct attack on a highly placed member of the Association marked a clear step-up in the Risen Throne’s behaviour. They had attacked before, but it had been on Tang and I, they had not dared strike Ro directly. I did not think they would dare try for the phoenix egg again, since they had thrown a significant force at the endeavour before and clearly failed, but perhaps a strike at the Association’s presence there? They clearly had an interest in Alchemy, and it made sense that if they were going to openly go to war with the Association, they would try to get all they could before the alchemists could organise a counter.

“I guess it’s just us then. Should we wait for Toria to come out of the palace, or wait outside? It’s still at least an hour until dawn.”

“We should wait outside; if the Apex of the Crystal Drake arrives early, then we can leave early. I understand that your highly suspicious messenger says we have almost a year, but sooner is better. The attack on the phoenix Elder came sooner than the limit given, as did the attacks on Honoured Alchemist Ben Won Ro, in which you were kidnapped, correct?”

I felt myself begin to sweat as Darina spoke; it was something I had not really thought about, but the time limit given by Xiournal often had their conclusions after the actual events. My first mission had come to an end while I had been on another world, well over a week after I hid the pill and thwarted the Risen Throne’s attempts at taking it. And that timer had not been long at all. It was possible the attempt to free or kill the Multiplicious Self would come far sooner than I had been thinking.

“Shit. You’re right, let’s wait outside.”

The four of us moved outside, the many-tiered gate sliding open without a sound as a guard waved us through. As we stepped outside, I had yet another surprise waiting for me, as I saw Toria stood with her hands clasped behind her back and wearing a fresh golden breastplate that reflected the still flowing lights of the blacksand back at us.

As we walked over, the woman turned and greeted us with a short nod. I was about to wave back when a gale from above us pushed the clinging mist of the desert night out in a circle, along with a wave of sand that had us shielding out eyes.

When the wind had passed, we peeked out from behind our hands to see Jorl Snowblinder standing in the centre of the slowly filling circle of mist, massive crystal wings stretching out from his back.

“Good! You’re all here. I know it’s early, but we should get going. The Risen Throne have stepped up their attacks, and we think they might be trying to distract us. The others are slapping themselves over agreeing to our going, as it has been pointed out to me that if I go at my top speed, you will all likely die. So... two weeks. I think Ai’rong would have gone himself anyway, but... something came up. Ugh!”

The deluge of words came out of Jorl rapidly, and it was the most I had heard the man say. Unlike the other times I heard him speak, there was a slight accent to his words, though not one I could place, as he was speaking too fast, almost yelling into the rainbow night.

There was a snap and another – smaller – gust of wind and Jorl vanished and reappeared a distance away, tiny only visible at a glance because of the line of disturbed sand pointing right at him. There was a sound like creaking ice and from the point at which he stood the dragon my friends and I had seen outside of the Sha Forest began to form, growing deceptively fast until it stood over us, colossal even beside the enormity of the Blacksand Citadel.

As we watched, the crystalline leviathan bent down so that its head was close to the ground, and in what seemed like it was meant to be a whisper, spoke.

“Come on, get in my mouth, I made a space for you inside. We’re wasting time!”

I say it was meant to be a whisper, because I was fairly sure the sibilant roar must have awoken any still sleeping souls in the tower, and maybe even Everwood City. My ears ached at the pressure, and the words were barely discernible from the distortion.

Not overly keen on climbing into a giant dragon’s mouth – or spending much more time inside somebody – I hesitated, looking at my friends, and Toria. They seemed almost as trepidatious as I was, but as we glanced between us, I saw them square their shoulders and begin to run towards the crystal maw. With a shrug, I shook myself free of the distaste I felt about it, and ran after them.

As we approached the mouth, I saw that the surface of the dragon was cut into careful facets, trillions of reflecting faces scattering and refracting the light. It was amazing, and beautiful, and made only slightly less so by two eyes staring down at us, each bigger than a large house. Coming close to the tongue, we stopped and I considered the best way of entering; I did not know if the Apex could feel with the crystal, or if he would be comfortable with us clambering over his tongue. Luckily, as I stared up at the issue, the tongue itself seemed to melt and flow, forming a staircase of carefully angled cut.

The five us shared another glance, at which I caught the huge eyes rolling. With a grin, I stepped out in front and with only a minor hesitation, began the long climb.

*

***

*

Eight days had passed in the belly – or chest compartment – of the dragon. The Apex had created a number of sleeping chambers and a central meeting space within his town-sized chest, though with it all being clear crystal, there was little privacy to be had. The refractory nature of the internal structure had been something of a surprise when I had first entered my own sleeping chamber to find the image of Darina somehow on the ceiling and three of the four walls. A quiet word to Jorl had caused him to shift his innards slightly to remove the strange trick of light, which I was very grateful for. I could only imagine what strangeness the others were experiencing in their own rooms.

The floor was the only part of the smallish complex of rooms that was perfectly clear, and it was truly breath-taking to look down and see the world as if nothing stood between us but empty air. I could see the world curve off in every direction, and remembering what the Apex had said about low orbit, I concluded that the planet must be truly vast in a way that had not been readily apparent to me. It was one thing to try to compare speed and time to get distance, but it was another look down as the ground fell away and truly see it.

I did not know quite how fast we were traveling – the height made such things deceptive, but I was certain we flew over the Sha Forest the day after we left, a patch of dark green that appeared the same size as my palm. And in comparison to the rest of the world, barely any distance at all from where we had started.

I had been meditating daily, and had been topped up for days, the spectacular views providing an Experience that drew in the energy of the world at almost the same pace I had experienced on the dead world. None of us had quite worked up the nerve to practice inside the dragon, but as we were all somewhat occupied with taking in the world below, it had not been boring by any stretch of the imagination.

Stretching as I rose from my strangely comfortable crystal bed, I looked down at the ground below with a smile before turning my eyes up to the stairs that shone above. I stayed like that for a long minute, until I found my vision disturbed by the appearance of a crystal tablet, smoky and grey in colour as opposed to the clean transparency of the Apex’s crystal body.

What I saw written in dark script made me break out in a cold sweat, despite my inability to feel cold.

Assignment Received... Difficulty B+… Time Limit: 0 years, 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes.

Prevent the escape of Anan Al’monhad.

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

Status: Failed.