“Voran,

Sometime in the coming months I suspect that one or more Apexes will arrive to investigate to Site 10294. The presence of our new Asset, once functional again, will inevitably result in such precautionary confirmation. As they are presently gathering for some meeting at Target 8, they will likely arrive from the South, so ensure you are at least 3 miles from Site 10294, on the North side of the valley.

There is a small possibility they will show up sooner, as to this point there has been significant unforeseeable interference from both them and their minions; conspicuous in his presence is Irritation 516 – should Irritation 516 arrive at Site 10294, it is unlikely that he will enter. If he is left without Apex protection, seek to recapture; there is something peculiar about him, and as such he may result in a useful Asset. Your inability to retain and recapture him has already resulted in the disruption of more than a dozen threads. ̶D̶I̶S̶R̶U̶P̶T̶E̶D̶ ̶T̶H̶R̶E̶A̶D̶S̶ ̶A̶N̶D̶ ̶U̶N̶F̶O̶R̶S̶E̶E̶A̶B̶L̶E̶ ̶T̶H̶I̶N̶S̶G̶S̶ ̶C̶A̶N̶N̶O̶T̶ ̶B̶E̶ ̶T̶O̶L̶E̶R̶A̶T̶E̶D̶!̶ ̶W̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶l̶u̶c̶k̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶f̶u̶l̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶f̶a̶i̶l̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶!̶ ̶D̶e̶a̶t̶h̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶t̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶,̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶k̶e̶e̶p̶ ̶u̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶.̶ Of course, he may not show up at all; it may be pure chance bringing him into our plans. If he is not in attendance, make a note of which Apex or Apexes arrive and have a runner take it to Site 829 for pickup.

Once confirmation of identity has been sent, make your way to Sites 828 and 830 and begin plucking at those threads. The situation is not ideal, but there is sufficient slack within the plan to account for the disruption, provided Phase 18 is initiated on time. Irritation 52 and Threads 1522 through 9164 require personal attention, so transportation will be limited in the near future, and rescue from further imprisonments.... unlikely.

DotRT.”

I read the letter out loud in the tent, one eyebrow raised at the threats in the middle – they were written strangely, almost erratically, as if they had been added by somebody different than the writer of the text. I also – and call me crazy for this – thought that ‘Irritation 516’ might be referring to me. I wondered if it was numbered in order or how irritating a person or thing was, or whether it was in order of being encountered. If it was the former, I found myself suddenly wanting to meet five-hundred and fifteen people, just so I could figure out how I could be more annoying to the Risen Throne. The latter was less fun, but certainly indicated that whoever D of the Risen Throne was, they were both very irritable and prone to holding grudges. Of course, given the erratic threats, I assumed that D was The Shadow Faced Guy, though I thought my name for him more descriptive and decided to keep it. Although, to be fair, he had seemed to be a massive D...

There was a lot to take in contained within the letter; besides the assumed reference to me, there were a lot of numbers, which suggested both a complex organization, as well as a – hopefully – overly complicated plan. Complicated plans were good, because they were easier to disrupt, having so many points of possible failure. Of course, it did seem like the Risen Throne had contingencies built in, but hopefully the number of points of redundancy were less than the points of failure. Either way, there was a Site within running distance, though on my new home that could mean anywhere within a hundred-thousand miles, depending on the speed of the runner. Hopefully they had sent – assuming they had sent – a Core or Path stage cultivator, as if it was a Foundation stage or above, that distance grew to... a lot more.

“With considered thought, beyond the acknowledgement that you – and in turn we – have indeed disrupted their plans to date, I am not sure this document is of much use to us.”

Reff spoke softly, trying not to disturb the still sleeping Darina; I did not know of what use it was, if the battle involving giants stumbling about outside had not woken her, I doubted a level conversation would.

“With adamant disagreement, it shows us the breadth of their plans. The writer mentions many sites and threads – thousands. This is not a small undertaking. It also shows that they have apparently planned for a certain number of failures. We can infer that this group has existed for a long time, to cover so much ground, both literal and metaphorical.”

“Riffa is right, this isn’t a new group. Being able to cheat their way around the world may reduce the time needed to spread to the extent they have, but from this letter, Shade – D – may be the only one capable of it, and he evidently can’t be in more than one place at once. Which, you know. Is good.”

Part of what the Apexes had discussed had been whether the abilities shown by the Shadow Faced Guy were something like a system, akin to cultivation or any of the other apparently myriad methods of using Experience. I think they would be relieved that it was starting to look like it was just a single aberration. I wondered whether there were systems that popped up in individuals, through experimentation, or maybe mutations that never made it to the stage that they could be used en masse.

And that was the moment I had something of a minor revelation; what if these abilities were not ‘natural’, but rather the result of an Agent being granted abilities? I wracked my mind trying to remember all of the choices, but I had spent maybe weeks making my first choices, looking through a near endless list of abilities. There was simply no way I could recall them all, but thinking back, none stood out as being able to generate portals, and as I thought about it, it seemed less and less likely. Xiournal seemed very keen on me not moving between worlds, though perhaps that might change if she needed me on another client planet. I growled in the privacy of my own mind; trying to second guess myself based on the attributed motivations of demi-divine beings was probably a good way to drive myself mad.

If the Shadow Faced Guy was an Agent, despite my still imperfect memory of the available abilities, I was willing to bet that he was probably pretty far off-script. I had to imagine that one Ascended messing with another Ascended’s efforts in this way would result in more of a direct conflict, rather than sort of just pointing me at them.

Cracking the knuckles on my right hand to relieve some accumulated stiffness, I looked back at the letter, reading it once more in silence before looking back up to Reff and Riffa.

“Are there any cities or towns near here? Villages, sects, anything?”

“With frustrated regret, this is further than I have previously ventured, Hunter, and was unfortunately unconscious upon arrival, so I was unable to view the lands surrounding this location.”

“In resigned agreement, it is the same for me as it is for my brother, Hunter. Perhaps Darina will remember some features when she wakes, but otherwise we will likely need to wait for the Crystal Drake’s return, unless a map of some kind can be found within the effects of the cultists.”

“That’s a good point, Riffa. Can you two check that? I’m going to scout around a little, make sure there aren’t any more of them skulking about. If there are, knowing my luck, I’ll run into them eventually.”

Both of the risi offered me nods, and I handed them the letter to peruse at their own leisure before slipping out of the tent. I could see Toria standing a short distance away under another of the huge stone arches, and made my way over. I walked over through the rain, still damp from earlier, but with my ability to ignore the leaching chill, it felt more like a shower than rain, and without the gut reaction to get out of it, it was actually quite pleasant.

“Nam-Hunter... How is the Ever Flowing?”

“She seems fine, still sleeping. Hopefully she’ll be up and about soon.”

“It must have been exhausting, to keep herself awake and then to heal us all, I can understand the necessity of sleep.”

“Yeah, it must have taken a lot of Praxis, and willpower.”

We stood for a few moments as the rain fell around us, silent except for the white noise.

“I left the letter I found with Reff and Riffa, if you want to read it when you’re watch is up. And if you looted anything from the Risen Throne, could you check for any maps? It’s to do with the letter, you’ll understand when you read it.”

“I have inventoried what I took from the dead, and found no map, though I did find an observation array which I suspect they used to keep watch on this stone circle from wherever they lay in wait.”

“Interesting. I wonder where outside the three-mile minimum they were stationed,” I saw Toria raise a black eyebrow at the mention of the minimum, and I went on to explain. “They were told to stay at least three miles away from here. I can’t tell how far away the hills are, scale is a whole issue here.”

Tora gave me another questioning look, but I just waved it off; I did not want yet another person trying to dig into my past. Thankfully, Toria simply shrugged, seeming to dismiss the comment.

“I’m going to scout a bit, make sure there aren’t anymore. I’ll start by heading off in the direction they came from, see if I can find their camp.”

“You are sufficiently re-filled from the fight?”

I winced a little at the reminder – I had done no active cultivation since the fight, too busy with other things, and as a result my stores of Praxis were basically where they had been, but it would likely take days of concerted effort to get myself back to full, and there may not be enough time if there were more of them out there. But I was at least confident that – unless they had a Pinnacle stage, or another speed focused cultivator – I would be able to get away from anybody trying to chase me.

“Not really, but I think I can probably get away from any trouble if I need to. I’ll be careful.”

“You seem competent, so I will assume you know what you’re doing.”

I blinked, nonplussed for a moment at the easy acceptance of my - supposed – competence, before I realised that she had only seen me kick-ass, to that point. She had not been present for any of the times it was my ass getting kicked, so it was a fairly natural assumption, and one I was not going to disabuse her of.

I offered Tora a thumbs up – which was met with a confused glance – and jogged off into the trees. I chose not to use my abilities, wanting to refill my Praxis not spend it; instead, I relied on my normal core stage speed, which while still slow compared to what I was capable of, was also fifty times faster than a normal human. Which meant I could jog at about three-hundred miles an hour, though I chose to move considerably slower than that, as visibility wasn’t great and the ground was slick with rain and flecked with protruding roots. I set a nice, casual pace of about a hundred miles per hour as I began to really absorb recent events; a lot had happened, since my last round of cultivation. Failing my quest, being knocked out by g-forces, the stone circle and the fight, and the stuff in the letter. As I internalised the lessons and Experiences, focusing on each moment, I felt energy flow into me as my Core thrummed pleasantly, the liquid, golden joy of cultivation washing through me.

It did not take me long to reach the hills in the direction from which the Risen Throne had come, my climb beginning only fifteen or twenty minutes in, putting the hills at about thirty-miles distant. Within another five minutes, I was stood on their peaks, looking back in the direction I had come from. The stone circle was visible, though only vaguely at that distance, and I could see why they would need an array, or some other device to keep watch.

Looking around for clues, I found nothing that gave any sign that anybody else had... ever... been present at my location. I spent half an hour walking back and forth across the hilly expanse, looking for depressions or any clues, but found nothing.

I had just about made up my mind to circumnavigate the valley when another vague feeling of danger tingled its way up my spine; looking around quickly, I saw nothing, until I felt a vibration in the ground and a tunnel opened up less than a dozen feet from me. Out of the entrance emerged two people, a man and a woman of roughly equal height.

I did not know with certainty that the two figures were part of the Risen Throne, by my Instinctive Precognition seemed to suggest there was danger present.

“Well now, it looks as though somebody is wandering where they shouldn’t.”

The man’s voice was deep but casual, his tone almost friendly.

“Looks like one of the targets managed to get away from Voran; he’ll be pretty mad, but pretty happy if we catch him...”

I guessed they did not have a second array, or at least had not witnessed any part of the fight. I wished that I could tell what stage they were at, though it was unlikely that they were at the Foundation if they were looking to make V happy.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but V’s dead. And the big diamond guy.”

“That’s a bold claim to make; Voran said he knew everyone present and only one of them was at the Foundation. One Foundation and a bunch of Core of Paths against two and many?”

The man still sounded like he was having a pleasant chat at a café, though the woman’s response was a little more strained.

“Still... it is strange that they’re not back yet, Bient.”

“It’s not that strange, you know how much the boss likes to play.”

“That’s true, I suppos-”

“Hey, you two.” I clapped to get their attention, cutting them off. “He’s not torturing anybody, he’s dead. How about you two tell me where... Site... eight... two... nine? Site eight-two-nine is?”

That seemed to catch their attention, and I could practically see the gears turning in their heads as they considered what I had said.

“Well, if what you say is true – and knowing about Site eight-two-nine certainly suggests that you do – maybe we need to engage in a little torture. It’s what Voran would have wanted.”