The five of us were sitting in a room a short distance away from Tain’s office; the room was intact, apart from all the things knocked off shelves, walls and desk, which lay on the rug-covered floor. We had been brought more chairs, so that we could all sit comfortably, but I had opted to sit on the floor, cross-legged; for some reason, it helped me think.

“I cannot believe that idi-the Blood Marshall is keeping us for questioning. After we helped defend this place.”

“It’s understandable, Ever Flowing. We did have advance notice that something was going to happen. It is natural to be a little suspicious.”

“With growing irritation, I do not think he is keeping us here due to our foreknowledge; I think he is annoyed at being controlled, and Hunter’s seeming immunity.”

Reff looked at me then, along with the others; Tain had mentioned the fight, and the others had seemed curious, but Tain had ‘asked’ us to stay here shortly after, and we had been bustled out of his office and into this one without much further fuss. That would probably be coming later.

“I think there are probably a bunch of things he wants to know, or learn from us. He might even just be being petty, he’s kind of an asssole. But I don’t think we can stay here though, from what my... sponsor said, I think this is much bigger than we thought, possibly global. Shit, I don’t even know where to start.”

“How did you avoid being controlled? I saw the gate open, and then all the fighters in grey began to pour in at once. Before that they were all moving in odd coordination, as they were being controlled, so it seem the effect was not limited to Tain.”

I thought about it for a moment, but despite the fact that I had been told to keep it to myself, I did trust the people I was with. I did not want to say anything while we were in the Stone – who knew who could be listening – but I would once we left.

“I’ll tell you once we’ve got out of here; the walls may have ears.”

“With confused consideration, I do not believe that they do, Hunter. They are walls, not creatures.”

Riffa was glancing around at the walls with one raised eyebrow and I remembered who I was speaking to.

“Sorry, I mean somebody could be listening. Walker told me to keep it to myself, so I’d prefer to go over it when there’s nobody around.”

“So, I’m finally going to find out why you’re so strange? I can hardly wait.”

“Yeah, as soon as we’re out of here. That does mean actually getting out though. This place is a maze, unless we can find the giant hole in the middle, we’d just end wandering around at random, risking being discovered.”

“Which makes me wonder, why aren’t we in a cell? I do not think the Lone Slaughter can really believe than an office could contain us, if we chose to leave.”

“I don’t know, Toria; maybe all the cells were in the middle. They’d need to repair them all, if that were the case. Though I don’t know why they’d bother, the pool they were guarding is drained, I’m pretty sure. I don’t think it’s coming back.... or maybe they’re full of sect members. They didn’t kill them all, right?”

“With calming curiosity, what do you mean, which pool, Hunter?”

“Oh, sorry, Reff. I forgot you weren’t here. There was a pool of blood – it belonged to Aman Almondhead, the... former Multiplicitous Self – and it was what was causing the aura. He sucked all the power out of it. Or, some of it. I sucked some of it out too. Anyway, what’s important is that this place,” I gestured round myself at the Stone, “was built to contain it, stop people drinking it, because that’s not gross. Turned ‘em into raving lunatics, apparently.”

“So, how long have you been drinking this blood, Hunter?”

Darina’s voice was amused, and she wore a wry smile. I quirked an eyebrow at her, along with a grin; she did not mean anything by it, and it had actually been funny. A little. Kind of.

“Just the once, so far. Well, I didn’t really drink it, I – you know what, later.”

“This blood belonged to the Multiplicitous Self? I know that some Experience is retained within the body on death, but I did not know that it – or any other remnant - could be gathered or... consumed.”

I recalled Walker draining the left-over Experience from the bodies of the army that had been about to attack Everwood City, right after my arrival and wondered just how common the practice was. I seemed to recall something about it being something only an Apex could do, but I had been pretty out of it at the time.

“I saw Walker suck the Experience from the remains of an Army once, but this wasn’t that. It was rainbow coloured and – nope. Later.”

“With calm redirection, you said the blood belonged to the Multiplicitous Self, we did not discuss this in front of the Blood Marshall, but the man you both fought was the being from the nearby prison?”

“Yeah, Riffa, it was. Much reduced, but him. Seems like Shade may have somebody – or be somebody – from another world, somebody who can control the dead. That’s why the two we fought in the Sha Forest looked so... corpse-like. You remember V saying the one Dee and I killed wasn’t really a Foundation, or whatever? I... heard... that there’s a whole system, and individual strength relies on a couple of things, including how many dead they’re controlling. I think... I think Almondhead might be dead, and has been joined to this network. It would explain why he’s... not at his best. But... certain things that made him strong in life,” I did not want to mention the fact that he was an Apex while people might be listening, and I gave my friends a pointed look, “carried over, somewhat. And I guess now he’s collecting... things like this pool... to get back up closer to where he was.”

“With perturbed consideration, that is a disturbing thought, Hunter. I am aware of the war involving the death cultivators; they were mostly forced back, with only those that controlled immaterial beings managing to make any headway. I cannot imagine them posing a threat of this level, but if one of their number can achieve... what you suspect, they may cause some damage.”

“Not to mention all the attacks the Risen Throne has done without the benefit of a zombie Ap- uh, a top-level zombie, Reff. We need to get out of here and we need to warn the Apexes. I just don’t know how.”

The five of us sat in silence for several minutes, contemplating the issues at hand, lost in thought. After a time, the apprentice healer spoke up, hands still resting on Toria’s shoulders as she worked towards healing her.

“We could wait for the Apex of the Crystal Drake to return; even if it takes months, it would still be faster than walking, or running.”

The suggestion of waiting for Jorl was not something I had expected to hear from Darina, but it did make sense. We had travelled a vast distance inside of Jorl’s crystalline body, much faster than the five of us could run, and faster than the Plainsrunner even, if we could find one. The idea of waiting grated at me though; the Risen Throne could be up to anything while we sat around on our hands or being questioned by Tain and the Blood and Bones. And that was assuming he would be back on time.

“We could set off, meet him on the way? We should still be traveling in however long it takes for him to come back from the Citadel.”

“This assumes he’ll be coming from the Citadel... Hunter. He could be coming from any direction, as the Apexes scattered to the four corners of the world. If there are attacks, he may not be able to return promptly at all.”

“Damn, you’re right, Toria. So that leaves waiting or... trying to head to somewhere they’ll head to. Realistically. Or figuring something out.”

“With vague irritation, the ability to move troops via portals is a huge advantage. It is my understanding that it should not be possible, Hunter’s trips to other worlds notwithstanding.”

“Speaking of your trips to other worlds, I don’t suppose you could pull a world-switch and take us with you, then have somebody drop us back closer to home?”

“No, unfortunately not. Not only am I not allowed to leave the world again any time soon, but without an anchor of some kind they can’t put us back here. That’s why Walker had to keep coming to get me. And even if I could, Reff is right, apparently, uh, regular people can’t survive off-world.”

I saw Darina open her mouth to ask a question, and figuring it was about being regular, I spoke quickly, cutting her off.

“I’ll explain later.”

It seemed like I had guessed correctly, as she closed her mouth with a nod and we went silent again for another few minutes.

“Which city, that an Apex might be heading to is closest, does anybody remember seeing a map?”

“I haven’t seen one; Tain probably has one, but I don’t think he’d be willing to share right now. If we get out, we can ask directions, maybe?”

“That just moves the problem down the road, Hunter. We need to come up with a solution before we act.”

“... Are you okay, Dee? You seem really... cautious, all of a sudden. Don’t get me wrong, it’s kind of nice – seeing you get your neck broken constantly, and stuff, isn’t great.”

“When I have a companion as reckless as you, idiot, I am forced to anticipate idiocy.”

“... Fair enough. But having said that, I don’t think we can come up with a workable plan for... traveling... inside this room. We need more information. I’d say we could ask a sect, but... I’m pretty sure they have bigger worries.”

“With minor vindictiveness, you are correct, Hunter. Once the... source of Tain’s issues left, he was most emphatic in enacting his punishments. Along with the other Guard Pinnacles – of which they have a shocking number – he wiped the sect elders out, along with most of the lower-level members that were present. He has mentioned visiting their homes to confirm the escapees were given no shelter.”

“So, he’s going to be busy for a while. Busier. Thanks, Reff. I suggest we get out of here and head to one of the villages we passed, ask for directions to the next nearest city. Or even head back to the prison; maybe we can mess with it in some way to attract an Apex.”

We discussed other options for a short while, but what we could actually do was really limited, so it did not last long. Eventually, we agreed that we could not waste time sitting around waiting for Tain to let us go and Reff suggested melting our way out of the building.

I had never seen Reff really using his heat abilities directly against anything; when we had been in the Sha Forest, he had used it to reduce the ambient temperature, and when he was fighting, heat radiated from his lava armour, but it seemed that his Exemplar – his Path – was actually the direct control of of all heat, and he just liked to use it for his armour, as that was the easiest for him.

I watched in fascination as my tall friend placed his hand flat on the ceiling, and as it began to glow, and finally flow down his arm to vanish into storage, apparently. I shuddered at the thought of him doing that out of the blue to a person and I could kind of see why he did not; that sort of invisible ability could make people afraid of you.

In short order, an opening had been melted in the celling wide enough for everyone to fit through, with no cry of alarm. We had counted on there being no alarms, but it was a pretty safe bet since the wards protecting the place had been shattered.

We leapt through the cap and began to make our way up, one room at a time, and luckily, encountered nobody.