Luck was with us, and we managed to melt a path out of the Stone, though it occurred to me on the way out that if anybody had been listening, they would have been well aware of our plans to leave. Sometimes suspicion is warranted, but at least in that instance I had to guess the guard were busy elsewhere. Not that I regretted the escape; from what had been said, it seemed that many of the people of the city had been converted to zombies and shuffled off through a portal, but I had still helped prevent that number from being greater than it needed it to be. I had no idea how many of the sleepers had been killed when Almondhead collapsed the middle of the fortress, if any, but at least they had not had the opportunity to take them with them when they left. I had defended them from the dragon and fought on their side, even against a former Apex. I felt no need at all to stick around to be questioned.

With my new speed, I could get pretty far away pretty fast, far enough that even a Pinnacle might struggle to find me with a normal search pattern, but we were somewhat limited by the maximum speed of our slowest members. I did consider offering to try to carry them – even at only fifty times normal human I was plenty strong enough to carry three people and hardly notice, though it might be a little awkward. I did not actually make the offer, of course, as Darina at the very least would have likely tried to take my head off.

Which is how we found ourselves running across the dead grass of the plains surrounding Ouhl, heading for the closest settlement we could recall from our flyover. We had not seen any major cities, but the planet was so vast - and population centres relatively rare – that it was no real surprise. We just hoped that they would be able to give us a direction, and that wherever we ended up would have... some method of travel. If not, we were left hoofing it half way down the planet, and as fast we were, we were not that fast. I might be able to make it pretty quick if I stopped to punch somebody periodically, but that would mean leaving everyone behind on the hope that... I would find people to punch.

I had hoped that absorbing the Veritas and Sapience would somehow increase my base capacity, but while they may have, given time, they had both seemingly vanished when Xiournal called me in for my performance review. Either that or it was stuck somewhere and I was going to spontaneously explode; I mostly hoped the dragon has simply removed them, for some reason. It did mean I was back where I was though, until I got into a fight.

The five us spent the next couple of days alternating between running and sleeping; unlike our trip to the Sha Forest, I was not particularly drained by the endeavour, especially with my new and improved pathways. For the third night, we ended up stopping by a toppled statue mostly covered in moss, and it seemed to depict a rather angry looking risi, and the siblings spent some time examining. It turned out that it was probably left during the war that had brought their people to the planet a few-hundred years before; I had not known the giants had ranged so far afield. The planet was so large, with so far between each place that travel seemed like such an impossible thing to accomplish regularly. From what I had been able to see from low orbit, the world was big enough that a normal human might spend hundreds of years moving from one side of the planet to the other, and even a Core or Path stage would take years.

While the brother and sister examined the statue, I thought about possible solutions; our plan was more of a grasping at straws than anything else. Even if we reached another city, there was no guarantee that they would have some method of getting us to our destination any faster than we could run. I thought about making a crude plane that I could power the propellers on, using my increased relativistic speed, with the only minor flaws being that I did not have the materials necessary and did not actually know how planes worked. I felt like it was something I had been taught a long time before, but I could not bring the mechanism to mind in that moment.

It occurred to me that if we could find a dragon – one that had spent less time sipping on the insanity kool-aid – we might be able to hitch a lift back; the Apex of the Crystal Drake might be an Apex, but it was my understanding that in general, an Apex was just a Pinnacle when it came to pure physical ability, so a Pinnacle dragon should be able to get us back almost as fast, in theory. Unfortunately, I did not know where to find a dragon, or how I might convince it to take us where we wanted. My impression of the things was not great at that point, being that one had tried to kill me and a city and the others I had heard of had burned down a jungle...

“Guys, so, I probably should have asked you guys earlier, but... how do people get around? I know we’ve used the Plainsrunners to get around... the plains. And Toria rolls around in a giant golden palace, but this place is huge.”

“There’s usually less of a rush than what we’re facing, Hunter. There are mounts that can travel faster than a human, like the Plainsrunners. And there are skyships, but mostly people take their times, soak in the new experiences, gain a little Experience. What’s a few years, when you can live for thousands? And since you brought it up, and apparently still do not know anything, perhaps now is a good time to tell us all your secrets?”

I had not heard of skyships before, at least on that world; obviously, I had spent a few days aboard one on another world, but I had no idea they were a thing there. I had yet to see one overheard, though to be fair it was not something I was looking for, and if they were not loud, like a plane back home, they might have simply not attracted my notice.

“These skyships, are they faster than foot?”

Darina glared at me for ignoring her prodding; I was not doing it on purpose, my friends had been patient of the past few days, and I had every intention of explaining my circumstances, but I was more concerned with the problem of getting home in that moment. After several seconds of me staring at her expectantly, and her glaring back, Toria interjected.

“A skyship wouldn’t be able to get us back as fast as we arrived, and most of them are designed more for touring over long distances than rapid transport, but there are courier vessels which might make the trip in a few months. I’ve never travelled on one, but other members of the Order have. Sometimes Justice requires service... elsewhere.”

“Damn, so we’re back to months again. I guess I’ve been spoiled by Air Apex. I guess it’s still better than waiting for Jorl or whoever; if there have been multiple attacks, the Apexes may be too busy to come get us.”

“With calm agreement, that is true, Hunter. If the Risen Throne are able to use other worlds as bridges to travel faster, this could be a global attack, in theory. I find it hard to believe they have the numbers, but their attack on Ouhl proved that they are not limited to their own members.”

Reff’s voice was low and even and calmed me down a little; I was starting to let the frustration of effectively being stranded get to me, but I managed to relax with the assistance of his mostly rock-like presence.

“Right. Well, since everyone is here, I guess it’s time I explain myself... Reff already knows. Now, before I start, I need you all to promise you’ll keep it to yourselves, Walker didn’t want me talking about this stuff, but I trust you all. Okay?”

The others shared a glance before turning back to me and one at a time giving me their word that they would not pass on what I was about to say. Taking a deep breath, I settled down into the grass and thought about how to start my story – I would probably skip the suicide aspect, I thought, and then began.

*

***

*

“... And here we are.”

Darina was staring at me hard as I finished my story; I had left out some unimportant details but it was the gist of it all. It had ended up being a lot shorter than I thought, given how much had happened to me, but when only giving the major beats and necessary details it was surprisingly compact.

“Hunter... that is the most ridiculous story I have ever heard; it makes no sense at all and the only reason I’m considering the possibility of it being real is that you are such an idiot that only a truly stupid story could possibly fit you into it.”

“Thanks, Dee. That means a lot coming from you.”

My voice was dry; I had expected a lot of things, but not that, though perhaps I should have, given who Darina was.

“So... Hunter... are you and the Apex of the Multiplicitous Self from the same world?”

“I don’t know; Xiournal wasn’t super-forthcoming about that stuff. She made it sound like she only had access to a few, but I think the pool is probably way wider than she let on. When I was between worlds, a couple of time, the number out there... there didn’t seem to be an end. And she said she had a bunch of us running around the world, doing stuff. I don’t think it matters though, we’re both from here now.”

Reff of course knew it all already, and Riffa sat in quiet contemplation; I had a sneaking suspicion that my friend had told his sister some or all of this, and I could not really blame him; Walker had not actually asked him not to, and she was his sister.

“If I am going to accept that you’re some dead Apex from another plane of existence, at least it explains why you can be so annoying: It must have been your Focus before you died. ‘All fear the Apex of the Endless Irritation!’.”

“Ha ha, Dee. I never said I was an Apex; I could have been an Ascendent. So that’s Ascendent of the Endless Irritation, to you.”

“If you Ascended then there is hope for anyone; I’m surprised that there is anybody left on this world if Ascending is that easy.”

“How about I ascend you to space?”

“How about ascend your face, fool?”

I grinned at the healer, it was nice to know that nothing had changed, to just be treated normally – or as normally as Darina ever did. It occurred to me though, that this world – this plane – was well used to aliens, to people from other words to visit, stay and become part of their new homes. I was from a little further away than most, but that was still my home.

Ignoring our sparkling repartee, Toria spoke before I could respond to the young healer again, which was probably for the best on balance.

“This does shed some more light on a few things... Hunter. I can see how, with the abilities you have – which are very unfair, by the way – how this Apex was such an issue in the past, though I am also glad that his apparent death has lowered his strength to a more manageable level.”

“For now. From what Xiournal said, he – they – will only get stronger as they add people to their army. Zombie horde. Whatever.”

I sighed, hating the wait I knew we were facing; who knew how strong the Risen Throne – The Shadow Faced Guy and Almondhead – would become in the time it took us to find the Apexes.