I should’ve tried to talk to Maya as soon as I got here, Lisa thought as she headed toward the central ziggurat. Trying to snoop around beforehand has only led me in circles.

When Lisa touched down, she searched around the ziggurat’s base for an entrance, eventually finding one on its northwestern face. Lisa wasn’t surprised to find the entrance shuttered, even though city-seeds were always supposed to have their ground-floor welcome-centers open around the clock. It was one more inconsistency that supported the idea that something was seriously wrong.

Unfortunately for her, the door had been built with super-strength in mind, and she found that it wouldn’t budge to force. She decided to use a bit of concentrated flame–the kind she usually produced for accelerated flight–to weaken the door...only to find that it must have been made of spineroot rather than dragonleaf.

She stared at the door for a moment, then hissed in frustration. Damn it, Bath, you’re too vicious! Who the hell would ever be able to muster the fire power to breach a spineroot fortress, much less a door? Flameproof, waterproof, acid proof, and she was pretty sure plasma proof...None of their enemies would ever stand a chance. While Lisa was eager to have such an annoying building material on her side, at the moment, she felt powerless.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been stumped like this, she thought to herself, frowning. She sensed that there were a few shells in the ziggurat, but she didn’t know whose they were. One could be Maya’s, or they could all belong to regular staff. Someone has to be on the inside to open this door, Lisa figured, given that there was no visible unlocking mechanism on the outside. Even attempts to interface with and communicate with the spineroot led to failure, its surface sealed by a thin, glassy veneer.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pinch on her ankle. She whipped around, coming face to face with a snake the size of her arm. It didn’t look particularly dangerous, its scales a muddy color that suggested it wasn’t poisonous.

Before she could kick it aside, she buckled forward, her face a mask of revulsion. She held her arm out to the ziggurat’s pale wall as she struggled to keep the contents of her stomach. At the same time, she noticed the world starting to grow dizzy, an effect which seemed to compound her nausea. Her bleary eyes noticed the snake slithering back over, but she couldn’t seem to will her body to move.

No! Lisa thought, breath coming out in short pants. I absolutely refuse to let this stupid snake touch me!

She closed her eyes, hoping to reduce her sense of dizzy vertigo. She immediately switched over to echolocation to visualize the world around her.

You little...she thought, clenching her teeth. She waved a hand; the motion felt sluggish, as though she were swimming in molasses. But the gesture had its desired effect: the snake flew backward, repelled by a wave of force as Lisa flexed her administrator boon force pulse.

What the hell? she thought, her echolocation painting a continuously updating picture of her surroundings. Up from the ground had popped several more snakes, their mouths within striking distance of her legs.

Lisa knew she was in bad shape: she felt like she could pass out at any second, and any kind of movement left her with a sense of gut-wrenching nausea. Worst of all was that she couldn’t even sense the shells of her assailants.

Actually, that’s not true, she thought. They still have something faint. They didn’t have shells, so to speak, but they seemed to have something, almost like a kernel that might have the potential to generate a shell.

If anything, the small, dull kernels reminded her of Lepochim’s sealed shell.

But she didn’t have time to mull over this realization. Using all her strength, she bent down, then pushed off the ground. She used her magnetic sense to alter her trajectory, aiming for anywhere not in the city. Given the location of Tollan in southern Mexico, this meant any of the verdant forests at the city-seed’s perimeter.

Lisa crashed gracelessly through a grove of trees, her body carving a trail of torn up dirt and snapped branches. As she came to an abrupt stop, she felt like every bone in her body was broken, and her muscles were mush.

It was a struggle to stay awake, but Lisa wasn’t willing to give into the embrace of sleep. She was here on a mission, after all, and this attack had cemented her growing feelings of unease. It was undeniable that Tollan needed help.

Instead of sleeping off the effects of the snake venom, she began to intentionally hasten the healing process, not satisfied to rely on the passive recovery of her caretaker boons. Unfortunately, she had let her caretaker boons languish since reaching Expert rank, relying on Bath to repair and enhance her body. She laughed bitterly as she realized how this reliance was coming back to bite her.

“I can’t believe...I let a few little snakes...get the better of me.” Shaking her head, Lisa finally grabbed her phone and made a call to Nevis.

The dial tone rang five times before she finally picked up.

Jeez, I was worried someone jammed my phone. Nevis usually picked up as soon as Lisa dialed her number. She’s probably just busy with something, Lisa figured.

“Lisa,” Nevis said, her voice a bit strained. “How’s Tollan? Didja find any sacrificial rituals?”

Lisa breathed in deeply. “No, but I’ve found something else.” She explained the situation, noting the seemingly normal activities of humans and quasies before dark and the stark contrast after the sun went down.

The wasp quasi seemed profoundly incensed by the situation.

“How could none of my spearrows or falcons report back to me about any of this?” she hissed. “They all reported that things were fine. Fine!”

“Hey, Nevis, it’s probably–”

“No!” the wasp quasi retorted, seeming to forget herself. She immediately coughed before carrying on. “Sorry, please continue.”

Lisa’s mouth twitched. “It’s probably a kursi that’s to blame,” she said. “I bet that they somehow managed to fool the spearrows and falcons that you sent over.”

“How?”

Lisa paused. “Remember what my Aunt and Uncle were going on about? With human kursi having special, alternate abilities?”

“Yes,” Nevis replied. “Actually...here, I’ve pulled up my database on it.”

Lisa recoiled. “Database?”

Nevis laughed mischievously. “I’ve been trying to find out more information on these abilities. We’ve pretty much roped all of our brown robes into telling us what they know. Like Bern said, most kursi have an ability that allows them to dominate people, creating mind-slaves. Some of them have different abilities, though; we found at least two kursi who also have the ability to change people’s memories.”

“Well, that’s what I think is going on here,” Lisa said. “Additionally, every animal that’s come after me has been altered in some way, by someone who has probably invested a lot of PP into flesh shaping. On top of that, their shells are weird.”

“Define, ‘weird.’”

Lisa sighed. “It’s hard to explain. Actually, Nevis, is Lepochim available?”

“Yeah, he’s...”

There was a sudden crackling, as though someone had bumped into Nevis’ microphone.

“What?” Lepochim said, his voice tinged with annoyance.

“Wow, that was fast...” Lisa murmured, narrowing her eyes. “Let me give you a quick recount of–”

“I heard everything,” Lepochim muttered. “I think you’re probably onto something, but I don’t see why you need my help for this.”

“Lepochim, do you know anything about how the shells of dominated people look?” Lisa had seen them a while back, when she visited Ritus for the first time, but wanted to make sure her memory was right.

He sighed deeply. “They should appear like normal shells.”

“Then that can’t be what’s happening here,” Lisa stated. “Do you know of any kursi abilities that might partially seal shells?”

“No, none that I’m aware of. Though it is possible that the domination of creatures without sapience, such as the creatures that attacked you, might result in a receding shell.” He paused, as though mulling this possibility over. “Though, I’d say it would take a fairly powerful kursi to produce that effect.”

Lisa didn’t like the sound of that. “I thought we took all kursi into COTD by force?”

Lepochim snorted. “We took in the major organizations by force, but not loners. Those are far too difficult to track down. Additionally, there are a few kursi clans that we left autonomous.”

“Why would we do that?”

“It’s very difficult to subjugate an entire clan of kursi,” Lepochim explained wryly. “Those that remained are ones that Bath failed to visit.”

Oh. Lisa supposed that made sense. Bath had focused on targeting the kursi groups with the most power and influence. When COTD was first taking over, their main focus wasn’t necessarily subjugating each and every kursi, but creating a powerful force to keep peace among the masses.

“Do you think...a group of kursi is to blame?” Lisa asked.

“I think you should back out of Tollan,” Nevis interjected. “If you’re up against an entire contingent of kursi...things might not turn out well.”

Sensing Lisa’s reticence, she continued. “Battles between kursi aren’t pretty. People often become kursi cannon fodder, and it sounds to me like Tollan’s already had enough violence if the entire populace stays indoors at night.”

Lepochim snorted. “You’re also a young kursi, Church. Powerful for your age–powerful beyond all reason–but still young. You’d probably lose if you stuck around.”

Lisa felt her face turning red.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” she replied. “What’s the back up plan, though?”

“Who do you think?”

Right. Who else?

“Alright, I’ll be back soon.”

Lisa couldn’t quell a feeling of insignificance worming its way to the forefront of her thoughts. This entire mission had been a disaster. Here she was, Church of COTD, “supposedly” equal to and foil of the Dragon, and yet she couldn’t handle one troubled city.

She was too unobservant, and hadn’t noticed anything suspicious during the day. She hadn’t even thought to find Maya. In her arrogance, she hadn’t been on her guard even after she realized modified animals could avoid her detection.

In the end, she’d barely gotten away.

And here I thought I’d made some real progress, Lisa thought, expression blank as the wind streamed against her head. But it seems like training with Bath has only made me really good at synergizing with him, rather than making myself powerful enough to stand on my own.

Lisa put on a burst of speed, twin flames jetting out behind her. Her mind immediately gravitated to a person who could help her get strong enough to settle things on her own, someone who wouldn’t want to focus on her kursi abilities over her physical might and battle instincts.

But first, she needed to see Bath.

---

“I cannot believe you put me on like that,” Lepochim grumbled, sulking from his position on the divan within Nevis’ office. “The Church didn’t even need to speak with me.”

“It was her request,” Nevis pointed out, clicking something and then typing a few words. She then turned away from the monitor, her chair swiveling until she faced Lepochim. “Am I supposed to just refuse her?”

Lepochim narrowed his eyes and looked away. “No.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Nevis looked at him with big, innocent eyes.

Lepochim tersely patted his robes. “I should leave.”

Nevis leaned back in the chair, placing her elbow on the arm rest and cradling her chin with a hand. She leaned forward. “So soon? I still don’t even know why you came.” He had walked in just as Lisa started her call.

Lepochim looked at her with a dour expression, his lips forming a tight line.

You always have such a big stick up your ass, Nevis thought, smiling. She gingerly stood up from the chair, her legs sashaying back and forth as she approached the pale, yellow-eyed Deepthink. She put a finger under his chin, then tilted his face up until his eyes locked with hers.

“Two words,” she said, holding up two fingers with her left hand. “Chill. Out.”

By the time she finished uttering the second word, her lips were a scant inch away from his.

Nevis wasn’t surprised, however, when Lepochim tilted his head to the side, stuck out two hands to buttress her shoulders, and stood up. He about faced sharply, eyes glinting as he excused himself from the room.

Nevis sighed, then slinked back to her chair.

So close! she thought, staring intently at her door. One of these days...you’re mine!