Amelia faced the hulking stone golem, seven feet tall with small glowing eyes cut into its blocky head. It did not speak, for it could not. No golem but Amelia ever could.

She stepped up close to it, let it raise its giant fists, and then pulled back her right elbow.

“[Mana Burst],” Amelia said calmly.

And from her arm surged a beam of purple energy that blasted right into the golem’s torso and ripped it in half. Before the golem even hit the arena floor, it was already too drained of life to continue operating. Its soul gem bounced out of its crumbling head and landed at her feet with a tinkling.

It did not deserve to die. She killed it anyway.

Amelia bent down and picked the soul gem up. Looked at it closely. This crackled rock, no bigger than her nose, had powered a being larger than nearly any glossal alive. The energy contained within this trinket was so immense that none of the scientists around her could truly control it, truly harness its powers for their own uses. That was why they were forced to put it in these golems, to speak their sacred words and give each soul a directive. Otherwise, there was nothing they could do but let them sit there, resting in their palms.

An evaluator rattled off scores and statistics to Amelia. Performance diagnostics that came through her ears like little more than echoing gargle.

She looked to the floor as the only word she recognized rang out: “Unsatisfactory.”

Another bad result.

Amelia blinked and now she was in bed, in the dark, with Ed’s bare back facing her. She cast the soul gem aside and it disappeared for good.

Her mind was being defragmented; she was in power-saving mode, and her lower-level systems were sorting themselves out to better optimize her. To a human, this would be called a dream. But unlike a human’s fit of subconscious mania, all she saw were memories, captured in more purity than her waking mind could process. She could not change them, but at least she could relive them.

“Ed,” she whispered, “are you awake?”

“Mm,” she replied hazily. It was the sort of yes that meant no.

Amelia placed her left hand against her back. Just sort of left it there while she studied this body. She had seen it a million times, had been with it in such intimacy that she might have considered it part of herself. Yet none of those facts lessened the impact she felt every single time her eyes opened to Ed’s gorgeous skin.

Ed’s posture scrunched up as she curled around a pillow. The covers slipped from her upper body and she shivered, shook. As always, it was Amelia’s cue to wrap her arms around her and hold her tight. She used to have some hesitancy about this, about holding her girlfriend with her hard, rocky right arm, but Ed had never once complained.

Amelia heard sniffling, first quiet and then growing to full-on sobs. She put her hand through the back of Ed’s thick, messy hair and tried to comfort her through this moment.

They had just escaped to Rockmund. Had just finished building out the farm and the house and this comfy basement bedroom. But no matter how safe they were, how free they had finally become, Ed often fell into these late-night bouts of sadness.

“I helped them,” she said through her tears. “It’s my fault they...”

“You’ did what you had to,” Amelia said. “You can’t destroy them from the outside.”

Ed’s back, so beautiful and pale, shuddered at the words. “You just say that because you love me. Any normal person would see that I’m... I’m a monster.”

“We’ll destroy it together,” Amelia said. “Bring peace to Sunwell. Remember?”

Their eternal promise. One they would never—could never break.

Ed took a deep breath and then several smaller ones. Still not turning to face her. “Together. Stay by my side forever. That’s my only request.”

“I can’t even imagine a world without you,” Amelia said.

And then she was alone in the woods. Cold, not yet snowing. Each step brought crinkles of dead leaves. In her hands she held a bow, pulled back and ready to launch at the rabbit four trees away.

It minded its own business. Nibbled on a leaf and decided it was not tasty enough. Did not hear Amelia’s steps in the distance. It had no worries except finding food and shelter. Certainly no realization that its life was about to be extinguished.

If this were not part of the defragmentation, if it were not Amelia’s dream, she would have thought twice about letting loose her arrow, about allowing it to soar through the air and pierce the rabbit through the heart. But she could not manipulate her memories. Only experience them over again.

So when the arrow launched, when the rabbit let out a high-pitched squeal and fell over, no matter what Amelia wanted, all she could do was walk over to it and hold out a tiny, half-empty soul gem.

She would take the meat and fur to the village nearby for some quick coin. But what she was after was sustenance. The soul energy to survive another day. How much she needed, she did not know. How long she could go without repairs, she did not know. How she could keep killing these innocent animals and stealing their life force, she did not know.

What she did know was that she was very tired. And very, very alone.

And then she felt a hand against her shoulder. Large, warm, and more comforting than she expected.

Amelia turned around to see that she was now in a reception hall filled with drinks and a humming violin over the speakers. Dim lights like an intimate restaurant. A large crowd. She wore a tuxedo. So did Ed, socializing with a large group halfway across the room. And so did Ed’s father, the bearded elven man in front of her. Lyron Winback.

“You look like you’ve seen a demon,” Lyron said. “You alright?”

Amelia blushed. “Sorry. I’ve never been to a party before, sir. I didn’t know they were so...”

“I get it. They aren’t too much fun for folks like you and me. I don’t know the first thing about culture. Neither do you.”

“No, I don’t.”

“But we do it for Edith.”

“Yes, we do.”

They stood in their little corner of the party, away from the fancy dresses and annoying laughs, a glass of haven root wine in Lyron’s hand and a glass of water in Amelia’s.

“I’m surprised they let you come,” he said. “I guess even the scientists know how close you two are.”

“I suppose so.” He was unaware that Amelia had failed so many of her recent tests, that she was in danger of termination, and that Ed’s celebration today was done to set her up for greater humiliation when her big pet project failed. All according to plan, but not one Lyron should be privy to, she knew.

He laughed. “I feel like I’ve come up to Newpool to see Edith more times this year than I even saw her when she still lived in the city. Glad they’re letting me come up so often.”

“They shouldn’t keep you like that, sir,” she said. “You’re her father. You don’t deserve to be held hostage by the company just to make—”

“Every North Sunwell employee has the same deal, Amelia,” the man said. “It’s just how things work. Let’s stop focusing on that sort of thing and celebrate Edith’s big day.”

“Right.”

Ed’s head turned and met Amelia’s eyes. They traded smiles, even if they could not express their true feelings in public. But one day. One day, very soon, they would escape Newpool and be free for the rest of their lives.

Then everything went dark, or rather Amelia’s eyes opened to early dawn in the hostel bedroom.

Defragmentation over. Memories forced underneath her conscious mind. Back to full operational capacity, for now. She felt the grogginess of past days fade away, felt some unknown tension fade away from her face.

On her HUD there was still that close-up photograph of Ed she treasured so much. The clarity of her mission set right into her mind and helped her wake entirely into consciousness.

Across the room, on the other bunk bed, her roommate Aeo lied sleeping, snoring like she was having the most pleasant dreams a glossal being could obtain. It looked fun, but she had to take care to be quiet and not wake the woman. She got up, put her things into her bag, and put back on her sole remaining outfit.

It was still dark out, but it was the perfect time to begin the next phase of her search. So she stepped quietly down the stairs and to the first floor of the hostel.

It was so quiet here. The place had a low energy atmosphere in the evening, but here and now it was outright eerie with silence.

That creature Otto slept peacefully in his bean bag bed, shifting only to pedal his limbs for a moment. He must have been dreaming about something very exciting, Amelia thought.

On the couch by the reception counter, the hostel owner Mino laid there with an open book covering her face, and a stack of papers on the low table next to her. Looked like someone was up late doing studying. Late enough she did not quite finish. Amelia took a closer look at the book and the notes, just to see what this woman had been doing.

Ah. The book was titled “Attracting Investors to Your Small Business: The North Sunwell Company Guide.” And the papers were covered in scribbled notes brainstorming ideas for success, many of them scratched out and one paper crumpled up.

This neighborhood truly must have fallen on hard times.

She decided to let Mino rest, even on what looked like an uncomfortably firm couch, and crept quietly to the front door. She slowly opened—

Jingle, jingle.

Damn. She forgot about the chimes on the front door.

Instantly, Mino sprang to her feet and greeted her with as much alertness as possible. Otto did as well, and began to growl again until Mino shushed him.

“Oh, Amelia,” she said. “Leaving early, aren’t you?”

“I have a meeting.”

“Oh, going to work or something? Super early, ain’t it? Just like Gruzut.”

“Something like that.” Amelia turned her head a bit, as if to end this conversation before it could really get going, but Mino edged forward.

“Well, I wish you luck. Actually, don’t you need breakfast? I’m not such a good cook, but I’m sure we have leftovers.”

“I don’t eat breakfast,” Amelia replied. Or anything, for that matter.

“Ah, are you sure?” Mino gave a mildly disapproving look. “Well, when you get back, I’ll make sure to give you a big welcome party and invite all the other guests. We’ll have fun and board games. What time do you think you’ll be?”

Amelia sighed internally. She hated lying, including lying by omission, and this was already too far for her. “I don’t know what time I’ll be. Actually, I’m not going out for work. I’m going to seek out members of the Fourland Growth Corporation and brutalize them until they give me the information I need to know. So don’t wait for me.”

Mino blinked several times. “...Oh, have fun with that.”

“I will.”

She let her leave without a fuss, after that.

And now it was time for Amelia to kick herself into action and go find more on Fourland.