They met on the flat rooftop of an otherwise vacant building in Unaffiliated territory. There were six of them. Seven, if Ryu included himself. A slight breeze blew across the roof, rustling clothes as it went. He took a mental inventory.

The closest to him was Ash. He had already learned a bit about her fire Techniques, and he felt confident in closing the distance between them before she could move. Still, she seemed alright enough. Blunt, but he didn’t mind. Her black hair fell down her crimson robes.

On the other side of her was Nil, a man that was boyish in both look and physique. His white hair was shaggy, and he leaned over a pitted black sword. He looked bored, but Ryu knew the measuring look in his eyes. He would need to be eliminated early if a fight broke out.

Another woman stood on the other side of Nil. Her features were partially obscured by a greenish cloak, but Ryu could see great metal legs sprouting from her back. Smaller metal machines buzzed around her head. He had once heard a rumor that Horde was the only Ranker with a crafting Class rather than a combat one.

That left three other figures. Hiro Ito of the Premier Aristocracy, Alistair of the Black Syndicate, and Scripture of the Lord’s Flock. Hiro was a tall, smiling man with heroic features and blonde hair. Ryu felt confident in dealing with him. Alistair was another story. The leader of the Sixth’s criminal forces seemed calm. Too calm. His sharp features rested at ease, and his blue eyes seemed to take everything in. He put the man on the same list as Nil. Scripture was the last of them, a broad man swathed in linen wraps like a mummy. Ryu could not read him.

He finished his mental tally. In one on one fights, he felt as though he could hold his own against the other Rankers. It was only that any fight would not be one on one. Chances were, they would turn on him. The murderer. Ender.

“Why is he here?” Hiro said. The blonde man’s voice had a rich timbre. He seemed to love the sound of it.

“Can’t count to seven, can you, Hiro?” That was Nil.

“Oh, bugger off, knee-high. I’m asking why we want to hear from a bloody murderer.”

Alistair shrugged. “I don’t imagine any of us have gotten here with clean hands.”

Nil gasped. “But Alistair,” he said, “you have clean hands, don’t you? Oh, no.” He touched his chest. “What heroes are left in this world?”

Alistair’s face did not move. “I assume that settles the matter,” he said.

“I guess,” Hiro grunted. “Tell us what you have to say.”

They all turned to Ryu. He threw a glance at Ash and grunted. “I was captured by the Bugs,” he said. “They experimented on me. Forced me to fight and kill other people. I learned things about them…” He went on to tell them about the Colony, their goals, and what they had plans to do.

“How do we know you’re not a clone? I understand that logically you would have no reason to come to us if you were one, but that’s not enough for me,” Alistair said.

Ryu pulled up the sleeve of his coat, exposing his mutated arm. “They tried to make me a host, but they underestimated us. Underestimated me. A Colony body-snatcher has to control both the mind and the soul of its host. Some mental experts could defend the former, I’m sure, but any Master can defend the latter through their Shard Realm. At least, I did.”

Nil leaned forward, looking at Ryu’s arm. “So your arm is alien now?”

“I guess.”

“I’m still unconvinced.” Alistair’s expression was a grimace. “But I will look into what you have said.”

“Which leads us to why we are meeting,” Ash said on Ryu’s left. “I disagree with moving to the Fifth. I think as Rankers, we should oppose it.”

Nil nodded his head at Scripture. “Tell Wraps and his people to bugger off then. Damn priests.”

Scripture showed no signs of acknowledging the foul-mouthed man-child. Ash sighed. “Civilians and the weaker members should leave,” she said. “The Lord’s Flock and their beliefs serve as a good tool to herd the populace. But if we want to fight the Bugs, the elite need to stay here. We need the Seventh.”

Hiro shook his head. “The Bugs will have the Spire wrapped up now. We couldn’t get in without a large force.”

“Or a very small one,” Alistair said, creasing his brow.

Ash smiled. “Like a group of seven.”

“Six,” Scripture said. The man grunted and leapt from the roof. Ryu longed to follow him and plunge Solitude between his eyes, but he held himself back. Keira would get hers eventually.

“Six,” Ash said, sighing.

“I’m in.” Nil smiled. “I’ve been getting bored anyways.”

Hiro looked at Nil, his jaw working. “I might consider it. If the Aristocracy is okay with it.”

Horde spoke for the first time. “The Republic agrees with you, Ash. I will inform them of your offer, and we will see.” The spidery legs beneath her cloak lifted her from the ground, and she climbed off of the roof.

Alistair looked between the rest of them. “I am interested in two things: money and power. I have acquired both through risk. But this? I will have to think. My… interests would need to be managed in my place, anyways.”

Ash spoke up. “Humanity will have to win back the Sixth, regardless. It is better we take the Seventh, while the forces use their real strength to reclaim their territory here.”

“Perhaps,” Alistair said. “When do you plan to move?”

“In a few days, maybe.”

He nodded. “We will see.”

And then they left, leaving Ash and Ryu on the rooftop alone. She looked at him.

“You’ll go?” she asked.

He sighed. Would he go? Should he? What about his child or Bonny or Jinn? What of his duties and his new position in the Clan?

They would all be here when he returned, but he was unsure if he wanted to face them with the hollowness in his soul. With the dead consuming his thoughts. A part of him longed to be a better man still, and what better way to be a good man than to help save humanity? The worst part was that he wanted to miss them, to feel like he belonged with his family. He didn’t, however.

“I’ll go, but I’d like to send a few letters, if you don’t mind.”

---

Writing had never come naturally to Ryu. When he sat down to write letters to his family, sitting was the most he accomplished for minutes. What to say? He knew of no magic words to tell his family he was abandoning them again because he… didn’t care about them? No, he cared, but Ender’s personality had muted his feelings.

He decided he would start with his goals. Ryu wanted strength, of course, but more than that he wanted the power to save his family and protect them. He wanted to fix his mind, heal it, and have the physical and mental strength to keep it that way. If that failed, he wanted his family to live happily. Without him.

His thoughts spilled onto the pages in a mad ramble. He could not muster the tears to follow. He told Jinn how much he looked up to him and wanted to be with him. He told Bonny how much he loved her. How much he wanted to be with her. How much he wanted to hold their baby. He told Emiko and Fell to be safe and to take care of each other. When his hand started to cramp, he flexed it and continued. He had a lot to say. Too much really.

He ended the letters as best he could. He told them to wait for him. That he would be back. That he acted to save humanity for once. Maybe they’d be proud of him. He hoped so.

When he finished, he asked Ash to send them off. The two were holed up in a safehouse, waiting for word from the other Rankers. She had officially split with the Enchanters’ Guild, and though she no longer threatened him, Ryu had no desire to go anywhere else. It would only complicate things.

Word from the moot was sparse. It seemed clear the forces wanted to pull all but their most powerful from the Ring. No word reached them about the Seventh, which only affirmed Ash’s motivations. It seemed to be a foolish strategy, but Ryu understood most of it was made by public opinion.

The forces in the Circle had crumpled immediately. Word was out about the Bug’s true strength, and the forces needed time to pull their armies from the lower Rings, gather supplies for them, and find a solution for the monster problems near their settlements. Their only option seemed to be to hold a small, defensible portion of the Sixth until then. Or so the Lord’s Flock preached.

It was this decision-making that would give their team the edge in reaching the Spire. All signs pointed to a human retreat. The Bugs would not have prepared to meet a small group of elites. In fact, he imagined a good portion of the Sixty-Four had already ascended. With some luck, speed, and stealth, getting into the Spire would be only mildly difficult.

A few days passed, and a decision was finally made. A ring of districts around the Gate to the Fifth would be reinforced and protected, and all but the elite would descend to the Fifth. The majority of the Ring would be abandoned. No official push to the Spire would be made.

Unofficially, each of the forces was making preparations against the others. Word from the Third Republic and the Premier Aristocracy arrived at the safehouse, confirming the participation of Horde and Hiro.. Nil also reaffirmed his participation. Alistair was silent.

And Ryu? Ryu received word from an old acquaintance.

---

Thirty-Seven received the One’s message in silence. The One’s words were absolute, and today, it bid its children to move. To conquer. Thirty-Seven’s experiments had already been scattered within the human population, and it had only to push them from the Sixth Ring and wait. The Colony need only wait for its new children to rise.

Thirty-Seven, however, received an altogether different mission. The One had commanded it to recover the wayward, the failed experiment. The data had been gathered, and it was time to put the dangerous one down.

The Colony would soon be whole.