Altera flew back inside the castle. She landed on a checkboard that floated in the air and sat down. Her chin she pressed against her kneecap, and as she hugged her leg, memories of her first mission resurfaced in her mind.

When she had killed for the first time, she had taken a boy’s life. He had wished to free his loved ones from a miner who had enslaved them. Believing that following her kingdom’s orders equaled righteousness had led her to carry out injustice. After learning the truth, she had sworn never to repeat her mistake and save as many lives as she could.

“Hey … Ehm … Hello?” Altera raised her head, staring at the crystal pillar above her. “Can you hear me?”

Nothing happened.

“Hello,” Altera said again. “If you can hear me, can you please come out? I want to talk to you.”

No one answered her call.

Altera sighed. She retracted her wings and dropped her weapon onto a platform below her.

“Look, I’m unarmed.” She raised her arms. “I just want to talk. If nothing else, it could allow you to pry information from me.”

Runes appeared on the mirror above Altera. They were crudely drawn and had sharp edges as if someone had carved them on the glass with a knife.

What would I need from you?

“Mhhm.” Altera’s metal fingers tapped against her chins. “You could make me reveal Ragna’s weakness.” She let out a fake chuckle. “If you’re smart enough.”

Are you making fun of me?

“I’m not. If you underestimate your opponent, you’ll find yourself in an early grave. Even if you’re …” She stopped for a moment. “How old are you, and what’s your name?”

I’m Lacie Servelf, and I’m fifteen.

Altera smiled. “I’m Altera Xion, and I’m twenty-three. If I may ask, how did you end up with Clockwork?”

Good. Lacie was responding. In the best-case scenario, she could convince Lacie to let her out. But for that, she had to find common ground and understand her.

The runes on the glass disappeared, and new ones replaced them.

Why would you care?

Altera shrugged. “It’s highly… “Altera hawked. “Teenagers usually don’t become successful criminals. So, I’m curious about your story.”

None of your business.

Well, that didn’t work as she had expected. Perhaps she should try another angle?

“If I may ask, what is this place? Did you create it with your Fylgja? This castle’s quite beautiful.”

Complicated.

“What do you mean?”

The Red King Castle was here before. Other places are mine.

So, her method resembled Utgard’s. Instead of shadows, she used mirrors as a medium to traverse into the Mana Realm and used the Mana to “dream up” space.

“It’s lovely. Who doesn’t want a place all for yourself?”

You can’t have it. This is my world.

Altera chuckled.

What’s so funny?

“Nothing.” Altera shook her head. “I was just reminiscing. When I was twelve, I dreamed of having a place just like this. A place all for me and no one else. My own personal world where I could be all alone. Reading all the books I wanted, and no one bothered me. No one could hate me.”

I don’t care.

“You don’t have to. But why do you like this place?”

Perhaps it was the same for her? Whatever had happened to her in the past couldn’t have been easy. Children didn’t end up as criminals without reason. When she was young, and her village hated her, she had wished for a place she could escape to and forget the world. How often had she dreamt of disappearing from Aes and waking up in the worlds of her favorite books? She could fight alongside the heroes she had admired for so long, make companions, and everyone would love her.

It makes me happy. It’s my world.

Altera nodded. “What about the outside world? Isn’t that beautiful too?”

No.

“Really? Isn’t there anything you like about the world? Aes is a big place. There has to be something, right?”

The world sucks. It can go to Hel.

Arguing that her Bragi tried to prevent another world war probably wouldn’t convince her. Her being one of the people living on Aes wouldn’t work either. She had to concentrate on something that would matter to her. Big concepts like world, peace, or mankind didn’t matter to the average person because they were too big. But the small things in life, the personal stuff, those were another story.

“Then, what about Clockwork?”

Cy hates the world too. Wants to burn it down.

“But many people like you will suffer too. Is that okay?”

Cy will make a better world.

“Is that why you’re attacking me?”

Ragna killed Cys’ friends.

Altera narrowed her eyes.

She wrote “friends”. Ragna had murdered one of the members of the Clockwork Coterie, but the others Eikthinir had killed.

“That wasn’t her. That was the forest god, Eikthinir.”

Doesn’t matter. Cy needs to hunt her.

“And you?”

I help Cy.

“So, you’re here for him? Why?”

He saved me.

“He saved you? From what?”

From the facility. They experimented on me day in day out.

Tortured me since the moment I could remember.

Without Cy, they would have killed me.

“You…You were in the Future Initiative.” Altera gasped. As her head jerked back, her fingers touched her parted lips.

Georgie, Dimitry, Billy, Pete, Cy, and me: When we escaped from the facility, we swore to create a world where we would be free.

Altera lowered her head, her eyes fixating on the black and white patterns on the ground.

Was this another skeleton in her kingdom’s closet? Midgard had created the Clockwork Coterie. How many wouldn’t have suffered if Midgard hadn’t given birth to the monster that Clockwork would become? Who else had suffered? How many stories like Lacie’s did exist?

“I know it doesn’t mean much, but I wish to apologize for what my kingdom did to do you. As a future Valkyrie, I’ll fight to prevent any reprise of your suffering.”

What do you know about my suffering?

Your apology means shit.

“True.” Altera faced the crystal pillar. “Back in Auster, my village believed that I was a changeling. They orchestrated me and tried to shoo me out. And one day, the butcher gloated in front of me how he would feed me to the pigs and how no one would lift a finger to save me. Of course, I told my brother and my parents. The next day, the butcher was gone, and my parents sent me to Midgard. I don’t know what my kingdom did to you, but I know how it feels when you’re able to escape Hel. I know how it feels to have a light in this cruel world. I can understand why we would commit crimes for the people we care about, and in the name of all the innocent you would hurt, I’ve to stop you.”

Cyrus Clockwork needed to hunt Ragna Griffin. That sentence revealed two statements to her. Something compelled Clockwork to come after Ragna, and he needed to chase Ragna instead of killing her. But why?

Lacie had mentioned that Clockwork wished to avenge his friends. But then, Lacie would have written the runes for ‘kill’ instead of ‘hunt’. So, whether he succeeded or not didn’t matter for his revenge. But what point would there be to dedicate the rest of one’s life to something that didn’t matter? Had one nothing else in her life that was worth living for?

Unless only revenge remained in Clockwork had left. And Lacie knew if he succeeded, he would fall in despair. For his sake, she joined him on a path with no end. What else could Lacie do? She had nothing but him. If stopping led to a life of despair and progressing as well, wandering seemed to be preferable.

“But besides that,” Altera said to the pillar. “I wonder if it’s your life that revolves around someone else’s. What are you without Clockwork?”

A howl echoed in her mind, and Altera activated her runes. She felt how rose thorns shot from the ground. They formed a circle small enough that one couldn’t walk inside it.

The reflection on the pillar changed, showing her a check-board field, and wings grew from Altera’s back.

Did her plan work?

Her partisan levitated into her hands, and Altera beat her wings. She flew towards the crystal pillar and entered it like an open door.