Tay was alone.

That was the one sure thing that he knew.

He existed in a black void. Everything had gone black. And he couldn’t remember—anything. He couldn’t remember anything.

But the blackness lessened, and the world came back with each blink of his eyes. He was still on the street that separated the lichen grove in Peace and Quiet from the buildings.

And Qallaz was standing before him, a multi-colored glow about her squat and burly figure as she held the rainbow-wreathed card of Garudigas out before him. But her mouth was drawn open in shock.

“Your—your hand,” she said.

Tay furrowed his brow, only to realize that he had his right hand clamped over his eyes. And yet, he could look up and see her. The world was dark, but he could still see her. Slowly, Tay pulled his hand away from his face, and stared down at it.

It was entirely transparent.

At his Tay’s wrist, just below his palm, his skin and flesh and everything that made up him faded away and dissolved into the shadowy outline of what had once been his hand. It was as if his hand had become nothing but a ghost.

Tay flexed his index finger, and even though he could see the ground by looking through it, it still moved. And he bent it further, and further, until he touched it to his thumb. Even though both of his fingers seemed incorporeal, they touched, as if nothing were different about them.

But he could hardly feel them.

It felt as though his whole hand hand been submerged in ice for days and only now had started to heat up again. He could barely feel his fingers pressing against one another.

Tay quickly checked his left hand, only to be relieved when it seemed just as normal. His fingernails were bit pink, but they looked the same as they always had. He took his left hand, and pressed those fingers down into his ghostly right.

Strangely, they met resistance, and it was like he was touching a piece of cool metal. Except, he was also that cool metal and could feel the touch in turn, even if his sensations of it were extremely dampened.

Black mist curled off up from his transparent skin wherever he brushed his fingers, but try as he might, he could not push through his skin. It was still substantial, even though it no longer seemed like it had any right to be.

“What happened to me?” he asked.

But no sooner had he looked up at Qallaz than he once again saw the card she held out to him. Garudigas had returned back to their card state, roaring there as a piece of artwork in all their glory. Their rainbow light drove the darkness out of Tay’s eyes, and seemed so bright that he had to squint while staring into it.

In his good hand, Tay snatched Garudigas out of Qallaz’s hands and turned away. “What did you do to me?” he asked the card.

But there came no answer. The card glowed still, and felt warm in his left hand—far warmer than his right hand currently felt—but the Rune Wyrm remained silent.

And Tay wouldn’t have heard them if they did.

Someone’s grip fell on Tay’s shoulder, and he flinched away only to find Qallaz still standing there, looking at him with worried concern. She had pulled hand back, but seemed to be trying her best to summon what appeared to be a weak smile.

“Maybe it’s not my place to say this, and I don’t know what happened—I make money off of Runicka, but I sure don’t know much about it—but I know I ought to say thanks for… for saving me. If you hadn’t come here when you did, I would’ve been…”

Tay’s head throbbed, and he clutched at his temple with his incorporeal hand. Wherever his ghostly fingers touched his skin, he felt cold, like his hand was trying to suck up warmth into itself, but could never become warm again. The feeling got the point where it stung, and he had to pull his hand away entirely before shaking his head.

“I—I didn’t come back here for you,” Tay said.

Qallaz regarded him with a slow nod, but said nothing. Tay winced, and hoped he hadn’t offended her. He hadn’t meant to do that, but his head felt like it had been plunged into a lake of ice water. It was so very hard to recall what had happened earlier that day. And whenever he thought back on it, he just found himself staring down and through his blackened, ghostly hand.

“I had another reason for coming here,” Tay said.

“You don’t remember?” Qallaz asked.

“No, I remember bits and pieces,” Tay said. “I—I was here earlier today, wasn’t I? I was in the lichen grove. With Sally and Cari. We were training.”

“You were learning how to summon revenants,” Qallaz said.

Just mention of summoning revenants brought Tay’s mind back to how dark the world had become only moments ago when he had tried—when he had tried—when he… what had he tried doing?

“We left though,” Tay said. “I remember leaving…”

“You returned,” Qallaz said. “And you brought a great creature with you. Without its protection, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

“Great creature…”

And, as if mentioning it had called it, small bursts of white flashed before Tay’s eyes. Then they all condensed back down into a card.

(15) Skywing Lord Stable This revenant gains +1 power for each card fused to it. Barrier, Flying 1 >>

Tay reached up and grab at the Skywing Lord with his left hand, cherishing the small warmth that it sent through his body. He rubbed at the small depiction of the great four-legged eagle in gratitude, just thankful that it had been able to save Qallaz from the maw of that Mourncrest Hound.

“We came here today,” Tay said. “With purpose, after—”

“There you are!”

Tay rose to his feet and turned just in time for Cari to sweep him up and off the ground and into her trembling arms and yet strong arms. She hugged him so tightly that for a moment, Tay was actually worried that she was going to snap his spine in half. But he just enjoyed her warmth though. After everything, it was nice to not feel so cold.

So alone.

Cari loosened her grip, and stepped halfway back from him before brushing her curly black locks aside and regarding him with her calm and yet reddened amber eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she immediately said. “It’s not your fault. I should have said that before, but I was scared. I still am. But I don’t want you to leave, Tay. It’s not your fault—it’s…”

Cari’s voice trailed off as her eyes drifted over to Qallaz, and then to the street behind them. Tay followed her gaze to see the two broken bodies who had been Rantho’s guards, strewn about on the street, as if they’d been trampled by a mob.

“What happened here?”

Far away, as if someone was shouting it from all the way across Duskborough, Tay thought he heard a voice call out to him. It came on the wind as barely more than a whisper, and he might’ve mistaken it for just a playful sound in the breeze, except that he could make out the barely imperceptible words as if someone had spoken them to him plainly.

The voice asked, What are you, Taygion Ardwella? And from somewhere inside Tay, there came an answer. A weakling no more.

Tay’s head throbbed, and he felt a wave of cold lance up through his right arm, but he shrugged it off and gritted his teeth. Then he said, “I—I wanted vengeance,” Tay said, as if it were a realization to him.

But from the blank look across Cari’s face, that didn’t seem much of a shock to her. “For Mond?” she asked.

And before Tay could stop himself, he asked, “Who?”

Cari’s eyes widening told him immediately just what was wrong with him. He’d lost more than just his hand.

“He told me he couldn’t remember why he came back here,” Qallaz said, from beside Tay. “I thought the dark could show a person who they could become, but I’m not sure I like what its doing to Tay.”

“To… Tay?” Cari asked.

Tay raised up his right hand, and held it between himself and Cari so that he could see through it and watch as her face morphed from horror, to morbid curiosity, to pity, then anger, and then back to horror again. Slowly and gingerly, she reached out and took a hold of his hand.

Tay couldn’t even feel her touch.

“What did you do?” she asked, pressing her fingers harder into his transparent and darkened skin. Still, he could barely notice that she was holding him.

“I—I don’t remember, Cari,” Tay said. “It’s like there’s a giant void in my memory. The past hour or so, whenever I think back to it, I can only see darkness.”

“You summoned a revenant,” Cari said.

“Yes.”

“You attuned yourself, right?”

Tay recalled the swirls of dark energy around him. That had been from him pushing himself into Chaos 3. So, he said, “Yes.”

“And you shielded yourself, right?”

This time, Tay did not respond.

“Tay, we didn’t have enough time to teach you how to properly invest. To attune beyond the first level, a runekeeper needs to invest cards to protect themselves. If you attune to Chaos 2 and 3 without investing… This can’t be happening today.”

Cari released his hand and trailed off, clutching at her forehead and shaking her head.

“What, Cari?” Tay asked. “What’s happening to me?”

Cari closed her eyes, and a couple tears streamed down her cheeks. Then she raised her hands and wiped them away. After a deep breath, she spoke.

“You’re becoming a revenant.”

~~~~~~~~~~

As it so happened, Tay had lost far more than just his hand. When he’d attuned himself to Chaos 3, instead of having shielding that invested cards provided, he’d instead warped himself at his very core.

Cari explained that if he’d have stayed in Chaos 3 for long enough, then he would’ve fully transformed himself into a revenant, and there would’ve been no saving him. As it was, he’d only partially become a revenant, and when Tay asked if he was in danger of fully transforming, Cari could only shake her head.

“Maybe,” Cari said. “Possibly. You weren’t supposed to attune to Chaos 3 yet. You weren’t ready for that.”

“But I had to,” Tay countered. “They were going to kill Qallaz, and—and—”

There had been another reason he’d done it too, if he could only remember.

Before parting ways with them, Qallaz had given Tay some grey cloth that he’d wrapped his revenant hand with. They all agreed it would be best if people didn’t see that he wasn’t entirely all there, like some sort of half-ghost.

“You don’t remember, do you?” Cari asked.

Tay blinked. “What?”

“You don’t remember charging off to find his killers? Fourteen Above, Tay do you even remember Mond? I was so caught up with your hand, that I’d forgotten you’d asked me who that was. Tay, you haven’t lost your memories, have you?”

“I don’t think so? I know who I am. But, it’s just, there’s a hole in my mind and I can’t look through it.”

“Do you know where we’re going, Tay?”

They were a couple blocks down from the lichen grove now, and coming up on a small street. Most people weren’t in Peace and Quiet today, and he knew that was because of festivities topside. So, they were on their way home then.

“Yes,” he said. “We’re going home. We live together. You, me, and Sally.”

“And Mond?” Cari asked.

Tay inhaled and wracked his brain. There was someone else who lived with them, wasn’t there? In his mind, he saw a large shadow, but nothing more than that. Whenever he tried to envision who it could possibly be, the whole image blurred, like he was trying to see them underwater. The only thing Tay could clearly make out was the person’s wide grin. That was all he was sure of.

And if that was Mond, he had no way of knowing. So, Tay shook his head.

“I don’t remember any Mond,” Tay said.

Cari deflated and said, “I’m not sure whether to be happy about that or worried.”

“Meaning?”

“You only knew Mond for the past couple of months. Not a very long time. But you two were close, so if you treasured him, and if you forgot him, that means you may have lost an integral part of yourself when you started becoming a revenant. Memories make us who we are, Tay. Without them, we’re just meat and bone. Every memory you lose will make you more of a revenant, until there’s nothing left of you.”

Tay stared down at the cloth covering his hand. He’d lost an integral part of himself? He’d lost his memories of this Mond? But he still knew everything else about himself—he was sure of it.

But how did he know that his memories of Mond was all that he’d lost?

This wasn’t the first time he’d lost something precious to him either. No, first he’d lost his mother’s amulet to Rantho. And now, in pursuit of that, he’d lost Mond too. Was there anything left for him to lose?

Cari stepped forward and embraced him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “If I had stopped you, or told you that this wasn’t your fault, maybe you wouldn’t have gone. Maybe none of this would’ve happened to you. A lot’s happening right now, Tay, and I’m not sure we have time to deal with it all. But whatever happens, I won’t let you turn into a revenant, I promise.”

Yes. Yes, Tay could still stand to lose more. A lot more.

~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they returned to their street, Tay had managed to mostly sort out his memories.

He now had a vivid recollection of the day and its events, and knew that he worked in a candy shop, in Peace and Quiet, with two girls who helped to keep his life anything but boring. He was certain the only piece of his memory that he was missing was this man named Mond.

Which made figuring out where he belonged in Tay’s memories fairly easy. Whenever Tay came across a gap, he could assume that Mond would’ve taken its place. Thus, Mond had been the one to buy him his first Runicka deck. And had given him his job. And taken him into their family.

Tay was sure he owed Mond his life, and in more than one way.

Which was why it absolutely paralyzed Tay to not be able to recall a face. Or know anything about Mond outside of what effects he’d had on his life.

Tay also figured out another important fact—Mond was dead, and they were returning home to take care of that.

Except, when they entered onto their street, directly in front of their shop was a great broad-shouldered man decked out in boiled leather and chainmail, who stood there with his arms crossed. Cari pressed him to stand aside, so they could enter the ruined remains of Mond’s candy shop, but the large man only scowled at them.

“Run along, girl,” the man said. “No candy today—there’s been a crime.”

“Crime? I’ll give you a crime! This is our house.”

“No, it isn’t,” a lean woman said, striding out from the behind the burly man.

Short blond hair crowned her head, and a scar began just at the tip of her widow’s peak only to run straight down a through her right eye, ending in the middle of her cheek. Her skin was rough, but she didn’t have a spot of dirt on her face. It was obvious that she belonged down here in Duskborough, but that didn’t stop her from trying to look her best, despite her hardened appearance.

She clothed herself in vivid greens that reminded Tay of the lichen forest, or even the forests that surrounding Pyrewood, though her clothes definitely were worn in more than a few places. She also leaned on a cane that she used to help herself walk.

Behind her, another guard—nearly identical to the first in terms of body proportions and attire—all but carried Sally and Quincy by the collars of their shirts. He flung them out onto the road, where Sally scrambled to embrace Tay before turning to Cari.

“They just showed up out of nowhere and said we have to leave,” Sally said. “They didn’t even let us say goodbye to Mond.”

Cari curled her hands into fists and stomped forward toward the woman, completely ignoring the two brutes who moved to block her path. She forced her way through them and stuck a finger out.

“You need to leave our house and let us be,” Cari said. “I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but you don’t belong here.”

The woman opened her mouth in a bit of a gasp, which then formed into a nasty scowl. “Oh, but I’m afraid that’s incorrect. You see, it’s you who don’t belong here anymore. I’m the owner of this building. My name’s Gharhell Yizzit, and I’ve come to say goodbye to my brother.”