Inke leaned against the wall of her rented room at the Blazing Presence, considering her next steps. While room availability was scarce, Inke had lucked out by managing to time her arrival perfectly and obtain a room, which she proceeded to rent for the next two weeks.

Ideally, she wouldn’t have to stay longer than that.

In the interim, however, she needed more than simply lodgings. Rather, Inke was in dire need of privacy in order to use several of her Skills that would immediately tip-off anyone observing as to her true abilities. Furthermore, using them placed her into a meditative state that left her extremely vulnerable to outside attack.

Ignari would alert her, but it would take precious seconds before Inke could return to the waking world, time that any would-be assailant could use to easily dispatch her.

Typically, Inke would utilize her private quarters at the Shatter Guild following each of her assignments. As a heavily guarded and warded building, she could be assured of her safety. Without that, however, Inke would have to resort to unfortunate measures.

She carefully pulled out a smaller bag, drawstring tightly shut, from one of her expanded spatial pouches. Considering the price tag of what was inside, a spatial pouch was the best place to keep it, as Inke’s actions in the physical world wouldn’t affect the interior unless the container itself was damaged.

Tugging it open, Inke shook some out over the floorboards in front of the door. She took care to use as little as possible while still forming an unbroken line.

Seal Crystal was an expensive, fifth-tier Crystal that was both extremely rare and extremely useless. In the entire Virsian Empire, only one dungeon produced Seal Crystal, and the material wasn’t exactly in high demand. With its rarity and difficulty of obtaining, Inke had a limited supply.

For most people, it was an impractical Crystal that was difficult to work with and could only manage to accomplish a few specific tasks. For Inke, however…

“Bond: Seal Objects.”

The powdered Crystal dust shone a soft gold as it landed on the crack between the door and the flooring before a gold shimmer traced its way up around the edges of the door. Two trails met at the top, and the entire rectangle formed flashed brightly before vanishing.

Repeating the same process with the window, Inke retreated to the bed. It was pushed into a corner of the room and covered in a ratty blanket. While it didn’t look particularly appealing to Inke, her goal wasn’t comfort.

Instead, she sat cross-legged atop the blanket and retrieved Ignari. Inke laid the sword flat across her lap, resting her right hand atop the hilt.

“Status: Ignari – Shards.”

Bond: Ignari

Bond Slots Utilized: 13/25

Soul Shards: 32

Soul Shard Drain: 1/Bond Slot

Inke grimaced. Only a few minutes left before she’d have to recharge Ignari, and that would be a… not quite difficult task with the number of people around, but it was something she hated to do.

Leaving people to their own messes was one thing, directly killing someone was another.

And yes, Inke was a self-acknowledged hypocrite.

Everything was running out of control. She closed her eyes.

“Bond: Ignari – Link.”

She opened her eyes to a formless void surrounding her. In front of her floated Ignari, appearing as Inke envisioned her sword.

They were an androgynous figure, edges of their shape constantly blurring in and out of vision. Currently, Ignari was draped in an obscuring cloak, but Inke knew that if she focused enough, underneath that cloak would lie a series of ever-shifting faces and clothing, an amalgamate of so many disparate parts stitched together like a child’s toy.

Taking a deep breath, insofar as it was possible within a mental construction, Inke floated closer to Ignari. “I wanted to apologize,” she said.

Ignari tilted their head, unblinking eyes watching her from within the depths of their hood.

At their non-response, Inke forced a slight smile. “I don’t care if you converse with me. That’s not what I’m here for.” She paused. “And I know that you’ll never forgive me.”

They didn’t need to, not when everything from the very start of this entire mess could all be traced back to Inke’s actions.

She sighed, pressing the palm of her hand against her forehead. “I’ve known Harin for all of three hours. It shouldn’t unbalance me this much to think of him dying, should it?”

There was no response, but Ignari hadn’t spoken to her within months, and she doubted that they were going to begin now. Instead, the sword gave a slight shake of their head, a marginal shift so small that Inke could have been forgiven for missing it.

However, Inke had grown accustomed to Ignari’s minor reactions, and she caught it. “Do you want to know what I see in him?” Without stopping, she continued, “I see you. Me. All of us, like we were. Then. Harin’s me, and I’m you.”

Inke gave a soft, humorless chuckle. “By that logic, I’ll be dead within the year because of him.”

Ignari shifted, and Inke planned to ignore them. And then they spoke, or something close to it. [No.]

Eyes widening in shock, Inke blurted out, “We’re not doing this again. I’m sorry, all right? It was my fault; I take full responsibility. I might never make up for what I did, but I can at least keep all of you alive like this.

“Besides, I had a brush with death earlier. Would have died, too, if I hadn’t tapped into you.” Inke almost expected Ignari to say something else, but when they didn’t, she pressed on. “It probably would have been fitting for me to die like that. I escaped it, though, using you, and if that isn’t the finest example of karmic injustice that has ever existed, I don’t know what might be.”

The void around the pair shifted, nothingness moving to encroach on their space. With a push of her will, Inke forced it to retreat, expanding the sanctuary that she and Ignari rested in. “Right. Focus. The other thing I came here for.”

She rested her elbows on her knees, steepling her fingers under her chin. “The dungeon wasn’t normal. No dungeon fairy would ever advise their core to do something as impractical as creating a boss almost a full tier beyond the rest of the dungeon. Why?”

It had been several years, and there Inke was, still coming back to Ignari for answers. By the shards, she really was useless without them. In more than a few ways, Inke felt like a parasite, constantly taking, taking, and never giving anything back to her sword.

Or even before Ignari was a sword, Inke had been the exact same.

[Ask.]

“…That simple, then.” She shook her head. “Can’t believe I couldn’t even come to such a simple conclusion on my own.”

Though it was only mental, Inke stood, stretching and dusting off her clothing. “Bond: Ignari – Delink.”

I’m sorry.