Entherys woke up lying in his mother’s meditation garden. He opened his eyes to see his mother sitting in a chair, watching him. As he started to get up, he realized he was on top of several of the plants.

“You are back early. Explain.” Her voice was expressionless. Entherys was relieved; even though she’d been the driving force making him go to the Tutorial as an instructor, he had the chance to explain. That was all he needed; it wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong.

Entherys explained Serenity - an exceptional student, but still a lowly Tier 0 and horribly arrogant. He covered how Serenity had done a few dungeons, then interfered with the Trials ordained by Order’s Voice to escort other people through - even taught them how to fight! As adults! Beyond that, he’d recruited other people to do the same thing!

He’d somehow become an instructor and started teaching Death magic as though it were somehow useful - and not only that, his students had acted as though coming up with new magic was clever and useful instead of a pitiful imitation of a Path Skill used to unlock new Paths!

Even the attack on him by another student - obviously the student had realized how much Serenity was harming the future of his planet and the Universe - hadn’t stopped him. So Entherys had set out to take care of the problem.

Yet somehow, the lowly Tier 0 had stopped the plan with treachery and trickery himself. A hidden enemy snuck up on Entherys and hurt him, giving Serenity an opening - and Serenity had done something Entherys didn’t know how to counter. It was obvious that he’d gotten aid from someone who wanted to bring down Entherys, some move from a higher Path Mastery than he should have access to.

To top it all off, Serenity had somehow managed to call on the Voice to judge Entherys! He’d even gotten the Voice to reveal the name of his ally! Not that Margrethe had ever been more than an ally of convenience, Entherys assured his mother, but that still didn’t mean he’d wanted to reveal her!

Entherys’s mother’s eyes had grown cold as she listened to Enthery’s tale. She was angry, and Entherys looked forward to seeing what she’d do to avenge him on the stupid, weak man who’d dared to try to humiliate him.

“First, what did you say his Name was?”

Entherys did not hear the chill in her voice as anything other than anger at Serenity.

“Serenity.”

Entherys’s mother seemed startled by the man’s name. Entherys wasn’t sure why.

“And what, exactly, did he say and do when he called on the Voice? It needs to be the exact words and actions. Take the time you need to recall them. Use a memory exercise.” Her voice had softened a little. Entherys tried to hurry his recall before she relaxed too much, but there was only so much he could hurry and still get the words exactly correct.

Finally, he had it. “He had Kerr gag me, then used a knife to cut a slice-” Entherys indicated where the injury was. Then he said-”

“Voice, I offer this man as your Vessel. He has claimed to act for you in his actions against me. I ask that you grant me the knowledge of who else acted with him and why in exchange for ceding my right as the injured party to your right to deal with his arrogation of your authority.”

“Then the Voice spoke through me and the injury healed and then I was here.”

Entherys’s mother seemed surprised. “Nothing else? An invocation … did you see any fluctuations in his aura?”

“Uh…” Entherys didn’t want to admit that he simply hadn’t paid any attention to the man’s aura. It couldn’t possibly be important, after all; how could a lowly Tier 0 do anything useful with his aura? Entherys had been trained in aura use since before he could walk, and he could barely use it for more than a little aura sight and control of its size!

His mother sighed, and looked down. Her voice sounded almost defeated instead of angry. “We have failed you.”

Which meant it was time for revenge. Entherys watched his mother, eager to learn what her plan would be.

“You do not know the power of a Name, nor what it means for a low-Tier person to have one. You do not recognize when Order’s Voice is telling you that your Path is false. And you did not even begin to learn the lesson that had you sent to the Tutorial in the first place. You are blind, and try to use your blindness to place blinders on others.”

Entherys’s mouth fell open as his mother stood up and walked to the door into the public room that was the only way for non-family to enter her garden. “Rikal. I will be accepting the offer Verit made last Hopeday. Entherys will be traveling to Iron Mountain.”

She looked back at Entherys before stepping through the door and leaving him alone in the garden. “You have two days before you leave for the Mountain. Gather everything you need in that time, using your own resources only. You no longer have access to the Blue Fire Sect’s funds or property. You may claim lodging and food for those two days, and we will provide an escort to the Mountain. If your aunt Verit informs me that you have met her minimum requirements, you may apply for readmittance. Until then, you are not my son. Should you choose not to go or leave the Mountain without approval, you will never belong to the Sect again.”

Entherys stared at his mother in disbelief.

What just happened?

Rissa was woken the next morning by Thomas’s phone. She rolled over to look at it and saw the call was from Karen A.

Thomas’s boss.

Rissa accepted the call.

“Thomas, where are you? We’ve had a server down since-”

Rissa interrupted Karen. “Karen, this is Rissa. Thomas is - uh. You’ve heard about the Tutorial right?”

Karen seemed startled. “The Tutorial? What does that have to do with Thomas?”

“Sometimes it drops people off somewhere other than where they went in, Thomas is - I’m not sure where. You’ll need to get someone else.” Rissa felt a vision begin to build and fought to talk through it. “You’ll want that server up and running before Monday. The market’s about to go wild. It’s more than just the Tutorial. Tomorrow - it’s not here, but it’s going to affect us.”

That was why Rissa tried not to talk during a vision. She always sounded a little cracked. She could see the flames and slaughter that was going to happen, but she couldn’t see where. She knew it was a little over a day in the future, but not what was going to set it off.

She could see that many of the people involved were taller than human and armed and armored in medieval-style weaponry. She could see them massacre humans as they tried to run.

She could also see them being shot and falling as a military force she couldn’t quite make out tried to stand between the fleeing civilians and their killers. They might be armored, but their armor didn’t seem to stop bullets.

Fire and blood. So very many visions of fire and blood; they seemed to go together, especially in visions that came without her seeking them. She clutched Sigurd tightly; her stuffed toy dragon had lived in the top of her closet for the past few years, but last night she’d pulled him down after warding the entire house to cuddle and she was grateful for that moment of foresight.

She’d missed something Karen said, but it was still clear enough “-someone in mind. You have Thomas call when he can. I want him to give the system a good once over. I’ll mark him on leave for next week, but there’s not much I can do if things go bad. They have to work, there’s a reason he’s on call.”

“I know. Trust me, I know.” Rissa smiled. Thomas had always said Karen was a “good boss”. As long as stuff worked, she didn’t care if he was there odd hours and didn’t even really make him track hours.

Of course, that was probably partly because Thomas routinely worked more than anyone else in his group, and made sure he was available to fix things when they broke.

“You would. Later.” Karen hung up.

Rissa wasn’t sure Serenity would want to keep Thomas’s job, but this way he could make the decision, if he was back in time. Rissa was glad she didn’t have the problem of having a boss she needed to deal with; she did have clients, but not many, and none with outstanding requests right now.

Sometimes it was convenient to be able to see reliably into the future. She made sure not to win too much and to occasionally lose money, but she could easily earn everything she needed by day trading. It was safer than doing the same thing with the lottery, even if it did take a bit more work sometimes.

As she set Thomas’s phone back on the charger, she noticed the jewelry box sitting next to his wallet. She remembered setting it there the night before, when all she’d wanted to do was hide. She reached for it with the arm that wasn’t wrapped around Sigurd’s middle and opened it.

It was a jewelry case; it held a small, silver-colored ring with a purple stone. She wasn’t sure what metal it was. Knowing Thomas, it wasn’t silver - he wouldn’t buy anything that tarnished - but that didn’t really limit the options. The stone had to be amethyst; what little jewelry Rissa had contained amethysts. She’d always liked her birthstone.

It had to be an engagement ring. Rissa hadn’t known Thomas intended to propose; it was something she hadn’t foreseen.

But then, it hadn’t happened. It couldn’t have happened, because Rissa should have been dead. So of course she hadn’t foreseen it.

Rissa closed the jewelry box and tried not to cry. He’d better be safe. Or at least alive. Knowing him, there was no way he was keeping himself safe.