After food, they all allowed themselves a good, long rest. Of course, long was relative. However much Rory believed that they all deserved as long as they needed for surviving over a day’s worth of constant panic, terror, and tragedy, they couldn’t simply shut themselves down.

There were monsters out there still, Otherworlders who were likely approaching the palace while they lazed about—deservedly so. That meant some of them had taken up watches.

Having not had to do any fighting, Jerome and Mikey each took up positions in one of the front-facing towers to see who was arriving, while Allen promised to only watch the front entrance and not use his new Sigil if a monster approached. Rory wasn’t sure how much he could trust him, considering Trish’s influence.

Some of the rest decided to nap, others spending time however they saw fit, talking, strolling, or simply lying down and zoning off. Even Viv had managed to doze off for a bit after Rory had coaxed her into it.

Rory couldn’t really relax, no matter how much he told his body he ought to wind down. His head was full of thoughts about Sigils.

He had already Warded the only Sigil of Support he still had into the first barricade Dez and Ned had erected. The Warding had created an ethereal, silver barrier over the makeshift barricade they had built, giving it the more recognizable shape of a five-foot tall rampart.

But one Sigil was all Rory could Ward for now. Weaving more from the walls or columns in the palace was out of the question since he didn’t want to ruin the structural integrity of their new home.

The other thing they needed was a way to figure out what he could Ward to help the others in their continued fights. Rory’s wandering eyes landed on the pieces of armour Allen had left behind before heading out to watch duty. Hmm, that was a good possibility.

Rory walked over, careful not to make noise and disturb his sleeping companions. Only Sue watched him carefully, which Rory ignored.

He picked up the vambrace. It was old but polished to still display a reflective sheen. Tough as it was, armour like this wasn’t practical to wear anymore, especially not when so much fighting involved good mobility. It was simply too heavy and bulky. But they didn’t need armour. Not really. What they needed was its ability to withstand hits.

So, Rory used his Weaving on the armour. He got a steel-grey Sigil with the image of a metal breastplate.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Armour. Tired of getting hit all the time? Well, this won’t help you evade that, but at least you won’t feel as much of them anymore.

[Argent IX] allows 4 points of armour per personal Tier. Improves passively.

Stats

Type: System

Rarity: Uncommon

Tier: Argent IX [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [27%]

Rory wasn’t expecting another stat Sigil, but he wasn’t about to complain. What was more interesting was the fact that he could determine the different levels of efficiency. After all the ones he’d seen, he was pretty sure that they changed levels every 25%.

He Wove the rest of the armour pieces into Sigils of Armour too. Hopefully, Allen wouldn’t mind. Rory looked around. He was tempted to rouse the others and tell them to hunt down more of the antique armour, but they needed their rest.

“What’s that?” Sue asked, nodding at the Sigil in his hand. It seemed she was unable to restrain her curiosity.

Rory smiled, then explained the new Sigil.

“Oh, that’ll help the fighters a lot,” she said. “The tanks and the DPS.”

“Exactly. Though, this is only for physical blows. That should be fine, mostly, but it doesn’t provide resistance against things like fire or lightning. We’d need something else for that.”

Sue nodded. She took one of the Sigils from Rory’s hand. “So, we just absorb this right?”

“I was thinking I’d see what happened if I Warded them. Uh, this is going to be a bit weird, but turn around for a second.”

She frowned but did as she was bid. Rory placed his palm on her back, the Sigil between her shirt and his hand. He activated his Sigil of Warding, and after a brief flash, the Sigil of Armour disappeared.

“Oh wow, I’ve got it.” Sue turned around with an unfocused look. Maybe she was checking her [Status]. “Though I want to check if removing the shirt removes the stat too.”

“I have a feeling it will. Does the shirt appear in your Items section?”

“Oh yeah, it does. Shirt of Armour.”

“Thought so. The stat is tied to the shirt, so you remove it, you remove the stat. But if you find something different, let me know. I’m curious too.”

Better yet, Rory realized this opened a lot of possibilities. It would allow them to bypass limits on the number of Sigils they could have by using Warded items. They just needed to find the Sigils that suited each of their roles in combat and other situations. Something Rory was going to need everyone’s help with.

He peered curiously at Sue, whose gaze was still unfocused as though she hadn’t pulled herself out of her [Status]. “I know you didn’t even want to be here in the first place, but have you thought about what sort of role you want to play?”

Sue’s eyes focused back on him. There was a steely glint in them. “I want to protect May. That’s all there is to it.”

“I meant more what you want to do in a fight. Your barricades seem to work really when paired up with other Sigils.” A sudden memory hit him. “Crowd control! That’s what it would be great for.”

“That’s… not a bad idea. But you’re assuming I’m okay with going out and doing… I don’t even know what you intend.”

“I intend to help the people who are stuck here, like us.”

“We wouldn’t be stuck if we move.”

Rory bit down a snapping reply. He crossed his arms, trying to let his irritation pass away. “I get that it’s frustrating to have the majority go against what you think is right and feel like you’re hamstrung because of it. I really do. I know you can’t just leave if you don’t like things.” He sighed. “But another thing I intend is making sure this whole thing works out. That'll only work if you have a little faith.”

It was easy to see Sue biting the inside of her cheek. She looked away for a while, unwilling to reply. Then, all of a sudden, she deflated. When she met his eyes again, Sue simply looked broken. “I just don’t want May to go through anything like she did before. I just… really want to protect her from all the bad stuff. She can’t go through anything like—like—”

Sue swallowed, unable to voice what she’d been about to say. Rory did his best to wait patiently and not let his burning curiosity consume him. She needed space to talk.

“May used to be married, you know. I lived with her family while I was attending college.” Sue’s tearful eyes were on her sister sleeping against the column with the Sigil of Settlement Warded into it. “Monsters attacked our home. I heard the horrific screams of her husband and her two kids being brutally killed. I loved them all, and—and it’s hard to even think about for me. Can you imagine what sort of devastation May might feel if she remembered?”

Rory swallowed. He could imagine the whole story all too easily, and it made him nauseous. “But you said she fell down the stairs and lost her memory, right? You didn’t…?”

“She didn’t fall.” Sue was openly crying now, tears streaming down her reddened face. “She was panicking and going crazy, desperate to reach her family, just to die with them. I couldn’t let that happen. I… I hit her, on the back of her head, and she lost consciousness. Everything was crazy, alright? I didn’t realize—I didn’t know she’d lose most of her memory.”

The pit of Rory’s guts felt like a cold abyss, swallowing any feelings that tried to rise. Sue’s revelation left him numb. He could barely comprehend the truth of what she was saying.

“I really didn’t mean it to turn out like this,” Sue said, voice now as broken as she looked. “I was ready for her to hate me when she woke up, that it was fine if she hated me as long as she was alive. I wasn’t prepared for her to lose all her memory. Do you know how hard it is to bear this burden of knowing all your loved ones were brutally killed, and the one who should be crying her eyes out can’t even remember?”

Rory didn’t know what made him do it. He could barely figure out what he was even feeling at the moment. But maybe it was just his paternal instinct driving him, making him pull Sue into a bearlike hug so that she could cry it all out on his shoulder.

“Shh,” he said quietly. He patted her back gently. “Just let it all out for now. Focus on yourself for a second. Just you. No one and nothing else.”

Sue cried and cried, though the noise of it had gone down. That spoke so many volumes of her true character, that she was thinking of not disturbing the others even when she was so lost in her grief, that it broke Rory’s heart.

After a while, she pulled herself back. She needed a moment to rub her face free of tears. “If you want to tell the others—”

“Of course not,” Rory said. “It’s your… it’s completely up to you what you reveal and to who you do so.”

She was still looking imploringly at him, and he realized she was waiting for judgement. Waiting, probably, for him to blame her for all that May had suffered. Rory could never do that. The only thing that the pit in his stomach left was a tragic sadness that things had turned out this way.

But even then, there was nothing he could say. He couldn’t tell her to move on, he couldn’t tell her that it was all in the past, and he couldn’t tell her things would simply be okay. Maybe what she’d done wasn’t something she ought to be vilified for—all she had wanted was to prevent her sister from dying like the rest of her family had—but it didn’t make what she’d done right.

Rory was spared the need to answer when a sound pricked his ears. “Do you hear that? It sounds like…”

“Thunder,” Sue whispered.

The realization made Rory’s heart sink. It couldn’t be what he thought, could it? Rory quickly but quietly made his way outside, Sue following just behind.

They passed the destroyed garden and headed to the driveway that led to the outer gates. The closer Rory got to the disturbance, the lighter his heart felt. It wasn’t as bad as he had feared. The thunder was close at hand but lower and more muted, suggesting it was only a Thundershell and not the Thunderclaw Knight as he had feared.

Near the middle of the driveway, far enough from the palace that the noise wouldn’t disturb anyone’s slumber, Allen was fighting a Thundershell.

The rocky crab was spitting lightning bolts at him every so often, but Allen had created a shield of rubber to protect himself. He was slowly inching his way towards the Thundershell, though the monster was stepping back as well.

Without warning, the Thundershell leaped at Allen. He was too surprised to react quickly enough. The monster, easily weighing as much as a small sedan, would have crushed its target if Sue hadn’t stepped forward, summoning a barricade between the Thundershell and Allen.

The monster crashed into it and thumped down to the ground. It didn’t move. Rory smiled. That crash must have stunned it well.

Allen wasted no time taking advantage. He rushed forward, his entire forearm turning into solid, gleaming stone shot with marblelike veins. The punch he landed on the Thundershell shattered through its rocky body and its sparking pieces exploded over the area. Some hit the ground, others struck the trees lining the path, all of them leaving burnt dents and gouges.

“Thanks for the assist,” Allen said, wiping off sweat with his forearm. “Just in the nick of time.”

Sue was still trying to master her expression. She only nodded, then looked away.

Allen frowned. He was about to ask what the matter was, but Rory stepped past him. One of the Thundershell’s pieces had struck an area that blasted apart the earth and revealed many roots within. Roots that were still anchoring the tree to the earth. Supporting the tree where it stood. Rory grinned.

“What’s so funny?” Allen asked.

“I think I’ve found a little breakthrough,” Rory said.

He used his Weaving on the roots, focusing on the idea of them supporting the tree. They disappeared, and just as Rory had hoped, he received a Sigil of Support. The only problem was that the tree no longer had a stable base.

It started to fall.

Good thing Sue summoned another timely barricade. It broke the descent, letting the tree descend without far less disturbance than it would have caused otherwise.

“What are you going to do with those?” Allen asked.

“Ward them into the barriers.” Rory looked inquisitively at him. “How come you’re this far out when you’re supposed to be keeping watch in the gardens?”

“I saw flashes of light, and I thought I’d investigate. It was just the one Thundershell, so I thought it was fine if I took it by myself. I haven’t really been able to use my Sigil of Marble yet properly since it doesn’t seem to work well on its own. But it paired up nicely with the Sigil of the Gargoyle.”

“It is fine, if there really is only one.”

Allen didn’t reply to the grimness there.

“We should warn the others,” Sue said. She had pulled herself together remarkably well. “You’re right, Rory. If there’s one, there’s bound to be others.”

Rory wasn’t sure he wanted to consider what that implied. Regardless, he was starting to see the possibilities opening up before him. The afternoon was wearing away and another day would be over before long. They had survived. Rory just needed to make sure they continued to do so.