Sweat trickled down the back of Jack’s neck as the Justiciar stalked down the hallway behind him. The seven-foot-tall creature had the physique of an angry boulder replete with hard ridges and rough skin stretched over bulging muscle. Lines of light traced across its flesh from head to toe as though it were a shell on the verge of bursting. His name was Illad which Jack only knew because Pope Bohum had referred to the Justiciar by name.

As it turned out, find a secure place to hide in an enemy stronghold was far harder than Jack could’ve imagined. The last half-day had left him physically and mentally exhausted. While the first few hours after his escape had gone well, things changed once Bohum discovered that Jack was missing. He had learned much in his time fleeing from Bohum and his servants, both about the pope’s forces and the Eternal Light’s Bastion.

Pope Bohum’s servants consisted of mainly lightweavers which were the most numerous and the weakest. Aside from them, magical beasts infused with the power of the Eternal Light prowled the interior and exterior of the Bastion. These beasts lacked any real intelligence and took orders from Bohum and his Justiciars exclusively. The three Justiciars acted as commanders and conduits for Bohum’s power. Apparently, Bohum could observe anything through their senses and instantly move them via a bright flash of light. The latter ability also served as another sensory power. Bohum had used the very same ability to find the party and to teleport Lilan to their location. Unfortunately, Bohum had begun using the ability at regular intervals teleporting the Justiciars around the Bastion to perform impromptu inspections in the process. Jack had to stay Mantled constantly to avoid detection.

Bohum and the Justiciars weren’t the only impediments in his escape. The actual structure and organization of the Eternal Light’s Bastion limited him as much as his captors. Instead of being one building from top to bottom like the Twilight King’s castle, the inside of Eternal Light’s Bastion utilized a series of light portals identical to those he saw coming in which lead to numerous self-contained areas. Jack had been held in the lower level of the dungeons, a two-level section comprised of Illumination chambers, holding cells, and boring stone corridors. He tried heading up which had led to a portal connected to the residential area. The residential area contained most of the lightweavers who filled their time either praying in one of the many worship chambers through the residential area or walking the halls with vacant expressions. There were two portals in the residential area other than the one leading to the dungeons, one within the largest worship chamber and one on the eastern end of the area by a statue of Pope Bohum. Two guards watched over the portal within the worship chamber, so Jack went for the eastern portal which had transported him to his current location, a place he dubbed the Radiant Gardens. It was a network of gardens interconnected by decorated hallways.

Lanterns infused with the Eternal Light took the place of natural light in the gardens which were populated by a wide array of unfamiliar plants ranging from squat crops to fleshy flowers. As for the hallways, beautiful paintings of men and women in yellow robes hung on the walls. Every hallway ended in an archway at each end leading to one of the gardens. Unfortunately for him, the Radiant Gardens spanned a larger area than he expected while the gardens and hallways were all near-identical from the plants to the portraits lining the walls of the hallways. Jack had been lost in the Radiant Gardens for the past two or three hours; he had no reliable way to tell time aside from his own internal sense.

At present, Jack knelt in front of a shrub and carefully trimmed at its edges in a manner he hoped was identical to the other lightweavers sprinkled throughout the garden. Illad walked directly behind him, close enough for the weight of the Justiciar’s presence to hold the air in his lungs. The hulking brute passed right by him without issue. He let out the pent-up breath and calmed the slight tremble in his hands. His eyes drifted to the visual timer that he set up for Mantle’s duration. Ten minutes until I need to reactivate.

In no uncertain terms, Mantle had saved his ass a dozen times over. The Ore Father’s Token prevented the Eternal Light’s Embrace ailment from reducing him to vegetable trapped in his own thoughts but Mantle provided a means to move around without having to fight his way out— a task at which he would have undoubtedly failed especially given his encounters with the Justiciars. However, the ability was far from perfect given his circumstances. Mantle granted him a disguise but not a way to understand the lightweavers and Justiciars which had resulted in a few awkward and stressful encounters. In those scenarios, his acting had only carried him so far. What was he to do if given a specific order? Not following orders betrayed his disguise since the lightweavers lacked the will to disobey. They were slaves shackled by the soul. Another shortcoming of the Skill was its duration. Although the Mana cost was low ensuring continuous uptime, Jack had to be conscious to reactivate the Skill which meant he couldn’t rest in one of the beds in the residential area without being discovered in his sleep. Lastly, Mantle’s disguise lacked key attributes necessitating small adjustments from Jack. He had quickly learned that his ability covered the natural appearance, smell, and sound of the Mantled creature but not anything more like clothing or the physical weight. Jack had been forced to abandon most of his clothing and equipment to complete his disguise. Thankfully, lightweaver robes were fairly loose-fitting so he had been able to hide his metal club, the Shadowtitan’s Fist, and the Ore Father’s Token beneath them after Mantling one of the larger lightweavers. For the same reason, he also couldn’t disguise himself as a magical beast because he lacked the ability to emulate the physical presence of their bulk.

Things weren’t all bad though. Due to the Logos, any lightweavers that he killed rapidly turned to ash and an eidos stone making the removal of evidence much easier. Additionally, Pope Bohum seemed to pay little attention to the lightweaver population and the lightweavers themselves weren’t particularly observant either. Since the first, he had killed two more lightweavers in order to switch up his disguise and test Mantle’s limits. The deceased lightweavers weren’t missed by any measure Jack could observe. Lastly, the lack of scrutiny on the lightweavers meant he could move around freely anywhere he sensed the presence of multiple Lightbearer’s Lanterns.

Once the rumbling sound of Illad’s footsteps was well away from his position, Jack exchanged his garden shears for the Lightbearer’s Lantern sitting on the ground and stepped into the hall heading in the opposite direction of the Justiciar. The weariness of recent events threatened the integrity of his alertness. His arms and legs were becoming increasingly heavy, the longer he continued. He needed to rest or exhaustion would cause him to make a mistake that he couldn’t afford. Damn Bohum and his Eternal Light. If it wasn’t for that fucking light-based detection of his, I could just hide in somewhere and sleep for a few hours. I’m investing in renewal tabs if I make it out of this.

Renewal tabs were a relic hunter supplement sold by the guild that refreshed one’s body with the equivalent of eight hours’ rest. Jack had forgone buying them because of their high cost and a lack of necessity; low-rank Remnant Gates typically didn’t require raid crews to be on alert day-in and day-out. Assuming his plans worked out, he wouldn’t be operating at a low-rank after Terras. Before that though, he needed to survive a fight between two S-rank World Bosses and the pursuit of a Celestial.

Actually, is Bohum technically a World Boss? I don’t remember getting a notification about it when I met him… Whatever he is, the Twilight King considers him a threat so he’s more than I can handle as I am, he thought as he walked into the next garden. Like all the others, the garden had the same arrangement of plants complete with a handful of lightweavers who maintained the plants. The lightweavers were oblivious to his presence as usual but he still moved quickly, not willing to risk the possibility of Illad’s return.

He wound through the garden with an easy familiarity borne of having been through the same layout over a dozen times. At the same time, he mentally cataloged the faces of the lightweavers that he passed. Since everything was near identical, he had been using the lightweavers themselves to tell the difference between the different parts of Radiant Gardens. When he came to the next hall, he immediately recognized its uniqueness. Rather than ending in an archway like the one he had entered through, the hall branched off into three separate paths: one that led straight ahead, another diverted to the right, and the last descended into a lower level via a stairwell. He paused for a moment to consider which direction he would take.

Mid-consideration, he shivered uncontrollably as though the hand of death caressed his flesh. The feeling faded in a few seconds but Jack’s paranoia insisted that something was wrong. He pressed his back against a nearby wall glancing from side to side in search of threats. Then, a notification popped into his head, nearly giving him a heart attack.

[Kafkë, Keeper of Souls has requested passage through your spirit. Grant Permission? Y/N]

Jack relaxed a bit though not entirely after reading the message. He granted permission and flinched when the sensation of a frigid pierced his body.

“Hey! Look at you all dressed up like a lightweaver. You still playing for the right team or did you walk into the light at the end of the tunnel?”

Kafkë laughed at its own joke filling Jack’s mind with its cackling. Jack’s eye twitched in annoyance. In truth, he was happy to hear from the floating skull but sneaking through the Eternal Light’s Bastion had worn his nerves razor thin. "Kafkë, how the hell did you access my spirit?" He instantly thought back to his time at the Well of Souls. "Have you been watching me this entire time?"

Anger and frustration reared their ugly heads fouling his already poor mood.

“Woah. Easy with the paranoia, chief. I take it from your tone that you’re not—” The sentient artifact’s voice cut off after a surge of surprise. Another shiver caught him off-guard as he felt Kafkë’s attention shift to the Blue Heart then back to him. The pause stretched into an eerie silence until Jack couldn’t take the wait anymore.

“Kafkë!”

The skull spoke slowly with a careful tone. “Don’t panic, Jack, but your body seems a bit, uh, populated.”

Jack sighed in relief then laughed softly at his own worry. “Right. You’re the Keeper of Souls and you lived in the Well of Souls. Of course, you can sense the other souls in the Soul Cradle.”

“Soul Cradle? What’s—”

Jack interrupted Kafkë. “Before you ask any question, I need to know three things. Do you know if Alindal, my friend with the silver hair, is alive? How did you get here? And finally, can you get me out of here?”

“Pointy-ears is alive, yeah. Him and the girl with the burning soul are gonna join the boss when he attacks the Eternal Light’s Bastion tomorrow. Now that the boss knows you can save the lightweavers, he’s going to take out that crazy pope once and for all. As for how I got here, I just traveled through the link between your soul and pointy-ears’. The trip was a little fuzzy if I’m being honest but nothing I couldn’t handle. I can’t take anyone with me when I do it so we can’t use it to escape if that’s what you were asking though I could go back if I wanted.”

Upon hearing of Alindal’s well-being, a weight lifted from Jack’s shoulders and he almost cried from the relief. Sadly, he couldn’t afford to stop moving at the moment so he took in all of the information in silence keeping his senses peeled while he listened. A few of the gardening lightweavers wandered closer to the hall prompting him to start heading down the rightmost corridor. He kept his pace slow and steady, determined not to get sloppy. He sensed Kafkë’s attention on the Blue Heart again. To distract the artifact, he asked, “When you say ‘girl with the burning soul’ did you mean Raina, the girl with the red eyes?”

“Uh-huh,” Kafkë answered sounding undistracted.

What does it mean by ‘burning soul’? I wonder if it’s a saying because she’s a Warrior. Well, whatever Kafkë means, I suppose it’s a good thing she made it out of that attack in one piece, he thought to himself. The corridor started sloping steadily downward. Another question came to him. “Wait, you mentioned Raina and Alindal, but what about Cordan?”

“You mean the ordinary-looking guy?”

He snorted a bit at Kafkë apparent dismissal of the group’s most powerful member. “Yes, the only other member of my group.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’s joining the assault,” Kafkë said, barely paying attention.

“Why the hell not?” Jack asked, a bit of annoyance creeping into his thought. Did the brush with Lilan make him lose his nerve or something? Cordan hadn’t struck Jack as a quitter.

Instead of answering his question, Kafkë continued to focus on the Blue Heart in silence which pushed the limits of Jack’s patience. He rounded a corner as the hallway veered to the left. At the end of the hall, he spotted the tell-tale glow of a light portal. He concentrated his attention to Kafkë.

“Kafkë, how long do you plan on staring at my World Core?”

Kafkë finally turned its attention to Jack. “Ah, sorry. I was just trying to figure out what kind of soul you’ve got in there.”

Jack froze. “What do you mean by that?”

Jack got the impression of Kafkë shrugging. “I mean that there’s some kind of soul inside of it. It’s kind of hard to make out and not like anything I’ve ever sensed before but it’s been staring at me since I got here.”