December 22, 1502 AD. The horrifying moment before stepping on stage.

Climbing the steps up the platform under the late day sun is one of the most painful experiences of my existence. And that’s with Pern helping me most of the way. Pelthin stands back and to my side, the very appearance of the loyal adviser she once claimed to be. While having Pern help Uthica is a concession she would’ve made, she’s never visibly relied on anyone else. Every step sends pain lancing through my left side, forcing me to stop and recenter myself.

It’s funny, if it was me, I’d probably have given up by now. But somehow, since I’m doing this for Uthica, it’s easier to endure.

Easier to take that next step that- Vaus-dammit!

Breathe.

Several more repetitions and we’re finally at the landing. There’s only a thin piece of leather between me and a thousand K’tharn waiting to see their glorious leader.

And if Uthica was here, I bet that’s what she’d give them.

Despite the pain, I almost turn away.

I’m not their queen.

But Pern insists once Uthica comes back, she’ll need the Aetherium behind her.

So, I mutter my lines to myself once more.

This elicits a chuckle from Pern. When I glance at him, he explains, “Uth-you always do the same thing before addressing a crowd. Every single time you have to give a speech, you tell me that addressing a crowd is the worst part of being the Queen.”

I grin at Pern. “That’s because the worst part of being a queen is having to address a crowd.”

“I know,” he grins back, and I find myself chuckling.

A sob from Pelthin reminds me that we’re not alone. And that Pern isn’t really my father, no matter how many memories I have of him.

Reigning in my grin, I push through the leather flap. It couldn’t weigh more than a few kilos, but the weight is almost too much for me. Luckily, Pern steps up clearing the flap the rest of the way. I step onto the stage, doing my best to keep the pain from showing on Uthica’s face. Her aunt Jethico is standing to one side, her eyebrows drawn together in… shock? Relief? It’s hard to say. Uthica never trusted anyone but her father. But her aunt had always been hard for her to read. Too bad I didn’t think to warn Uthica about how treacherous Jethico would become. At least now Pern knows.

Still, it was unlikely Jethico would try anything in front of a thousand of Uthica’s loyal soldiers. So, I got up on the podium, ready to give the speech Pern had prepared for me.

Then I make the mistake of looking out across the crowd of K’tharn as their voices quiet. They’re staring at Uthica expectantly. At me. Panicking, I try to Pause time, to give myself a moment to think.

To my surprise, it works. Only for a few seconds, but it’s enough. When it ends, I take a deep breath, then I start Pern’s speech, “My warriors. As you can see, the rumours of my demise were greatly exaggerated.”

A nervous chuckle from several in the crowd.

“As you know, I have what some may call, an unhealthy habit of experimenting with things that explode.”

This time the laughter is less nervous, feels more genuine. Pern really knows them.

“And as a natural consequence of this habit, sometimes my experiments do exactly that. Now, I’m not saying it didn’t hurt. Because believe me, you would not want to be on the receiving end of that explosion.” Probably my easiest line since I could still feel the gnawing ache in my chest as I rubbed at it to show that it’s intact.

“But as you can see, I’ve recovered. In just a couple days we’ll be receiving our first guests from off-world. Guests who aren’t planning to wave guns in our face. What say-” I pause as the pain suddenly spikes, causing my vision to blur. “What say-” I try again, only for the floor to suddenly greet me. As I fight to keep my eyes open, I feel Smoulder rubbing her wet nose up against me. Pern is standing over me, his concern written in the wrinkles of his face.

And as my vision fails, I see Jethico behind him, a small smile tracing her lips.

…TPWM…

I stumble, in the middle of one step and the next as I return to myself.

“Alexis?” Roberts asks, my arm already around his shoulder.

“Yes?” I ask back, looking around. We’re walking through the lightning valley, picking our way across broken terrain.

“We were worried about you. You haven’t spoken since we defeated the Crakthorns.”

“I… Uhh… had a bit of an out-of-body experience.”

“Oh? Is that what you call that? I’ve never seen you stab something with a spear before.”

Uh… what?

“She was just trying to emulate me,” Josh grins, bumping my shoulder. “I was surprised when you threw up that armour around yourself though. I thought you didn’t like wearing armour.”

Wait…

If I was in Uthica’s body… was she in mine?

“Like I said, out of body,” I shrugged, as I tried to imagine what it must have been like for Uthica to wake in my body in the middle of combat after having been stabbed through the chest. Kinda seems unfair. Would’ve rather woken to combat when I was her. Better than public speaking.

I let the others keep talking around me as we walk. It’s only after another fifteen minutes I notice I can’t tell where we are. Or where we're going.

“Uh. What happened after the fight. I’m having a hard time remembering.”

Josh practically bounces as he answers, “Beth grabbed us and started marching us straight back to the entrance the second we had the trophy. We’re not going to try to harvest anything that’s not in our path.”

“Yeah, but how does she know where the entrance is?” I ask, gesturing at the darkness all around us.

Roberts points to where Tipan is consulting with Beth at the top of a nearby ridge, Rufka waiting just below. A three-dimensional map of the valley projects over Tipan’s hand for a moment as they study it. Then they slide down the hill before waving us forward on a slightly adjusted course.

“Still no flying?” I ask.

“We decided it wasn’t worth the risk. We’ve only been inside for a day. We can afford to smell the roses,” Josh says, plucking a rose from his own armour as he does exactly that.

I nod, rubbing at an ache in my chest.

…

Wait.

I rub at my chest again and the ache is still there. Right beneath my left boob. Realizing what rubbing my boob might look like, I cross my arms to keep my hands locked in place.

Which makes it harder to walk. I quickly uncross my arms when some of the rubble we’re crossing tries to slide out from under my feet.

After that, I stop trying to figure out what the pain in my chest means, focusing on keeping my footing while maintaining several orbs of lightning to keep my mind off it.

An hour later, with only a few minor detours, we emerge into the filtered white light of the dungeon. The too-solid, pale blue sky high above is far more comforting than I expected. By this point, the pain in my chest has receded to the point I can barely feel it.

Josh is skipping down the slope, in surprisingly good spirits while the rest of us are more demure. But he stops a short ways ahead. The central valley is no longer peaceful, the cubes shifting slowly back and forth, their grinding motions creating a continuous echo. The movement of the cubes isn’t the only change. There are now packs of roaming creatures wandering the plains beneath it.

Centauric insectoids with a single eye and scything blades in place of arms. Pretty sure those are the Calthonra on the big ol' warning signs. Considering they’re the only aspect of the dungeon so far that matches any of our intel, it’s almost a relief to see them. Sure, they’re incredibly resistant to magic and physical damage, but we also know their weaknesses.

Now I just have to hope I don’t end up swapping places with Uthica in the middle of the next fight, and we’ll be great.

…TPWM…

The dungeon light is dimming as I sit with my legs dangling over the edge of the entrance platform watching Beth snipe yet another Calthonra. She’s at 253 out of 342. We tried fighting them head on, but with all the increases to their resistances, it took the rest of us working together half an hour to take down a single bug. Beth hadn’t been able to get a proper shot through the entire fight, one of their abilities allowing them to dodge all projectiles while in close proximity to any of us.

I blasted one with Lesser Cataclysm and while it was hurt, it wasn’t enough to stop it from charging us. And my ability drew in three more.

Once we finished the disaster that was that fight, we retreated so Josh could use his chemical manipulation to create armour cracking explosives, which is a thing he can do now. This is what I get for not asking about his new class abilities. While he was working on that, Beth decided to thin the herd, and it was effective enough we decided to stockpile Josh’s work for inside. So, now we’re waiting for Beth to clear out the horde before we attempt to enter the door at the base of the towering cubes.

Assuming it’s still there once she’s finished.

There’s a game of Astra’s Stride being played just behind us. After winning three games in a row, I decided to make a tactical withdrawal to maintain my winning streak. It’s the first time I’ve played so well. I could practically see everyone’s moves before they made them.

Which is also part of why I stopped playing to watch Beth instead.

When I successfully guess her 256th target correctly, I’m almost certain. I’ve gotten the last thirty targets. Some of which could be luck or reasoned guesswork as she moves to the next in her sights. But getting the exact order? Every time? When there were up to five standing close together. No.

The fact that I only knew a few seconds before she took the shot adds more supporting evidence for my thesis. I’m receiving hints from the future. Not far, and not obvious.

But this is huge. It’s a completely new aspect to my temporal manipulation. And it doesn’t seem to cost me anything. It’s like a free Anchor.

As I mentally cross out number 257, I lay back, staring up at the dungeon ceiling. It’s not as high as I’d originally thought. Clever use of colouring made it seem like it was kilometres up. But I’d flown up and discovered it was only five hundred metres or so. Still impressive. And it does extend higher in the centre where the cubes are stacked. But the dungeon could easily fit inside World’s End mountain.

I don’t really think of much as I lay there. Not that I don’t have a lot to think about.

Honestly, I have too much to think about.

But I’m taking a break. Letting my mind wander. Unwind as it were. The sound of Beth’s void-rifle ending Calthonra after Calthonra is cathartic.

Once Beth only has twelve left, I lift myself, flying over to the others while letting my body lounge on a wave of air. I’m flopped to the side with my eyes barely open as I say, “Beth’s almost done.”

“Lexi, you okay?” Rufka asks, trying to grab my hand. But I dodge it easily.

“Yep. Just trying a new look. Zombie-Lex. Do you like it?” I ask, floating toward Rufka while remaining completely at ease.

“Nope. Very creepy.”

“Dang. What bout you guys?” I ask, rotating toward everyone else. I receive two shrugs and a raised eyebrow from Roberts. Yes! Raised eyebrow. Calling that a win.

Speaking of winning. “Congrats Tipan,” I say as she picks up her piece. She then proceeds to complete her invasion of Josh’s territory. Oops. This time sense thing’s going to take some getting used to.

She grins at me as the others finish their game, Beth coming to join us when it’s down to just Rufka and Roberts.

“All done?” I ask, more out of habit that doubt.

“Yep. I could use a bit of a break though. Another game?”

I agree, along with the others, sitting down to see if my future sense can allow me to keep my winning streak. I quickly learn that while it’s useful, it’s not all powerful. A single person waiting to make their move throws my sense out of whack.

Still, I win the game easily.

“You’re really kicking ass tonight, Lex,” Josh says, holding his fist towards me for a fist bump.

Returning the bump, I decide to reveal my advantage. After all, it’s not like I’m using it on purpose. “Thanks. But I was cheating. I think. I unlocked a new ability during the fight with the tree-thingies.”

“Ha. And here I thought you’d been Pausing between turns to think things through.”

I shrug. I’ve done that before. And I still didn’t win as often as I have tonight.

“What is it kid?” Beth asks as we pack up the board.

“Limited future-sight. I can sort of tell what moves people are going to make. Or what targets you’re going to shoot.”

Beth stares at me for five seconds before asking, “Can you tell what I’m going to say?”

“I don’t think so,” I answer, furrowing my brows. I haven’t had that happen once.

“Interesting,” Roberts says.

“It is. Useful too. Especially if it works as a danger-sense,” Beth agrees.

“Almost as useful as common sense,” Josh says, elbowing me with a grin.

“Which I’ve got,” I respond, my chin held at an angle that would be difficult to achieve if I was walking instead of flying.

Josh’s only response is a chuckle.

Then our time for fooling around is over, Josh armouring up while Beth scans the valley for any strays she may have missed.

We descend less than a minute later, each of us vigilant.

The door we were planning to go through closed at some point. But flying around the base to the far side we find another. This one isn’t just a hole in the base either. It has a black door that gleams as we approach.

“I’d rather not touch that,” Josh says, waving at the door.

“Got it,” I answer, pulling rock from the valley floor, fashioning it into a three-metre pole then letting it land in Josh’s hands.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“No problem,” I respond, backing away as he pokes the door with the stone rod. The door swings inward, revealing a black corridor illuminated in the same pinks and orange as run across the surface of the cubes.

“No sign of enemies,” Josh informs us after putting his armored head through the door.

“Well people. Any bets on how high we need to go to finish this dungeon?” Beth asks while holding up three Iron-rank mana essence.

We all glance at each other. None of us need the Essence. In fact, we mostly pool our resources. Still…

“All the way to the top,” Roberts answers, causing the rest of us to groan.

“No other bets?” Beth asks to a round of shaking heads.

“Oh well, I tried. Let’s move people,” she says, directing Josh forward.

When I step inside, I notice the air is clean. The mana feels as though it’s given purpose. And that purpose is clean. Kinda like mana-infused by a Roomba.

Interesting.

At first we remain paranoid about traps and ambushes. But the first floor is entirely clear of enemies. It’s also completely lacking in anything resembling loot or even rooms. It’s two perpendicular hallways that have a pair of stairwells leading up where they meet.

Ascending the stairs takes longer than I anticipated. There aren’t any hallways leading off for several hundred metres. If we weren’t flying, I’d imagine the stairs would get monotonous real quick.

We cross a line that changes the hue of the blank wall slightly. Which I think means we’ve moved to the next cube. Twenty metres later, we finally come across a hallway. But the stairs don’t stop here. Instead, they continue, reaching upward to infinity. Or the top of the cube-tower. Whichever comes first.

“Should we keep going?” Josh asks, his foot already on the next step.

“Check out the first floor at least?” Beth asks.

We all nod at that, and Josh leads us down the hallway. After a good fifty metres, the hall splits to either side. As Josh takes us to the right, I can’t help but glance behind us. But nothing dangerous pops out and the passage doesn’t close.

Weirdest dungeon ever.

When we go around the next corner, I finally understand why.

“That’s a Ripple-drive,” I mutter. The coils, tubes and trans-phasic inducers are in an unfamiliar configuration, but the principles remain consistent. In fact, I think I understand how this ship works better than the Sanctuaries.

“Lex?” Beth asks as I step toward a ladder that leads inside the giant assembly.

Inspecting several of the parts, I’m able to confirm it. This isn’t just for show.

“This is a fully functional ship,” I call out from within one of the central pylons. As I inspect the configuration, I start to question my earlier statement. It is functional, but it doesn’t seem to be setup to run between planets. Why?

“Damn rights, it’s functional!” A voice yells, echoing around the chamber. The voice sounds familiar.

When I fly out from within the pylon, I find my party readying themselves for battle, facing down Fethix, the elf that Uthica once choked for stealing her necklace.

“What is this?” I ask, waving my hand at the drive.

“This is Aethire,” Fethix declares, hands tucked into her pockets, pulling her coveralls down, revealing...

I keep my eyes locked firmly on her face as I ask, “What do you mean?

“Aethire. The city that floats on clouds? This here’s the engine that keeps it running. What, a single decade goes by, and everyone forgets how the city stays up?” She stares at me for a second, pulling her hands out of her pockets. “Cept you ain’t a local, are ya? And unless there’s been a new integration wave I ain’t heard of, you’re not a System-bound race either.”

I don’t respond, though I notice my friends are still on alert, ready to act if this becomes a fight. Because we are still in a dungeon.

Which reminds me, “This is part of the World Dungeon, right?”

“World Dung…? Oh, fuck me sideways.” Fethix spins about, running toward a console where she starts tapping furiously.

The others look to me, and I just shrug, floating closer to Fethix. Looking over her shoulder, I see her pulling up what appear to be news articles. She only glances at them for a couple seconds before moving to the next. Finally, she comes to a stop on one that has a title about an incoming System integration. On the page is a picture of several humans next to an image of Earth from space.

She glances over her shoulder at me. “This is over twenty years ago. It says here you shouldn’t be integrated yet. So clearly something went wrong. The System hasn’t gotten an integration date wrong in millennia. But what do I flogging know. Apparently, a primitive, barely-integrated user can trick me into maintaining their floating city in the sky for centuries by associating me with their world dungeon. How did I not get any other visitors?”

The last doesn’t actually seem directed at us, but I answer anyway. “Uh. Well, it sounds like there’s another version of the World Dungeon. Most people go through that one.”

“Another? Well, I’ll be a K’tharn’s uncle. That means she must’ve arranged a parallel split. Likely running off the same mana vents that are powering this whole shebang.”

“From what I understand you can have as many parties in separate instances of the World Dungeon as you need,” I inform Fethix.

“What? No, that’s not possible. I mean, a few dozen is feasible with the size of the mana-vent we’re parked on top of, but they wouldn’t be unlimited.”

“I’m guessing the Aetherium doesn’t let that many parties in at one time,” I say, my attention moving back to the article about Earth.

Fethix catches me staring at the article and says, “So, you’re an Earther, are ya?” She eyes me up and down in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable. “Nice to see a nice healthy Elvenoid race joining the ranks. Been too long since we’ve encountered a seed world. If you know what I mean.”

“Um. Nope,” I answer before quickly asking, “Why do you think Uthica locked you in here anyway?”

“Oh, it was probably cause of… hey, how did you know it was Uthica?” her eyes narrow, causing her ears to flop as she leans forward in a move that is clearly designed to get me to look down her coveralls. But I keep my attention on the screen behind her, using a gust of wind magic to flip the page.

“Well, you worked for Uthica after you were taken from the Thenite Consortium, right?”

“How the buggins do you know I worked for Uthica, but you don’t know about… no, nevermind. Who are you people?”

“Oh, right. My name’s Alexis. What does this number represent?” I ask, staring at a number that reminds me of the way System price tags are labelled. Except this one seems to be in millions of Gold-rank mana essence.

“That’s the opening bid for System invasion rights. It’s pretty high, but then your planet’s looking to be a class 5 world. Not many of those in the System. Nine last time I had a look. Though clearly I’m a couple centuries out of date. Least my bonds will have matured.” Fethix abandons her efforts to distract me, turning back to the console to flip through a couple more pages.

“Bonds?”

“None of your business. Sheesh, some users. There,” Fethix points at the screen with a smug smile plastered on her face. On the screen is a much higher number than the one on the previous page.

“What’s that?”

“That’s the current bid for your Earth.”

I blink at her then look back at the number. 97,000,000,000,000.

That’s a lot of zeroes.