March 27, 2019. 5:12 pm.

Beth and Roberts arrive the next evening, flying in with Josh and Fethix in tow. I watch the four of them fly into the city from the second story of my temple-palace next to the control spire. A proper tribute to Smoulder.

And according to Baska, me. I’m just glad I got Wyonna to take my statues down. More luck with that than Uthica had, it seems.

Their late arrival can be partially attributed to where we’re moored, nearly a hundred kilometres Northwest of Betheryne. Despite their initial warning, after Talkith’s extended visit, the Aetherium sent a second messenger stating we’d be ‘forgiven’ our transgressions if we pulled back. It makes me wonder what the point of their initial visit had been. Posturing? Or is Talkith’s influence greater than it once was? Maybe something else?

I’m waiting in a side room off from Wyonna’s recently created audience chamber when Roberts and Beth enter the palace. I can hear Josh and Fethix arguing outside, Rufka and Tipan’s voices joining them as I get up to greet Roberts. His eyes are unusually drawn, his shoulders slumped as he offers me a weak wave. I leap out of my chair and rush over to him, exclaiming, “Wes! What happened?”

Roberts’ smile is weak, but genuine. But Beth responds for him, her emerald-green eyes boring into me. “He’s been healing without rest for the last few days. He discovered he could keep healing after running out of mana. I knew those lessons with the old witch in Glimmering Sands were a mistake.”

“I’m fine,” Roberts objects, waving her concern away. “It’s all temporary. A good night’s sleep and some careful restoration of the flesh and I’ll be right as rain. I’m far more concerned about you. I wasn’t informed you were so heavily injured.”

“Similar lessons probably saved me from total System collapse,” I deflect, thinking back to what I learned about Twilight from working with Theria. Then I lead them inside to the table where I was eating a late second dinner, to help my body recover from all the ignoring it I did.

“System collapse?” Beth asks as she plucks a fruit from the table, tearing it open with a large bite, letting it’s lifeblood drip down her chin.

“I was hit by a mana-storm. It messed things up. But I think the System’s shown me a path forward,” I say, before taking them through most of what happened since we were separated after the dungeon, listening as they catch me up in turn. There’s still no word from Demo and Rose, though apparently the Daughters established peaceful contact with the southernmost M’tari settlement.

Seems like they’re making themselves known on the world stage.

Despite days of dealing with the Ministers of the Aetherium and healing the surviving refugees, their days have been far less eventful than mine. At least in scale. Roberts doesn’t mention it, but Beth offhandedly implies he’s lost count of the number of people he was too late to save. Roberts winces, but otherwise doesn’t comment. Maybe the ministers leaving people behind was a good thing. It sounds like their efforts were responsible for more death than the M’tari’s attack itself.

Though I guess there’s plenty of blame to go around.

Once we’re all caught up, Beth takes her leave. The moment she passes out the door, I feel a tension seep out of my shoulder’s I hadn’t noticed.

Roberts raises an eyebrow but doesn’t utter a word. Instead he looks at where I’m cracking a nut with my temporarily metallic right hand. “It would seem that, despite appearances, your injuries haven’t inhibited you greatly.”

Sorting the tasty nut from the far too sour shell of the unknown nut with a splash of water, I shrug. “Honestly, now that the pain’s gone, I hardly notice. It feels… natural.”

“And the eye?”

“The eye?” I respond, staring back at him.

He taps his eye causing me to reach up to touch my own. Sometime in the last couple days I’d managed to forget about my eye. It’s stopped hurting, so that helps. And with my sensitivity to the mana around me, it’s not like I’ve lost a great deal of awareness.

“It’s not bad. Doesn’t hurt,” I answer.

“Hmm. Should I take a look at it? You’re not channelling the wisdom of Odin through a willing sacrifice, are you?” he teases, hiding his grin behind his steepled fingers.

I snort, giggling as I say, “No. Nothing like that. I’d like to keep the hand. But if you can fix my eye, that’d be good. Probably. I’m sure Rufka would appreciate it anyway.”

Roberts nods, bringing his hand toward my brow. I lean into his touch waiting for the relaxing flow of his Reprieve to flow through me. Instead of the all-encompassing warmth though, there’s only a trickle. Just like when using healing items.

“Ukila below!” I mutter, trying to direct the energy toward my injuries. But then my vision gets blurry again. “Stop,” I croak out.

Roberts immediately pulls his hand away and my vision clears. But my eye remains blind.

“I’m sorry. You mentioned healing wasn’t as effective, but I thought that was because it was unguided. It feels like something is actively resisting the change.” Roberts leans against the table, stroking his chin while staring at the ceiling.

“Should’ve known,” I say, with a casual roll of my shoulders. Then I flick my head, tossing my hair about while trying to shake off the uneasy feeling of empty healing. At least Tipan was able to restore my hair. And my nose. Really glad to have that back. “It’s fine,” I reassure Roberts, patting his hand.

“It worries me,” Roberts admits, his gaze returning to mine.

I cock my head to the side slightly, and he continues, “is this because your System is broken? Or is this what it’s like to heal someone without the System. Are we going to return to Earth and suddenly I’m going to be a regular Doctor again. Just with the cleanest hands in the field.” He creates a small ball of water over his right hand to emphasize his point, sticking both hands inside to scrub them clean.

“Considering your sample size of one, I’d say it’s too early to tell,” I counter, flicking some of the broken nut shells into his still floating sphere once he retracts his hands.

“Ha. Fair point. Still, I can’t help but wonder. Will I even be able to help Ethan,” he says, leaning forward across the table.

“Wait, Ethan needs saving? I mean, more than everyone else?” I clarify.

Roberts nods. “The neurodegenerative disease I mentioned I was studying. Ethan has it. His father passed away from it when he was forty-two. Ethan’s is more aggressive. Without a cure, he won’t survive until twenty.”

“Oh. You never said,” it sounds more accusing than I intended.

Before I can apologize, Roberts reaches over and squeezes my hand. The soft fleshy one. “Worrying doesn’t change things. Besides, even if I won't have my magic, I still know more about the nervous system than any doctor who came before. I'll find a way to help him. We’ve had more important matters to focus on. But now? We’re close. We’re so very close to going home. I can feel it in my bones. ”

Looking out the window at the way the shield shimmers in the distance, a barely visible prism scattering the light in a rainbow pattern across the city, I can’t help but agree.

Roberts and I spend the next few minutes talking about what we’re going to do when we get back to Earth. We're talking about our favourite chicken places in Vancouver when the others make their way in.

Rufka and Fethix are arguing about which of them is a better enchanter, each pulling examples of their work from their packs. Eventually Rufka admits defeat, which leads her into asking Fethix for advice with a special project. When I lean forward to listen in, Rufka glances in my direction then leads Fethix away, throwing me a crooked grin as they disappear.

The night passes so quickly I’m shocked when the sun pokes through the windows. As everyone else heads off to get sleep, I look out over the city, watching as more K’tharn arrive. Talkith’s doing. Well, and the large amount of food we purchased in Pearlescent Summers. Turns out the council’s having trouble accessing the Aetherium’s massive food stores. The council itself is doing fine, but a lot of their people aren’t being fed. Which is only one of the reasons Talkith’s bringing people to us.

“Wyonna. How are the new citizens settling in?” I ask, watching the latest group disappear into one of the outer districts.

Wyonna appears in a flash of light, looking out the window beside me. “They’re doing well. We’ve had a couple more cases of people not wanting to swear allegiance. Despite Talkith’s assurances they’re being informed. It’s reassuring that it’s not just humans that can be so silly.”

I nod, feeling kind of pleased by that as well. “Did Fethix have any ideas on your networking idea?”

Wyonna turns to me, her smile large enough it’s unsettling. A mouth should not be able to open that wide. “Actually, she has a plan…”

My smile grows with Wyonna’s as she continues. It’s not perfect, but it has a chance.

The rainbow over the control spire feels like a beacon of hope. We’re really doing it. We’re going home.

The next week is busy but rewarding. The Taken show up, revealing themselves as Kellica informs us that the K’mintar was able to unlock part of the Aetherium’s lost food reserves. Turns out that even as the Aetherium was dealing with the M’tari, the Taken had to deal with more sleeper agents of the Reapers.

With the refugees secure, we fly Pelwerd across the breadth of Akilo while I spend my time trying to figure out a way to keep my abilities after my System is deleted. It’s not going well.

Fethix’s idea is simple in execution but complicated on the enchanting side. Or so I’ve been informed. She won’t let anyone other than Trellani help her, the two having formed an unusual bond while arguing over dinner the night we picked Trellani up.

My part has been simple. All I’ve had to do is use the keys at each of the cities, wait for Fethix to set up her device. Well, and then imbue it with massive amounts of Facet. The combination creates a strong enough connection that Wyonna is able to maintain control between the cities even at distances of thousands of kilometres. Which allows me to teleport between the cities with ease, even with my broken System.

Which only speeds up our efforts further. In a matter of a week, we’ve linked all the Sanctuaries, with the exception of Betheryne and Lescado which both remain under the System’s direct control. Well, all the intact ones. We aren’t able to repair Burnesq, the lack of a control spire proving to be more of an issue than I’d been hoping. At least for networking them. There’s some hope we can rebuild it and have it flown back to Earth separately.

It’s on the morning after connecting the last of the cities, the sunken Sanctuary of Arlado, that I’m preparing to talk to Beth. I’ve been avoiding her for the last week. But yesterday Tipan asked me if I could talk to her.

Because she’s worried about her.

I feel like a complete jerk. Beth’s been striving to help everyone since we arrived on Akilo. So what if she… if she killed some guy when she was a kid. That’s not who she is now. And so she was following me on… that day. That just means she saw my worst and was still there for me.

A knock on the door startles me out of my thoughts as I turn away from the window. With a thought, I reform the door so it’s no longer merged with the wall. I include an audible thunk to ensure Beth knows its unlocked.

Beth pushes the door open, pausing in the doorway as I look at her carefully for the first time since she’s returned. Her posture is worse than Roberts’ was after he returned from the refugee camp.

“Hey kid. Wasn’t sure… didn’t think you were going to let me in,” Beth says.

It’s like a stab to the gut. But I deserved it, I try to apologize, yet I’m not sure what to say. ‘Sorry, I’ve been avoiding you, but I saw you kill a man when you were only a teenager. Oh, and I know you saw what happened to papa.’ Yeah…

“So, which one was it?” Beth asks, her voice barely audible, the light in the room nearly disappearing.

“Which what?” I ask, glancing at the clear sky outside as the light returns.

Beth walks into the room, pushing the heavy stone door closed with a light thump. She sits on the edge of the table, looking up at me. “Which memory? Which one of my horrible decisions made it so you can no longer look me in the eye?”

At her direct callout, I force myself to meet her gaze. I can see water beading in the corner of her eyes. But her face is set, as blank as I’ve ever seen it.

“Travis.”

Beth’s laugh is harsh and cutting, a single syllable of pain. Beth hangs her head, obscuring her features with her fiery hair.

I stand only a few metres away, waiting in silence, considering walking over and placing my hand on her shoulder. Or pulling her into a hug.

“Figures.” Beth pulls her hair back, hard enough that several strands come out. “I can’t even explain that one away. It just… is. Well, at least you know.”

“Uh.”

“You know, I remember you asking Rufka. The panic in your voice when you thought that you were a monster. I didn’t understand it. Still don’t. I was proud of you. Am proud of you. You’re better than I am. I can accept that. Makes me happy, really.”

“Just wish you didn’t know I was a monster. I don’t regret it. Any of it. But it was nice having you look up to me. Regret losing that.”

“It’s not like that-” I start.

Beth laughs that same laugh, and the room goes dark again, and I realize it’s not just the light, cause whatever’s happening is affecting my mana-sense too. Before I can think about it more, Beth continues, “Kid. I’d be shocked if you hadn’t lost your faith in me. Just… you know, I didn’t know I could still care about people. I wanted to blame it on the System. But I realized that’s not true. Went and let my walls down.”

“Uhm… okay?”

“Yep. Did I ever mention you were a spitting image of my little sister?”

“You have a sister?” I ask, stepping closer to her.

“Molly,” Beth states, her eyes looking past me at the empty sky.

“I thought Molly was your cat.”

“Yeah. I lied. I do that.”

“So, how old is… Molly?”

“She was eight.” Beth says it flat, no emphasis or tears. Just a simple fact.

“Oh.”

“Yep. Best part? My fault. Three months before Travis showed up. He was my fault too.”

“Oh.”

“But why am I telling you. You can just peer into my mind and see all my worst secrets, can’t you? No need to change or become a better person. You can just see me for the monster I really am,” Beth gets off the table, marching toward me. She grabs my lone hand. For a second I’m worried she’s going to attack me but she takes my hand and slaps it against her head.

“Go on then. Don’t take my word for it. See if for yourself. See how much of a monster I really am.”

“Beth, I don’t think-” I start but the room suddenly drops into complete darkness, causing me to jump.

“Do it!” she snarls, grinding my hand into her head. “See what I did… See me!”

Gulping, I nod. I owe her this much. If she wants me to see a specific memory after all the memories that’ve been stolen… it’s the absolute least I can do. But first I pull her into a hug. Then, embracing Twilight, I reinforce my System enough to form the connection leading to Beth.

Then there’s a flicker, as though Wyonna was walking through the room with her hair on full flicker. Except there’s nothing but darkness.

Light returns as I attempt to form the connection. But Beth’s not in front of me. She’s released my wrist, and is staring down at me from above.

I can hear her muttering to herself as my hand starts to dissolve into little blue sparks of mana, the words “No, no, no…” filling the otherwise silent room.

“Critical Failure. Connec- -oration program damaged. Unable- -nact Restoration. Pattern unab- -not stored in buffer."

Oh…