Ukila Local Time: Late afternoon. (January 12, 1512)

True to form, with a nigh infinite Facet pool, I start experimenting, since we’re not doing anything else. My first experiment is using Pause without dipping into my pool. Just for the challenge of it.

It lasts close to, but a little less than a minute, though the duration varies slightly with each attempt. Still, that’s without costing me more than 0.01 Facet. A much lower limit than I used to need.

Uthica taps my shoulder, drawing my attention, and stopping my experiments before I get much further. She leads me away from the Pandregen. Five minutes flight toward the mountain, she stops floating over the canopy near a flock of green and yellow crested birds. They sing a harmonious rhythm that would make an orchestra jealous as Uthica pulls us higher, telling me her plan.

My traitorous grin gives away my agreement before I’m able to reply.

The herd of Bittelers is nipping at our heels angrily, their small mouths not much of a threat as we lead them toward the Pandregen. True to form, it took longer to find them than it did to get them to follow us. Now that we’re flying close to the Pandregen’s lair, we drop into invisibility. A crude illusion continues forward. It’s not intricate enough to fool more than the most casual glance, but its enough for the Bittelers.

They continue forward, ignoring the sudden change in terrain that most wildlife would wisely avoid.

Cracking stone rains from below as the Pandregen turns toward the Bittelers. The Pandregen roars at the intruders, waiting for their next move. Which only serves to draw the Bittelers toward it.

This seems to be what the Pandregen was expecting. It digs its claws into the ground, then corkscrews forward, a living drill that tears not just the Bittelers to pieces, but the surrounding soil as well.

It didn’t even use Stone-manipulation, it just tore the stone apart with raw physical force. The Bittelers durable shells crumbled like a paper bag under a semi-truck.

“Hmm. It could be more challenging than I’d anticipated,” Uthica notes.

“Doesn’t seem that bad,” I say, trying to compare it to most of the creatures I’ve fought. Pretty sure the Vothborean would smash it to pieces. The immortal mana-warped too.

Uthica raises an eyebrow at me but doesn’t comment. Instead, we repeat the experiment, but with other monsters. It’s as we’re watching a pack of lizards that resemble Ostriches with green armor as they get destroyed when Uthica decides she’s ready.

“I’ll be handling this fight on my own. I don’t want to risk failing the quest by accepting your assistance. However, I’d appreciate if you kept watch. And pull me out if I get in trouble,” Uthica says from the top of our now familiar promontory. Which we’ve confirmed I can teleport to fast enough. “Though I don’t suspect I’ll need you to.”

“Good luck,” I say, clapping her on the shoulder as the last of the Ostrich-lizards squawks its death cries.

Uthica stands up, her form disappearing as she engages her ring. Minutes later black lines fill the air over where the Pandregen is feasting. They descend slowly, creating a cage around the Pandregen dozens of meters distant. Once the cage has surrounded the Pandregen, touching the ground on every side it contracts. The Pandregen snorts, its wide mouth opening in a roar as it turn to face it’s most recent challenger.

But Uthica doesn’t appear, remaining invisible as her net contracts around the Pandregen. It tries to corkscrew away, but the black threads adhere to its carapace, locking it in place. It struggles in place for a minute until a bright blue-white rune appears, accompanied by buzzing. The rune is one of the most complex spell designs I’ve ever seen, thousands of lines linking each segment, all packed into less than a square meter.

The buzzing rune floats down, much like the net did before it.

Unlike the net, when the rune makes contact with the Pandregen, it’s effects can’t be mistaken as benign. Its earth-splitting roar is replaced with a harsher shriek as it struggles futilely to escape where the blue-white rune is slowly searing through its flesh.

Then it’s over, something critical finally giving out.

Or maybe it just ran out of Health to shield it from damage that should’ve killed it much earlier.

Only after it’s stopped struggling does Uthica appear above it. She flies down to its body, using a set of oversized shears to cut it open. I fly over to join her as she pulls out its heart, a healthy but small organ. Then she pulls out a second and a third. Once she’s pulled out the seventh, she finally steps away.

I conjure an orb of water for her to cleanse herself. Uthica nods her thanks at me as she vigorously scrubs herself clean of the Pandregen’s viscera.

“What’s with the hearts?” I ask as she dries herself off.

Uthica grimaces, staring at where the seven hearts now rest on a sheet pulled from her inventory. “Quest update. I need to take each heart to a different spot on Ukila, use them to trigger a beast surge, then cleanse the beast surge.”

“That sounds. Extensive. And time-consuming,” I note.

“I suspect it will be. I’m sorry to say, this is going to take considerably longer than I’d feared.”

“Well, at least you’ve got me to get you there faster,” I reassure her, keeping Smoulder from investigating the hearts.

Uthica packs the hearts up, nodding. “But this means you’ll need to be in peak form. What was with the blood?”

“Uhm. Thought you missed that. Was trying to overclock my Facet,” I admit, letting Smoulder go free once Uthica has the last of the hearts packed away in her inventory. “But at least I found out my health regenerates on its own. Even if it’s slow.”

A fact I was able to confirm over the last few hours as we herded the monsters to the Pandregen. Again, it’s less than it should be, according to my Status, but it’s there. And despite my admin status, I haven’t figured out why yet. There’s a… lot of information to go through. And the System doesn’t seem to have useful filters.

Uthica and I stare at the remains of the Pandregen as Smoulder hops onto its head, throwing back her head and roaring in triumph. It comes out as more of a ‘mew’ or maybe a ‘meh’. Either way, when Smoulder hops back to me, I reward her efforts with more headscritches.

“We should…” Uthica trails off as several forms appear from the trees to the south.

They’re garbed just like the Eldinsworn, though like the ones at the gate, these ones count several K’tharn amongst their number. They’re approaching cautiously, their rifles held at the ready but not pointed in our direction. When they’re a dozen meters away, they stop. One of the humans steps forward, calling out in that unfamiliar language again.

“Don’t suppose you understand what they’re saying?” Uthica asks, her posture low, ready to act.

“Not as such. And no convenient System codex to teach me either,” I say, lamenting the loss of such an easy way to learn new languages. “We could just leave.”

Uthica nods, then shakes her head. “We should at least make an attempt to communicate. If we’re going to be on Ukila for a while, they might be able to help.”

Ceding the decision to Uthica, I remain in place as she steps forward. Two of the Eldinsworn raise their rifles slightly, but none turn them on us. They make several statements in their strange language before Uthica calls out to them. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying. Do you speak Vausian?”

There’s no response, other than the lead K’tharn talking to one of it’s subordinates. They’re shaking their heads when Uthica repeats her question in M’terese.

This time the assistant responds enthusiastically, “May you always be sheltered beneath the waves.”

Uthica seems startled, raising her hand for a second before she returns the greeting.

“Forgive rough speak. The honoured depths do not visit often,” the Eldinsworn says, his voice trembling.

“You are forgiven. I have many questions, if you’d be able to answer them,” Uthica says, standing straighter. The assistant is talking in short sentences with what seems to be their squad-leader.

The squad-leader’s face remains masked, but she seems to be indulging the assistant, waving him forward. As Uthica talks with the assistant the other members of their squad come closer, until they’re standing in a perimeter around us. But they’re not watching us. Their attention is focused outward, gazes sweeping across the surrounding forest.

Uthica gets a lot of directions to places I’m guessing are listed in her quest log. While she’s doing that, I concentrate on her, trying to establish a connection.

In theory, I still have my IFF ability, but I haven’t tried to use it since I woke in the past. Not sure if it’s going to be broken like… nope, its activating.

The process is similar to connecting to the ring she gave me, though it’s even simpler. The connection stretches out from the ugly tree, Uthica a visible presence on the periphery of my soul-scape. While I’m investigating the nature of the bond, I discover there are two other connections leading away. One is to Smoulder, and that connection is… the comparison isn’t even one. Our bond is thick as the tree the bond springs from.

The other bond is far weaker, stretched nearly to the point of being broken. I’m afraid to interact with it, worried that even the slightest touch might cause it to snap. So I don’t.

Stepping out of my soul-scape, I’m able to confirm my connection is working as expected, my awareness of Uthica’s position clear in my mind. It’s solid. Good, I’d like to ensure I can’t lose her. Especially considering the modern Earth vibes I’m picking up from these Eldinsworn.

Still, with further testing required, I establish a connection to one of the nearby K’tharn. Her presence appears beside Uthica’s outside my soul-scape, but it’s not as opaque. She’s broadcasting her visual input directly across the connection. When I Focus on it, I can even hear through her ears. I immediately drop my Focus, but a snippet of her life slips through.

An argument with her brother. A pu’shaha. They’re fighting over whether she should join the Eldinsworn, her brother accusing them of atrocities while she swears they’re heroes.

A common tale.

The fragment ends before I get any details.

But now I’m worried. Looking around, I count a total of twenty-four Eldinsworn, all with the same dark grey uniform. The same strange rifles. The translator is now asking Uthica questions that seem to be coming from their commander. Questions like, how did you get here. How many of you are there.

Uthica answers the questions concisely, lying through her pointy little teeth with a smile. “Sent by the M’tari. Twelve.”

The enthusiastic assistant conveys her answers to the squad-leader who seems to make a decision, snapping out orders to the surrounding Eldinsworn.

The shock on the translator’s face is all the warning I need, pausing time as several of the Eldinsworn spin in place, bringing their rifles to bear. I consider blasting them off their feet, but instead I drop the pause, teleporting to Uthica’s side. With her in hand, we teleport hundreds of meters directly above, startling a flock of grey birds.

Below us, I watch as half a dozen dark blasts of energy tear apart the ground. The blast reminds me of where I’d seen the rifles before. They’re a similar design as the one Ivicka used to pierce through Genitha’s defences. There are barely heard yells from below, the Eldinsworn spreading out, combing through the trees. At least they don’t seem to be used to flying opponents.

As if reading my thoughts, a cloaked ship appears. Its hovering a dozen meters to the side of where we’d been talking with the squad.

And I had no idea it was there.

I trade a look with Uthica, pointing at the mountain. Uthica nods, so I teleport us to the mountain valley, using nearly half my Facet to make a trip of only two-hundred kilometers. There’s something heavy in the air.

The second we arrive Uthica says, “That was strange. Why did they turn like that.”

“I don’t know. But there’s something off about them.”

“The sudden decision to kill us did imply that, yes,” Uthica says, elbowing me.

I roll my eyes, but smile as I say, “Other than that. I’ve seen those weapons before. One of them anyway. It’s Reaper-tech.”

“Never heard of it,” Uthica says, leading the way inside our shelter while glancing over her shoulder at the sky. “That they can make something so large invisible and silent is worrying.”

“I mean, it’s only the size of a dragon. And people have made dragons invisible,” I point out.

“They… what?” Uthica asks, a plate heaped with steaks held in two hands as she stares at me.

I take the plate from her, setting it on the table as I answer, “Is that not a thing yet? I know the Aetherium in the future had several invisible dragon riders. Never saw one, but Tipan made a point of talking about it.”

Uthica shakes her head as she sits. “Perhaps they were inspired by my visit here. I have several ideas about how to do such a thing already.”

“See. Not so strange,” I say, spearing one of the steaks, placing it on my plate with a small sigh. Uthica has even less carbs available than a typical K’tharn. And with my ability to Focus on things to identify their nature gone, I can’t even scrounge in the forest. Well, not without sorting through the overabundant information I get from a Facet scan.

Either too much information or too little. Wouldn’t be a problem if I had Wyonna or my System was working properly.

Still, at least it’s good steak.

“What really gets me is that they know M’terese but not Vausian,” Uthica says as she sets her plate to the side, the pile of steaks entirely gone.

“Well, the M’tari have been visiting Ukila for a long time,” I note, petting Smoulder, who’s established her claim in my lap.

“You mentioned that before. How do you know so much about Ukila?”

“Remember that dungeon I told you about. The one with the M’tari in it?” I ask, pulling at the soft tip of Smoulder’s tail as I glance up at Uthica, who nods. “Well, it had all of this. I’m surprised you don’t remember after we traded memories.”

Uthica shifts her empty plate back and forth several times before saying, “Not all your memories were clear. What did the mural say about the Eldinsworn?”

“Nothing. It never mentioned the Eldinsworn once.”

“Strange. Not once?”

“Nope. Maybe something happened to them by the time they made the mural. Or maybe they’re recent arrivals.”

Stroking her chin, Uthica nods. “That is certainly possible. I’ve seen more groups than I can count dissolve since I was a cub.”

And with that morbid thought, we move on. The rest of dinner is peaceful as we discuss what to do next. And whether there might be a way to detect the invisible ships.

It’d never occurred to me before, but we’re not the only ones flying around while invisible. And despite what I told Uthica about invisible dragons, I’m not used to the concept of others flying around while invisible. The Taken must do it though.

After dinner, I attempt to reverse the conversion process for my Facet, hoping to boost my Health regeneration. There are several warning notifications as the safety kicks in again.

And my Health ticks up but I end up getting a slightly bloody nose. Less than ideal.

It aches for over an hour afterwards. Seems lingering pain is back now that my System’s changed. I consider experimenting with my System to find an option to disable it again but decide to hold off for now.

The fact that the pain goes away entirely after an hour helps.

As I lay down for the evening, in a second ‘secret’ bunker buried deeper within our shelter, I enter my soul-scape to observe my connections. The connection to Uthica remains obscured. I’m certain I could reinforce it and experience her memories. But then… I’ve already done that, haven’t I?

Smoulder’s connection blazes, warming me physically and within my soul even now as she sleeps on my chest.

Instead, my eyes shift to the other connection. The K’tharn is inside a cramped space, surrounded by her fellow Eldinsworn. When I Focus on the link, I try to restrain my connection.

It seems to fail, because when the connection forms, I’m fully in her body. The cramped space smells awful, the sweat of two-dozen hardworking individuals packed into a space barely larger than my old bedroom on Earth.

There are several conversations going on nearby, including one my host seems to be part of. I attempt to understand what’s being said, but it all just seems like gibberish to me. Several minutes after I’ve established the connection, I’m no closer to understanding them. I’m about to disengage when a change comes over the space, everyone going quiet.

A second later there’s a low hiss from one end of the room, a line of bright light blinding my host for a second before an open compound reveals itself beyond her. They file out of the space, which reveals itself to be the cloaked craft that’d been hovering over us back in the clearing. She follows the others out of the hanger the ship landed inside a bunkroom. When she starts getting disrobed, I let my Focus go slack. This time no memories intrude on my mind, so restricting my Focus seems to have prevented that at least.

Obscuring the image from the connection to the Eldinsworn as she continues to disrobe, I let myself sleep.

The Eldinsworn can wait for another day.