Bryce

“Bryce, what’s going on? Why the hurry all of a sudden?” Thea asked as she and Es followed me out of the kitchen. I didn’t stop or even slow down, instead choosing to explain over my shoulder as I moved to the center of the foyer.

“I told Mother that I knew how to find Sora in order to buy enough time to learn how to close the portal while she was dragging me towards it.”

“Right, but you just told us that you didn’t know how to find them,” Es pointed out and I nodded in agreement while estimating the amount of space I would need for the spell.

“I did, and it’s still true. I didn’t know how to find Sora. But my lie was enough for Mother to scour my soul to try to learn the truth.”

“And you led her to the spell that’s killing her. You already told us all this,” Thea continued my explanation, clearly missing the issue.

“But not directly,” I clarified. “Mother had signed a contract stating she wouldn’t scour my soul, but Marcel and I escaping voided it. I hadn’t realized that, so I wasn’t expecting it when she started. Which meant she was able to tear through all of my defenses, and she started with the memories I was most desperate to protect.”

“Oh shit,” Thea whispered as what had happened finally clicked with her.

“I'm still lost. What is it that you were hiding?”

“The spell,” Thea explained while I mentally searched for the mana signature from the leyline intersection on Drassun. “The spell that gave Bryce all of her mana. Mother must have found it.”

“That’s not good. I assume she can use that to counteract what you did to her?” Es asked, clearly not as concerned as he should have been.

“Probably? I don’t know, but that’s not the scary part. When Bryce cast that spell thirty years ago, it killed everybody in a solar system. The only reason it wasn’t way worse was because she got super lucky.”

“Okay, that’s really not good. Is Mother going to be able to do that?”

“Not right away, but it’s only a matter of time before she modifies it to work with her mana.” I reached out an arm and manifested the image I had locked in my mind, causing a two meter tall, rune-filled circle to appear in front of me. A portal opened an instant later, revealing an office with shattered glass walls and a heavily overgrown landing pad on the other side. “Es, follow us through if you’re interested in helping, otherwise stay here and let Lilith know what’s going on.”

“Oh, I’m coming. I already promised to help you deal with Mother, and I’m still pissed you fought her once without me.”

I nodded to him before stepping through the portal. I held it open for just long enough for the two of them to follow me through, then dropped the spell and immediately sent out a message.

Ithnaa, it’s Bryce. I’m here on Drassun with Thea and Es. Would you be able to lock onto my location and teleport to us?

I had to force my way through her mental defenses to get the message across, but once I managed, she didn’t even bother with a reply. Instead, choosing to simply appear in the room across from us.

“I refuse to be surprised by this.” The djinn shook her head with a disbelieving smile. “I suppose I should welcome you back, but you’ve missed so much that I doubt we have the time. Besides, teleporting you all to the ship will take three trips, and you interrupted me in the middle of a very important meeting with Penn and Dimitri.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Ithnaa, and yeah, we have a lot to talk about, but if the Penn you’re meeting with is the one I’m thinking of, then it’s probably worth taking me directly to him. One of Paradise’s heaviest hitters could be exactly what we need to avert an apocalypse.”

“An apocalypse?” Ithnaa raised an eyebrow, and I was about to explain, but Thea beat me to it.

“Yeah, it’s real bad, but if you’re taking Bryce to your pirate war meeting, then I’m coming, too. There’s no way I’m letting her out of my sight. Especially not before she’s healed.”

“Very well, I assume you’ll be joining us, too, demon?” Ithnaa asked, but Es hesitated.

“Actually, would it be alright if you came back to get me in a few days? I have some unfinished business on Drassun, and I’m not sure when or even if I’ll ever be able to get back here.”

“What? No, Es, you can’t fight Lysc now. I need to be there for that.”

“Thea, if you want to go with him, that’s fine. I doubt this meeting is going to get violent, and besides, even if it does, then Ithnaa will be there to protect me.”

“Sora is there, too,” Ithnaa added. “Which is just another reason I need to return as soon as possible. So, figure out whether or not you want to stay before I get back.”

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I flinched as she unexpectedly reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. Then the next thing I knew, we were standing together outside the Cantina in Penn’s sector on Paradise. “Are you okay, Bryce? Thea mentioned you needed healing, but I didn’t see anything where I touched you.”

“No, I’m not okay, but I’ll survive. At least, until I can get to Suriel.”

She gave me a concerned look, but eventually nodded. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

“Wait, Ithnaa,” I called out, and she paused with an expectant look, so I continued. “Mother gave me some sort of potion or elixir that’s making it so I can only feel pain. I asked a dryad to heal me while I was in Hel, but she wasn’t able to help, and I was hoping that you would have an idea of what she gave me, or better yet, how I can undo it.”

“It sounds like you have quite the story to tell. Which I suppose is to be expected considering the circumstances of your escape,” she chuckled to herself before shaking her head. “But I’m sorry. I’ve never heard of anything like that, but Sora may have. Mother trained them to be an agent, which included her preferred methods of information extraction, and from my understanding, they were quite good at it.”

“Alright, I’ll try asking them after this meeting, then.” I tried to hide my disappointment, but she clearly noticed.

“If Sora doesn’t know anything, then I’m sure Suriel can fix whatever the problem is, and if he can’t then there are bio-mods available that can alter sensation, or in the worst case, we can always just chance a resurrection. There are enough resources at our disposal that a solution is a matter of when, not if.”

“That’s fair. It’s just… unpleasant, and definitely ruined my reunion with Thea.”

“Remind me when we’re no longer in crisis, and I'll take you to my favorite place to be alone, then leave you there together for a week.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Please, do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go fetch your girlfriend so that Sora isn’t sitting alone with a pair of pirate kings, wondering where I am for too much longer.”

“Wait, you didn’t tell them?” I tried to ask, but she had already teleported away. I debated just sending Sora a message over the feed to let them know what was going on, but then remembered that my implants still didn’t work. It was definitely starting to feel like our crew was single-handedly keeping the bio-mod market afloat with how often we needed to get our implants repaired or replaced.

That was definitely something I needed to reflect on. Not necessarily how much it was costing us, although it was getting expensive, but that it was a symptom of a much larger problem. At this point, each member of our crew had been taken at least once, and while everyone else had been recovered without any lasting physical damage, I had absolutely no intention of allowing what happened to me to happen to any of them. Protecting my people by any means necessary was going to need to become my number one priority moving forward.

“—not that heavy. So, it shouldn’t be an issue.” Thea appeared nearby mid-argument with Ithnaa, and the djinn turned to me with an exasperated sigh.

“Bryce, please explain to your girlfriend that I’m not a damn delivery service.”

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“I used my implants to send a message to Lysc asking her to pick up Es from where we dropped him off, and promised her a case of whiskey from Zen’s bar if she would delay the fight for a few days, but Ithnaa said she won’t take it to her.”

“But you are willing to take Thea to watch the fight, right?” I asked, and Ithnaa nodded.

“I am, but only because I’m also interested in seeing it. I refuse to allow my services to be volunteered without at least being consulted first.”

“Thea, that feels pretty reasonable to me.” I looked toward the devil, who was pouting at this point.

“That’s exactly the problem. It’s perfectly reasonable, and I’ve already apologized for volunteering her without asking. But if we don’t get the whiskey to Lysc, then I’m going to miss the fight.”

“What if I sent a message to Lysc to explain the situation and ask for an extension? Hells, if you wanted to throw in an extra case to make up for the delay, then I wouldn’t mind covering the cost,” I offered, but then made a quick amendment. “That’s assuming this isn’t another ‘heels situation’ where a case of this whiskey costs thirty-thousand credits.”

“It’s not, I promise, and that would probably work. Especially if it’s coming from you.”

“In that case give me a moment to send this message, then we can finally go relieve Sora.” I quickly solidified the image for the spell while simultaneously focusing on what I remembered of Lysc, then spoke the words in my mind.

Lysc, it’s me Bryce. Thea may have promised more than she can deliver when it comes to getting you the whiskey. If you’d accept a slightly delayed delivery on the day of the fight, then I’d be willing to throw in an additional case on her behalf. I apologize for the lack of professionalism, and if there’s another way I can make it up to you, then you need only ask.

I sent the message and felt Lysc’s surprise through the connection, followed by her amusement.

I’ll gladly accept the additional case, and with the way your mate drinks, I probably should have demanded it. Don’t worry about the delay. The preparations for the fight would have taken a few days anyway, but don’t think for a moment that me telling you that means Thea no longer needs to pay up. She already offered, and you know how I feel about people backing out of a deal. One other thing you—

The message cutoff as it hit the maximum length, leaving whatever Lysc had intended to say unsent. So, I cast another messaging spell to both thank her and hear whatever it was I missed.

That’s good to hear, and thank you for your understanding, but I’m sorry, this form of communication isn’t the greatest, and whatever it is you intended to say was cut off at the end due to message length.

She responded almost immediately. Hmm. Right, sorry, there aren’t many spell casters in the pack. Talking like this is new to me. I was trying to warn you that there’s an elf who goes by Agent Silas from the Federation asking about you, and since we are still technically a member of the Federation, we couldn’t deny him outright. Daria is doing her best to delay talking with him, but we will eventually need to meet. Otherwise, it could—

Lysc’s message was cut off again, but it didn’t matter. She still managed to get her point across, and I completely froze in place while a million different thoughts raced through my mind.

“Bryce, what’s wrong? Did she say no?”

“Um, no, Lysc said she’s fine with a delay and that she’s looking forward to the extra case, but she also said that my brother is on Drassun looking for me.”