I stare at the shop window for a moment, then look past it at the Ringmaster. "Should I be worried about the stone's aspect being listed as hunger?" I ask.

It's mostly a rhetorical question. Of course I should be worried. Even Thys looks skeptical.

The Ringmaster, to his credit, gives it a moment of thought before answering the question. "Hunger is not an easy aspect to work with," he says, his tone low and solemn. "But it should not pose a problem for a Trialgoer such as yourself without an external factor that exacerbates the problem."

I think back to the Void Inspiration within me and wince. "Right," I say. "And the worst thing that can happen?"

"Either the stone's Firmament will consume you, or it will consume your Firmament." The Ringmaster eyes me. "With you, I suspect it will be the latter."

"...What's the difference between the two?"

Thys pipes up, the kobold hopping excitedly as if glad he can finally contribute. "I know this one!" he says. "Firmament aspects have a few different recognized categories, although there are so many it's hard to categorize all of them. The broad and most common ones are elemental, foundational, and abstract.

"Elemental aspects are the easiest to work with. They just represent traditional elements — fire, water, ice, that kind of thing. They don't have any level of intelligence, so they're pretty amenable to control unless you're dealing with something exceptionally powerful.

"Foundational aspects are a step above that. They're kinda like elemental aspects, but they're all the ways we define reality. So foundational aspects are things like space, gravity, and time."

It occurs to me this means it should be possible for me to find or make a temporal imbuement stone. I wonder if that'll help me manipulate the loops any.

"Then there's abstract aspects," Thys continues. "Those are the hardest to manipulate because they're all a little bit alive? Abstract aspects are stuff that only really exist as we define them. There's some that cross over with emotion, like hunger, and then there are completely abstract ideas like truth, or superstition, or the concept of organization and categorization itself. I think the theory is that they're alive 'cause they only exist in our heads, so the Firmament picks up a little bit of what's in us. " He taps the side of his head as if to demonstrate.

I just raised a bemused eyebrow. "And this relates to the original question... how?"

"When you're working with living Firmament, the equation changes," Thaht says, deciding to speak up in place of his overexcited brother. Thys makes a noise of protest, and Thaht ignores him, wrapping a hand around Thys's snout so he can't speak. I snort a bit in amusement at the sight. "Exerting influence on Firmament is a two-way street. Either you control the Firmament, or the Firmament controls you. Getting your Firmament consumed isn't so bad. If you're consumed, that basically means the Firmament is taking over. I don't know if it's different for Trialgoers, but I doubt it."

I glance at Ahkelios. "Any ideas there?"

Ahkelios frowns a little. "It is a little different for Trialgoers," he says cautiously. "The Interface provides some protection against that kind of control — but the protection isn't perfect, and I wouldn't rely on it. I've lost a couple of loops trying to fight against weird Firmament types. It'll help you push away the influence eventually, but it won't do it immediately."

"Better than what we've got, I guess," Thaht mutters, almost to himself.

It's good to know that there's a safeguard of sorts, but... I can't afford to lose multiple loops to being controlled by Hunger Firmament. Who knows what kind of damage I'd do? Nevermind the possibility that the Hestian Trialgoers will figure out counters to me while I'm under its control. "And the best way to prevent that kind of control...?"

"It is your will against that of the Firmament." The Ringmaster speaks up again, his voice grave. "There are no clever tricks or workarounds here. You will face the Firmament's Hunger, and you will have to overcome it."

Of course there aren't.

"I mean, for what it's worth, it's not that hard to fight a Firmament's aspect," Thys pipes up, finally managing to push away his brother's hand—mostly by half-clambering over it. He's now hanging awkwardly over Thaht's arm as he speaks. "All you have to do is focus on what makes you you."

"And you have me to help," Ahkelios tells me. "After the first phase shift, living Firmament isn't as dangerous to you anymore — you've built a core to protect your identity with. So I think you'll be fine."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You all better be right," I say with a sigh.

I'm not seeing much of a choice here, though. I could wait for Thys and Thaht to find their missing imbuement stones, but I've got one I have access to right here — one that will likely make a Firmament sink better than anything either Miktik or I were able to make before. If I can make this work, I can throw it into the portal created by the Empty City dungeon and carry it over into the next loop...

Where Thys could once again lend me his points and let me buy another one of these stones.

There is some risk with this plan. But the benefits, I think, outweigh the risks. If this works, it's the advantage we need against Whisper.

"You don't have the physical stone with you, do you?" I ask, frowning at the Ringmaster.

He shakes his head. "You'll have to buy it directly through the Interface this time."

I mentally select the Abyssal stone in the interface, then wince as a surge of foreign Firmament suddenly slams through me; I almost immediately recognize this Firmament as related to the Void. I can feel the Inspiration stirring within me at the familiarity, even, excitement filtering in through its normally sluggish thoughts.

[ You have spent 300,000 Arena Points. You have gained an Abyssal Hunger Imbuement Stone (Rank S). ]

In my hand, a pitch-black stone materializes. It's heavy, is the first thing I notice about it; the suddenness of the weight is enough that I almost immediately drop it. It's maybe half the weight of a bowling ball while being only a quarter of the size.

The second thing I notice is the way it seems to draw in the light and the Firmament around it. In that way, it feels very similar to the Void Inspiration lurking inside me. Thys sucks in a breath at the sight. His brother takes a step back, as if the stone makes him uneasy. Ahkelios mumbles something I can't hear.

Me? I just stare at the stone.

It's so... pretty.

—

Tarin glared out at the arena.

Whisper was having him fight three opponents. Three. It was bad enough when she'd announced that he was too challenging of an opponent, and declared that he was to now fight two opponents at once — that pushed him to his limits, but it didn't make things impossible.

Three, though? It was obvious what her plan was. It was obvious what she thought was happening. She wanted to push him as close to death as possible, in the hopes that his son would show up to rescue him.

He almost laughed at the thought. Naru wouldn't show up here if his life depended on it. For all he knew, his so-called son was watching the tournament and enjoying the sight of his father getting beaten up. Tarin's thoughts went briefly to his wife, to what Mari would undoubtedly think about all this, and his heart tightened a bit when he remembered he would not be able to tell her.

Not now, anyway. Not without causing... more anguish than he wanted.

"You can back out, you know," one of his opponents said. She was a morphling whose Firmament made his feathers feel like they were falling off — just being near her made his beak ache. Something about the Firmament she used. She was the most dangerous out of the three he was facing, and, strangely, probably the most sympathetic. She genuinely didn't want to fight him. "Don't know why Whisper's setting up the tournament against you like this. Seems pretty obvious it's unfair."

"Who know why," Tarin said with a shrug. "But I not scared. We fight, yes? No need worry."

The morphling's eyes narrowed a little. "You think you'll win?"

Tarin considered his opponents for a moment. Besides the morphling, there was a species he didn't recognize — a man that looked more like a plant than a person. He wondered in the back of his mind what Ethan's little friend would think of him.

He seemed the least dangerous of the three, though. The way he kept shifting his feet, the way the intensity of his Firmament rose every time he did so — Tarin didn't have Ethan's sensory capabilities, but if he had to guess, then the plant-man's abilities were probably oriented around battlefield control. He would be seeding his power into the ground even now, for use when the time was right.

And the third opponent... He couldn't figure her out at all. She was seemed barely present on the battlefield. She was a silverwisp, but the ethereal mist that made up her body was lighter than most, almost like she was in the process of fading away. Even now, with the battle about to begin, she didn't seem like she was looking at him. Just through him.

Not out of a misplaced sense of confidence, as far as he could tell. If Tarin had to guess, he'd guess that whatever her abilities were, it required her to stay detached from the fight.

Taking all his opponents into account...

"I not sure," Tarin said. He grinned, twirling his stick between his wings. Whisper had been nice enough to allow him a weapon, probably because the outcry from the crowd was getting too much for her to tolerate — she could, after all, hear every single criticism that was being thrown her way.

He'd chosen a stick mostly to mess with her and make those little whispers worse. What would it look like, that she declared he would be allowed a weapon from her armory, only for him to walk out of it holding a stick?

It wasn't like the crowd would be able to tell he'd personally imbued the stick.

"But we have good battle, yes?" Tarin added cheerfully.

The morphling snorted, but he saw the gleam of respect in her eyes and the slight nod she gave him. "Sure," she said. "Don't worry. I'll do my best not to kill you."

Tarin laughed. "I also try!" he said. "But you not touch my tail feathers. My wife like those."

"Hah. Deal."