Miktik's workshop is empty, which is more or less what I was expecting, though I was hoping it wouldn't be. I look around, trying to glimpse any signs of activity. It doesn't look like anyone's been here since the last time we convened in the area.

"Think Bimar's back at the lab?" I ask out loud, glancing at Ahkelios.

"That, or she hasn't had enough time to get here," Ahkelios points out. "It's only been about an hour."

"Right," I say, slightly embarrassed. It feels like it's been a lot more than an hour, but maybe that's because of the number of things happening around me. Guardian of Fate isn't giving me anything new, either about Tarin or about Bimar, which means that for the time being I have... nothing to do.

Well, not really. I have plenty I can do, but Guard isn't awake yet, and I don't intend to bring Whisper in this loop since that allows me to act without worrying about her listening in. Miktik's workshop is secure, but not secure enough that I'm willing to risk trying to phase-shift right here and now.

Now's probably the best time for me to test out strategies to clear the raid. If Guard and Whisper aren't able to help me as much as I hope, I'll need to make sure I have a fallback of some sort.

...so I go outside and begin to fill the air with Timestrikes. As many as I can without depleting my Firmament, anyway.

Ahkelios just watches me, bemused. "Are you sure this is going to do anything?"

"Nope." I Timestrike the air again, in the rough trajectory of a meteor, and watch as the meteor enters its path. "But I'm also using this to figure out the timing of these things."

Sure enough, the meteor crosses the path of my Timestrike the same moment it activates. There's a muffled roar of pain, and I feel the Firmament in the meteor snap abruptly, dissipating into nothing; the object that then falls to the ground is nothing but dead rock that bounces harmlessly off the crystalline building it encounters.

"Huh," Ahkelios says, watching me. "Nice."

"Thank you." I glance at Ahkelios. "Any chance you want to talk about whatever's bothering you now?"

Ahkelios winces a bit. "...Later," he says, his voice a little guarded. "Let's get this raid over with first."

"If that's what you want." My gaze is a little concerned, and I can feel Ahkelios withdrawing into himself slightly. But I trust the little guy, and I can wait for him to be ready.

I can't deny that I miss Tarin's presence, though. The old crow would probably tell Ahkelios to get it out already.

I return a few hours later to Miktik's workshop, frowning a little when I see that it's still empty. There's no sign that either Bimar or Miktik have even tried to return—no trace of their Firmament anywhere surrounding the place.

I share a disgruntled look with Ahkelios. We take a moment more to make sure, then head back to the lab, hoping to find her there, but... Bimar isn't there, either.

The third and final place to check is the Integrator scrapyard—"to the north", as Bimar declared. The raid itself hasn't ended yet and won't end until every last person in Isthanok is dead, and according to Guardian of Fate, none of my friends are at risk of dying yet. I've got time to figure out what's going on.

Of course, Guardian of Fate also doesn't seem to know what's going on with Miktik, and now it seems equally confused about Bimar. That's enough to tell me something's very wrong.

"Do you think they're okay?" Ahkelios asks. He grips at the collar of my shirt, little hands buzzing with worried Firmament. "It's weird that your skill can't reach them."

"I don't know," I admit. I reach up to pet him, more out of reflex than anything else. For a moment, I'm worried he'll find the act condescending, but instead he leans into my fingers.

"I never had friends during my loops," Ahkelios says quietly. "It didn't seem like a good idea. I mean, every time I looped..."

"Oh, we humans are known to get attached too easily," I say dryly. "I figured that was a lost cause before I even started."

"I wish I had," Ahkelios admits. He goes silent again after, and I get the sense that that's as much as he's willing to say on the matter for now. It gives me a better idea of what's been bothering him, at least.

"Come on," I say. I try to make my voice encouraging. "Let's go find the scrapyard. I bet they're both waiting for us there."

----------------------------------------

I find the door that Bimar mentioned first: just as she said, it's a massive door made of Firmament and steel, towering over all the trees in the area. I'm surprised I haven't seen it before, honestly, but there's a thin sheet of perception-bending Firmament in a dome around the area that tells me why.

I steal a bit of that Firmament for my own use. Seems like something I might want to incorporate into a skill one day, and it's not dissimilar from what the frogs seem to do with their invisibility Firmament.

"Ethan!" Ahkelios calls. There's a note of panic in his voice—enough that I hurry over to him. My eyes widen when I see what he's staring at.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Bimar and Miktik. They're both wearing the protective suits Miktik told me was necessary for the scrapyard. The suits look remarkably like diving suits. The deep-water kind, with a bulbous helmet and thick, protective armor.

They're also both very dead.

"I mean," Ahkelios says doubtfully. "At least you were right...?"

"About them waiting for us?" I ask dryly, kneeling down beside Bimar's body. "I can't say I like being technically correct here."

Neither does Ahkelios, I can tell, despite his poor attempt at levity. "How'd they even die?" he asks. "I can't see anything..."

"Neither can I," I mutter. There's no external damage to their suits, as far as I can tell—nothing that makes it look like they've been attacked. The armor's perfectly intact, and maybe a little more disturbing is that there's no sign of any kind of struggle. It looks more like they fell asleep than like they were killed.

Maybe something about the Firmament within the scrapyard got to them? If the conditions within the scrapyard were somehow worse, beyond the protective rating of the suits, it might explain why they're both dead with no sign of a struggle.

"Do you think they're fully dead?" Ahkelios asks quietly. There's a tight tension in his voice—a worry that I admittedly was trying not to voice myself.

If anything killed them here, it's likely to be Firmament damage of some kind. And of all the different types of damage you can come back from, Firmament damage is the one that's most likely to be permanent.

"I don't know," I answer honestly. "I hope not."

"Me too."

"For what it's worth, it doesn't feel like..." I hesitate. "I've haven't spent much time examining the Firmament of dead bodies or anything, but usually there's something about the basic structure of their Firmament that's torn up. Miktik and Bimar feel... fine. Their Firmament is gone, but the container holding it isn't damaged, if that makes sense."

"If you say so." Ahkelios hops back up onto my shoulders. "I've never been able to feel Firmament like you can, so..."

"Only one way to find out, right?" I say gently. I hold my hand out so Ahkelios can hop into my palm instead—it's the only way for me to 'hold' him. He's heavier than the last time I did this. The weight of his Firmament is strong enough now that I can feel him.

He hugs me, and I quietly wrap my other hand around him. Neither Bimar nor Miktik were particularly close to us, but I sense that this is about more than just them, for Ahkelios.

Strangely, the Void Inspiration within me also stirs.

hungry, it says quietly.

Not now, I tell it, but I sense something strange from it. Like... denial, but not the kind I'd expect. A correction.

not as hungry now, it tells me. why?

Odd. I don't know, I tell it. But I told you I'd feed you new things, didn't I?

yes. The Inspiration sounds oddly thoughtful. new.

It recedes and grows silent once more, and I put the strangeness of that interaction out of my mind for now. It's about time for me to reset the loop, but before I do, I make one last sweep to make sure I haven't missed anything. I could try to enter the scrapyard myself, but it feels... risky. I have to manually trigger the Once More into the Fray skill—if the scrapyard kills me before I have a chance to react, as seems to be the case with Bimar and Miktik, then I'm just going to lose the raid.

Too much of a risk to take, for now. Better to ask Bimar to change her approach, as long as she's still alive in the next loop. If she isn't...

...Well, if she isn't, then there's no point trying to save either of them. They're already gone.

Nothing wrong with the bodies or the suits, as far as I can tell. The strangest thing about this place is the door to the scrapyard and the Firmament I can feel surrounding it. There's something about it that feels wrong, for lack of a better word—out of alignment with everything else.

Phaseslip makes everything a little bit clearer, but not by much. It's like there's Firmament just on the edge of my vision, and Phaseslip brings it a little closer. Unlike with the Ringmaster, however, the distance covered by a Phaseslip isn't nearly enough to see whatever's going on here. I'm guessing that if I want to access the scrapyard, I'm going to have to open the door.

Not something I'm going to do yet.

I can't help but hesitate, though, lingering at the entrance for a long moment before activating Once More into the Fray.

The scrapyard is a step toward the Integrators. It's a step toward figuring out how to get to them, and through them, figuring out how to get to Gheraa. It's a step toward figuring out what even happened with him. I can't deny that crossing the threshold is tempting, if only because this feels like a place with answers. More than even Gheraa gave me.

It's funny. Gheraa was more irritating than anything when I first met him, and if I'm being honest, I haven't had a lot of time to get to know him. The short periods of time we meet in during each Inspiration is hardly enough time to get to know someone, especially when we're both being watched.

But what he did for me here—making sure I have a chance against a raid that would have slaughtered everyone I've come to know in the loops...

I want to know that he's all right. I can't help but hope that he found some way around whatever was coming for him. He's crafty enough to get all this past the rest of the Integrators to begin with, after all; if anyone can fake his own death, he can.

There's a part of me that's worried that I'll find his body behind the door. It's called a scrapyard, but who's to say that the Interface translation captured all the nuances of the word in its original language? For all I know, it's also a graveyard.

"Uh, Ethan?" Ahkelios prompts. He looks over my shoulder, toward the bodies, and I get a distinct feeling across our bond—he doesn't want to stay here any longer than necessary.

"Right," I say, shaking off the despondence lingering over my thoughts. Not sure why they got so dark all of a sudden. Something to do with the Firmament here, maybe. I refocus: I need to figure out what happened to Bimar and Miktik, and I need to finally catch up with Tarin.

I'm missing the old bird already. Hopefully, I'll find him and Guard both intact and ready to go.

"Let's go, 'Kelios." I lift my hand up to my shoulder, and Ahkelios hops back onto it, though the perch is a little awkward for him now. He responds with a chirp, his hands clinging on to my shirt, and I feel time whirl backward around me as I once more activate a skill.

Once More into the Fray.