It was during a battle that Kal died.

Really, that was all Pirin could deduce. Everything about the memory was chaotic. Silver armour and blue cloaks whirled. Sirdians clashed with amber-armoured Aerdian elves in a deep mountain canyon. Smoke had been stinging Pirin’s nose for hours in the memory, and his nose had gone numb to it.

Kal was nearby, twirling his sword around in a broad circle and batting away enemies on all sides. Something had already pierced his armour; there was a hole in his cuirass and the rest of it was bent and dented.

Pirin hadn’t been close enough to help. All he could do was watch and keep himself alive.

An arrow struck Kal’s chest, piercing straight through his weakened armour. An enemy’s sword pierced his defenses and slashed down his back. A spear impaled him through the gut. He was dead.

And then the battle shifted. Pirin couldn’t see through the crowd, and he had his own problems to deal with.

The memory faded away once Kal was no longer a part of it, leaving Pirin in the emptiness of his own mind.

Pirin had expected Kal’s death, and in some ways, the memories—or Kal himself—had primed him for it. It didn’t soften the blow. The man had saved his life and taught him to use a sword. And Pirin was a year and a half too late to say goodbye.

As the last whispers of the memory fled from the back of his mind, he regained consciousness. He was still on Gray’s back, and she was still hopping down the culvert. He stayed still for a moment, pretending to be asleep. He just needed a few more moments to process the memory. But the longer he waited, the more something felt just a little bit off. Gray had slowed down.

Pirin raised his hand, feeling for his mask. It was still tied to his face, and the runes were still active. He still had his Reyad. “Gray?” he asked. “Are you alright? Not getting tired at all?”

I’m fine, Pirin, she replied. But we’re going to hit another roadblock soon. I was hoping you’d wake up sooner than later. Like…in the next ten seconds, that type of ‘soon’.”

Pirin lifted his mask, making sure to keep it in contact with some point on his skin, then rubbed his eyes. Ahead, instead of just crystal growth, a sandstone wall was fast-approaching.

“What’s that?” Pirin asked.

No clue. That’s why I wanted you awake.

Pirin let the mask fall back down on his face. He rubbed his head, taking stock of his situation. He pushed his consciousness down into his body and examined his core. In his mental image, it was the same texture—an orb of charcoal and embers—and the foundation timbers felt the same way. But there were seven of them—three perfect, four middle-grade—and now, his Essence system wound around them, integrating and supporting them with channels.

Or, rather, the Timbers were supporting the Essence channels…

When Pirin pushed Essence through the channels, they didn’t seem to bulge as much. He could push more Essence at once without straining the channel. Already, he wanted to try the Shattered Palm to see if he could use more of them in a row or output any more power, but that would have to wait.

With the Timbers set, that meant he had advanced a stage. He was a Catch, now.

The advancement itself had used Essence, he was sure of it. But, having accidentally triggered the Memory Chain while he was unconscious, he had replenished a significant amount of Essence.

And, being a Catch, it was slightly higher quality Essence. Just a little more refined.

Alright, Mr. Sleepy, Gray interrupted, drawing his attention outwards. We’re at the wall. I’m going to need some help with this!

Pirin swung off Gray’s saddle and landed on the floor of the culvert in a crouch. There was barely room to slip through beside Gray, now—the crystal spires on the wall were so long and thin that Gray wouldn’t have been able to make it much further through the culvert without tucking her wings in.

Once Pirin slipped around Gray, he approached the wall. Enormous, plain sandstone bricks blocked the entire way, from floor to ceiling, and the entire wall was slightly convex, like he was staring at a slice of an enormous sphere.

“This has gotta be the central sphere,” Pirin said. He looked up and around the wall, searching for a way through. It wouldn’t be much of a culvert if there was no way into the centra sphere. There had to be something for it to drain.

The vast majority of the wall was covered in crystals, and they might have been blocking something, but Pirin doubted that too. Who would build a culvert to redirect crystal buildup, only to have it blocked at the first signs of crystal buildup?

Stolen novel; please report.

He took a few steps back, putting his hands on his hips, and stared up at the wall. At the very center of the wall, there was a sandstone circle slightly indented into the wall. Its diameter was twice his height.

He jumped, then used a Winged Kick to carry himself the rest of the distance.

The kick blasted out a little more air than he was used to, and he flew higher than he wanted. Waving his arms, he barely landed on the round ledge—a three-inch wide slice of wall outside the indent. He still swayed. He blasted out a Winged Fist, pushing behind him, to right himself.

Don’t fall off, Gray warned. That would be a horrible way to die…

“I wouldn’t…die…” Pirin trailed off. He looked down. At the base of the wall, just below, were a few crystal spikes, waiting to impale him if he fell off. “Alright, that is unfortunate. I’ll be careful.”

You better.

Pirin turned back towards the indented circle of sandstone. It was the only part of the wall with rune-lines on it, and while most of them were complete gibberish to him, they all funnelled towards the center of the circle.

At the center was a single massive rune: Predhul. Open.

“I think it’s a door!” he called.

That’s very nice! Gray replied.

“Oh, come on, it’s not like you’d have noticed it without me.”

I was being honest! That is very nice! Otherwise, we’d be stuck here with a bunch of angry somethings behind us!

Pirin spared a glance back down the culvert. The torchlight was still following them, and it was getting brighter. Now it even refracted through a few crystals right beside Pirin. He tried to bite his lip, but it stung from before, and he stopped.

I guess they found a way across that crevice!

“I guess they did!” Pirin replied. He turned back to the circular door. “I’ll go as fast as I can!”

I’ll give you updates…

“Tell me when you can see whoever it is.”

Pirin ran his hands down the door’s rune-lines until he reached the center. It was probably a safety hatch for whatever this labyrinth was doing at its core. Hir Venias had made it sound like some sort of massive Essence reactor, and surely, there would have been enough Essence swirling around to activate the rune and keep this vent door open.

Pirin was suddenly thankful that this place wasn’t active anymore. If the Essence and Eane accumulation was enough to warrant an emergency shutoff hatch, then he figured he’d have been incinerated—or at least would’ve had his spirit destroyed—if he went inside while it was active.

He pressed his hand against the rune, ready to activate it and open the hatch. But it was a bigger rune than he’d ever seen before (nearly three feet from tip to tail), and it was certainly larger than anything he had ever tried to activate.

“See, Gray!” he called. “I told you it would be a test of soul for the last one!”

Hm? Pardon?

“A test of soul!” he repeated. “Spirit, body, soul. Well, if the soul is responsible for the pushing-power of Essence, then fuelling a larger rune tests how strong my soul is! Or, at least, my Essence output.”

Not to be rude, but those people are still approaching… she warned. You can give me your spiritual lectures later.

Pirin pressed his hand against the bottom corner of the rune and let Essence flow out. It flooded into the bottom corner of the enormous rune and circled around it. He used gnatsnapper-bent Essence, with a brownish-green tint, and sparks erupted around it as it scoured the dust from the stone.

Predhul had a long, flowing tail with a bulbous tip, and Pirin had only started at the tail. His Essence only made it halfway up before it slowed down and retreated. Pirin gave one last push, hoping to get it all the way to the top.

Along the way, it illuminated the smaller, excess rune-lines. Those were probably part of the mechanism, or for Essence gathering, but Pirin wouldn’t need them. At worst, they might malfunction. But they weren’t carved on umberstone, so they couldn’t directly harm him.

The Essence barely reached the top of Preduhl’s tail before it fizzled and popped. Then, it retreated all the way down back to Pirin’s hand.

He shook his head, then muttered, “Not enough soul force. Got it.” The excess rune-lines couldn’t have been helping either, though.

Pirin, I can see them, Gray warned. Two silhouettes, each with a Familiar.

It was Lady Clase and the other wizard she had spoken of. There was no one else it could be. He needed to go faster.

Shutting his eyes, he tried again. He envisioned the path of the main rune and stopped the Essence from reaching out and travelling down any of the other pathways—only the main rune mattered.

His Essence travelled three-quarters of the way around the rune before losing momentum and retreating into his hand.

Holding onto the stone frame with one hand, Pirin took a deep breath. He shook out his hand and tried to let his channels relax as much as he could. Then he pressed his hand back into the corner of the rune and drew on the strength of his soul. The Essence needed an extra push.

As he thrust the purified energy out of his hand, he pulled his memories of Kal and Mr. Regos out of his mind. He didn’t rely on the Memory Chain; rather, he pulled on the memories he had recovered and held on his own.

The Essence surged and raced up the rune’s leg in a clean pattern, its edges perfectly defined. It moved faster than it ever had before. In the blink of an eye, it filled the entire carved channel and formed a loop.

The door shook, and a deep thrum pulsed through the stone. With a groan, the round hatch swung inwards. Dust coughed out of the hole, choking Pirin. He swatted at the cloud with his hand, which had the side effect of stopping the flow of Essence into the rune.

But the hatch was already unlocked. He pushed it open, leaning into it with his shoulder. “Come on, Gray,” he hissed. “I have it open. Let’s keep moving.”