Repeated beeps fill Ethan's mind. He forces his tired eyes open and finds himself in a gray concrete room. A window to his right shows a landscape of snowy mountains. A monitor is linked to him, beeping at the slow rhythm of his heart.

How long has it been? Earth still exists, and his muscles are still there; it cannot have been long. He looks around for the time, but neither the monitor nor the shut-down TV show it. He probes for his phone but only finds scrub pants.

His muscles feel paralyzed, slowly coming to life with a thousand buzzes growing in them. He triggers predator's sight to spy on the conversations, but the thick, soundproof walls inhibit his ability.

High-heels echo behind the door, followed by a pair of sneakers. To Ethan's relief, Tombstone opens the door. She looks back and orders away the nurse who followed her.

Tombstone strides into the room, a reinforced tablet under her arm. She places down a bag she held in her left hand. Her heels click against the concrete floor until she sits down in a chair beside his bed.

"I guess I'm back to the base," Ethan says. He tries to sit up, but his body protests. "How long have I been out for?"

Tombstone looks up to him, taking a deadpan expression. "You missed World War Three."

"The landscape seems a little too unnuked for it to be credible," Ethan retorts. She doesn't break from her serious expression. Could it be that he missed years of conflicts? The absence of withered muscles seems to indicate the contrary, but perhaps the system kept them trained. "Are you serious?"

"I am," Tombstone begins. She taps on her screen, and the room's TV lights up, showing a desert engagement. Ethan recognizes American and Chinese vehicles. "It lasted only one night; they fought for the portal you opened."

"Who won?" Ethan asks.

"No one," Tombstone answers. She taps on her screen; the TV switches to a satellite view of a sea of blue flames. "Something attacked from the other side. These flames don't weaken; they've been like that for a week."

"How long have I been out for?"

"Two weeks," Tombstone answers. She switches the display to a body scan showing bones, blood vessels, and organs. Her jaw tenses, making her seem angry. "You haven't been 'out'; you were dead. Your heart stopped on the helicopter."

"And yet I'm here; what happened?" Ethan asks. Besides, neither Kaliathra nor her underlings showed up in his sleep, making it improbable.

"We don't know," Tombstone answers. His first guess was that they used a potion, artifact, or ability. How could they not know if they are the ones who brought him back? "Your body started drawing Ether on its own, and while it shouldn't have been possible, your brain showed activity. Beside your heart, it looked like you were hibernating. Your entire body slowed down to almost stop. It started beating again yesterday; that's when they took you off the pump."

"That's not something humans do," Ethan slowly says.

"No, it's not. Speaking of not being human, would you care to explain why you have two spleens, too many lymph nodes, a secondary liver, and three kidneys? And that's only what we found without opening you up."

'Walked right into that one,' Ethan thinks. He presses against his side, trying to find that third kidney. He glances at the camera with an eye motion obvious enough for her to notice. She deactivates it from her tablet. "Remember the fruit I told you made me taller?"

"Yes," Tombstone says with a raised eyebrow.

"It was the least of its effects," Ethan begins. He opens his status for her to see. "It evolved me to something called a High-Human. And more importantly, it gives me visions of the past and future when I experience triggers. There is one I saw when I touched the fruit I need to talk to you about. But I need you to accept a contract to explain everything."

"You want me to sign something now? Are you sure your head is –" She stops herself as the Pact of Silence appears in front of her. She reads through it. "Who is the question marks who can release me from this contract? Don't tell me you don't know."

"My best guess is the servant of the goddess of death who swore me to secrecy. I met her in the labyrinth. But seeing as it can be extended to others, it might have come from someone or something else."

"The servant of a goddess, sure…" Tombstone holds his gaze; he lets nothing appear in his expression, making it as serious as possible. She accepts the pact and the window vanishes. "Go on."

"Caelum Cindralis, the man I hunt, will sacrifice our world to make a new god. If what I learned is correct, our world is a shard of their original god. He wants to turn it back into that shard, billions of people included," Ethan reveals. It might have been too harsh, but he knows her to be stoic and analytical. "He took an item he needs for that from my father. And I know he has to do it in the underground of Kingsreach's royal magic academy."

Tombstone stares at Ethan, her expression unreadable as she processes his words. Her hand whips at his face without warning. He dodges the slap, her motion too slow for him.

"You knew this last month? And kept it to yourself?" she hisses. Her hand tightens to a fist at her side as she glares at him. "Didn't you think the billions of people deserved a heads up?"

"I –" Ethan starts, but she cuts him off. Why is she, who's usually so calm, so furious at him? Ethan notices makeup hiding exhausted eyes; is it fatigue?

"Where is that place I can't pronounce?" Tombstone asks.

"The English translation would be Kingsreach," Ethan says. "It's the capital of their largest country."

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"So, it's in their world." She sighs. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"For all I knew before the labyrinth, it could have been a hallucination." Ethan answers. "We spoke through the phone; neither of us thrust them enough to share that kind of information. If they knew they would keep me in a room watching news, hoping I get visions."

Tombstone sighs. "You are only telling me because you need my help, aren't you?"

Ethan looks to the side. "He needs something more from our world than the medallion he stole from my father. He may already have it; they spent millennials among us. But if he doesn't, he will come back for it."

"And you want to find him if he does," Tombstone says. She sinks in her chair with a sigh. "You can't keep things like this from me, even if you don't find it credible yet. It's not what we promised each other."

"It's not," Ethan confirms. Even inside of N.E.S.T., she's the only one he trusts with absolute certainty. He would count on One as well, but the boy is too loyal to lie to their superiors. "You stopped yourself from telling me something when we were in my home; what was it?"

She looks away, her expression shifting to discomfort. "Four is missing. We lost his phone on the day the system appeared, and we have had no contact since."

It strikes Ethan to the chest with the force of a hammer. He calms himself, letting no emotion show in his expression. The logical conclusion is that Lucian teleported to the other world. Not coming back could mean he exited the dungeon without killing the boss, not finding a return stone.

"You are taking it better than I thought," Tombstone says.

"You don't have to keep things from me," Ethan retorts.

"Sorry," she says.

"You don't have to be; we both lied to each other," Ethan says. He sits on the edge of the bed for his shadow to extend to the ground. "Speaking of new things. Russ, come."

Russ leaps out of Ethan's shadow, landing beside Tombstone. She lets out a scream, standing in surprise. "What did you do to him?!"

"He was bitten by a corrupted man; it turned him into a monster," Ethan says. "Luckily for us, I met someone, a servant of the same goddess, who had a potion to restore his mind."

Russ rubs against her legs, nudging her hand for pets. She shakes his fluffy fur, taking care to avoid the spikes on his back. "That's you who stole from the mess. They kept saying there was a monster, but that's you who terrorized our staff."

Russ jumps on the bed and flattens himself over Ethan to cuddle him as much as he can. He licks his master's face, Ethan trying to dodge the incessant attacks.

"Off," Ethan commands. He sits back up and locks eyes with Tombstone. "If I survived, Aranthor Elarion… Christopher Hayes might have. Do you know what happened to his body?"

"Same as the labyrinth survivors," Tombstone says. She taps on her screen; video feeds of cells appear on the TV. Ethan sees faces he recognizes in them: Anders, River, Ivy, Derek, and others. "Taken to the U.S. for questioning and held since. Surprisingly, no one snitched on you."

It is indeed surprising. Ethan didn't expect any such gesture from them. "If Lucien was alive, he would have told them everything he could."

"D'Arcange?" Tombstone asks. Ethan nods. "He… survived. Someone got him out of there. He was still completely burned when they did, though."

"Who is his Palpatine?" Ethan asks.

"New church. A lot of important people joined them, and, while they don't use it much, they have huge theoretical influence." Photos of meetings slide on the TV, showing politicians, military officers, and celebrities. A lot of them sport a symbol of Seraphel as a ring, earring, tie clip, or necklace. "Some of our biggest clients are in there."

"Well, not on my side of things," Ethan comments. "I know this one has a huge public contract with us; has something changed since? Seraphel's influence can be quite domineering."

"Not yet," Tombstone answers.

"We should make sure none of them are among us. I fear their god can listen through them," Ethan says. He sees Tombstone rolling her eyes, as if he said something obvious. "I need to go to Kingsreach. I can use the pirates I control to travel on a boat, but it will take me a lot of time. I might need to go for months. Plus, I'll soon reach my maximum level, and that means some time in the realm of Ascension."

"You aren't going anywhere until you prove you're fully healed. You barely awoke; I'm not letting you leave until you see doctors and get tested."

"I doubt you could stop me," Ethan slowly says. She stares at him with an unyielding gaze. "Alright, I'll subject myself to it. But it needs to be quick; I'm on a tight schedule."

Tombstone hands him the bag she came with. It holds grey and black sport clothes and shoes. Ethan winces at the sight; they look quite distasteful. She moves back to the door to leave him alone with Russ.

Ethan joins Tombstone outside. The hospital section of the base swarms with activity. This area is only accessible to their underworld staff, and yet, despite their small number, he senses many wounded in the rooms.

"What is happening? I don't think I have ever seen this place that busy," Ethan asks.

"The most recent of the dungeons' injuries," Tombstone says. She motions for him to walk towards the exit door. "It isn't as bad as the first time. Our new staff is working on a next potion batch; they'll be healed soon. By the way, your gift to the labyrinth's survivors was quite expensive."

"I sensed the team wearing Ether-infused protections. Is that something we have available now?" Ethan asks.

"You can ask the armored about it," Tombstone answers.

They exit on an overhead corridor whose windows give onto a large hangar. A squad of soldiers wearing the black and gray N.E.S.T.'s uniform moves into a Blackhawk. Their leader's radio chatters, and he orders his pilot to take off.

"We're back up?" Ethan asks. "I thought they ordered everyone to come back in for training in the dungeons."

Tombstone looks down to the hangar. "With parties being limited to four people, it didn't take long for us to run out of dungeon stones. Plus, our data shows that people do not grow at a homogenous speed. The majority would need years to reach level twenty."

"Care to elaborate?" Ethan asks.

Tombstone shows him data graphs on her tablet. "At an equal level, some soldiers need to participate in more combat than others. Not only that, but there is also an exponential growth to the… experience needed for each level. The monster's level is important too, as the stronger they are, the more… experience they give."

"You mapped it out really well. The ones on the bad side of that normal distribution must not feel great," Ethan comments.

"Well," she begins, annoyed. "Because it couldn't be that simple, people tend to move around in that graph. Someone who struggled to gain a level one day could reach the next one in half the work the next. It's stupid, and it doesn't make sense, and I hate it."

'It has indeed been quite inconsistent, for me or Russ,' Ethan thinks. He ponders about Tatiana's and Sylas' talent; how does it affect these growth speeds? 'It would be nice to know how to stay at maximum efficiency.'

They descend a staircase and reach a network of wide corridors. Tombstone knocks on the first door to the right, a medical laboratory in Ethan memories, and opens. A man in white overcoat spins his stool to face them.

"The miracle," the doctor says. He stands to approach and motions for Ethan to take place on his inclined chair. "I fear it may take some time, Miss Tombstone. Perhaps I can text you once I am down with Mister Five."

She turns to Ethan. "After that, you'll check your physical abilities with our combat instructor and your capabilities at the armory. They have already been notified."

"Sure," Ethan says. He sits on the white inclined chair. "See you."

The doctor closes the door behind her. Another door opens, revealing a chemical lab as a man crosses the door's threshold. "Welcome, mister Ward," Mr. Miyï says. He freezes, his eyes darting to the other doctor.

"Don't worry, it isn't my real name," Ethan says. Is it who Tombstone referred to as 'new staff'? He holds a series of tubes in his tray, each filled with red liquid. If he's in this section of the base, it means he's aware of the illegality of his work. "Here, you may call me Five."