I arrived within the prison in a flash of light, my brain not at all disoriented by the instant shift in perspective. The wall was composed of unnaturally smooth stone bricks, with the occasional sconce containing a magical flame. Each cell was lavishly furnished. Large windows provided a beautiful view of the ocean, unlike the ones back in New Tropica that faced a verdant forest.

There were only two possible users of the fire chi that had exploded out, and though I’d expected the worst, I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked at the cultivator before me. Trent’s face was a vision of fury.

The moment he caught sight of me, he blanched. “Fischer… I didn’t feel anyone there.” His eyes widened as they darted toward the stone arch leading outside. “Please tell me there was no one on the street. I didn’t mean—”

I held out a hand to his chest to stop him from storming out. “Relax, mate. No one was there. I just came to check it was you releasing fire, not some wayward Blackflame cultivator unleashing their Madra on this world.”

Trent blinked at me. “What?”

“You know. Like from Cradle.”

He blinked again. “... What?”

“Never mind. Pretend I said it could have been your sister escaping.” I turned toward the cell before us. “No offense, Tryphena. You did kind of arrive with an attacking force like… five days ago.”

“None taken,” she replied, staring at me calmly from a rather plush chair. On one of the luxurious beds, her mother, the former queen, stared down at her hands. Though she was a cultivator, her core felt… hazy. Like she wasn’t really there.

Seeing the former monarch’s demeanor, I thought I understood the reason for Trent’s outburst. It had been out of sadness. Perhaps even frustration. But definitely not fury. “Sorry for interrupting. I’ll get out of your hair and give you all some space to—” I fell to the floor, going prostrate to dodge the flying kick Maria leveled at my torso. She sailed past, colliding with the far wall and landing rather gracefully. “What was that about?” she demanded. “You just left me!”

Still on the floor, I held up both hands. “Sorry. I didn’t know if it was dangerous, so I came alone. I—”

She grabbed me by the collar and dragged me away, her face serious until we were out of their sight. “Do you think they believed it?” she asked in a whisper, smile lines forming around her eyes.

Trent let out a long-suffering sigh. “We can hear you.”

“Ehhh,” Tryphena called from around the corner. “The flying kick wasn’t hard enough. It was obvious that you weren’t trying to hurt him.”

“Damn.” Maria winked at me as she helped me to my feet. “She’s good.”

Behind us, Trent and Tryphena resumed a hushed conversation. I retracted my hearing from that direction, giving them privacy. The next cell we got to was larger, and as I looked inside, I smiled at the people within. All nine of them were lost in meditation with their arms held to the side, aware of our presence yet deciding to remain elsewhere.

Rather than say hello, I sent a friendly pulse of chi their way. A few acknowledged my existence, but they swiftly delved back into themselves, dismissing my presence. It was a rather amicable exchange, and it would have made my respect for them grow. If, that is, they weren’t squatting on their communal table while contorting themselves to resemble roosting pelicans.

Just like the Cult of Carcinization felt a little like crabs, the cores of these cultivators from Theogonia contained birdlike qualities. We waited there a moment, but they neither moved nor acknowledged us again. I gestured for Maria to follow, and we walked up the passage toward the next cell.

“Any changes?” Maria asked, looking over at me.

“Nope. There’s still something weird about their cultivation, and I don’t mean the whole bird aspect thing they’ve got going on.”

The people in that cell had been the ones that had been corrupted by their time in Theogonia. Unlike the king, they’d spent decades down below the fallen city, imprisoned because of the chi running through them. It had driven them mad. I supposed I had to thank the king for his attempt at overthrowing Tropica. If he hadn’t, who knew how long these poor souls would have been left to rot underground, growing madder by the day. They’d barely said a word since arriving, only using their voices to thank me for cleansing them of the corruption. Since then, nothing. They didn’t even complain or try to flee when we ushered them into their cell. Instead, they’d happily hopped in and began meditating. They'd stop occasionally, but only to rest, eat, or drink. The moment they were done with whatever task, they’d go back to their internal contemplation, their bodies scrunched up to resemble birds.

“I wonder if Ellis has any more ideas about what caused the corruption,” Maria said, twirling a finger through her hair as we started walking again. “We were gone for a few days.”

“We can go ask him right now, if you like.”

“What?” She gave me an odd look. “We’re going to meet George and Geraldine, aren’t we? We can’t keep them waiting.”

Someone cleared their throat loudly from up ahead, their position obscured by a bend in the passage.

Maria sighed. “I really need to have a breakthrough so I can sense people sooner. Hello, Ellis.”

“Good morning,” he replied a moment later, sounding distracted.

When we rounded the corner, we found him facing the two alchemists, his pencil scratching away in a new notepad.

“G’day, fellas,” I said. “How’s it going?”

Solomon and Francis gave me genuine smiles, though a hint of tension lingered on their faces. “A good morning to you, Fischer,” Solomon said. “And to you, Maria.”

She gave a little curtsy in response to his formal manner of speaking, then turned toward Ellis. “So, any news about the cause of the corruption?”

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“Not from this interview, no,” he replied. “I was just asking Francis here about his experience living in Theogonia for so long. But—”

“Er,” I interrupted. “Didn’t you already do that? Like... twice?”

“Thrice before, actually,” he answered, still not looking up. “It has never hurt anyone to be thorough. As I was saying, though—”

Maria leaned in close to me and stage whispered over Ellis, “It never hurt anyone? Tell that to the poor people that have to repeat themselves four times.”

Ellis finally looked up, giving us the flattest of stares. “As I was saying, I did learn something from speaking with Lord Osnan. He—”

“Which one?” Maria darted in, amusement radiating from her core. I stifled a laugh at the look that appeared on his face in response.

He took a deep breath through his nose, then exhaled with deliberate slowness. “I apologize for my incomplete answer. I assumed that you would both be intelligent enough to deduce I was talking about the Osnan present during the war with Theogonia. The one that wasn’t locked up during the attack on Tropica. The one that...” The ‘oh, shit,’ expression on Maria and my faces had gotten progressively exaggerated as Ellis’s diatribe continued, and when he noticed, he trailed off, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Sorry. This problem has been vexing me. I haven’t been getting much sleep.”

“Nah,” Maria said. “That one’s on me.”

“On us,” I amended. “We’ve been silly gooses all morning, going over the top with our shenanigans to disarm people. That one was more at your expense than it should have been, and wasn’t cool.”

“Decidedly not cool,” Maria agreed. “But it was pretty funny.”

I nodded and fist bumped Maria. “Agreed. Very funny.”

Ellis scowled, but Maria gave him a bright grin. “Though, if you can forgive our rudeness, I am interested in hearing what you learned from Osnan.”

He looked at us for a long moment, and just as I was beginning to think he was going to leave us hanging, an unmissable twinkle entered his eye. “... Which one?”

All three of us barked a laugh, the tension evaporating like fog beneath the morning sun.

“I accept your apology,” Ellis said, not looking at all bothered. “What I learned was regarding the explosion that caused the corruption to bloom. Osnan, the senior, answered some of the questions I’ve been voicing. He gave me an in-depth recounting of the final blast, and it added weight to the theory you presented, Fischer.”

“What theory?” Maria asked, raising an eyebrow at me in question.

“The corruption reminded me of something called a nuclear bomb back on Earth. It’s a bit beyond me, to be honest, but basically, something microscopic is split, resulting in a massive expulsion of heat. It can leave behind something called radiation, which is kinda similar to the corrupted chi.”

“Right.” Ellis nodded. “Which is eerily close to what Osnan told me. He said that only a cultivator would have noticed, but there was a distinct delay between the attacks colliding and the corruption’s arrival. A moment after the myriad blasts connected, it was as if a vacuum appeared, sucking in any nearby essence.” He drew his hands into balled fists, pressing them together. “Then...” His fingers unclenched and mimed a growing detonation. “Boom.”

“Huh,” I said. “Neat.”

“Right.” He narrowed his eyes a little. “Neat.”

“Okay, we’ll leave you to it, then. Things to do, and all that. I’ll—”

“Wait!” Solomon said, stepping close to the bars. As I turned to face him, a tinge of panic entered his countenance. “Sorry. Please wait, I mean.”

I waved his apology away. “You’re all good, mate. What’s up?”

“I, uh, I was going to ask if it’s alright for us to have some alchemy supplies. I know that something is still missing from my core, as you said, but I think it could be beneficial for me to experiment. I am willing to swear my life on it and only do it for short periods while supervised, if that’s what it takes.”

I furrowed my brow, considering the request. “To be honest, Solomon, I probably should have given you alchemy supplies sooner. My bad on that one.” I turned and cupped my hands to my mouth. “Are there any Buzzy Boys in the building?” I called.

There was a low drone, and seven of the homies appeared in the air before me, coming from every direction. One had even been just outside the nearby window. “Would you guys keep someone on watch outside this cell at all times?” I asked. They buzzed their understanding, so I turned back to Solomon. “Does that work for you? You’ll be monitored, but you can practice alchemy all day and night if you like.”

His eyes had gone wider with every sentence I let out. “That—are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yeah, mate. Consider it my apology for not offering earlier. You just awakened as a cultivator, you risked your life by helping us against the insane king… and we rewarded you by locking you up. That part was a necessary precaution, but there’s no need to deny you the only method of expression you have for your cultivation.”

“... aren’t you worried about me trying to break out?” he asked, earning a poke to the side from Francis.

“I don’t mean to insult you, but you have no hope of breaking out of this prison. The Buzzy Boys are a redundant precaution—er, no offense, Buzzy Boys. You’re much appreciated. I just meant that the prison would be able to contain someone after a breakthrough or two, let alone someone freshly ascended.”

None taken, they buzzed, just happy to be here.

“Would you mind getting them those supplies when you’re finished here, Ellis?”

The Buzzy Boys let out a sharp drone, and I cocked my head in confusion. “What do you it’s not necessary?”

In response, a furred form leaped through the closest window, tried to kick off the sill to redirect their passage, and slipped on the slick surface. The whites of Borks’s eyes were well and truly visible as he flew through the air above us and slammed into the bars of the cell. He landed on the floor, got to his feet, and shook his entire body.

“Woah, buddy,” I said, patting his neck. “You all right? That entry was, er... powerful?”

He shook again, his vision snapping into focus on me. He gave me some rather embarrassed side-eye, tore a portal open, and leaped inside. A moment later, he emerged with a cauldron in his jaws. It was absolutely filled to the brim with ingredients, clearly procured from the alchemical workshop that appeared with Tropica’s evolution. A few more trips later into his space later, there was a pile of equipment ready to go.

I looked at the Buzzy Boys. “Thanks, guys. You didn’t have to do that.”

They shimmied in delight, and all but one flew away, headed elsewhere to watch the village.

“You too, Borks.” I scratched behind his ear, causing his back leg to kick and his worries to disappear. “You’re the best of boys.” All of a sudden, his ears went alert. He listened for a short moment, then leaped up and dashed away, giving me and Maria a lick on the way past.

I hadn’t heard whatever had caused him to leave. I raised an eyebrow at Maria, who just shrugged back at me. With a small flex of will, I snapped my fingers. The pile of supplies appeared in the cell, next to the alchemists.

“Thank you, Fischer,” Solomon said, lowering his eyes. Sincere gratitude radiated from his core, washing over me and bringing a smile to my face.

“You’re most welcome, my man.” I turned to Maria. “Well, I reckon we’ve seen all we needed to here. Shall we run along?”

She reached out and grabbed my hand. “I thought you’d never ask.”

I waved over my shoulder at them as we walked away, but they didn’t notice; Ellis was already taking notes, and the alchemists were setting up their new workstations, anticipation wrought over their features.