asked Felix, still caught in the same shock as me. The worldstriders raged outside, but for the three of us, the world seemed to have narrowed to a single fact. Sallia was gone.

said Sallia.

I blinked in surprise.

A mixture of shock and relief coursed through me. Was Sallia still alive?

she said.

I felt a strange mixture of sadness and relief wash over me. Sallia was still dead, and she would remain dead for the rest of this world.

But Sallia wasn’t really dead. The fact that she was talking to me right now cemented that idea in my head. For all that she was dead, she was still with us. I wasn’t going to be stuck wholly without one of my best friends for decades.

But she couldn't do anything, either. Sallia couldn't practice her swordsmanship, or talk to people, or walk around. She was stuck floating around until we died.

As my mind started to spin in circles, Anise responded.

I paused. Now that the guilt from Sallia dying had started to fade away, it was easier to think again. Were the worldstriders really stuck? Also, how could Anise see that the worldstriders were stuck? To see them, we had needed to either be in the same layer of reality as them, or I had needed to use my spatial abilities and soul sight. Why was Anise able to see them now?

I tried to get up, and started wetly coughing as my broken ribs brushed against my lungs. I immediately stopped moving. Agitating my injuries was a terrible idea right now. If I moved the wrong way, I might send a fragment of my ribs into my lungs and go join Sallia in the void.

A few moments later, Felix used the bracelets to show me what was happening.

Outside of the pyramids, a sea of worldstriders stared at the pyramids with hatred. They constantly barraged it with strings and projectiles made of manifestation essence. And, instead of hitting the pyramid and killing us all, every single attack stopped in its tracks.

It looked almost like there was a force field around the pyramid. One that kept the worldstriders out while letting us in. Itwas also clear that everyone could see the worldstriders without help now.

said Felix.

My mind returned to the statements that the worldstriders had made earlier. How they had pursued Anise the moment they believed that she was a Zelyrian.

What had happened between the worldstriders and Zelyrians ? Why were the Zelyrian ruins here engineered to keep the worldstriders out and reveal the worldstriders? It must have taken a lot of effort to make a building remove their invisibility. Why bother? Part of my mind cycled through these questions, wondering if they could get us out of this mess.

A bigger part of me didn’t care. Whatever had happened in the past, it had nothing to do with us. I hoped that after we left this pocket dimension, we would never have to deal with these bastards again. They had killed Sallia. That alone was enough to make me hate them forever.

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I took a few deep breaths, and then sighed. I scanned my System notifications, to see if there were any important messages mixed in.

Slaughter: Kill a Worldstrider for the third time and ninth time.

Assist in killing a world strider for the first time, third time, and ninth time

Achievement +150, +210, +30, +60, +80

All I saw were the standard kill and assist notifications.

My previous Achievement total of 5,402 Achievement became 5,932. I glanced at the new total, and then ignored it. We had bigger things to worry about right now.

The System notification didn't have anything new for me. I was happy to see more of the little monsters die after they had killed Sallia, but I hadn't gotten any new skills yet.

At least Sallia had taken several of them with her.

There was no influence Achievement for the whole event either. Our escape from this pocket dimension wasn’t important enough to generate any influence Achievement.

“Any ideas what to do next?” asked Old Mo, glancing at Anise and I.

“You can talk?” I asked, before stifling another cough. My lungs did not appreciate me exercising them right now. But the fact that I could also talk was shocking.

This was another sign that the space around this pyramid was different. Here, we could speak. We didn't need to rely on writing or magic to communicate.

Before I could say anything else, Old Mo continued his questions.

“Where’s Sallia, by the way? Is she invisible or something?”

I tried not to flinch as another wave of guilt crashed into my mind. Even though Sallia could still talk to us… even though she was still herself, she wasn’t here anymore.

I couldn’t hug her. If we lived through this, I wouldn’t be able to give Sallia a hug for decades. And Sallia was stuck floating in the void watching television.

“Oh no. Is she…?” asked Old Mo.

I nodded, and tried not to cry as Old Mo walked over to me and stroked my head. He seemed to want to give me a hug, but after glancing at my ribs he thought better of it.

“What the fuck do you mean?” asked Sallia’s father, a moment later. Both he and Sallia’s mother glared at me, before turning their gazes towards Anise. They eyed the outside of the pyramid again, only to find nothing. No trace of Sallia.

Not even a corpse.

“Where is my daughter?”

If I could move, I would have hung my head in shame. Sallia had died keeping us alive. And I couldn't even let her father speak to her again. My friendship bracelet wouldn't let him use my friend network, even if I gave it to him. He would never be able to talk to his daughter again. And while I couldn't think of a way I could have saved Sallia... she had still died keeping me alive.

I felt guilty about that.

Sallia’s father kept his gaze fixed on us like an enraged python for a few more moments. Then, the rage in his expression cracked, and I saw a few tears leak out of his eyes. He turned away from me as his shoulders started to shake. Since I couldn't walk, I couldn’t walk over to him to give him a hug. I didn’t know if he would want one from me right now, either.

Old Mo gave Sallia’s father a few moments to grieve as he watched the worldstriders attack the force field.

“Let’s move a little further into the pyramid. We have to find a way out of this pocket dimension before we can do anything else. And… I’m sorry,” he said, looking at both me and Sallia’s father. “I know how hard it is to lose someone you love.”

Sallia’s father didn't respond to Old Mo's words. He seemed lost now that Sallia was dead.

Felix floated me a little bit further into the pyramid, followed by Anise and the rest of the group. Once we were out of sight of the worldstriders, we sat down for a few minutes. I regenerated a few tidbits of my essence, which I used to heal myself a bit.

It barely helped. My body was too damaged for a few small healing spells to do much. Fifteen minutes passed while I siphoned away my alteration essence and tried to fix my ribs.

With such little essence to work with, Renewal didn't pull off any miracles. I managed to wriggle my ribs away from my lungs and heart, which was about all I accomplished. I was no longer at risk of dying if something jostled me.

Meanwhile, Anise’s ability was ticking away. After my healing session, she only had forty five minutes before the ability ended. Once that happened, both of us would be helpless. I doubted Felix could keep the party safe on his own. With both of my essences tapped out, I needed my friends to protect me. This was the most vulnerable I had been in years, and I hated every second of it.

Our party made for a sorry sight when we finally exited the first corridor in the pyramid and stumbled into our first room. There, I resisted the urge to start swearing at whoever had made this damn place.

With my exceptional perception, I could make out a tripwire stationed five steps into the first room.

The pyramid was booby-trapped.