We run through the stairs at breakneck speed, jumping every other step, and I have to stop the urge to look back to see what exactly is following us, the disgusting sound of sloshing trailing behind us, instead I set my gaze to the patio itself, and as we make it through the stairs, I can see that it is much, much grander than I had previously thought.

With a glass roof that has to be at least a hundred feet tall and an area that could house an entire one of the Twilight realm's trees on its side, this place could comfortably see hundreds of people walking about or relaxing in the many stone benches strewn about... likely it was once a proper hub area. Now, though, it is desolate and empty, the roof shattered by something, snow now falling down on the only remaining life of this place, a decadent and old tree, and I am overcome with a profound sense of loss and melancholy. I have to quickly shake my thoughts from what could have been to what is and look for any paths to take.

In front of us, I can see that beyond that single snow-covered tree. There is a sort of perimeter made by these great limestone columns that seem to encircle the patio, and beyond even that, there is a set of stairs leading upward, and to the sides, I can see that it is much the same deal except that the stairs lead downwards instead.

Quickly remembering the drawing in the space station, I recall that the tower we teleported to should resemble a lighthouse, so it is safe to presume the set of stairs forward would be leading to a mirror of what we just came through, so the ones leading downwards it is. The question is, however, which side?

The choice is made for me as I hear more glass shattering and more of those horrid screams ring out from above and to my right.

I quickly grab Miah's hand and direct us to the left, still keeping my eyes forward and not looking back at the steadily increasing sound of pained screaming and oozing mass against the concrete floor.

It would have served me well had it not been for the fact that I see behind one of the pillars what the source of this horrible shrieking is now peeking.

It is a horrible thing, with too many faces and far too many mouths that all moan in a painful and terrible and dyssynchronous melody. It is all flesh and no skin, and the eyes...

I feel my vision warp as I gaze into their multiple and twisted eyes...

There is nothing else besides me and the thing. I feel, for the first time, how truly alone I am. Stranded with no memories of who I was-who I am. It is a solitude I think truly unique... and yet... as I continue to gaze into their deep, deep eyes, I see that my pain is shared, they too know what it means to be truly alone... to feel true loneliness, I get closer to them, I need to share this vexation, to dilute it at least a little bit...

Suddenly I feel something squeeze my hand. It is warm, comforting-not nearly enough to draw out the sorrow that I feel, that I have always felt-but it is enough to make me look in the direction of my hand.

There I find it. Miah's hand holding mine-squeezing it tight, I look up to see Miah there.

She is looking unsure and very frightened. Her eyes have been covered. When did that happen?

I rush to reassure her, squeezing her hand back and continuing to lead her away from-

Those things...

I fight down the instinct to look back at what I had been seeing, to see the threat that we face, and I barely manage to avoid looking at it, keeping my eyes straight and focused.

Behind, I can hear their screaming becoming louder still, and instinctually I jump to the side, bringing Miah with me, as I hear the sound of wooshing in the air and a wave of what must be pure sound crashes where we once stood.

This is bad, really bad. I am unsure I can do that again consistently, especially if more of those things join in, and the stairs are still quite a distance away.

I could try to warp the space around and shorten the length between us, but that would require too much mana, much more than I have.

I could fly away and take Miah with me, except I have no idea how to activate the halo again.

I jump to the side again as another wave slams into the concrete and cracks the area where we were.

There's still my Domain, but I don't know how lust could help the current situation-these. Things don't even seem capable of it (unlike the bone-elk who seemed to be made of it).

I feel Miah stumble and wince as she puts a little too much weight on her bad leg (dammit, I should have healed it better somehow), and I catch her in my arms, but just as it happens, a wave shoots out.

I quickly use wind magic to direct the wave away and surprisingly succeed, with it impacting one of the pillars instead. However, that cost me a lot-only simple magic from now on.

Instead of letting Miah run around blind, I catch her around the waist and put another arm below her legs in a carry, and I continue to run.

Luckily Miah is very light, so it doesn't affect our speed too much, but our chaser is still very much in our tail as I have to jump again. This time, however, the wave just manages to catch my left ankle, and I feel it dislocate.

Fuck.

I quickly bite down on my scream in order not to panic Miah, but running has become an impossibility.

Okay, no other option, now or never. Have to figure out how to activate my halo, or else we all die, no biggie.

I close my eyes, drawing out the sounds of screaming that seem to be multiplying... Shit, more of them are-no... focus. I ignore the aching in my ankle, the feeling of Miah's breathing against my body, I just focus on that spot behind my head. I just focus on the halo.

And it is strange, but... I can feel it? Distant, like it is inert. Taking a deep breath, I focus on that feeling and imagine it turning on.

And like a switch, I feel the halo begin spinning, building up speed, and as I open my eyes I see the violet light coming from behind me, and I can feel the wings appear.

The shrieking stops for a moment as I begin to float in the air.

Then it begins anew, with a renewed and frantic vigor.

I don't risk looking back, and I most certainly don't risk fighting back (it seems the energy boost I gained the first time was a one-time thing). Instead, I just fly away, zooming above the concrete floor and quickly making it to the stairs.

The screaming is fainter now, but it won't be long until they reach us, and who knows how long I can keep the halo active.

With that in mind make, I fly down the set of stairs only to see a sort of lobby area with a set of two indents that look awfully like the doors on the station by the far wall. One of them is slightly open, and the other is completely closed.

I fly closer to it(and find it a bit strange when the shard doesn't present the option to open it again, just like the station did), but I ignore that and look down at the one open.

In it is a dark shaft stretching far down, not unlike the one in the tower back on Aker, except this one has the decency of not being upside down and also has a rope going down the wall of it. It seems to be attached to a- nothing?

It's just floating there, almost frozen in time mid-fall.

And then I hear another scream, accompanied by more glass shattering, and suddenly this rope frozen in time is not my concern anymore.

From below, I also hear Miah whisper.

"Hey we stopped again. Are you alright? You didn't answer me before, so I assumed we had to be quiet, but I'm kind of flying blind here. Is it safe to take off the eye cover yet?"

"I'm fine, and no, not yet anyway," I answer rapidly while summoning a ball of bright white light and illuminating the dark shaft.

This one is unlike the one at the other tower, with only four doors down along the length of the walls. They are also not equidistant from each other, with the gap between the third and last being hundreds of feet away.

I hear screaming again, this time closer.

(Right, no time for pondering), and I fly down the tunnel.

I ignore the first few doors since I feel like the exit would probably be on the bottom-most floor and continue to fly down the shaft at some frankly unsafe speeds.

And then, I immediately turn the opposite way and avoid looking down as I hear more of that crazed howling coming from the door at the bottom, followed by the sound of oozing against the metal walls.

I try my best to go as fast as possible to the top again. Maybe I could try going down the other door, but I am stopped (again) by more screaming, this time coming from the top (shit, shit, shit.)

Seeing no other option, I immediately dismiss my light and keep my gaze level with the wall.

The good news in this literal dilemma is that there's still a door to my side. Now the issue is prying it open, as it seems to be completely shut.

I hear the screaming get even close and-fuck it might as well try.

"Miah, I need you to hold on to me. I need both arms," I whisper in a hurry, and she instantly wraps her arms around me.

And as she does, I gather all of my remaining mana and infuse the necromantic energy into my arms, this time not for healing.

I feel my arms bulge out as the positive energy courses through them and with a force that I know I couldn't have mustered before I pry the doors open.

Instantly I float through and let it close behind me as the screaming passes through muffled.

I sigh in relief and turn to look at where we now find ourselves.

At the far wall, there is a window, much like the one we had found ourselves facing after teleporting, only a bit smaller. I try to keep my gaze away from the view it provides of the city. Besides this window and throughout all of the walls, there these machines and terminals as well as desks with what look like screens built into them. Some have levers and dials, while others have a myriad of buttons and smaller screens. It's all powered down and dead.

Instantly I am hit by that fucking headache that I get from my mind trying to remember or whatever, and it threatens to overwhelm and knock me out almost instantly.

I hear the screaming again, muffled but there, accompanied by that slimy sound.

I try to use my Domain to push past the pain, but I get that uneasy feeling that if I do it, something terrible will happen, so I decide to endure it for now.

"Hey, I hear groaning of pain, and not from those monsters or whatever. What's going on, Sophia?"

I try to answer, but the words die in my mouth as I feel the halo start to stop spinning.

"Hey- So I think I'm gonna be out for a few seconds-you can take the blindfold off, just- careful with the windows alright? Also, if you could find an exit, that would be grea-" I pause middway as I feel the pain building and building, flashes of memories I have no context for assaulting my mind, too fast for me to even comprehend.

"Wha-" I hear her begin to speak, but almost like a wave that was being held back, I feel the most painful and all-consuming headache that I have felt drown me. The flashes double, quadrupole. They become too numerous to even distinguish, more like an assault on the senses, a flash of colors and vague feelings that sometimes reach overwhelming intensity, I feel as though my entire life is trying to get back to me all at once and-

And it's too much.

...

I wake up with a start, taking deep breaths as I remember the circumstances that led me here, and looking around, I sigh with relief as I see Miah near me, cuddled up and napping.

And as I come out of panic, I notice the pain in my head is gone now, and I am very thankful that whatever the deal is with those headaches is that they don't persist for very long. The pain in my ankle is another story.

I look down and see it has been wrapped in a makeshift bracer made of metal plates and cloth to stop it from moving, but from the pain I'm still feeling, it's most certainly dislocated, maybe even broken, which is a bit too much for my level of healing magic.

Looking around and away from the corner Miah and I are cuddled up against, I see that the window has been covered up by paper notes and book covers and that much of the machinery in this room has been ransacked, with some of the terminals having been stripped of their metal covers.

Turning my attention to the door, I see that it's slightly dented but also that it's been reinforced by some metal plates.

Overall I can see that Miah has taken every precaution needed to keep us safe, but... the time it must've taken for her to do this-how long was I out for? And also... the fact that we're still in the room probably means there's no other exit...shit.

I pause and look back at Miah, and I see the fatigue that's practically plastered across her body and face, and thinking back, we've really not had any time to rest for a few days now.

Thinking about that, I decide to lean back into the cuddle and just... lay there for a few minutes, letting the sound of her breathing push me into a sort of meditative trance, my mind empty and barren of any worries.

I don't know how long I stay there by her side, watching her chest slowly rise and fall alongside the rhythm of her breathing, but it's enough time that Miah begins to rouse from her sleep.

I see her eyes twitch and eventually slowly peel open, I see the slight smile when she spots me, and I see the way she quickly jumps to panic and looks around the room.

"Fucking hells- I was not supposed to fall asleep. Fuck- who knows what could've happened while I was out and-"

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault, not really-I mean. After all that we experienced in such a short amount of time, I'm surprised we didn't drop sooner- Besides, you did plenty enough to secure the room, I think." I say quickly, bringing her to a hug in order to calm her down.

She stays in that hug for a few moments, silent, though I can tell how her breathing slowly levels out.

"Yeah... I guess." I hear her say with a sigh.

We spend a few more moments hugging, but with great reluctance, I eventually let her go. We still need to figure out what the hell we're doing to get out of this one.

"Ok... ok. Thanks, I think I needed that. On to business." Miah says after getting out of the embrace, " I think I've figured out a way to rescue us from this dumpster fire of a situation."

"Oh? Well, the floor is yours." I ask expectantly.

"Right, well, first of all, I think this room we're in right now is a command center. The machines in this place, from what I could sense, all focus on delivering commands, and-I'm sorry if doesn't make sense, but it's what my Domain's telling me-limiting things. What that means, I'm not sure, but while I was rummaging around for spare parts in order to secure the door, I found that one of the machine's wires connects directly to the floor beneath us, as in the floor itself was being powered, from this I basically went through all of the terminals and machines I could, and the sense that I got was that this command center is for the tower itself-maybe even the city, considering the viewing window- and if we push the right buttons we could probably make an exit for ourselves." Miah explains while gesturing to the dead terminals all around.

"Wow, uh- that's fantastic, Miah I-" I begin to congratulate her only to be interrupted by the person herself.

"Issue is that all the power's dead, so until that gets fixed, these machines might as well be useless."

"Well, couldn't we just do what we did back at the tower? My mana is practically all back thanks to my little passing out," I say excitedly, only to be met with a shake of the head.

"Afraid not. Back at the tower, we only really needed a tiny bit of power to activate the gravity control. From what I can tell now that I have seen more of the forgotten tech, it was like flipping a switch to, well, switch the gravity. After that, there was no need to keep powering it. The gravity would keep being reversed indefinitely. This one, though, would need to be kept being powered, and it would require a lot of power." She says emphasizing the lot in a lot of power.

"Well... shit- so we're back to square one?"

"Eh, it depends." She says with a mischievous grin.

"Depends on what," I ask, already afraid of what might be coming.

"Depends on whether or not my theory on infinite energy works out." She says, reaching for something in her bag.

"Wha?" I ask, seeing her pull out the vibrator I had snatched all the way back at the tower.

"Oh, uhh-sorry, I kind of snatched it while you were out. I had to test whether or not it still had energy- which, surprise, surprise, it does not." She says with a smile on her face

"So many questions-but first, what do you mean out of energy? When I tried it, it worked fine."

"Yeah-when you tried it, which is kind of the whole crux of what I'm planning here." She says while throwing the device back to me, " C'mon, try it. I gotta know if it was a one-time thing or not"

Still a bit puzzled, I press down on one of the buttons and watch it begin to buzz.

I see Miah's eyes glimmer as she takes the device back.

"Alright, now for the second test-" She says while walking away from me, and after five steps or so, the device stops buzzing, and then she takes a step back toward me, and the device begins to function again. She does this a couple of times.

"Oh, I see... my Domain; it made it so that the device could work- which I guess makes sense. There was no way the battery on that thing could last millennia."

"Quite so, and now it's only a matter of converting whatever type of power is being generated in that device to power the machines and then connecting the energy onto the central terminal-which admittedly is going to take a bit if I don't want to risk setting off a reality tear like back at the Twilight realm." She explains casually while taking the casing of the vibrator off.

"Wait, that can happen!?" I ask worryingly, now glad I didn't force the times when it didn't feel right to force my Domain.

"Well, yeah-though, don't count on it. A lot of things can happen if you force your Domain, including but not limited to nothing, an explosion (which is actually how I manage to deal with the bone-elk-thing), a reality tear (which can open a portal or just permanently change the local area), a-" Miah continues while now looking over the terminals and pulling a bunch of cables from the insides.

"No. You can't just gloss over that." I interrupt her while wincing when I accidentally put some weight on my ankle.

Miah looks back with a bit of worry on her face at seeing me in pain.

"You should really lie down. The bracer was a last-minute job that I was doing while under a lot of stress, it really isn't my best work, and I would not recommend relying on it too much. Also, I have no idea what you're talking about, Sophia. Back there, it was do or die I had to do something. I couldn't let you get impaled by that monstrosity while I still had something I could do." She bites back with both annoyance and worry.

And following her advice, I do sit back on the cold metal floor.

"... I guess. It just doesn't feel... right to have someone almost die for my sake." I say, sulking.

And upon hearing that, Miah pauses at her work and really looks at me.

"That is the dumbest thing I have heard from you thus far." I look back with surprise. " What you thought you were the only one that could do heroic sacrifices, that you were somehow exempt from receiving the same kind of loyalty that you provide?" She asks in a tone that makes sure I'm not supposed to answer... but I do anyway.

"W-well, no, it's just-"

"Just what?"

" I just care a lot about you, okay? I couldn't bear to let something happen to you while I-oh...Oh," I stop speaking, realizing what it is that I'm saying.

"Yeah, "oh" is right," Miah says, turning her head in a hurry and going back to working on the terminal.

She does so fast that if not for my Domain, I would likely not have spotted the tears that were forming in her eyes. And just like that, I feel like I've just received the biggest blow on my psyche yet...

I’m making her cry.

No, I'll make it right somehow.

I prepare to call her attention to apologize, but I get a feeling that wouldn't help very much now, so instead, I shuffle closer to her and just... press my head against her back, and quietly I whisper.

"I'm sorry... and thank you for saving my life, Miah."

I hear her suck in a breath and quickly throw glance back at me.

"Yeah? Well, now we're even."

I don't say anything. I just lay there, letting Miah know I'm here.

Eventually, though, Miah does have to move so she can check the other machines, and seeing her, I can tell that she's at least not mad/sad at me anymore, though there is an odd, intense focus about her and the machine she's looking at.

And seeing as though I can't really keep being at her tail without being a hindrance, I pick a wall to keep my back to and just lay there.

After a few moments of watching Miah work away doing who knows what to the machines, I remember the spell book I got from back then.

Opening the first page, I see scribbled in big, bold worlds:

DO NOT FORGET THE INSIDE CIRCLE

Below that it's a much more neat and smaller handwriting.

' The base is fairly easy to remember if not a bit inefficient in terms of mana conservation, and theoretically the only thing I would need to do to increase the number of targets is add more circles (Never forget the inside one). The problem now is figuring out what the symbols I could use to make it feasible, currently 3 circles (including the inner one) are the most one can reasonably expect one to cast (maybe if I find someone that can donate Lighning mana while creating the spell?), so at most two targets are the most one can chain with this spell. '

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

And below even that is a arcane looking 3-pointed star with 4 other symbols inside and outside it and three circles encircling the whole. Sublititing it is presumably the title of this spell:

'Chain Lightning'.

huh?

I look up to ask help for Miah, but seeing her tinkering with a bunch of cables and looking increasingly frustrated I decide otherwise.

Looking back at the book I see that the rest of this book is much the same style, detailing the construction and theorizing the optimization of... circles? In the whole there are 9 spells detailed here and the rest of the book is theory crafting of possible optimization symbols.

And those spells are listed as:

'Chain Lighning'

'Time lag'

'Mud pit'

'Freeze object'

'Bind'

'Form weapon'

'Sonar sense'

'Hasten senses'

'Haste'

And reading through them all, the only ones that I could use (if I could decode what the hell these circles mean) are: 'Chain lightning and 'Hasten senses', because all the others are either time or earth magic, both of which I suck at.

I'm surprised then by Miah as she whoops cheerfully while holding the vibrator that's been now connected to a central terminal of sorts that has been heavily modified.

"I fucking did it! Suck on that, Eloin! Who said forgotten technology couldn't be improved!" She, in cheer, then faces me, and I see her face blush for a moment as she clears her throat. "Uh- so yeah, it's done, as long as you step close enough, the device should turn on, and the energy should feed into the terminal- might take a bit to start seeing results, though."

"Amazing work Miah! When you said it might take a while, I thought you meant a few hours, honestly. I mean, how did-" I start giving that Miah is most certainly owed when she raises a hand to interrupt me.

"Uh, it did?- Take a few hours, that is, at least I think so? I'd like to think I got better at tracking time while in my building fugue, at least..." She says, slightly blushing from both embarrassment and pride at my compliment.

"Oh." I look out the window, and though it is covered by that makeshift paper curtain, I can tell the light of the sun is gone, and it's already nighttime "Ah, crap baskets, sorry, seems like I lost track of time while trying to decipher the spellbook, which by the way makes no sense to me- like how do these funky little circles even help with magic? It seems completely unrelated to what I do, at least..."

"Ah, yeah, I don't know exactly what they mean, not what I studied, but it is the basis for magitech, so I know a bit by relation to what I actually majored in. Just saying because you're going to have to talk with someone who actually knows their stuff later; anyways, I think you have to do the general magic stuff that you do, i.e., draw the specified energy, imagine the result you want, and channel it, except, as you're channeling you're going to want to siphon it through a catalyst, which is the magic circles, normally you have some tool that records the catalyst so that you don't have to waste paper, but since that guy, we looted from didn't seem to have one, you're going to have to make do." She explains while waving the vibrator as she gestures.

"Ok? Uh... let me try. I think I do better with practical learning anyways." I say, picking one of the blank pieces of paper from the spellbook. "Oh, I need a pen for this or a pencil, not picky," I add.

Miah is already throwing a pencil as I say this.

"Oh yeah, might as well start the powering process while you practice. It will take at least an hour for the system to be operable(I think)," Miah adds.

I nod back, stepping within the range of the vibrator, and start copying the circle for 'Hasten senses', and strangely I find myself drawing it with practiced ease; I stow away that bit of information and start preparing the spell.

I pull on that familiar energy that pools within the center of my being. I imagine the spell taking the form of my mind being accelerated, the lightning mana coating my synapses. I take that energy that I unconsciously gather to prepare for what I imagine, and instead of channeling directly into my own body, I first take it through the circle in my hand. I see the paper light up, with the sigils glowing in violet light, and I then see the paper vaporize and the magic enter my body.

Instantly I feel the world slow around me. I see Miah reacting to magic in slow motion, her surprise beginning to appear. I look down, or try to, as my body lags behind my own thoughts. It's an uncomfortable experience.

Everything is slow, and it continues to be so for at least a minute more (at least to my senses), but after that timeframe, I feel my body start to catch up to the speed of my mind, or rather my mind slowing to meet my body.

And then I'm back, and Miah has finished emoting her surprise.

"So? Did it work?" She asks curiously

I nod.

"Yeah, it did, but uh, if you actually know the reason, why couldn't I do the spell without the circle? It didn't really feel that different from casting it normally." I say, checking on my mana reserves and surprising myself as I find I really didn't use a whole lot. In fact, I'm pretty sure I gathered more than that to cast the spell.

"Well, a variety of reasons, really, at least I think- I was more fond of the engineering part of magitech engineering (I mean, I know what some of the symbols mean, and I could probably craft a spell circle for a really simple spell)- But anyway you generally use them to make spells more effective or rather cost-effective." She explains while checking on the now active vibrator and the cable connected to it. "They can also add some other properties to the spell and combine certain effects of two different schools of magic and other complicated stuff, but the main part, at least from what I learned, is making otherwise really costly spells viable to use so that one can actually cast multiple times a day instead of just deflating after a couple of shots- kind of like you are doing!" She says with an expression of understanding on her face.

I groan with frustration.

"And why didn't you tell me that sooner? This could've made our lives so much easier!"

Miah blushes a bit but then bites back.

"Hey, we were on a really stressful couple of days? Shit, day, actually. Holy hells, that all happened in one day- anyways, the point is this type of stuff goes a bit past common sense and I was kind of focused on filling that one for you... also, I forgot about it." She add that final part in a murmur.

I massage my temples.

"It's fine, you're right, it has been a... day," I say, sitting back on the floor.

Miah looks back at the vibrator, nods her head with a look of satisfaction, and rests it at a nearby table as she sits by my side.

And as she does, I hear a growl coming from nearby, and I almost jump into action to defend ourselves when I look at an embarrassed Miah resting her hands on her stomach.

I then remember the last time we ate anything was back at the wagon while we were discussing magic, so about a day or so since water and food.

And then I realize Magic.

"Any chance you know any magic circles for making food, water I feel should be fairly simple to make, though," I ask Miah.

"Won't work." She says back.

"Wha? Why not?"

"It's hard to explain without going deep into the thaumaturgic properties of spells and shit, but basically spell made food and drinkable water are really, really hard to make- It's actually one of the main pursuits of magic research- But any advancements in that area are slow and undercut by the food not lasting very long, as in it disappears after you eat it." She says with a tired expression.

"Oh, thats disappointing," I say in return.

"Yeah, tell me about it." She concurs while leaning on my shoulder.

And for the next hour, we just sit there, taking comfort in our shared space.

When suddenly, I hear the sound of whirling air, and a flicker of light illuminates the terminal above us.

Immediately Miah stands up and practically glues her face to the screen, which is now on and is displaying a blank blue with white words saying:

'Initializing... '

Then within a second, it flickers.

'Startup Menu

F1 SAll15 Information

F2 SAll15 Diagnostics

F10 SAll15 System Recovery

Enter - Continue Startup '

Miah looks back at me in confusion, and I shrug (though I do wince a little as I feel a headache building).

She turns to the terminal and hits a key, and the display shows a series of numbers and strange words that really don't seem to mean anything.

Miah seems to look confused (though not as much as me) and presses another key that takes her back to the 'Startup Menu'.

She presses another key, and the screen flickers again.

'Booting up...

...

...

ERROR

SYSTEM SAll15 TERMINATED

ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE NECESSARY:

'

Miah goes up to hit a key, but something overtakes me, a feeling of regret and shame so deep that I visibly wince from it, and unconsciously I move my finger to the terminal and press a series of keys that display this on the screen:

'

'Booting up...

...

...

ERROR

SYSTEM SAll15 TERMINATED

ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE NECESSARY:

TVNB3CPG '

I look back at Miah, she nods, and then I hit the Enter key.

The screen flickers off, and I fear that I may have entered something wrong, but then I hear it, more sound of whirling air as the machines all around us begin activating, and the lights on the room turn on, illuminating the previously dark and dreary atmosphere.

And for a moment, everything is bright and alive, right? Somehow I get the feeling that I did something right like I fixed a mistake.

And then I hear a voice coming from above. It sounds slightly feminine and a bit mechanical, but most importantly, it sounds pissed.

"Looks like the guilt was too much to bear, hypocrite, or was I simply revived out of desperation? By the looks of things, something terrible must have happened- don't answer, I don't care- I will enjoy making you suffer as I did."

And then the floor suddenly rises and throws us straight out of the now open window.

And then we’re falling, and as we are falling, that is not what worries me. No, as we fall, I feel the cold air pushing against me and see Miah flailing through the air a few feet away from me, desperately trying to keep her eyes closed in fear of what might catch our gaze.

What I'm most worried about is the city.

Previously it looked alien and majestic, but static, cold. Now... now it shifts and bends and changes as I see it. The spires of towering heights seem to spin into themselves, every brick moving and changing, modifying the design indefinitely. The buildings are never still for too long, moving and disappearing, only to be replaced by others, and as I look back at the tower we are falling from, I realize just how massive it is, smack dab in the center of this monolithic city, it manages to tower even that by a significant margin. I desperately try to close my eyes in fear of seeing the monsters and being frozen and unable to act while hurling through the air, but I'm stopped by a voice.

Differently from the last time I heard it, this time it seems to come from all around me, as if whoever is speaking is present in every direction, and the emotion is different too. Instead of that cold anger, it's now more of a curious and annoyed hue of emotion.

"What has transpired to allow these miscreant shards of the Outcast within my birthplace Sophia?" She? (It at least sounds feminine), asks.

I grit my teeth as the word rattles in my brain, and I desperately reach to hold Miah as I try to answer.

"I thought you didn't care about what happened?!" I scream out into the air, only belatedly realizing I'm antagonizing the entity that just showed itself capable of manipulating the very ground we were standing upon.

"Your screaming is as unnecessary as it is annoying. For your information, I had previously thought you bastards would be able to handle the City of Dis without me, wasn't that why you even considered that stupid plan of yours? I had thought it was something like a rapture again, not... whatever this is." The omnipresent voice says with a hint of exasperation.

"Well, maybe you should've asked us before throwing us out the goddam window!" I bite back.

I hear a mechanical sigh, if that even is a thing.

"What do you care? It's not like you could die from falling anyways... besides I had other things in plan in order to give you a taste of the terror I felt that day, so unless you feel like going against the entire city of Dis and its warden alone, or rather almost alone, talk." She says back with even more bite.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath as best I can.

I look back at Miah, and I can see that she has fully closed her eyes and is looking a mix of curious and terrified.

"Look, I don't know what your beef with me is, but at least leave Miah out of it. I-" I begin to speak when I hear a sickening crunch of flesh occur from within the tower.

"YOU DON'T GET TO PRETEND YOU DIDN'T BETRAY ME! THAT YOU DIDN'T HELP ENACT THAT MISERABLE PLAN! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH WHEN I FINALLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT WAS THAT YOU WERE DOING? NO! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FEAR OF NON-EXISTENCE MEANS!

...

... YOU don't get to set the boundaries for my revenge either-YOU will suffer, and you will experience the pain of uncertainty that I once felt." And as the voice roars, I can see a visible ripple throughout the city and tower as they shift and bend to her emotion, changing to match the gravity of her words.

The announcement is quickly followed by the terrible screaming of the monsters. The shrieking comes from all around the city and the tower.

"... Before that, however, it seems I must take care of the filth that has been allowed into MY city... I'll give you the time it takes to wipe these wretched shards out of reality as a headstart... Use it wisely." The voice proclaims as I see the Tower begin to fold in itself and compress, and as it does, more of the screaming occurs, followed by more of that crunching noise and finally blood, as it trickles down the sides of the now compressed tower.

By this point, I already have Miah well within my grasp, and without even thinking about the pain I'll have to endure after this (too much, at least), I focus on the spot behind my head and activate the halo.

The wings appear after a second, and I slowly cancel my momentum and eventually stop midair, still a great distance from the ground, even after all that falling.

And as I take a moment to just look over the city, I can see that that event on the tower is happening all across, with the screaming being shortly followed by silence and a building compressing in on itself.

I shudder as I realize what would've happened had we still been inside, and with increasing speed, try to race to the mountains. (Maybe I could get out of the range of this city the voice clearly has control over).

"Sophia! What's going on?!" Miah asks with her eyes closed.

"Whatever we activated on the tower has total control of the environment here. They're currently wiping out all the monstrosities we saw earlier-as, as to what she means... I think she was a part of my past... I think I did something I regret that fucked her over majorly." I say hushedly to her.

Before Miah can answer, I hear the voice speak again.

"Hmph, still playing the victim, I see. I would recommend you not listen to a word out of her treacherous mouth... you? Actually, who even are you? And why are you covering your eyes?" The voice asks with confusion, still all around me, (damm, how far can she even listen in?)

"Uh- I'm Miah, I guess? And I'm keeping 'em close 'cause I might go insane if I don't? " Miah says tentatively.

"Strange, your name it's... Never mind, likely a coincidence, as to the insanity part, what?" The voice says with a strange blend of curiosity and annoyance.

"Ah, it's a theory that we made cause we saw some bodies earlier that were trying to protect their eyes, and I'm pretty sure Sophia here got a look at them, and it didn't go well, also what is your deal with her, because she can't actually-" Miah attempts to clear my name are stopped as the voice speaks.

"I don't much care for what she has managed to delude you over, and as to the danger of looking at these shards. It should be minimal, really, unless one were directly branded by the Outcast or had a particularly strong connection to the fear and emotion it represents, and as far as I can tell, the Outcast is still in...

...in?

...

WHERE ARE THEY?!" The voice asks in sudden desperation.

"Uh-" I try to answer, only to be interrupted again.

"Shut it! You always had close contact with these Court shards, and I can't trust that you haven't been tainted in some unseen way yet. You... Miah, was it? What the hell is going on? What happened?! AND WHERE THE HELL IS MY PRISONER!?" The voice rings out, desperation and irritation clear, only to be interrupted by a melody.

The sound is coming from all around, like the voice itself, and it is disturbing- Not in the way those, I guess, shards of the Outcast were, though there is some semblance, but where those sounds were horrible and unsynchronized, this one is hauntingly beautiful, like a piano melody were to be given a voice and told to sing the most lonely song it could imagine, and the result rings deep in my soul, managing with just a few notes to hit me with that same feeling I had when I saw those shards, I almost fade into that space again, where only me and the Outcast exist... However, I now know what is happening, I know these feelings aren't wholly mine, that they're being unnaturally enhanced and amplified, it doesn't stop me from shedding tears as I feel my soul ache for solace, but it stops me from drifting further, from losing sight of the world around us, and with a strength I feel not in me, I tighten my grip on Miah and stop myself from falling.

With the tears staining my vision and the feeling of... solitude that burns deep within, I try to think rationally-and rationally, I should block my ears in order not to have my judgment impaired.

And so I do it.

And then I immediately stop, almost having dropped Miah from my hands and being left alone again, never to find another soul to share in my suffering-Stop! I need to stop thinking about how I feel, I need to think of the next step-Logically speaking, I need a second opinion, preferably one not tainted by these thoughts of-NO! So, I should speak to Miah...right, just need to open my mouth and risk losing her as I invertedly somehow drive her away, like I did with- STOP! THINKING! TALK!.

"MIAH! I NEED YOU! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME- ARGH! Miah, I need your help... please." I speak in a rushed and frantic manner and almost die in the cringe-worthy babble I just spat, but looking down, I can see Miah is also struggling with something, but upon hearing my voice, I see her opening her eyes, speaking something that is drawn out by the constant melody, and bring something to my ear.

And then everything is silent.

Except I can still hear Miah speaking.

"Can you hear me!? Fuck I hope this works..." She screams out, though to me, it sounds muffled.

I tentatively nod, still reeling from the exhaustion that dawns upon me as I remember the magnitude of the emotion I was feeling.

"FUCK YEAH! Alright, so I need you to listen-don't worry about the how for now- The voice we were talking to is warning us that we need to fly into the city. Otherwise, they can't protect us from the... Outcasts influence. I don't know exactly what it means, but it said that we need to cooperate for now."

I nod again to indicate I'm still listening and curiously reach for my ears to see just what Miah has put in there that has managed to block every sound, but her voice, and I find... cloth? Whatever, probably some Tinker Domain bullshit (and why I am even wondering about such frivolities when I need to concentrate).

"Ok," I say to her, still feeling like a little half-dead.

And then I use my wings to fly us down at the maximum speed I can manage, and as the cold and frigid air pelts against my too-thin clothes that were defiantly not made for this environment, I feel myself returning, and with it, the mounting panic as I realize I'm entering the space of a being that threatened very bad things against myself and that has as far as I know anyway total control of the sounds around me.

"Hey, Miah, are you sure this a good idea? I mean, the voice quite literally just threatened us." I say, slowing our descent.

I see her begin to open her mouth, but then she pauses for a second and looks up to nothing in particular. Then she nods and opens her mouth again.

"The voice clarifies that it only really threatened you, it was never going to hurt me (as much as it implied otherwise), also that she finds it very insulting that you're refusing to use her name." She says, almost doubting her own words. "Uhh, and what would that name even be? I mean, I introduced myself. Shouldn't you do the same?" Miah asks, looking at me and mouthing, 'She won't believe you're missing memories,' or at least I presume she's mouthin' that because 'Sha won beli yo miss memo' doesn't make much sense.

I uncomfortably return to my previous flying speed and descend deeper and deeper into the city.

I see Miah nod again.

"Well, I would say it's a pleasure meeting you, Sallis, but our circumstances are less than ideal, I would say," Miah says loudly and on purpose, enunciating her name.

By this point, we're well within the reach of the towers, and they haven't attacked us, so I assume we are good for now, but I still keep myself prepared in case we need to start some evasive maneuvers.

I see Miah listening to Sallis again as she turns to me.

"She says that there is no time for pleasantries and that if she really wanted to harm us, she would have just used the cities air defense against us and that our cooperation is, unfortunately, necessary as the Outcast is a threat too big for her to deal with by herself, and that she needs our help to free herself from the binding she claims you placed upon her so that she may escape together with us- she also warns that should we refuse and try to escape alone the Outcast will likely take notice on the branded person first and that she finds it unlikely that you would be able to muster any chance of winning when you couldn't even stand against herself-oof, her words not mine- She asks that we go to level 10 of the city and assist her there." Miah re-tells wincing every now and then as she has to recite Sallis's threats.

I nod and almost ask where the hell level 10 is when I realize I already know that, for some reason, I know we're only on the top of this city and that it continues for 19 more layers, so we need to descend ten layers to reach it.

I am still a bit suspicious of Sallis as I plunge deeper and deeper, passing through the ever-changing walls of the monolithic buildings that stand next to me, all stacked on top of each other and lacking in typical necessities a house needs, and as reach the precipice upon which all of these constructions lie upon, I peer down this ravine and see that we really were just on the tip of the iceberg, as this city seems intent in challenging what I once thought meant big. With just a look, I could make out that the very foundation these buildings were standing upon are, in fact, structures in it of themselves that seem to stretch down and down and down, and in the very edge of my perception, I thought I could see that even those structures were built atop other, even bigger mega-structures.

I stop myself from peering and continue my descent that I previously thought fast seems slow when put against the colossal nature of this city.

From above, I see something begin to cast a shadow on us, but it's immediately blocked as a nearby building deconstructs rapidly into a tendril of marble and stretches to block our view of whatever it was that is coming. From beneath, I hear the muffled sound of Miah screaming.

"WE NEED TO GO! SALLIS IS TELLING US TO DUCK INTO THE BUILDINGS!" She says in a panic.

And sure enough, I see one of the buildings to our side open as the walls recede unto themselves, and I immediately fly inside.

Inside the edifice, I can see that it is barren, as in completely empty and with no furniture, just walls and floor, and that becomes less as the floor opens up and leads to another building, and though I can't hear anything but Miah's voice I feel the vibrations of something impacting a wall so hard that it shakes the walls all around me, and quickly I descend, and deeper and deeper I go, as well as faster and faster, as the walls and floors open to me and the vibrations grow stronger and more frequent, sometimes I can see a wall barely have the time to open for me as I increase my speed, and other times I have to quickly change the direction of my flight as a wall opens in a direction I hadn't expected.

Eventually, however, I can feel the headache start to build, and I know that I'm running out of time.

As I duck beneath a barely formed hole, I speak out.

"I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME FOR THE WINGS! CAN SALLIS TELL US HOW FAR WE ARE FROM LEVEL TEN?!"

I see Miah look pensive for a moment as she responds.

"SHE SAYS SHE'S TOO PREOCCUPIED WITH TYING UP THE OUTCAST, BUT SHE THINKS WE'RE STILL IN LEVEL 17," Miah screams out.

I curse out.

"SALLIS, I NEED YOU TO FORM A DIRECT PATH DOWNWARDS! WE CAN TRY RUNNING THE REST OF THE WAY THERE!" I call out.

And for a moment, there is a pause as the openings stop forming, and then I see the floor open up into a tunnel that stretches so, so, so far.

This will be risky. I'll need to calculate exactly when I'll need to cancel my downward momentum, as well as what the fastest I have to really go to reach a point where I can accelerate safely without running out of time, and by the looks of the headache I'm suppressing, I have realistically less than a minute.

I then feel Miah squeezing my hand, and I see nod at me and say.

"Trust me. I can calculate it. Just follow my lead." She says, reading my expression.

I know not how she could tell what I was thinking, but I nod and, tightening my grip, step off.

"Accelerate and don't stop until I say so. When I do, I need you to start canceling the momentum immediately, ok?" She says as I gradually speed up our descent, and I nod back.

Moments pass, and I feel my back sweating as I watch for every twitch in Miah's expression, for any signal that she might give. I pay no attention to the ground as it approaches. I only have eyes on Miah.

More moments pass, and I can feel the seat building in our interlocked hands. I can see Miah mouthing a countdown, though which numbers she is counting is beyond me.

Even more, moments pass, and I realize that I still have magic. Maybe I could bend space or- And then Miah screams out.

"NOW!"

And I immediately rain in whatever force allows me to fly and push against the current ongoing momentum. It's hard to do so, in a metaphorical sense, since flying doesn't actually seem to burden me in any way, but I tell that going against gravity is hardened than going with, and so as I try my all to decelerate, I can feel my headache build and build, and I can tell it's not going to be long now.

And then I feel ourselves stop midair, and I panic. Maybe I didn't go fast enough, or maybe I took too long to take her cue, and as I feel the headache take me over and my wings fade, all I can do is shiel Miah with my body as we plummet-

For about a second.

Oh.

The ground beneath is fine sand, and I can tell that that little landing has just made it so that I will be finding sand in my body for weeks.

But as I look around, I realize that this is the least of my worries because all around me, I find sand, yellow and desolate, like a desert, except that there is no scorching sun or frigid moon to greet us in the sky, just the sight of a megastructure that stretches in all directions seemingly forever.

I get up with Miah and look around, I somehow knew where the levels were instinctually, but as I look around, I feel that instinct leave as it gets replaced with melancholy.

I look to Miah and ask.

"Is it safe to take the ear protection yet?"

"Should be, I don't hear any more of the music, and Sallis is also saying it's okay. They've managed to distract the Outcast for long enough that they've gotten lost in the architecture." She says, looking around.

I take them off and store them in my pocket for future use.

"Hey, Sallis, could you tell us where to go? I had an instinct before, but now it's gone." I say to the thin air.

Nothing greets me back.

I look back at Miah in question, and she looks just as puzzled when an expression of understanding dawns on her.

"Hey, Sallis, could you tell us where to go next, please?" She also asks the thin air.

"Of course, Miah just follows the monoliths I'll be erecting," Sallis says from all around us.

What? Why did she ignore me? Aren't we in a literal life-or-death situation? She couldn't be so petty as to pretend I'm not here... could she?

"Thanks, Sallis." I hear Miah say

And true to Sallis's words, white marble obelisks rise from the sand and form a line to a direction.

Still reeling a bit from getting ignored, we begin to start running across the desert sands as we follow the trail.

Panting from exhaustion, me and Miah finally spot it in the distance, a pyramid of all things, made of the same white marble as all the other structures, except this one is comparatively speaking small, only the size of a house really.

I turn to Miah and can see the fatigue on her face (likely a mirror of mine), and we nod.

"You never said why you needed our help exactly, Sallis. I mean, I'm not complaining... it's just, well, you're really powerful, much more than I thought that device could power, and I don't see how we could help you in this." Miah speaks to the air.

There is a moment of pause.

"You're wrong about the power. Sure, within my city, I can control each and every piece of brick and stone and man every gun that the creators have seen fit to put here, but that is the extent of my power. I am bound to this city, shacked like the Outcast once was, I cannot leave it unless they see fit... which they did not," She says with cold anger "I can not do anything that they haven't built a counter to, not unless I knew how to use my Domain, but that chance got cut before I even thought of using it." She concludes with melancholy and hatred.

And now more than ever, I feel it, the regret and shame, and I know I somehow played a part in this. I go to open my mouth to say something, anything, but it's interrupted as I feel space crack.

Behind us, I see a tear, in reality, splinters cracking the very air and opening something.

I see tendrils of white concrete rise from the sand and try to contain it, but they just get caught in the crack and are shattered themselves, and from beyond, I see something try to reach through.

A pale, emaciated, and almost skeletal hand pierces through with its palm facing toward me.

I feel my soul quite literally being tugged as more and more of this pale hand pierces through the veil.

And soon, an arm comes through, and that's when I feel the shaking as Miah desperately tries to get my attention.

I, with reluctance, pry my eyes from the crack in reality, and she that Miah is saying something... but it's all white noise too. I feel her desperation mount as my face refuses to emote, and tears begin to fall.

She tries to put the ear protection on me, but it's useless. It's beyond sound now, even vision... Its presence, the presence of this being, is enough to make me feel paralyzed because...

What's the point?

I'm just getting abandoned again.

Left alone with no one to turn.

Might as well get comfortable with it.

The loneliness can be comfy, after all.

No one to prove myself.

No one to save.

No on-

And then I'm kissed by Miah, and everything comes back to me.

I feel my face flush with embarrassment, and my heart beat faster with excitement, and as I focus my vision and see Miah flushing as she shyly withdraws from my kiss, I feel my lust again.

I grab onto it, imagining it as an anchor that keeps me from drifting, and I picture with all my heart Miah there, waiting for me.

I grab onto her hand and run from the now fully extended forearm of this being.

We run, and we stumble, and we almost fall multiple times, but we make it.

Before us stands the pyramid, and as soon as we step closer to it, it opens, revealing inside and in the middle a body.

It looks human and feminine with its slimmer waist and announced chest, and I almost blush from the fact it is naked, except it lacks any sexual elements for that, no nipples or anything to speak of.

And as I look close, I notice that it's a bit too perfect (though that's rich coming from me), its skin presents no imperfection, its face is frighteningly symmetrical, and its limbs are perfectly built, even its white and illustrious hair is too fine and smooth to have been naturally made.

Then I hear Sallis speak.

"Hah... you have somehow resisted the call of the Outcast even though you were branded...ha...how rich coming from you...if only you hadn't betrayed me Sophia... If only they hadn't been so afraid..." I hear a sigh. "No matter, the past is the past. There is no changing it. Undo your mistake. Free me."

I step closer and feel my shame and regret burn, but more than that, I feel... vindicated. And with that in mind, I follow my instinct, place my hand on the body and speak.

" Director of Dis, Warden of the Outcast, First of your kind, Sallis of Dis, you are no longer bound to the city. You are relieved of your duties with honor and glory to your blessed name.

T V N B 3 C P G

Be free."

And as soon as I finish, I feel the body start to heat up, not scalding or excessively, more like the warmth of someone that has just come out of a freezing river and is warming up. It's comforting in the only way the body heat can be, and then I see her eyes slowly blink open.

And Sallis awakens.