Daniel lit a mana crystal in his safehouse and sat at a desk. His body felt so damn naked—he was going to change that. He unwrapped a massive light etching tool as well as inks and brushes. Then, he pulled out a sheet of paper and started drawing out an eight-layer array, drawing soul runes and connecting them to magical concepts in an interweaving network of possibilities. Arraycraft was similar to programming, something Daniel’s father had taught him when he was a kid. So when he came to this world and learned that the lines and shapes established loops and relationships between concepts, he studied alone in his room day and night until he got lessons, keeping to himself. After Emma died, he locked himself away, unwilling to come out unless there were official tasks or work duties. Jason looked at him like a useless rat, so he barely made Daniel do anything. That changed with Mary. When she took over, the entire castle started reshuffling, and he was given an ultimatum: be useful or get out—

—and “Get out” meant something different after one hero seized the kingdom and another hero killed the man.

Daniel could still remember watching Tara get publically humiliated and executed after so many years of her supporting Mary’s bullshit. Darius, who had fallen for her, became enraged and went on a butchering spree in the kingdom, earning him the nickname “The Butcher of Lemora” before he escaped. Helen took the ordeal badly as well. She refused to support Mary after Tara’s execution, and she went missing, replaced by a statement that reminded the heroes were liabilities and dissidence wouldn’t be tolerated. Since Sara was gone and the other heroes were dead, Mary was the strongest in the kingdom by a mile, especially with the infamous Twilight Core she earned from Sayon’s Crypt. Even combined, they couldn’t attack Mary, so the heroes defied her and died or lived on Mary’s terms.

The terms for supporting Mary were always different, but they were always geared toward proving loyalty and breaking someone into submission. Daniel’s terms were no exception—if he were a stronger or weaker person (depending on one’s interpretation of willpower), he would’ve declined it.

Daniel paused in the present, trying to forget the first tattoo he drew, but it was now stuck in his mind. He could still remember that it smelled like lilacs in Mary’s audience chamber when it was his turn to prove his loyalty. When he looked inside, Mary had two shirtless guards standing next to her like Cleopatra as she stared down at Helen—who had gone missing a week before.

Oh, great, he’s here, Mary said to Helen. Let’s hope he’s more loyal than you are…. She looked up at Daniel. You’re an arraymaster, yes?

He had swallowed and looked at Helen’s exposed back and a small table with arraycraft tools.

Daniel snapped out of his reverie and found himself staring at the array he was drawing, cold sweat dripping down his body. Of all the days that he wanted to forget—that was the one he wanted to forget most. It disturbed him so much that he ran away from the kingdom, searching for magic that would safely give him amnesia. He wasn’t safe anywhere near the kingdom, so he traveled to Treeal, the “Lawless City,” which was on the border of the demon continent, to start his search. There, he heard something surreal:

You bet ‘em? Are you crazy?

Watch your tone, guy. I’s ain’t no scholar, but half is half, and there ain’t no way that casban can keep winnin’ every toss excepts if he’s cheatin’!

Of course he’s cheating! That’s the whole point!

Waits. The fucks you mean that’s the point?

Okay. Since you’re not a scholar, I’ll spell this out: He. Turns. Back. Time.

Ah, bullshit!

If it was he would’ve lost a whole lot of the half-n-half’s, now wouldn’t he?

You’re fucking with me.

I’m not.

So he’s cheatin’.

Yeah.

And everyone knows it.

Yeah.

Then why the fuck’d they’d let him?

Why? ‘Cause he killed them all dead. You wanna play with Roring? He’ll take your money. If you wanna bother him? He’s takin’ your damn head. And don’t you dare call his bluff on this one, guy. ‘Cause no one that’s gone there angry has come back alive.

Daniel would never forget the rollercoaster ride he felt at that moment, hearing that he could reverse time, only to remember that he was in a city where violence was law, and the liquor came from sacked caravans. Still, he went to his shitty room that night and couldn’t sleep.

Turn back time… he thought. If I could just turn back time….

If it was true, then he could kill Mary, kill Jason, and save Emma. Everything was better when Emma was there. If she were alive, all the heroes would’ve banded together behind her and vanquished—yes, vanquished—Mary Jansen like she was some faraway dragon if she ever went on her evil spree. Jason wouldn’t dare touch her either. Jason had a shit reputation, but he knew he would be forever loathed and scorned should he ever hurt Emma. Emma…. Emma was Daniel’s JFK, the time traveler’s goal, the person to save from assassination to change the world….

Daniel snapped back to the present, staring at the page. Tears had dripped onto it, blotting the ink. He’d have to start over. Still, he couldn’t think. Not tonight. Tonight, he remembered that Emma, time travel, all the fucked up shit he did as Trens Roring’s assistant to learn time travel magic…. All of it started because he wanted to forget certain things—things he then wanted to change—things that he did change, only to realize he just wanted to forget. His mind had morphed and molded and melded with trauma, but his intentions started out pure enough, and the motivations remained fresh all the way to the present, like scabs that itched and never fully healed.

Daniel lay down and fell asleep. He had a long road ahead and he couldn’t get cold feet. Otherwise, it’d all be for nothing.

2

Sara led Raul and Emma through Sayon’s Crypt. During her last life, it was a fantastic rollercoaster ride of new and exciting things because the labyrinth (beyond trying to kill someone) was also geared toward teaching. It taught them how to walk on raw mana to get over water—something Emma could already do and Raul had to spend considerable time and effort to learn. It took them into pitch-black locations where they had to use divination pulses to fight golems. And most notoriously, the Trial of Patience, which required the group to sit still in a pitch-black sensory deprivation chamber for twelve hours straight (a trial that led to absolute paranoia and feelings that something was wrong, that their teammates got killed, or left them) for hours on end until they went crazy. On the second trip, that changed. It was a simple chore as she watched the two learn, bonding as early couples do. Yet it was peaceful, and Sara allowed herself to chill out and heal a bit. She’d finally see Kyritus soon, and it was making her nervous.

Two days passed where they only ate meat from animals and fruits growing in the dungeon, and then they finally faced the boss of the labyrinth—a massive golem they had to face in a sensory deprivation chamber, requiring them to use divination magic to fight. It had stones within it that were eighty feet in the air, and the mage had to overcharge them with magic. It was an epic battle, and Raul played a critical part in using his improved divination skills to target its legs and buy time. Once all the outer cores had been broken, Sara fulfilled her requirement (the labyrinth captured mana signatures to ensure all participants earned their keep) by using a colossal gravity spell to bring it to its knees, then used qualth to cut it in half, shattering its core. The core exploded. The lights returned. Raul hit the ground and rolled over, breathing hard.

“How the fuck’d we beat that thing?” Raul asked.

“Before?” Sara asked, helping Emma to her feet.

“Yeah.”

“There were five of us, and we were all helping. You guys took it down on your own.”

“Ummm…. Sara?” Emma pointed at the two halves of the golem. “I don’t think we did that.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “You didn’t need to cut it in half. You could’ve hit it with a wind spell at that point. Besides, if Raul used your blood he could’ve cut it in half easy.”

Raul coughed and looked at Emma. “Yeah. I was holding back. Promise.”

Emma giggled and sat down beside him. “I’m glad. ‘Cause if you cut me, I’d never forgive you.”

“Hey!” he said. They laughed.

Sara smiled and let them catch their breath and then looked toward the treasury. It was located at the back of the room where the golem was standing when they walked in. “Shall we?”

They nodded.

Beyond beautiful ornate doors carved by master craftsmen throughout the Middle Continent, they entered a hallway that was cut out of marble on all sides, like someone had used a cookie cutter to punch a rectangle into it. It was only broken by golden glowstones and a bright white light at the end.

“This is eerie,” Emma said.

“This whole place is eerie,” Raul said.

He was annoyed. She clung to his arm. Sara walked beyond them, right into the bright white light.

Turns out, it wasn’t heaven—not this time or the last. The light was just a pallet cleanser, a way to blind someone up to the big reveal—

—and oh, what a fantastic reveal it was.

Raul’s eyes sunk in on themselves as if he had suddenly decomposed when he saw the room. Emma was stunned, too, and looked at Sara, who just casually walked into the room and sat at a table—

—the only thing in the room.

Perhaps it was better to say that there was a table in a solid marble room, and on that table, there was one book, a staff, and a bow. That was it. What took Jason’s Hero’s Party a week of life-or-death situations to achieve—a pursuit that had killed thousands of hopeful adventurers over the years—a dream of biblical proportions—just ended in a room that had a walking stick, a bow without a string, and a leather-bound book.

“You think she’d leave at least a little gold,” Raul pouted. Emma giggled,

“Yeah.” Sara rubbed her face and nodded. “I’m stealing the door on the way out.”

Raul smiled and walked in. “So?” He sat down at the table. “What’re we looking at?”

Sara picked up the bow. It didn’t have a string and was carved out of a material similar to ivory but white as porcelain. There were five arrays carved around it, sized proportionally to the use case. Two tiny ones at the top and bottom where the strong should be threaded, one at the hand and two on either side. “This’s the Bow of Rymac. It was my weapon and probably would’ve stayed that way if it could’ve killed Agronus. It’s mine.”

Raul frowned.

“This’s Telia’s Staff.” Sara picked up the gnarled four-foot stick and handed it to Emma. The redhead stared at the beautiful white and teal gemstone in the center, admiring the way that the wood spiraled around it. “In case you’re wondering how it was made or where that stone came from—I have no clue. No one does. The only thing that’s important is that the stone amplifies mana to absurd proportions. If Agronus was outside instead of in a rontum prison, it’d probably be stronger than Qualth.”

Raul’s frown carved deep lines on his face. “Your bow, your staff… where’s my weapon?” he asked.

“In another crypt,” Sara said.

His frown deepened further. “So there’s nothin’ in that book for me?”

“There is,” Sara said seriously. “You’re both ready for the Twilight Core, which’ll boost your core significantly. You’ll also learn Divine Eyes and other powerful techniques.”

“Wait, you’re actually gonna give us that?” Raul asked.

“Yeah. I would’ve done it sooner if it didn’t almost kill me.”

“Wait, what?” Emma cried.

“You’ll be fine,” Sara said. She turned to Raul. “You’ll be fine, too. Now let’s go. “Once we get to Telsenlore, I’ll set you two up. Till then, let’s get out of here, okay?”

Raul nodded and looked at Emma. “Okay.”

Sara grabbed the book, and the entire crypt started rumbling, and a feeling of vertigo swept their stomachs.

“What’s going on?” Emma yelled.

“Oh, there’s one more test,” Sara chuckled. “It’s gonna suck.”

3

A massive watch party had developed outside of Sayon’s Crypt. Year after year, adventurers went in, hoping to gain her legacy—and every one of them died. When it happened, the building flooded, dragging out the corpse and their blood through the statue’s eyes. Yet, for the first time, it had been almost a week, and the statue hadn’t cried. Then, something strange happened.

The statue smiled.

It was the creepiest thing that people had ever seen. It wasn’t a toothly smile—something closer to a smirk—but it was undeniably a smile that made everyone wonder how Telia made a mountain smile.

News spread far and wide, and thousands of people showed up, trying to figure out who the mysterious group was. They asked the registry, and the group had to explain how Sara, Raul, and Emma walked past them during a period of mass confusion and disappeared. Thus, it became a mystery who the group was, and speculation spread. Kingdoms sent emissaries, and ranking adventurers made the pilgrimage to see the sight.

That’s when it happened.

The entire mountain split. The mountain—which was protected by a barrier making it impossible to break or crack for three centuries—split in half, and Telia Sayon’s famous face moved up. It didn’t stop once it hit the neck. An entire statue of Telia Sayon—over 400 feet tall—spawned from the ground, eclipsing the mountain itself.

Sara didn’t tell Emma that the last and rudest trial in existence was to showcase their mana-walking skills by descending the statue to the ground. The reason was simple: Emma was afraid of heights.

4

Edico walked into a room where Lord Kell—Economic Advisor of the Escaran Kingdom—was found tied up in the Dreena District with a little boy. The group tried to separate the two, but Lord Kell screamed for them to stop. No one could understand why. But Edico and everyone else who saw the scene could speculate. There, on Lord Kell’s chest, was an eight-layered array that was more complex than anything anyone from the Arraycraft Guild had ever seen. The same was true on the boy—and Lord Kell was absolutely insistent that they not be separated. As for Daniel—he was long gone.