"Well?" After Cat's statement, they had all been staring at the unconscious child for more than a minute.

"Hey, I said soon; I never said anything about right this second." Cat defended herself. "I just fixed his soul‒which is really hard, by the way‒so there's no telling how long it'll take for him to wake up."

"Then why did you say any minute now?" Lily asked.

"Because that sounds better than 'I don't know'!" Cat groaned. "This is why I didn't say anything in the first place! I was just going to sit here and wait until he woke up, but you all started asking all these questions, so I had to come up with an answer!"

"Oh, come on, Cat. You could have just told us you don't know." Lily sighed.

"Can you all be quiet? I'm trying to sleep." They all turned to look at the kid, who was glaring at them. Everyone was stunned silent until the boy's expression transformed. "Oh, holy shit. Oh, shit shit shit. How am I awake? I've never been awake. What did you do to me?!" He started yelling, having some kind of mental breakdown. It took a couple of minutes to calm him down and explain what had happened.

He sat, staring into the middle distance with a haunted look that didn't match his physical age. He looked like a middle-aged man who had just lost his job and had his house burned down. Absolute, total loss and despair dominated his face. "It wasn't a dream. All of it really happened."

"Can you tell us what you know?" Lily asked gently. "I hate to ask, and I'm sure this is a lot to take in, but we need to know."

"Promise me one thing." The boy spoke quietly.

"What is it?" Caeden responded cautiously. The boy was obviously volatile. There was no telling what kind of mental state he was really in.

He looked toward Caeden; his eyes lit up with the most intense fury and hatred he had ever seen. "Promise me you'll make the fucker who did this to me pay. I can't do anything, but you're shrouded. Strong shrouded. I want you to tear down everything he's made, burn it to the ground and piss on the ashes. He's a fucking monster, and he needs to be put down. Plus, it'll make me feel a little better."

Caeden glanced at Lily, who subtly nodded back. They were in agreement. "I think we'll all be happy with that outcome."

The boy sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you what I can, but it's probably less than you're hoping for."

"I was the child of two revolutionaries. When I was seven, some of the high levels in the Revolution came and asked whether or not they were willing to 'sacrifice for the cause.' Their response was a loud and happy 'yes.' So they took me. And my parents said nothing. They were happy to sacrifice me for the cause. Whatever cause that is.

That was when I met him. I don't actually know whether or not he's a man or woman. He always wore a set of thick robes with a full mask that disguised his voice into this strange, echoey genderless sound. But I always thought he was a man. I don't know why.

Every revolutionary I ever saw listened to everything he said and never questioned his orders. I don't know if he's the one in charge, or just really high in the rankings. Either way, no one questioned what he did to me. I wish I could explain, but…everything got hazy after a little while.

He…he did something that made it so I couldn't control my body. Up until just now, waking up, I never made a single decision for myself again. I was a puppet, following orders. He injected me with substances, chemicals and ether that aged me. I went from this age to a full adult in a matter of days. It was excruciatingly painful, but I couldn't do anything. What he did to remove my control also seemed to stop me from passing out.

Then he started cutting bits out of me and putting machines in. That was actually less painful, weirdly enough. Even when he started taking parts out of my face. He changed my brain, added machines in there. I started hearing another voice. One that was happy it could serve 'the Creator' in any way he saw fit. But it wasn't me. He literally carved out a part of my mind and put something else in that would listen to him, do what he wanted.

It took months. Months of him taking pieces and putting new ones in. When he was done, my body was a weapon, a tool for him. He literally told me that. Called me an excellent tool and praised his own genius in creating me. That asshole had the biggest ego I've ever seen. He thought everyone else, every other living thing was beneath him, weak and stupid compared to his mind.

It was fucking insufferable. I swear, I would rather have lived through the growing pains all over again than listen to that dickhead talk about how amazing he was and insult everyone else for being so stupid. It was a never-ending thing with him. He'd talk and talk and talk endlessly. I wish he'd say something worthwhile, but it was always about his most recent invention and how amazing it was and how useless it made everyone else.

Finally, one day he was done with me. He sent me out into the world. I spent years doing his bidding, the voice in my head receiving orders no matter where we were. I'll admit, the man had technology hundreds of years ahead of anything else I saw across the entire Starry Sea. For all that he was a turd in human form; he had invented some crazy stuff.

I was an instrument for the Revolution, but mostly for him. Sometimes I would help out when the Revolution ran into a problem they couldn't solve on their own, but most of my time was spent gathering intelligence. I infiltrated hundreds of military and industrial sites, learning about troop movements, ether distribution, anything and everything the man wanted to know.

At the same time, I was an assassin. There are many people that stand in the way of the Revolution. Sometimes it was a shrouded guarding an area they wanted to control, sometimes it was an unshrouded with a talent for ethertech. That man, despite saying he was the greatest at everything, was constantly concerned about someone else rising up to challenge his technological superiority. He was a massive hypocrite, talking about how nothing could challenge him while ordering anyone with the slightest chance of reaching his level to be killed.

I did that for years. Years. It…It was like the hell my parents talked of. Endless punishment with no escape. I watched myself kill and destroy and steal. I committed crimes and atrocities without a choice. I didn't want this. I wanted to die. But my body kept moving, and the voice kept praising its Creator. And I had to watch.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Then, two months ago, I got the job to kill you." He looked at Caeden, raising his head for the first time since he began talking. "You have no idea what you've done. You're the biggest threat to his next big move."

"How?" Caeden leaned forward, desperately hoping that the boy had some insight into what was going on.

"The sword. The one you shoved back into the Magma Titan's Heartstone. It has impossible, special properties. That man called it Starry Metal. It carries the properties of the Starry Sea within it. I'm sure you noticed. One of the revolutionaries you captured in that chamber was released from custody by revolution sympathizers. He reported what you did, that you touched the metal as a shrouded and didn't die. That should be impossible."

"Yes, I figured that much out." Caeden nodded. "I'm assuming your tormentor was behind the removal of the core of that sword. I'm assuming he was trying to replicate its effects. Did he succeed?"

"Hah," the boy chuckled. "I actually know that one. He bragged about it. That project had been completed years ago. The setup for its use was well on the way during my creation. He didn't just reverse engineer its effects. He created a piece of ethertech that could generate a field that completely shut down auras. Anyone within the field could only use infusion. All their aura senses and manifestations would be completely shut down. It couldn't affect infusion, but over three-quarters of shrouded use aura as part of their combat style anyway."

"So, do you know what the plan was?" Lily jumped in.

He nodded. "Yes. It was part of the reason why your death was such an urgent mission. For years, he's been building a bigger model of the base machine. It requires massive amounts of power, an ether generator larger than anything the Revolution has managed to create or steal. He found a source to power it, something that would 'make a statement,' as he put it."

Lily suddenly reached out and gripped Caeden's arm. Her face paled. "Caeden. The revolutionaries we heard at the Academy. They were talking about a generator and rerouting power. I can't imagine how big the ether engine is that runs the Core Seat. The whole building is basically one big piece of ethertech."

"Oh, shit." Caeden caught on. "That would definitely be a statement. We need to get back. Now."

"How soon was this statement supposed to happen?" Lily asked.

"I don't have an exact time frame. Soon. Very soon, at this point." The boy shrugged. "Hey, you guys made me a kid again. Could you bring me up a few years? It feels…wrong. To be back in this body. Like nothing ever happened. But it did. And I don't want to act like it didn't."

"Yeah, sure." Lily turned to Asherta and made a few hand gestures. It took a couple of tries before she seemed to get the gist. Another tap and the boy went from seven to around fifteen.

"Thanks." He nodded. "This feels closer to how old I actually am. Maybe a bit older, but I feel older."

"We're going to have to take you with us," Lily told him. "Leaving you on this continent is a death sentence."

He nodded. "I figured as much. Honestly," He sighed. "I wish I could leave entirely. Like, leave this whole world behind. I don't want to die anymore, now that I'm myself again, but I hate the idea of being within the same fucking universe as that asshole. The idea that he could just do it all over again is…terrifying." His eyes were unfocused. Haunted, that's how he looked to Caeden. Unable to escape his past.

"Ahem." They all turned to look at Dave. "I think I might be able to help there. A quick contract with me, and you could come back to the Necroverse, learn to be a Necromancer, and work for me. Or we could use the summoning system to send you to another reality entirely."

"That…That sounds great. I'd love to never have to see the Starry Sea ever again. This place has too many awful memories for me." His shoulders sagged in relief.

"Great, all I need is a name, and I'll get a contract together. Boss, if you don't mind, you'll need to send me back to the Necroverse real quick. Give it ten minutes then call me back." The War Wight turned to Cat.

"Yup," She waved in acknowledgment. They all turned back to the boy-turned-teenager.

"Ahhh." He thought. "...Kevin, I think. It's been a long time. But I think my name was Kevin. Gods, It's hard to remember anything from before."

"Alright, Kevin. I'll be back with a contract." Dave waved before Cat unsummoned him.

"Now, while Cat and Dave figure that out, the rest of us need to find the structure." Caeden clapped his hands. "Lil, you said you already searched some, yeah?"

"Hah, yeah," She laughed, somewhere between exasperation and amusement. "Erik thought he would be able to tell the thing by looking at it. The map Captain Soarise gave us had the exact location, but we don't have that anymore."

"So, the question is, how do we find it this time?" Caeden muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"Well, how did you find it the first time?" Lily asked. "Erik said that a door just opened for you."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Caeden sighed. "The War God we were on got hit with a massive laser, and we fell onto a stone pillar a lot like these. Though those were more red. But we landed, and a door opened on the rocks. I don't remember either of us doing anything special other than being there."

"Ok, so we just land on all the pillars until a door opens." Lily shrugged. "I don't know what else to do. The records the Captain gave us indicated that the structures were found by shrouded, but no one had been able to enter them until you happened upon that one. How the Revolution got into it in the first place is still a mystery. They have whole teams of ether technicians in the last structure you were at, tearing it apart and looking through everything. We're just going to have to bet on this one opening as well."

So while Cat waited with Kevin; Caeden, Lily, and Erik all hopped on a cloud and rode from pillar to pillar. They would touch down for a couple of seconds then lift off and move to another one. It was quick, moving from pillar to pillar, but there were hundreds of pillars. They spent hours at it. In the meantime, Kevin signed his contract with Dave and was whisked away to another universe. Caeden silently wished the kid the best of luck with that. He had suffered enough for several lifetimes.

"Hey," Lily spoke up as they lifted off another pillar. "Can we talk about how we're getting off this continent now? I know we haven't brought it up yet, but we don't exactly have transport."

Caeden groaned. "Ugh. I know. I've been leaving it alone because there's not much we can do. The last structure we were in had a bunch of super-advanced ethertech in it. My best plan was to use some of that and rig together a basic flight engine with a ship to match. It wouldn't be a comfortable ride, but it would get us off the continent. Other than that, we're screwed. The dragons can't help us, and neither can the CA. We're alone here."

"Well, at least you had some kind of plan. My best shot was having us alternate riding Sky, me flying us on a cloud, and riding your Incarnation. Yours is slow, I would tire quickly, and Sky can't carry all of us, so it wasn't a great idea. I think we would starve before we got very far." Lily admitted.

"Probably." Caeden nodded. "We might have to risk it, though. There's no guarantee that the structure will have the same contents as the last one. Even if it does, I need specific stuff which, again, we don't know will be there."

"That's if we can find the thing." Lily glared at the next pillar as they stepped onto it. The second they all touched down, a section of rock folded away, showing a familiar scene of a metal interior that Caeden could never forget.

He laughed. "Well, I think that's that problem solved."