A chest sat in the center of the next room. Sigils glowed around it in a wide circle to Cass’s ordinary vision and her Mana Sense. Trap Detection and Atmospheric Sense both had words to share as well.

Trap Detection informed her stepping over that ring was likely highly ill-advised while Atmospheric Sense reported that there was no airflow over the sigils, that it could just as easily have been a solid wall there.

Pellen’s eyes widened at the sight of the chest. “A trove?”

“A what?” Cass asked.

“A trove!” She gestured at the chest in front of them. “Anything could be in there. The gods left it as a reward for a trial.”

Had the orbs she’d gotten from the heralds in Uvana been troves then? “Are they always chests?”

Pellen shook her head. “No. I think it’s the most common option, but I’ve heard the Livianth Trial uses books.” She had a positively starving look in her eyes at the thought. She shook her head, “Not that the manifested rewards are usually books, but still…”

They approached the circle slowly. There wasn’t anything else in the room.

“Do you think we can just step over this?” Cass asked, pointing at the circle. It still seemed more like an invisible wall than a trap.

Pellen shrugged.

Trap Detection suggested throwing something over the circle first. Cass took a stick from her bag, one of the many she’d gotten for starting fires, and tossed it over the circle. It arched through the air, unobstructed. The stick landed beside the treasure chest without issue.

Cass and Pellen exchanged glances. Maybe it was safe?

Cass poked at the space with her staff. There was no resistance. The mana in the circle didn’t fluctuate. Nothing exploded.

“Well, either it’s not a trap, or it isn’t set off by inanimate objects,” Cass said.

Pellen blanched. “Are you suggesting we need to test it next?”

Cass shrugged. “Stand back?”

Pellen nodded and scooted all the way back to the door.

Cass inhaled. Maybe this was nothing. Maybe the glowing circle was aesthetic and wouldn’t explode when she stepped over it. Maybe it wasn’t an impenetrable trap, designed to lock a would-be thief in place until one of the catacomb’s guards could collect her. Maybe Trap Detection was wrong and there was nothing here.

Cass exhaled as she took that step forward. There was no resistance, but she could feel the air as she crossed the boundary. It was like she’d stepped from water to oil. The two layers didn’t mix, and there was something different about the air inside.

What exactly it was, Cass couldn’t pinpoint. Atmospheric Sense acknowledged it was different, but was more concerned with the lack of movement over the barrier than the nature of either side. As best as Cass could explain it, it was like the air outside was blue while the air inside was cyan. But that made as much sense as saying one texture smelled like garlic and another sounded like crinkled paper.

She glanced back at Pellen by the door.

Pellen’s mouth was open. She was saying something, but Cass couldn’t hear her. The sound was no more able to transfer across the boundary than the air was.

“What?” Cass asked anyway, more to check if the silence went both ways or not. She could hear herself, but Pellen’s head cocked to one side, indicating she probably hadn’t.

Cass took a step back, crossing the boundary again. Again, nothing stopped her. “Looks like sound doesn’t cross the circle.”

“Oh, interesting, a Silence Field,” Pellen said, scurrying forward to inspect the sigils. “Perhaps it’s intended to keep those inside from performing Chants?”

“I could hear myself inside it.”

“Then not a Field? Just a wall?”

Cass shrugged.

“That doesn’t seem like an impressive trap.”

“I didn’t think so either.”

“You think it’s safe, then?” Pellen stared longingly at the chest.

Trap Detection still whispered that it wasn’t safe, but it had also run out of things to check.

“I guess?”

Pellen stood beside Cass, the eyes on the right side of her face anxiously glancing her way, even while her central eye stared at the treasure.

“Together?” Cass asked.

Pellen nodded. “Thank you.”

“On three then?”

Another nod.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

They stepped over the threshold. Again, nothing happened.

Pellen’s eyes looked around wildly, but she relaxed as it became clear nothing had happened. “Nothing happened?”

Cass shrugged. “It sure seems that way.”

“Maybe it isn’t a trap, then?” Pellen suggested.

Cass shrugged again. Trap Detection still thought it made the most sense if it was. She ignored it and pointed at the chest in the center. “Shall we?”

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Pellen nodded. Together they approached the chest and put their hands on the lid’s lip.

The circle glowed brighter and a screen appeared before Cass.

Begin Game (King of the Hill)?

[Keep at least one team member inside the ‘Throne Room’ (demarcated zone) for ten minutes or until all challengers have been defeated.

Reward: 1/3rd Experience of Slaying the highest threat Survived during game. Appropriate Treasure manifested from Averenis Deep Stores.]

Pellen frowned, presumably looking at the same screen superimposed on her vision.

“What do you think?” Cass asked. “Think we can do it?”

“Ten minutes is a long time,” Pellen muttered.

Cass could only agree. “Should we just go back?”

They didn’t know where the Wolf had gone or if another would join him soon. Perhaps it would be better to get out while they could. Or perhaps it was better to lie low until they were sure it was gone. Perhaps they should rest and prepare for the next time they ran into it.

“But this is a God’s Game,” Pellen said.

Cass was surprised by the hesitation in her voice.

“They’re supposed to be fair,” Pellen continued. It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than Cass. “The difficulty is supposed to be tailored to the challenger and the reward to the difficulty. Isn’t this my chance? My break? If not now, then when? If not this, then what? Why am I here if not for this?”

Her questions hung in the air unanswered.

“How about we take a break, recover some of our Focus, and then evaluate again?” Cass asked.

Pellen nodded, but her eyes were absent as she followed Cass away from the chest and the center of the room. Nothing stopped them as they stepped out of the ring. Nothing happened as Cass set up another fire in the corner to the right of the door.

All was quiet as their campfire sprang to life and empowered Beacon of Hearth and Home.

Above her, she could feel Salos, closer than ever. Could she reach out to him? She pushed out with her Will, stretching to reengage their bond. He hovered at the edge of her consciousness. No thoughts crossed over, but she could feel his acknowledgment of her presence. And the comfort of knowing she was alive.

They’d be reunited soon.

“Um,” Pellen broke the silence. “Can I ask why you are challenging the Catacombs? Or would that be too much?”

Cass shrugged. “I’m just here to support my friend.”

Friends, plural, actually. This was for Alyx and Salos. Funny, given they’d gotten separated. But it was for Alyx’s future and Salos’s past. Perhaps there was also a treasure to help her survive this world in it for her. Perhaps it was a fear of being left behind pushing her onward.

But that was much too much to share with a stranger.

“What about you?” Cass asked. “No offense, but you don’t exactly look like the type who does this kind of thing.”

“Greed, I suppose?” She sighed and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking straight for sure. But I thought this might be my chance.”

“Chance for what?”

“To be more than an assistant?” Pellen shook her head. “I’m sure you have figured it out by now, but I’m not exactly a combat mage. I don’t even have my degree yet either. I’m just an assistant. I’ve been stuck at my current rank for years. I thought I might get the Concept I needed here. It’s too expensive to buy a gem off the open market.”

Cass frowned. “I don’t follow. What do Concepts have to do with your academic rank?”

Pellen frowned back. “I’m a student. I don’t have the Arcane Concept, so I can’t progress to professor. I can barely call myself a mage.”

“Mages have to have a particular Concept?” Cass asked.

“Sure,” Pellen said with a nod. “How else can they have enough Focus to do the work they need to? Arcane applied to Resolve is the single biggest Focus modifier known to modern Conceptist. There are hosts of other benefits too. Applied to research skills, it almost always provides expanded insights. Applied to Chant, Gesture, or Inscription, it increases speed, accuracy, or fidelity, sometimes all three. There is no end to the benefits. No one hires a mage without an Arcane Concept.”

“I was under the impression,” Cass said slowly, “that Concepts were highly individual? That it was unusual for two people to have identical Concepts even when they went by the same name?”

Pellen’s frown deepened. “How would anyone choose their Concepts if you didn’t know what they did?”

“I don’t really know,” Cass said. But Concepts hadn’t been presented to Cass as something chosen. They were something that happened to you. Wind and Hearth had both just shown up. Liminal she’d chosen, she supposed. But that had been from a short list. She hadn’t exactly been given a chance to research and debate the merits of each one.

She wished Salos was here to comment. But she had a feeling he would be having a conniption fit over what Pellen had just said.

“So you need Arcane as a Concept to progress,” Cass said, bringing the conversation back into focus.

Pellen nodded.

“And you can’t afford to buy a gem, for it, you said,” Cass repeated.

Pellen nodded. “That’s the usual way of getting the Concept you want. You buy gems known to manifest that Concept until you get it. That’s why I’m in Vaisom, actually. Gems that drop Arcane are more common in this area. Or, more common than back home, anyway.

“The academy offers a stipend for getting gems for this purpose, but um, I’ve used up mine already.”

“What does that mean?” Cass asked.

“Every gem has several Concepts as options. I tried five or six gems and none of them gave me Arcane. I’ve failed to get it so many times, my cohort is starting to think I’m not suitable to be a mage.” She looked down, her cheeks flushed. “I’m starting to wonder if they are right. If I’m incompatible with the Arcane Concept.”

She stared at the fire, all her eyes avoiding Cass.

“The responsible thing to do would be to get myself tested,” she continued. “The church would do it for a fee. And then I’d know. But, if I did that, and I wasn’t, I don’t know what I’d do. But, if I keep going as I have been, and it turns out I am incompatible, I’ve just been wasting time and taking up a spot another student could better use.” Pellen froze. Her head shot up. “I’m sorry. You don’t care about any of this. This is all my problem.”

Cass shook her head. “No, I asked. Thank you for sharing. I’m still not sure I understand what that has to do with coming in here, though?”

“Oh! Well. You see. I need another gem. Another Concept Gem. Ideally a very pure gem. Most ideally, a Ritual Concept Gem. Which, supposedly, on the seventh floor, is a potential core of the Obsidian Golem. Lord Kohen agreed to help me find and fight one as part of our contract.”

“I see,” Cass said. To summarize, Pellen was here for treasure. Treasure to make the future she dreamed of possible.

“But any Gem would be good,” Pellen added hastily. “I can always trade it for the one I need back in the city. Or sell it if I can’t find a direct trade and buy the one I want.”

“And if you don’t get Arcane again?” Cass asked.

Pellen’s shoulders slumped. “I’ll think about giving up, I suppose.”

The fire crackled between them, the wood shifting as it burned.

Cass shook her head. “That doesn’t seem right. You seem to be getting on just fine without that Concept. I don’t understand why you can’t be a mage without it.”

“What school would accept me as a professor without it?” Pellen sighed. “No. I need it. Thank you for your confidence. But it really isn’t optional.”

Cass crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m a mage. I don’t have it.”

Pellen cocked her head to one side. “Are you?”

It was Cass’s turn to scowl. “Did you not see the Wind Blades? Me starting the fire with magic? Controlling the air to slow our fall?”

Pellen shrugged. “You’re a sorcerer. Not a degreed mage. That’s completely different.”

“How so?” Cass asked.

“Well, you’re,” Pellen gestured at Cass instead of finishing their sentence. “I don’t know. I don’t know what you are. You act like a mercenary after treasure, but you’re loyal to your lord. You look like a merchant’s daughter, but you don’t seem to have any knowledge of the market or society someone like that should have. You do magic but you also fight with your staff, so you’re a spellsword, I suppose?” Pellen shook her head, staring at her hands. “But, I’m just me. I’m just a poor scholar who desperately wants access to an Academy’s libraries so I can keep researching spatial magic.”