No longer possessed by the single-minded focus of demonic impulses, Cass finally had enough presence of mind to look around the room.

The backroom reminded Cass of the science lab back in high school.

Oh, it was a fair bit nicer than the permanent portable building they’d dropped the poor chemistry teacher in, but it had that same, over-cramped vibe to the space. Tables—now overturned—filled most of the middle of the room in two rows and four columns. Each had been covered in vials and tools and burners. Now glass shards lay over the floor with what remained of them.

The Keeper lay in a crumpled mess amid the tables.

The pink crystals grown in the chamber beyond lay scattered about, most summoned by the Keeper, but some undoubtedly had been here before.

Alyx set her teacup down and stood. “I’m going to see if that thing had any worthwhile loot. As big as it was, it should have.”

Cass nodded. A flicker in her chest whispered she shouldn’t let anyone else near the corpse. That someone else might steal what was hers. Cass ignored it.

Alyx hadn’t noticed or been interested in the Caretaker’s Core back in the Deep. It was unlikely she’d feel differently about any similar items from the Keeper.

“I can do that!” Pellen shot up to do so. “Someone in your position shouldn’t need to—”

Alyx waved her off. “I can handle it. You don’t look like someone who spends much time with your elbows in monster guts.”

Pellen made a face. “You do, my lady? But isn’t that what you have…” Pellen waved roughly at herself, Marco, and Cass, “people for?”

Alyx snorted. She pointed at Marco. “My shield.”

He smirked and nodded.

Alyx pointed at Pellen. “Support magic.”

Pellen cocked her head to one side but didn’t interrupt.

Alyx pointed at Cass. “Nonsense.”

“Wait, what?” Cass interjected.

Alyx continued, unconcerned, turning back to Pellen, “That’s what each of you is ‘for’. That’s all I expect. I can handle the rest. Go sit back down and recover your Focus. Or look through the tools back there. I can handle this.”

Pellen pursed her lips but nodded. Alyx bent over the corpse while Pellen walked to the back of the room.

It was lined in vats of colorful liquids, all lit from below by magic. Most were empty, but several contained crystals in various states of growth, from slivers no bigger than Cass’s pinky, to ragged shards, to many pronged spiked things larger than Cass’s head.

Pellen moved from vat to vat, her eyes and grin growing wider with every successive sample.

The sounds of cutting came from across the room as Alyx dug around in the thing’s body for treasures. Every minute, Cass grew more anxious. More fidgety.

Maybe she should go over there too. Maybe Alyx would pocket them and not tell anyone. Maybe—

“What exactly are those for?” Cass asked Pellen, trying to find anything to think about that wasn’t paranoidly accusing Alyx of stealing Salos’s soul shard from the Keeper’s corpse.

“Magic crystals,” Pellen said, waving Cass over excitedly. Cass joined her in front of one particularly large example. “They are one of the most efficient forms of mana storage. Just imagine how big a ritual one could coordinate with a crystal of that size.” She sighed and said, “Too bad it’s tainted.”

“Tainted?” Cass asked.

Pellen nodded. “It’s got some Concept imbued in its mana. Only the person who injected that mana could use that. Or maybe someone with closely matching Concepts?” Pellen shrugged.

“Do all the crystals in this room have concepts?” Cass asked.

Pellen nodded. “Looks like someone was experimenting with imbuing concepts into crystals once. Or maybe it was a required step in propagating crystals?” Her eyes drifted to Salos, big and pleading.

He ignored her, pointedly not looking at her from Cass’s shoulder.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Or,” she continued the disappointment in her voice. “I suppose they became tainted at some point between the abandonment of these facilities and now. I’ve heard of that happening, too.”

“Is there anything else of value in here?” Alyx asked.

“Not the seeds, unfortunately,” Pellen said, nodding at the vats. “If we had infinite carrying capacity, it would be interesting to take them and study them, but they’re outside my area of expertise or interest, so it would be a side project at best for me. And I can’t think of any of my colleagues who would be interested in it either. If you could convince someone else that you can grow crystals, you might get more interest, but I suspect you’d rather not?” Her eyes drifted back to Salos with that last question.

He nodded but didn’t speak.

“Even though the ability to grow them would revolutionize the field of engineering?”

He ignored her still.

She sighed.

“I’ve gotten what there was to get,” Alyx called as she walked back to the fire, shaking her head. “There wasn’t a lot.”

Cass and Pellen hurried back to the group.

Alyx held her hand out to reveal three perfect orbs and a bracelet. The orbs were each a dusty opaque color, one green, one purple, one maroon. Cass’s chest clenched at the sight of them.

Keeper’s Cores (A-C)

[The crystallized fragment of a soul used to power and control the Storehouse Crystal Keeper.

A: Primarily Aracellian in composition.

B: Primarily Nyxdran in composition.

C: Primarily Vamphelish in composition.]

Only one of these is your soul? Cass asked.

Salos’s hunger echoed her own. Yes, but the others might be good too.

Good how? Cass asked.

Power? They may fill the edges, fill the voids, complete me. Complete us. There was a rapturous edge to his voice.

I don’t think we should consume any of them right away, Cass said. Last time you fainted for over a day. I don’t want to be down here on my own.

Sure, sure, he whispered, though Cass felt he was barely listening, his eyes fixed on the orbs and how the firelight danced on their dusty surfaces.

The last item was the bangle. It was made from bronze and studded with the same pink crystals as the keeper had controlled, though shaped and shined to glistening tears along the band.

Cherryblossom Blizzard Bangle

[Allows the wearer to summon a field of crystals to impede the movement of those within]

“How do you want to divide them?” Cass asked.

“You get last pick,” Alyx said with a glare. Cass bristled at the declaration, but there was no argument in her tone. This was another punishment for running in without warning. Possibly a punishment for pushing them in this direction in the first place. Definitely a punishment for keeping the why and what to herself.

Cass kept her mouth shut. She could argue if someone tried to take the cores.

Alyx held the loot out to Marco, “You first.”

“Miss,” Marco shook his head.

“I insist,” she said.

He nodded and selected the bangle. “As you command.”

Alyx looked between Cass and Pellen before holding her hand out to Pellen. “You did an admirable job protecting us from that thing’s attacks. Pick one as a bonus.”

Pellen’s eyes widened, looking between the gems. “Really? I get a share of the loot?”

“Don’t make me rethink this,” Alyx warned.

Pellen’s mouth snapped shut and she picked the red orb from Alyx’s hand.

Cass had to force herself not to protest. She only needed the purple one. The Nyxdran one. She could share the others.

Alyx glared at Cass. “And that leaves you.”

“I can have the rest?” Cass asked.

Alyx’s glare sharpened. “No. You get one.”

That was all she needed, and yet…

“Can Salos pick one too?”

“Did Salos fight?” Alyx asked.

Cass opened her mouth, then stopped. That was a question, wasn’t it? To all appearances, the answer was ‘no’. Salos had disappeared before the fight started. By all accounts, ‘no’ was correct overall. The wearer of the Cowl wasn’t Salos either. But it was more Salos than it was Cass. If she said yes here, Cass would be admitting as much.

Should she?

“That’s what I thought,” Alyx said to Cass’s hesitance. “Take one.”

Cass picked up the purple one, the one she was sure was Salos’s soul, and slipped it into her Bag. As soon as she did, the pull on her disappeared. Cass breathed a sigh of relief. She could still feel the pull of the one Alyx and Pellen held, but it was manageable.

Alyx looked at the last core in her hand, rolling it around her palm. She opened her mouth, then shut it again, shaking her head. She shoved it in a pocket and then turned to the group. “Are we ready to move on?”

“My Health is in the gutter,” Cass said.

Alyx scowled. “Yes, I bet it is. But we don’t have time to wait here for several weeks for you to recover.”

“I’d like to refill my mana gem still, if that’s okay?” Pellen chimed in.

“Do we not remember that there is a time limit?” Alyx asked.

“But my Focus is recovering much faster than I would have expected,” Pellen said. “It shouldn’t take too much longer. Please? I promise it will be useful to us if I have it as a reserve.”

Alyx scowled.

“A dull sword doesn’t cut,” Marco quipped without getting up. If anything, he settled more firmly into his spot by the fire.

Alyx threw her hands up. “Fine. But we can’t wait for your Health to fully recover!” She pointed angrily at Cass. To Pellen, she added, “Let me know when your Focus is full. Every minute, Fioreya is another step closer to the goal.”