I stood just outside the entrance to a level twenty-one hazard, a small hole in the ground just big enough to fall down with my arms tucked to my sides. It was surrounded on all sides by thick veins of water running through the stone, twisted into patterns that pointed directly at it as if they were advertising the hazard’s existence. Okeria had guaranteed us that it was a quick-clear hazard, since Ambus had used it for training purposes a hundred times over, and that it was blatantly obvious for anyone with half a brain to see what we were doing.

Okeria handed Jun the last piece of equipment he’d finished fine tuning for her; a much smaller gun that looked like it would only hold a single shot. She instantly sent it to her inventory, but Okeria clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“No, ya strap that ta your wrist and have it on ya at all times.” He explained, motioning for Jun to take the little gun back out. “It works like a trinket, not a weapon. Equip it and I’ll show ya how it works.”

“Alright.” Jun re-summoned the little gun and handed it back to Okeria. He grabbed it and her hand, then placed the gun on the underside of her forearm just far enough that her wrist wouldn’t hit it. It clicked into place, then released a tiny silvery circle. Into Jun’s hand.

She inspected it for a second, then tilted her head to the side. “What’s this for?”

“That’s your backup trigger. Put it somewhere ya don’t usually touch, then make a motion against it that ain’t really natural.” Okeria explained. “I’d recommend putting it on the back of your thumb and wiping your index finger against it.”

Jun nodded and pressed the silver circle on the back of her thumb, right where her fingernail would’ve been if she didn’t have her gauntlet on. She then pressed her index finger to the silver spot and pulled her fingers apart, so her thumb came back and her index finger went down.

The gun appeared in her hand as soon as the motion finished, and the spot disappeared to match the rest of her armour. “Huh. That’s interesting.” She said approvingly. “So what makes it powerful? Or is it only for emergencies?”

“Well, for one, it doesn't use the same kind of ammo as other guns.” Okeria summoned a small silver cube between his fingers. It buzzed with blue electricity through a tiny glass window. “It uses these. Tiny power cells ta fuel the destruction within it, and it can draw from your battery in a pinch. The thing ain’t loaded yet, just in case it misfired while ya were setting it up.”

He tossed the single one to me, which I struggled to catch out of surprise, then handed Jun a cube made up of nine of them. “It opens up on the bottom, and ya gotta swap out the cells after every shot. They’ll recharge naturally while in your inventory, so as long as ya don’t gotta burn through all nine of ‘em at a moment’s notice, you’ll have an unlimited supply.”

I raised an eyebrow at the tiny battery as Jun and Okeria kept talking specifics.

//Inner-Storm Reactor: Miniature Model.

//Can only be equipped with gear of core mastery requirement 30 or greater.

//For powering weapons or armor specifically designed to work with Inner-Storm tech.

That barely told me anything. I was about to ask what Inner-Storm tech was, but was interrupted by Mortician jumping into the hazard without warning. I looked over to see Okeria and Jun standing over the hazard entrance, saying a few final words before Jun followed Mortician. Leaving me alone with Okeria.

“I’ve kept my secrets for a long while.” Okeria sighed, then patted me on the back. His device on my arm buzzed with a message, and he gently pushed my arm down to signal that I should wait to read it. “I’ll be keeping a few of ‘em close ta my chest, but my kids are coming here soon. I can’t have Scalovera in power when that happens.”

I nodded and bumped Okeria’s chest with the side of my fist. “He’ll be gone long before that.”

“Sure hope so.” Okeria chuckled, then turned to walk back to Rainbow Basin. “You’ve got five days. Make the most of ‘em.”

Before he could take three steps, a massive electrical storm burst into being on top of him. It swallowed him whole in a whirl of metal and lightning, leaving behind nothing but a sawblade-like stain of liquid metal and a handful of scorch marks.

“Unnecessary.” I laughed, summoning my weapon and coating it in petals. I knew Okeria’s excessiveness was a show for whoever was watching us, and I needed them to think the hazard was a greater danger to us than it actually was. “See you soon, Okeria.”

The world bled away the moment I felt myself falling through the floor, and I knew what was coming. My feet touched down in the Ossuary, along with Jun and Mortician who were both already deep in conversation with Archivist. When they saw me, Archivist motioned for me to come closer.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“The End still busy?” I half-asked, half stated as I walked up to the waist-high table everyone was standing around. The only things on it were a plate of small white squares, delicately decorated with a deep green syrup that smelled heavily of mint. “Did it make these?”

“No; these were Custodian’s making. It found a recipe from Earth and tried to replicate it with ingredients from the all-world. They are quite delicious, if not slightly strange.” Archivist took one of the squares between two fingers, and simply tossed it into the tangle of light that was its head. The square began to slowly dissolve. “Cooling, sweet, and with a hint of berry-like tartness. Help yourself if that sounds appealing.”

I didn’t take off my helmet, but I sent four squares into my inventory for safekeeping. “Anything we should know? Or anything I missed?”

“You did not miss anything, and Archivist does not have anything new for us.” Mortician informed me, their new Okeria-made armor shining in the strange light of the ossuary. “Does that change the plan at all?”

Jun tilted her head at Mortician. “What they said. Did Okeria say anything after we left?”

“He left me a message, but other than that, no.” I tapped my arm where Okeria’s connector was, then brushed it against my interface to transfer the text. “His kids are coming over soon, but we already had a self-imposed time crunch. No real difference there.”

I quickly read over Okeria’s message. It was a lot longer than I’d expected. Though I didn’t know why he chose that moment to confide in us.

//{So, ta start off, don’t share this with anyone other than Juniper, Mortician, and the big one that chose ya. I keep my abilities close ta my chest and confusing on purpose so that nobody can come call me ta war or something, and the only people who knew what I could really do on the all world were Keratily and Persephonia. One of ‘em’s dead and gone, and the other’s a ticking time bomb for whenever she or Inopsy show back up.}

//{My core is strange, mostly because it started off as a common one. A fulminous core, that let me store and expel electricity at will. I found a metal that turned into a liquid when I ran a specific current through it, then made myself a function that let me control that metal too. I stole something from someone extremely important that let me combine that function with my core’s function, and that’s how I got what I have today.}

//{Those little cubes I gave ya are pieces of my core. I can make up ta a hundred and twenty-five of ‘em at any time, and they power all the pieces of my gear that I actually use ta fight. The ‘guns’ I used before, with the square barrels and such, were just metal and electricity I shape ta mislead people. Those ‘slyk extenders’ ya made way back when we first got stuck in that hazard are like much weaker versions of those power cubes.}

//{Now, what you’re probably wondering is why I don’t fight much. It’s because I’m too valuable. And I know that sounds pompous as the abyss, but it’s true. I can supercharge gear, I can act as a mobile command center, and I can give support from literally anywhere. Putting me in the line of fire is dumb as rocks, since if I die all the stuff I made suddenly loses its power source. That wasn’t anywhere near as much of a problem when I was surrounded by people much weaker than me anyway, but if I keep helping the three of ya, that won’t be an option for much longer. Add in the fact that my kids are coming, and I don’t got much of a choice any more.}

Something was strange with the way Okeria was typing this out. He was saying this as if it were some grand revelation, but there was barely any new information here. Telling us that the power cells were actually parts of his core was a surprise, sure, but that didn’t explain the secrecy. I already figured his tactical importance was why he didn’t fight, but I’d assumed that he wasn’t physically strong either. From the way he wrote, it seemed like he was insinuating he was a whole lot stronger than he’d let on.

//{This is the hard part. I let the Staura database read wrong info on me, so I won’t be a target. I’ve got core mastery 88 and hazard tolerance 60. The only people I’ve met in person who’re higher level than me were Keratily, Inopsy, and Persephonia. But my stats don’t match up. When I’ve got my best gear on, I’m in the low 200s for almost everything except for battery and recovery. I’ve got four-hundred of each. But the second anyone finds out, I stop being able to make a difference. Some Embodiment will force being a chosen on me, or the central government will force me into some role I don’t want. Both of which I’ve seen happen first-hand ta Persephonia.}

//{If we can’t oust Scalovera covertly by the time my kids come through, I’ll do it myself. But that means ya lose my support. This ain’t a threat, I promise ya. It’s what’d gonna happen. I’m not gonna be a parent like mine were. I’m not losing my kids because some drowned bureaucrat decided he wants ta play dictator.}

I finished reading, even though I wasn’t done processing what I’d just seen. How could Okeria be higher level than I was in my old life, yet have lower stats than I’d had? He had to have some dangerously specific equipment if they gave him stat bonuses that low, which would actually make sense with all the absurd shit he could do to help us. He could teleport, for gods’ sake.

“That’s a lot of information.” I sighed, reaching up to rub my nose as I closed my eyes. My fingers hit my helmet instead of my face for obvious reasons. “Jun, Mortician, did Okeria send you that message too?”

Jun and Mortician shared a look, then both shook their heads. “He didn’t. Are we allowed to read it?”

“You two and anyone in the Ossuary.” I confirmed, tapping Okeria’s link to Jun’s interface and transferring the text over. I did the same for Mortician, then uploaded the message to the Ossuary’s archives.

“Ah, thank you for your addition.” Archivist said with slight surprise. “Okeria is a strange fellow, isn’t he?”

I had to hold in a laugh at that. It ended up coming out as a snort. “That’s putting it lightly.”

Another message came in a minute later. I opened it, fully ready to share Okeria’s continuation with everyone else, but the first and only line stopped me dead in my tracks.

//{Watch Persephonia’s eighth lesson while you’re in big E’s time thing. It’s got info ya need if you’re going to kill Keratily.}