A creeping chill wormed its way up my spine. If the bartender had heard about Endra from Okeria, then it wasn’t too bad. But if she’d heard it pretty much anywhere else… we had a lot less time than I’d hoped.

“We have.” I reluctantly said. “Not much, though. Just a few whispers on the streets. How much have you heard?”

The bartender shuddered. “Too much. Matria Persephonia was reported dead a month ago, but there’ve been reports of her out on the frontier. Pretty much everyone knew she was one of Endra’s, but to think that she’d willingly give her body away… it’s just… I met her a few times. She showed me where my dad was buried. She wouldn’t kill herself, no matter how people try to spin it.”

“Not willingly.” Jun grumbled. “What’s your name, bartender? How do you know Okeria?”

“Oh, right. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Culla Perek, and Okeria is my uncle.” Culla said with a strange sort of pride. “I came here to beg him for a job, but he gave me a loan instead. Told me to start my own business or something so I didn’t go down with him whenever something like… well… something exactly like this happened.”

I narrowed my eyes at Culla, since I hadn’t seen any kind of family resemblance. Jun looked a whole lot like Keratily, so why didn’t Culla look like Okeria? Weren’t they both supposed to look like whoever ‘Perek Perek’ was?

“Why don’t you look like Okeria?” I bluntly asked, with a little more accusation than I’d intended.

“Thraiv.” Culla said simply, and now I was sure there was pride in her voice. “She changed Okeria for the better, and that includes what he looks like. Before he got with her, he looked like me.”

“Huh.” I turned to Jun with a frown she couldn’t see. “Does it work like that?”

She shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’ve never seen anyone change what they look like.”

“We have!” Mortician added helpfully.

Culla gestured at Mortician as if that proved her point. “See? It’s really rare, but if you get married to a god or graft into a powerful lineage, you usually end up looking different in a few months. Not as complete as Okeria, but pretty different.”

That was interesting news. Did that mean Jun would end up looking more like Nia in a few months? She’d probably like that, since it meant she was distancing herself from the Keratilys. I’d have to ask her about that when we finally got some time alone.

“How much did Okeria tell you?” I asked, barely noticing that the tunnel we were in had dipped down to a much steeper incline. The wooden walls and floor had fallen away to bare stone; our only light from glowing strips of ore nestled away in the walls.

We’d trusted him with some pretty sensitive info, and this was the last confirmation I needed to see if Okeria could fully be trusted or not.

“About you three?” Culla said to herself, tapping her chin in thought. “Almost nothing. Not even your names, just that you’d be coming through my cafe eventually and that you were his allies. You are going to help us get rid of Scalovera, right?”

“Of course.” Jun said quickly. “But not for the reasons you’re probably hoping for.”

“I don’t care about your reasons. I just want Scalovera gone.” Culla spat, venom dripping from her every word. “He’s ruining everything Okeria and Persephonia were working towards. It’s only been a month since he formally took power, but he’s destroyed so much good that was being done. He’s got the anti-armor faction in full swing again, even though I hadn’t heard a peep from them in years. If he gets his way, it’ll be illegal to wear your armor on the streets.”

I snorted at that. “That’s extremely unsafe.”

“I know!” Culla exclaimed, turning on her heel to face the rest of us. “All the soldiers get to wear theirs all the time, but I can’t wear mine? He’s trying to keep everyone weak and stupid so they don’t rise up against him. But they just had Okeria leading them! Why’re they so… happy to go back to the worse option?”

“They probably didn’t have a choice.” Jun suggested. “In their eyes Okeria abandoned them. Doesn’t matter if they were deceived into thinking that. There’s a good chance that a lot of people living in Rainbow basin never lived under Scalovera in the first place, so they’re comparing what Okeria’s actually done to what Scalovera’s promising to do.”

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I nodded in agreement. “Scalovera’s counting on Okeria not showing back up. He wouldn’t have warrants out for Okeria’s arrest if he wasn’t scared of him coming back.”

“...Yeah, I know.” Culla sighed. “I’m just worried. I mean, rumors about Endra come along, then Scalovera comes back? It feels like it’s connected.”

{It ain’t connected, so far as I can tell.} Okeria’s voice cracked into my ear. {It’s Scalovera capitalizing on the people’s reaction ta Endra coming down. C’mon down and I’ll introduce ya ta the few people I’ve got left who aren’t presently incapacitated.}

“You heard him.” I said with a shrug. “Lead the way, Culla.”

It took another ten minutes to get to a simple elevator carved into the stone underneath Rainbow Basin. It was a caged-in platform big enough to hold a dozen fully armored people on it, but it looked like it hadn’t been used in years. Reminded me of the old mining elevators back on Earth, with the rickety construction and abundance of vibrations as it took us down into a massive half-flooded cavern.

Okeria was there at the bottom of the lift, waiting for us with a smile on his unarmored face. The only part of his body that wasn’t armored, and that was quickly remedied as we all stepped out.

“Good ta see ya three again after two weeks.” Okeria said happily, but with an undertone of exhaustion that was only there in person. “How’s Rainbow Basin faring? I’ve got enough reports ta fill a small box, but they can only tell me so much.”

We all walked over to where a few people were standing around one of Okeria’s metal tables, talking quietly over a sprawling map of the city. There were plenty of red X’s, blue squares, and green circles over hand-written notes. Far too many for just one day.

“The people seem to be fine. A little scared, but fine.” Jun said confidently. “It’s a lot of the businesses that are worried. Almost anything catering to core, interface, or armor related stuff are in danger of closing down. And I mean anything. It looks like Scalovera’s trying to completely rid Rainbow Basin of anything that has to do with the system.”

Okeria shook his head and sighed. “Drown me, he’s actually going for it.” He muttered in frustration. “I still can’t tell if he’s violently stupid, or stupidly violent. Alright, everyone; we could be in some real danger here if we let this go on for too long. Scalovera’s softening up Rainbow Basin just like we feared, but we still can’t tell what for. So we go ahead with the plans as we planned ‘em, but with a double-dose of caution just in case Endra or another Embodiment’s army shows up ta conquer us.”

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t think it was Endra?” I pointed out. Okeria was the king of contradictions, but that was a little too quick, even for him.

“I said I didn’t think they were connected, yeah. Don’t mean Scalovera ain’t trying ta contact Endra this very moment ta make ‘em connected.” Okeria said. “We need ta be ready for anything, and that means being ready for the worst. Lemme introduce ya ta what’s left of my old crew, then we’ll go over the plan for getting everyone else back.”

Okeria patted Culla on the shoulder. “Ya already know Culla. She’s my niece on my brother’s side, and she was my… how do I put this… she supplied the location for a few of my shadier exchanges. Some of the ‘eel’ parts from a few months ago found their way through this cavern.”

“Ah. Right.” Jun said flatly. “The eel you stole from us.”

“Yeah, that one.” Okeria nodded. “She’s a good girl, but she’s not a fighter, so try not ta get her involved in any scuffles. And not like I’m not a fighter for how high-level I am; she’s got a purely supportive core that makes her much more useful from the sidelines. She can make any liquid into a blessing no matter if it’s technically compatible or not, kinda like what Sebastian can do with… almost anything else, really.”

“Uh… yeah?” Culla said with slight confusion. “I can do that. What did you say Sebas–”

“And this is Thorn!” Okeria continued, cutting Culla off before she could finish her question. He stepped over to a suit of extremely spiky armor, as if whoever was wearing it had used sea urchins to make all of their gear. “That ain’t his real name, but it’s what he likes ta be called. He was the captain of the guard a month ago, but now he’s a fugitive like us!”

That wasn’t quite right. Jun, Mortician, and I weren’t fugitives yet. “Like you.” I corrected.

“Right. Like us.” Okeria repeated. “A fair bit of the guards are still loyal ta me for some reason, so we’ll use that ta cause a distraction while we go free two of my people that’re being held in the barracks for some reason. Say hi, Thorn. These two are my friends, too.”

Thorn looked over at us and nodded in what I could only describe as sympathy. “Thanks for helping.” He said in a voice so deep it almost shook my bones. “Okeria’s a handful, but he’s a good soul deep down. Really deep down. So deep down that he–”

“Okay, they get it, Thorn. No need ta rub it in.” Okeria cut in, eliciting a deep chuckle from the spiky man.

“Good to have you three on board. We can use all the help we can get.” Thorn repeated. “Can we count on you for combat, support, or intelligence?”

“Combat for us.” Jun said with a gesture at herself, then at me. And then at Mortician with less confidence. “Maybe for them, too, but we haven’t had time to spar or anything.”

“Well… there’s no time like the present.” Thorn said with rising enthusiasm, and a rising form. With a chair stuck to him thanks to all his spikes. “We’ve cleared a training area. I’d love to see what you can do.”