One of my Infoscopes flashed through the necklace on the Overseer’s neck.

The Vow-Breaker hexagram within the necklace activated, permanently cutting Frenny off from the mind of Kliss.

The large hexagonal battery keystone in the backpack that Kliss was carrying was continuously feeding power to the rune necklace, disrupting the Vow’s control over Kliss.

Kliss swallowed her words with a choke.

“Yes?” Inquisitor Jubz asked. “A local boy is… doing what? What’s the matter, Overseer?”

“Forgive me, Inquisitor,” Kliss exhaled, shaking her head as if coming out of a stupor. “I do have a big local… problem… I don’t want to be the Overseer of Skyisle anymore!”

“Oh?” Jubz paused. “Did something happen, my child?”

“My soul fractured. My skills are decaying. If I stay here any longer… I’ll die,” Kliss said, her voice breaking down. “The magogenic fault is disrupting my health, dropping the levels of my skills. I can’t stay in this valley anymore. I need to return to Cessna and heal.”

She went down on her knees. “Please forgive me, Inquisitor. The Magogenic fault is growing… getting worse.”

“My child,” the Inquisitor put a steel-covered hand on Kliss’ shoulder. “You are free to leave Skyisle, if your soul is in such dire straits. We can find you another position once you are healed. You have my blessings to return to Cessna healers to restore your health. A skyship will come for you in four days time. It will take you from Skyisle to Cessna and bring in another Overseer to replace you. Is that sufficient time for you to finish your affairs here?”

“Thank you, Inquisitor,” Kliss whispered with a nod.

“How exactly did your soul fracture?” He asked curiously.

“An Ishira Priestess survived,” Kliss confessed. “Her name is Giovashi Incandictia.”

“Do you know where she is?” The Inquisitor asked.

“No,” Kliss lowered her eyes. “I only saw her once during my time in Skyisle. She is hiding herself well, not staying in town. The Town Wards didn’t spot her. She paralyzed me with Charisma order and fractured my soul."

“The next Overseer will have to be wary of a Charisma attack,” Inquisitor Jubs mulled. “I will make sure that he or she wears an anti-Charisma artifact. What level is she?”

“I do not know,” Kliss said. “I will prepare a full written report about the matter.”

“Very well,” the Inquisitor nodded. “Now, what were you saying about this local boy… Dante, was it?”

“Oh! Dante! He is the smartest child in Skyisle,” Kliss said. “He helped me work with the locals and said that he will gladly assist the next Overseer! He helped me find out what happened to one of the Overseer’s assistants twenty years ago. Thanks to Dante, I learned a few new things about the local magogenic fault. My findings will be in my report.”

“I see,” the Inquisitor stretched.

Kliss bowed her head once more.

“Thank you for serving the Empire, Overseer Kliss,” Inquisitor Jubs stated. “You have bravely endured the cursed fault and the treachery of an Ishira minion. As recognition of your dedication, I grant you the emerald Triumvirate of Equality pin.”

“Thank you,” Kliss said. “Uhh… I have a question for you, Inquisitor.”

“Yes?”

“I… I haven’t heard anything from my parents in Cessna,” Kliss said. “They haven’t answered their voicecast.”

“Cessna… has been attacked, my child,” Jubz sighed.

“Attacked?! Was it the Basq?!” Kliss gasped.

“Nay,” the Inquisitor shook his head. “A dragon struck the city during the night. Many perished in the fires. Your family is now in Elysium amongst the other lost thousands. As the sole inheritor of their highborn estate, you are hereby ennobled and permitted to buy and manage a swath of Land in our Empire.”

Kliss started to tremble.

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“Do visit Cessna and get your family’s final affairs in order,” Jubz said. “You can return to serve the Empire when your soul is healed.”

“T-thank you, Inquisitor,” Kliss choked out.

“Equality steady your heart, Overseer.” The Inquisitor bowed his head, drawing the sign of equality in the air with two of his fingers.

“Equality steady your heart, Inquisitor,” Kliss sniffed back.

Inquisitor Jubz turned and walked back to the metal staircase, ascending back to the sky-ship.

Kliss rose from her knees, wiping tears from her face.

The metal, circular door of the ship creaked shut and the ship took off into the sky, its engines humming noisily. In moments it vanished in the rolling, thick, white clouds overhead.

Kliss continued to stare at the blue sky.

I stood up from the chair, walked out of the office and up the stone stairwell and stepped onto the balcony behind her.

She turned towards me. “It’s over. I… did my part. I’m… done.”

“You did,” I nodded. “Thank you. We were but a thread from being exposed, but you pulled us through.”

She nodded. I didn’t dare ask Kliss about her parents.

“Thanks… for um, everything,” Kliss said. “I’m permanently free of the Vows now… right? How long is this battery going to last?”

“Sixty years, maybe more,” I replied. “Just beware - the tether between it and the Vow-disrupting necklace can go only 30 Imperial elbows at most. Never take off the necklace. Your soul is changing incrementally, the shards belonging to the Alanian mage become integrated and better absorbed into you. As your entire soul changes more and more, the Frienship Vow won’t be able to hold onto you. By my estimate in about six months or so… Frenny won’t have any control over you.”

“Stay in the same room as the bag, wear the necklace for a year, got it.” Kliss nodded. She took the heavy bag off her shoulders and put it down on the balcony next to herself with a grunt.

“So, you’re leaving?” I asked. “To Cessna?”

“Yes. I have to deal with… things,” Kliss nodded. “I hope that the new Overseer won’t be too diligent. Skyisle will be out of my hands very soon. Just… try to keep out of trouble, Slava.”

“No promises on that front,” I said. “So… what are your plans for the future?”

“I’ll try to find a private, skilled healer in Cessna,” she sighed. “It’ll have to be someone who won’t pry too hard into why I’m carrying this… large backpack with me.”

“What about after?”

“I don’t know,” she said, not looking at me. “I can sell my armacus and my other equipment to another Overseer at a discount, maybe buy an estate for myself… somewhere.”

“If that’s what you want,” I said. “I wish you to find happiness.”

Kliss nodded with a deeper sigh, rubbing her elbow. “I don’t know if I will ever be happy.”

I looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

“Everything.... that I had believed in once was a lie.” She made a somber pause. “I know that sooner or later I will die. And when I do… I would rather sink into the void of the Astral Ocean and get ground into nothing by the All-consuming Wheel… rather than accept a place in heaven filled with Angels like Frenny and monsters like myself, people who let themselves be guided to nightmarish deeds in the name of Equality."

“So, the Empire knows of the Wheel of Life?” I asked.

“The Wheel… of Death devours all sinners,” Kliss said. “It hungers… for their life’s experience. It’s all stories of course, I don’t know if any of it is real anymore. I stopped believing in the words of the Equality priests… a long time ago.”

“I’ve seen it,” I said. “The Wheel. Omniscience pulled me away from it.”

“Oh?” Kliss blinked.

“What will you put in your reports?” I asked.

“Nothing of value to the Empire. Nothing about you and Delta,” Kliss said. “Only the vaguest detail about Giovashi. The Empire doesn’t care for Skyisle that much, Jubs didn’t seem to be interested in chasing Giovashi down. You did your part in removing my Vow and I’ll do whatever I can, in return.”

I nodded.

We quietly stood over the balcony looking over Skyisle.

“I’m… going to my room to rest,” Kliss said.

“I’m going back to work on the tower,” I said. “If… you need me, you know where to find me.”

Kliss went down the stairwell first, her red hair vanishing under the gothic arch in a few moments.

Delta emerged onto the balcony, a silver-thread stretching to me in the Astral. [Just going to be the two of us then… brother and sister against the world?]

[Seems like it,] I replied. [What should we do about the new Overseer?]

[We could bamboozle them, I reckon,] Delta shrugged, leaning against the stone parapet, her long silver hair flowing in the cold wind coming from the glaciers. [Or we can ignore them if they don’t give us trouble. We have a lot of work ahead of us, bringing all of Skyisle together magically and politically.]

[Yeah,] I muttered.

[You look… disappointed?] Delta raised an eyebrow.

[I’m going to miss Kliss, that’s all,] I sighed.

[Me too, now that I think about it,] Delta mulled. [She was a bit of a square at first, but I got used to having her mug around. I just hope she keeps mum about us in Cessna.]

[I trust her,] I said. [I think that she’s a good person. She’s been bound for a very long time.]

[Yeah,] Delta stared at the clouds rolling down the mountains. [Shall we return to our projects then? I do believe that the ant queens are going to be born soon?]

[Let's go,] I nodded, turning away from the balcony.

We went down the stairwell and left the Church of Equality, leaving the now retired Overseer of Skyisle in her office atop of the church.

She, just like everyone else on Novazem, deserved to be free of the gods.