Inner Sanctum First Floor | 11:17 AM | Third Day

"It's what?" Kamrusepa exclaimed, her eyebrows shooting up. "But that's impossible. It's not four yet; there can't have been any more scripted changes to the defenses." She looked to Linos. "That's what Anna said, isn't it?"

"Y-Yes, I believe that's correct," he said, visibly anxious.

"There's, er, not much point in saying it's impossible if it's already happening..." Theo spoke grimly, his bound hands folded in his lap.

"Are you certain, Ophelia?" Kam asked severely.

"U-Um, I think so..." she said. It seemed as though she was almost struggling to stand still with how worked up she was, one of her feet subtly tapping against the floor and her neck craning to and fro irregularly. "Seth and Ptolema both tried to cast over and over, but nothing was working.

"It's got to be a manual incantation," Ran declared. "Someone down there, targeting it towards that area specifically."

"Suppressing the Power directly? Impossible," Kamrusepa declared, putting her hands on her hips. "It's not even something you can achieve with a single incantation. You need to block multiple forms of extra-dimensional energy transition at once, and even if you managed that much, you'd need a whole pile of scepters worth of eris if you wanted to make the effect last more than a few moments. There's got to be some other explanation--"

"They... I came out here because we need help," Ophelia interrupted. I'd seldom heard her impatient before. "Since we can't use the Power. Ptolema said that to even have a chance at saving her, she needed proper stitches. Surgical tools..."

My expression darkened as the situation set in. If it had come to that, then it felt more likely than not that Mehit wouldn't survive. Ptolema's initial first aid had been crude - made under the assumption we'd be able to administer a proper treatment a few minutes later - and moving her had probably made even worse. If it came down to mundane surgery after that, in an environment like this...

Ran looked to both Linos and Zeno. "Is there anything like that around here?"

"In the storeroom at the building's opposite emd, perhaps," Zeno said, coming across as aloof to the whole situation. "There's a medical supply cabinet there with some mundane equipment. Though it's been a while - might've gone to rot by now, for all I know."

"It's not like we can go out there," I said. "You saw that thing-- It could be waiting right outside for us."

"P-Ptolema said that she left some of the things from her presentation in the conference room... To be cleaned up later, on the shelves to the right of where the stands were," Ophelia replied. "They should still be there. That's only the next room over."

"Even so... I don't know if it's worth the risk," I said, feeling surprised at my own cowardice, even if it was justified. I mean, she's probably doomed either way, so what does it matter?

"I agree with Su, for once," Kamrusepa said. "If something is blocking the Power, we'd serve Mehit better by trying to investigate and resolve the situation that way."

"We don't have time to investigate," Ran said. "This is life or death."

But even though she said that, she wasn't exactly leaping at the chance to go looking for them, either; for all she came across as fairly emotionless and logical to others, I knew well enough that Ran was as human as anyone else when it came to being afraid. On a similar note, it was telling that Seth and Ptolema had sent Ophelia to solicit our help rather than going themselves, and in turn, she was deferring responsibility to us. Everyone doubtlessly felt desperate to do something, but none of them wanted to be the person to stick their hands into the fire.

In retrospect, we might've been able to get Fang to volunteer if we'd brought it up to them specifically. But they barely seemed aware of the conversation, still lost in thought at their seat by the logic bridge. In the corner of my eye, I thought I could make out them mumbling something to themselves.

A tense silence overcame the room for a few moments. I could faintly hear Ptolema and Seth shouting something from the security hall.

Then, something a little unexpected happened.

"I," Theo said, the word coming out so heavy it was almost a sigh. "I'll go."

Linos turned to him sharply, and Kamrusepa also craned her neck to regard him with a bemused look. "What?" They both said at roughly the same time, though with differing tones - Kam more with indignance, and Linos with worry.

"Everyone suspects me of being the killer already, after what happened to Bardiya," Theo said, obviously trying to sound calm, but an intense terseness coming through regardless. "This is a chance to prove that I'm innocent. Or-- Or if not that, then at least that I can be trusted a little more than this."

"Don't be absurd, Theodoros," Kam scolded him. "If we unbound you, you could just as easily give us the runaround and meet up with whoever - or whatever - is out there." She hesitated, seeming to belatedly realize how harshly this came across. "Rather, it's not that I think it's likely, but the proposition goes against the very reason we had to take action in the first place."

"If I run away doing something like this, it'll be as good as admitting that I'm guilty," he said, his voice cracking a bit. "Then you'll be able to fortify this place without having to worry any more about me being a traitor. If I show my face again, you can just shoot me dead."

My eyes windened in surprise. This level of forwardness and bravery - if that was the right word for it - was so out of character for him it was shocking, regardless of how much it seemed to be making him uncomfortable.

"Theo," Linos said, stern and anxious at the same time. "You don't have to do this."

"I know, dad," he said, turning to look at him with a pained expression. "But like Ran said. This is life or death. If someone doesn't do something, Mehit won't make it. And I'm one of the only people here who didn't already risk their life trying to save her in the first place." He swallowed the air. "I remember where the shelf Ophelia is talking about is... I saw Ptolema put her tools in there after she was done with the presentation. It's a straight shot. There and back in under 10 seconds, if I had to, ah. Guess." He turned to Kamrusepa. "If you really wanted, you could probably keep your rifle aimed at me the whole time, Kam."

She opened her mouth, looking prepared to retort with dismissal or cutting remark as one would expect her to, but instead she simply hesitated, than shut it again, frowning. Eventually, however, she let out a sharp sigh, and looked at him with heavy eyes. "And what if whatever is out there anticipates this? Gets you?"

"S-So long as we're here, none of us are safe, no matter how much we try and convince ourselves," Theo replied, almost managing to sound resolute. "So... If this goes wrong, if I get killed... Then so be it. At least you'll have a chance to take a shot at the monster."

"Theo..." Ophelia said softly, her tone pained.

"Well!" Zeno spoke up. "All things being equal, I've certainly heard shittier ideas. Fuck, if I were a few decades younger, I'd probably be swooning at talk like that. Since the woman will probably be dead soon at this rate, does anyone have any objections?"

I didn't offer any, and neither did Kamrusepa, Ran or Ophelia, though the latter looked pretty guilty about it. Fang, Yantho and Ezekiel, who had more or less stayed out this part of the conversation, also remained silent. And Lilith, of course, remained in the near-catatonic state she'd been in since we found her.

Linos looked desperate to speak up, his face visibly going red with some complicated emotion, but didn't.

"Sounds like a 'yea' if I've ever heard one," Zeno continued flatly, after a few moments. "Well. Better get at it before the whole thing becomes redundant, no?"

And so we did. Linos untied Theo's bonds, and we - him, Ran, Kamrusepa and I - moved to stand alongside the wooden double doors at the western end of the room, our rifles raised. The rest remained behind, though Zeno and Ophelia re-positioned themselves to watch the scenario play out from a distance.

"Since you're such an excellent shot, I would have you help if you're willing, grandmaster," Kam addressed the former. It was almost comical how paper-thin her polite veneer became once she'd decided that she didn't like someone. There was something almost cat-like about the constant level of low-key passive aggression.

"Professor," Zeno corrected her. "And think of me as the rear guard. If the thing leaps on you all the second you crack the doors open, I'll be back here to take the shot and save the rest of our party."

"What eminent responsibility," she replied flatly.

The unspoken part of Zeno's words were that we were all putting ourselves in danger, not just Theo, which now that I was standing felt true, even if it hadn't when the idea was coming together a moment earlier. It was funny how that worked - often it only took one person to be just a little more bold than everyone else for the rest to line up behind them. I'd read in a history book at some point that, back in the days of unprofessional rank-and-file armies, vanguards tended to see levels of desertion in excess of five or even ten times the rest of the soldiers, far beyond what was proportional to the actual risk of death on the battlefield. People were shockingly willing to place themselves in ridiculously terrible danger so long as it was in contrast to someone imperiling themselves even further.

"If we're going to do this, we should do it right," Linos said, heavy breathing accompanying his raised voice. "Utsu, Ran, Kamrusepa, fan out so that we're all about 40 degrees separated from the entryway. That'll give us the best range to keep something coming and take a shot."

We moved as instructed. I stole a glance at Theo, and saw that his armpits were so drenched in sweat that it was showing through his dark robes. I felt a strange pang of nostalgic affection for him. Of how I'd dare him to do stupid things when we were very little kids, like poke a beehive with a stick, and how he'd get himself so worked up it looked like he'd collapse before it even happened.

"Alright," Linos said. "Here's what we'll do. We'll start by all taking a shot through the door in case there's an ambush. Then we'll throw the doors open wide at once, and Theo will make a run for it straight away. Sound good?"

"As, ah. Good as it gets, I suppose," Theo replied, running his tongue along his lower lip.

"Everyone should try to stay calm, as hard as it is," Ran said. "Take a second to check your shots. We don't want to fuck up and hit Theo."

"Well said, miss Hoa-Trinh," Linos said, nodding. "And Theo. If the tools aren't where you think they are, I want you to come back right away-- Don't hesitate." He glanced directly into his eyes, his discomfort with the situation all too visible. "That's the one moment you'll be out of our sight, and in the most danger of the killer... Or, whatever it is... Striking."

"I understand, dad," Theo replied.

"I'm serious," Linos reaffirmed. "I-- I love you, Theo. If you got killed right in front of my eyes, I won't be able to forgive myself."

"I know, dad," Theo repeated, his jaw tensing. It seemed like they were on opposite emotional wavelengths - Linos was slipping into a sentimental moment, while his son seemed desperate to get it over with as soon as possible.

"Time is a factor, sir," Ran stated coldly.

"Right, right. Sorry," Linos said. "Alright then. On the count of three. One! Two! Three!"

We fired our pistols, plus Kam's rifle, in tandem. It was a very similar moment to what I'd gone through just twenty-odd minutes earlier - light filled my vision as the beams seared through the air, along with the sharp crack of the wood shattering and the smell of it being seared filling my nostrils.

Unlike that last time, though, nothing appeared to have gone wrong when I opened my eyes. The door remained closed, though now with four small holes punched through at various angles. So I - and everyone else with me, save for Linos - stepped forward and moved to the next stage of the plan, kicking them wide open. I could see down the hallway into the little lobby area between the two chambers, then down into the conference hall proper, the pillars shrouded in darkness.

A part of me had expected Theo to choke (which probably wasn't too unreasonable, since, honestly, he was a bit of a choker, just in terms of his general personhood) but to his credit, he didn't hesitate for so much as a millisecond. As soon as his destination was in clear view, he shot forward, a pistol in one hand and a lantern in the other.

And when I say shot, I really do mean shot. Even thinking back to our youth, I wasn't sure I'd ever seen him move so fast, though it was more of a manic than athletic speed - the kind of movements you surprise yourself with when you're being chased by an angry dog.

Before I could blink, he was down in the conference room, turning on his heel and practically leaping to the right, whereupon he vanished from my line of sight - only Linos, who was situated at the far left position of our group, would have any chance of seeing him. He was gone for just a little longer than what felt comfortable, and I found myself suddenly fretful about how hard it was to make out fucking anything in the darkness. In our haste to throw a plan together, that felt like an element we'd overlooked. Especially with how the thing by the window had almost seemed to blend into the shadows...

But then, what must have been only five or so seconds later, Theo reappeared, now with a clattering tray he'd set his lantern upon as he dashed back towards, albeit a little slower now that he was carrying several potentially deadly objects. I let out a sigh as I released what I was only just realizing was quite a lot of held breath--

It happened very quickly; in retrospect, I'm not sure if it was grounded in anything outside of my mind at all, and even if it was, that it wasn't something stupid. Braids are a bit of an awkward hairstyle when you don't wear them with short-cut bangs, and sometimes hairs came loose on the tighter side of my part and fell straight into my eyes. Sometimes flecks of detritus landed on my glasses. And of course, I'd chosen to need to wear glasses to begin with; my general presentation wasn't exactly suited for perfect vision at all times, is what I'm saying.

However, in that moment, I felt absolutely certain. Just as Theo was stepping into the connective room and coming into the home stretch, something peeked out from the left wall in the conference room, just where the hallway started to narrow as it approached the terminus. It didn't look human; all I could see was a shadow, but the shape was long, and came to a sharp point--

Before I knew it, I had taken the shot. Light blasted forth, and Theo - despite the beam not being particularly close to him - let out a whimpering screech, and desperately ducked, barely avoiding throwing everything he was carrying to the ground as the beam crunched into what was probably the far wall. I say 'probably', because my eyes weren't trained for this whatsoever, and the moment it happened I lost my focus. I had no idea if I'd hit my target; I had no idea if my target even existed.

The others, despite the fact they hadn't seen what I did being written clearly on their faces, nevertheless tensed up and scanned the area. Kamrusepa fired her rifle too - directly forward, into deepest darkness ahead of us - though by this point Theo was so close to us he barely responded, barrelling forward with his whole body hunched over like he meant to tackle someone.

And then, a moment later, it was over. He passed back through the threshold, going past the four of us as he struggled to slow down safely, and Linos and Ran took hold of the door and slammed it sharply shut.

"Damn," Fang, who seemed to be somewhat back down to earth, said. "That was pretty cool."

"Get the table back up!" Linos shouted, but Kam was already at it. lugging it back against the doorframe. I moved to help instinctively, my heart still racing out of my chest.

Though evidently not as much as Theo's. His breaths were so heaving, I could've believed he was having a heart attack. "W-What was that? Was it out there?"

"I-- I saw it," I said, more confidently than I felt in the moment and much more confidently than I'd feel upon looking back later. "Something was coming out from the left side of the room."

"I didn't see anything," Kamrusepa said. "I only fired because I thought I might've been being foolish."

"I didn't see anything either," Ran said, sounding a little agitated. "Are you sure, Su? I told you not to let yourself get too tense."

Well, that's easy to say, isn't it? "I'm sure!" I declared, in a tone that lent my claim what was probably the minimum amount of credibility conceivably possible. "It was right there!"

"Dear, dear. Guess I was too far off to see the ghost," Zeno said, with a condescending chuckle.

"It doesn't matter," Linos said firmly. "We got the tools; it all went fine. Those are them, right, Theo?"

Theo looked down at them as he continued to breathe heavily, obviously not ruling out the idea he had grabbed the wrong thing in a state of panic. But after a few moments, he sighed with relief. "Y-Yes... These are the surgical tools."

"Good." Linos said, with a nod. "Let's hope we're not too late. Ophelia, can you take them down to the others? I think Theo could use a moment."

"Of course!" she said, rushing forward and taking the tray from his hands. Her eyes scanned between us. "Um, could someone grab some water, too? Ptolema said, even if they're not fully cleaned, then at least if they're rinsed--"

"I'm on it," Ran said, already moving towards the little cupboard where food and drink was stored around the logic engine. I followed in her wake, now wanting to see the situation to its conclusion.

"I'll stay here and keep an eye out, in case Su did see something," Linos said.

"Should I, ah," Theo said, starting to recover, "let someone tie me up, again?"

"We'll discuss it as a group once this is over," Kamrusepa, who also seemed to be following after Ophelia and Ran as they moved towards the security hall, said. "For now, stay with your father."

"Look at this girl, speaking like she has authority," Zeno said, amused. "You've got to respect her audacity, if nothing else."

Ran found a water bottle, and we followed after Ophelia into the security center, passing by Sacnicte - its now sole remaining occupant, who still seemed focused on the logic engines despite everything going on - and headed down the steps.

There, we were greeted by a sight that was both expected and unexpected. The expected part was Ptolema and Seth knelt over the unconscious form of Mehit, laid out flat on the stone floor, while Anna stood by, seemingly having judged the situation severe enough to pause her work.

The unexpected parts were twofold. Firstly, Mehit seemed in much better condition than I'd expected. Despite still being covered in blood and blood-soaked fabric, the actual bleeding appeared to have ceased, and she was breathing regularly, her complexion still grave-looking but no longer... Well, grave looking.

Secondly, and possibly explaining the first part, was the fact that they were all holding their scepters.

Though Ran slowed her approach when we were only half way down the stairs, Ophelia obviously didn't notice at first, rushing forward with the tray. "The others got your tools, Ptolema."

"Oh," the other girl replied awkwardly. "Uh, thanks... But I dunno if we need them any more."

Ophelia looked puzzled, furrowing her gentle brow. "Um, what do you mean?"

"Pray use your eyes, Ophelia," Kamrusepa said, a little irritation in her tone. "They have their scepters out and the woman is half way to being healed. The Power is plainly working." She flipped up her own and spoke an incredible simple incantation, producing a brief puff of flame from the end of her scepter. "Circumstances seem to have changed."

"Yeah," Seth said, nodding tiredly. "A couple minutes after we sent you out, Ophelia, Anna noticed it'd starting working again, so we were able to get to work."

"Will she be alright?" Ran asked, voicing what was probably the actually important question in the situation.

He looked down. "Dunno. Loss of blood got really bad in those couple minutes, though, so I'm not sure how things will turn out. If it gets bad, I'll see if anybody has the records on her type."

"I thought you were a universal donor?" Ptolema asked.

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm O+, not O-. Good odds, but..."

"Why didn't you bloody well say something?" Kamrusepa asked, frowning. "You should very well know, having been out there, that the fools errand you gave us could've got us killed. Su came damn well close to shooting Theodoros's head off."

A cool line to say here would have been something like, 'who's the bigger fool - the one who shoots, or the one who shoots after her?' But that was absolutely beyond me in the state I was in, so instead I said: "Hey, you shot, too."

"After you'd made me jump so much my stomach went halfway to my throat," she retorted.

"We tried to shout up to you guys, but we couldn't risk leaving Mehit," Seth explained. "I guess you didn't catch it."

Oh, so that's what that was. And here I was thinking they were having some argument.

"What even happened?" Ptolema asked.

"Not a lot," Ran said. "We argued about it for a little while because nobody wanted to leave the room, then eventually Theo volunteered, in the hope that it'd win back our trust. So we all covered him alongside his dad while he made a run for it."

"Heh, that sounds like Theo," Seth said, with a bittersweet smile. "He's a good, brave guy when you get right down to it. If you guys really knew him, you'd feel like assholes for thinking he could kill somebody, especially a friend."

Even though his tone had been more of a mix of good humor and sadness than passive-aggression and he hadn't even been looking at me when he said it, I couldn't help but view that as a criticism of me personally. I looked downward, feeling awkward.

"I'm sorry... This is my fault," Ophelia said, regarding the rest of us apologetically. "If I'd just thought to go back and see how things were going when you were all deciding on everything, since I didn't even volunteer... Then you wouldn't have had to put your lives in danger..."

"Well... Like Linos said, I mean, it did work out," I said. "So there's probably no point in dwelling on it."

Kamrusepa looked displeased, frowning to herself. She was evidently planning on dwelling on it at least a bit. "You might've tried calling on Sacnicte to relay the information," she suggested.

"I think we did say something to her, but maybe she missed it too," Seth replied.

Something unpleasant whirred in the back of my head.

"Uh, If it makes you feel any better about it, I'm still glad to have my tools back. They might still be important if we end up needing to do the transfusion," Ptolema said apologetically. "And we'll be more prepared if anything else happens, too."

Kam sighed, pursing her lips. "It doesn't matter. What's pivotal now is that we establish how this temporary disruption to usage of the Power occurred, and if it represents any further danger from us." She looked to Anna. "Exalted mistress. You were the one to notice when it returned?"

"That's correct," the hooded woman said, with a resolute nod. "While performing first aid, I was also tracing minor incantations. Since we haven't yet arrived at the period in which the actions of the sanctuary's systems become unpredictable, I believed that any effect imposed upon us would likely be short lived, as it would have been cast directly with a limited supply of eris."

"Ahah, I had the same thought," Kamrusepa said. "Great minds think alike."

Anna stared at her for a moment.

Kam cleared her throat awkwardly. "I-In any event, I'd assumed that you'd made tests to confirm that the effect was going on for an unusual amount of time."

"It lasted at least a few minutes," Seth said. "That's more than an ordinary person could do, right?"

"We are not far from the remnants of our original power supply," Anna said. The one Sacnicte mentioned was close to the pantry and the logic engines. "It's possible that there was some remaining eris that was improperly removed, and whoever did this made use of it."

"Uh, I feel like we're skipping something important, here," I said. "Doesn't that mean whoever did this is probably still down in these tunnels? Shouldn't we have a barrier up?"

"I performed a divination incantation to check for any individuals present, but they must have fled back to the surface," Anna said. "That, or this was scripted in advance somewhere independent from the main system - on the old supply itself, if I were to hazard a guess. That would be the most efficient."

"You could, um, check the system upstairs... To see if someone is in the bioenclosure now who wasn't before," Ophelia suggested.

"I had intended to pursue that possibility once the situation was resolved," Anna stated. "Or have someone else investigate it while I returned to work.".

"Did you try the Anomaly-Divining Arcana?" I asked. "When you were performing the divinations."

She raised an eyebrow very subtly. "I did not. Since there is only one set of incantations to seal away the Power, it had not seemed prudent."

"It's a good thought, regardless," Ran said, withdrawing her own scepter. "At the very least, it ought to make some things clear--"

Then, suddenly, there was the startling sound of something falling to the floor above us. Heavy yet fragile, both glassy and metallic.

It happened again only a moment later. I looked, and saw that something, a rectangular object, seemed to be falling down the stairs. Clunk. Crack. It struck five steps in total, and each time the noise was different and multi-faceted - the noise of something very complicated breaking.

By the time my mind had processed the situation and I'd turned to look, it was obviously damaged beyond repair. But still, I recognized it, lying there on the stone, its glass shattered into pieces.

It was Yantho's tablet.

My eyes turned upwards as they searched for an explanation, towards the top of the stairwell. As one might've guessed, Yantho was standing there, motionless. It didn't look like he'd been injured, his breathing still clearly visible, but his posture was as stiff as a board. Something was incredibly wrong.

And so, I silently and quickly moved to investigate, Ran and Kamrusepa following behind.

I climbed the stairs, and saw a glimpse of Yantho's face. What was strange was that he didn't look like you might've expected, like I probably would have reacted myself. His eyes weren't wide. He didn't look frightened, or distraught. His expression wasn't even blank in the way you'd associate with dissociation or shock.

Instead, it was just... Neutral, confused.

There was something very upsetting about that, even if I can't put it into words.

I only looked at his face for a moment.

On the chair in front of his line of sight, now turned to face us, was Sacnicte. She looked, for all intents and purposes, normal - her expression as distant and aloof as ever, and her posture was no different than the last time I'd seen her, save for the fact that her head was a little slumped and she wasn't meeting our eyes. Her legs were crossed, and her hands resting in her lap. Her hair fell gently over her face, framing her beautiful features.

There was a little drool coming out of the corner of her mouth.