Devick felt her pulse thundering in her wrists, her neck, her chest. She sat on the broken stone and listened as carefully as she could to Hungry Eye’s words. He spoke with a hypnotizing focus, his gaze toward the horizon as he reflected on his life. In his own particular way, he tried to encourage her.

“The trick is finding the right sort of opportunity. When you have fewer resources, it’s mostly a matter of luck. You need an opportunity involving a series of very specific requirements that you fit. That’s the key. Each individually doesn’t need to lead only to you, but in aggregate… Suddenly, there is a hole in existence that only you can fill. You open up the possibilities of the future by finding such passages. You slip through the cracks of circumstance over and over again, scratching through the tight walls and dangerous threats. Because the truth is, power in small amounts might even cause you to get too caught up in the moment to notice in the opportunity. You misjudge the opening, relative to your power. You clip your edges forcing your way through. So rather than finding the spaces you are too big for, you begin to gravitate to those that you need to stretch a bit in order to complete.

“Not just once, but twice, three times… you know what the System sometimes says, the Path goes ever onward. That is how I grew to reach this point. By learning to contort. By sharpening my senses and understanding the environment. By leaping through cracks that would at least give me the possibility of survival. After surviving for so long…well, you get a sense for these things. For the conflux of possibilities, for how small details can accumulate and cause big changes. Those tumbling details… you see what they could mean, even before the dust has settled.”

“You mean you got a sense for this,” Devick said slowly.

Hungry Eye rolled his eyes and nodded. “We all have our particular areas of specialty. Mine… well, I have a few.”

She appreciated that he took the time to break the tension. Although chaotic energies massed in the sky, although the armies of both Aether and Nether were growing restless around them, although some strange being appeared to be massing a dangerous image beyond the edge of the sky, he sat close to her and looked at her. He didn’t rush past her worries. He didn’t look at the other group gathered around, waiting impatiently for their stages of the mad plan.

Devick knew part of the consideration was because of how much had come to pivot on her, due to circumstance. But she appreciated his time all the same.

A bit embarassing… but isn’t it sorta hot to have all his attention while everyone else watches…?

“And you are saying this is my chance, to grow strong,” Devick whispered, trying to keep her mind focused. Malice flicked her ears, still almost disbelieving of the request Hungry Eye had made of her. Rather than respond, Hungry Eye offered her a small dagger-shaped object on his palm. Devick’s senses turned fuzzy when she looked at it for too long, so she simply looked at his emerald eyes.

“I want that. You know how badly I want to catch up to you. But this…” Devick couldn’t believe herself; the situation had become so ridiculous that she had become the voice of reason. In her imagination, she had always been a corrupting influence on him, not the other way around. “Isn’t this a bit large of an opportunity? Based on your method, shouldn’t I have started with a more reasonable chance?”

“What have you been doing for the past several hours other than barely surviving and growing?” Hungry Eye clicked his tongue in mock disappointment. “This is the chance in front of you, Devick. All you need to do is say yes. I can’t quite predict what benefits you will earn… but it will be a lot. And it has to be you.”

She considered, but only for a few moments.

Laughing, Devick took the time dagger from Nether King Hungry Eye. She no longer suppressed the true source of her wild pulse. Joy surged through her body. At the prospect of wielding power enough to end the world… her main thought was glee. Her eyes blazed. Malice shivered in anticipation.

The alabaster feathered Faelmac Westrisser moved to her side, staring fixedly on the dagger in her hand. Distant storm clouds rumbled, but directly above the position of the group, there was no cloud cover. They could see straight up to the edges of this dream. Now that she had agreed, they were all working together for the common goal.

The man Nether King Hungry Eye had taken quite a few inexplicable actions today, but it was all in preparation for this.

Already, Randidly pivoted away, his mind racing to the next problem. The Sovereign of the Breathless Vigil and the Nether Arbiter stepped forward. The composed Nether woman moved between Randidly and the other, deliberately stretching her hands far from each other, away from her body. Hungry Eye took her left hand, Enmya the right.

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She considered them both, then shook her head after weighing them. “Before you may wield my power, you must be bonded by Toosah.” Her gaze flicked to Enmya. “At the present… it is impossible. It seems you are still a little lacking.”

Next to Devick, Westrisser cleared his throat. “You know, if it is uncomfortable, I can handle the Grand Weapon until the pivotal moment…”

Devick ignored him and focused on Enmya, whose face had turned thunderous with embarrassment. “Lacking? Even bringing behind me access to our Nether people, their complex history and culture-”

“Can you not sense his well of significance? Ah, the total amount is less than what we wield, but the accumulation… well, Hungry Eye appears to be standing at the head of a population of several billion.” The Nether Arbiter tilted her head to the side. “Can you rival that?”

“I-” Enmya flushed.

Meanwhile, Hungry Eye’s forehead creased in the expression that signaled he had pivoted into problem-solving mode. Devick found his predictability in moments like this quite cute. If it were a problem, he would gnaw his way slowly through it. “Is it really impossible like this? If we get tripped up over the Toosah-”

“Well, there is an easy solution, albeit crude,” Lowanna replied. Her gaze remained on Enmya. “This unworthy one must show increased sincerity to bridge that gap. Enmya… reveal your most intimate secret. Then the bond between the two of you can be formed.”

“I don’t-” But before he even finished, Enmya flushed an even deeper shade of crimson. He bit his lip and looked at the ground for several seconds. Then he walked around Lowanna’s body, still holding onto her hand. Her arm pivoted and she turned to follow him. Hungry Eye stood and waited for his soon-to-be partner to approach. When Enmya reached Hungry Eye, he leaned over and whispered a secret into his ear. Devick’s sense for Nether wasn’t particularly strong, but it was enough to feel the world shift.

Strangely, Hungry Eye broke out into a grin. He leaned back over and whispered back to Enmya— from the angle of their bodies, Devick hadn’t been able to see or hear Enmya’s secret, but she could easily read Hungry Eye’s lips.

Don’t wait too long to tell her.

The Nether Arbiter bowed her head, ignoring the exchange. A new change came through the air, a crackling static that made Devick’s eyes widened. The former Nether Arbiter raised her head, a tired smile on her face. “It is done. We have revived the rich tradition of the Nether People. Now, as for the details of the Nether Ritual-”

“I had some thoughts,” Hungry Eye drew in the dirt with his finger and the two Nether leaders leaned close. The distance clouds continued to swirl. Strange images chased each other across the sky, ghosts of the previous clashes of the day.

Or perhaps even warnings about the reaction to come.

Hungry Eye’s companion Neveah stepped next to Devick. She smiled at Devick, warm and reassuring. “The preparations will soon be complete. The truth is, we are trying to do two things at once. There is your task… but we also want to imbue your action with some extra meaning; you will be mirroring the path to reaching the Pinnacle.”

“What?” Devick frowned. “That seems a bit-”

“It’s just the shape,” Neveah waved her hands. Lowanna and Hungry Eye moved a bit further away. He smiled at Devick once over his shoulder, then sat down on the ground. Lowanna began tracing a Nether Ritual onto the ground around him. “For your part, just strike the blow. We will be handling the rest. I just wanted to give you a bit of context, so our actions make sense.

“To reach the Pinnacle, you need three elements. A foundation, an image, and a moment. The foundation… well, that’s why you were chosen. Hopefully, your existence will be enough. As you were born and lived in the memory… there should be a response from above. Plus, your compatibility with Randidly’s Nether will make the rest easier.

“The image can just be your own, so don’t think too deeply about this. Although be aware that whatever image you use will likely be marked. In a manner even we aren’t familiar with. And finally, Randidly will be serving you up a moment to round out the last of the requirements. So, like I said, all you need to act as we discussed. Use that dagger to carve open your own future.” Neveah’s eyes were bright, but the color was slightly darker than Hungry Eye’s. She maintained the same intensity in her gaze. “Do you have any questions?”

“Dozens,” Devick admitted.

Neveah chuckled. She laughed like Hungry Eye too, the corner of the mouth quirking up in amusement before the rest of the smile arrived on her face. Their joy made Devick’s heart squeeze. “Any important ones?”

Devick shrugged, unsure where to begin. Adrenaline still pumped through her. The growing discomfort of gripping the dagger helped ground her somewhat, but so many currents were moving at once around her. Neveah had already taken the answer as acceptance and turned to a nearby individual. “Hank?”

“I’ll keep her safe,” The man tipped his hat and crouched down next to Devick. He pulled out a strange little workbench and began to tinker with a small hunk of metal.

Westrisser cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I, as well, will ensure her safety.”

“Your cooperation is appreciated,” Neveah nodded. Then she too hurried away to join the area around Hungry Eye. She quickly fell into step with Lowanna and assisted in the creation of patterns around his seated form. They traced patterns out so quickly Devick could watch the arrangement around Hungry Eye grow and breathe. As the two women worked, flows of Nether visible to the naked eye condensed around him. The energy rumbled, dense and dangerous.

She watched his shoulders rise and fall with his breath. His veins swelled, filling with as much energy as blood. Devick had the impression that if Randidly lost control now, the energies channeled in through his limbs would explode outward with enough force to destroy the world. Devick’s heart fluttered. Seriously, I’m out of my depth and I fucking love it.

“Ahem, girlie, there’s one thing.”

Devick looked sideways at Hank. He squinted up at the sky for a few seconds before continuing to speak. “When you make the attack… say somethin’. Don’t let it be a silent, sneak attack, ya know? I jus’ have a feelin’... it will work better that way. Look your enemy in the face. Don’t flinch.”