“You stabbed my ear!” Elder Olg said. “At least you didn’t hit me in the mouth.”

Rieren couldn’t even find it in her to answer. This was impossible. This was insane. This was… her mind was trying to come with a great many words to fit this unforeseeable scenario but was utterly failing.

Elder Olg’s affronted expression mollified a little seeing her shock. His grey brows smoothed over and he even offered a small smile, blood-coated though it was. In fact, his whole face was coated in dark blood and the innards of the Spirit Beast he had apparently been hiding in. The Beast Core speared to be attached where his severed neck ended.

“Well, I will excuse you for the shock you might have received,” he said. “It isn’t often you see someone’s disembodied head—”

“Your head is not the shocking part, Elder.” Rieren had finally found her, though she wasn’t certain how. “I have seen much weirder things. I am simply amazed at the fact that you are alive, that you knew how to use the Beast Core to prevent death. Though, how was Foxwolf able to use your life force—”

She stopped herself. Despite finding her voice, she hadn’t really gotten over the shock. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be wasting time with silly questions when there were more important matters to attend to.

“What?” Elder Olg squawked as Rieren grabbed up his head, Beast Core and all. “Unhand me, Rieren.”

“We have no time, Elder. Batcat is keeping the Banishedborn busy for now, but we must get to a better position.”

Rieren was already hurrying down the broken tower to climb outside. Once she managed to find the safest, fastest way out of here, she could worry about facing down the Banishedborn.

Her original plan had been to get the Beast Core from Foxwolf’s corpse, then meet up with Batcat. While the kitten gorged on the core, she would use the Temporal Recollector to face down Essastior. But her plan hadn’t included finding Elder Olg alive again.

Now, she had to secure his safety first. Only then could she worry about the Banishedborn. Batcat ought to be able to keep Essastior distracted for some moments longer.

“No, no, you don’t understand,” Elder Olg said insistently. “Argh, I wish I had arms. But please, Rieren, you can let me go now. As I am free and as there is an excellent opportunity for us all to exit this place alive as fast as we can, I can do so on my own.”

“What do you mean, Elder?”

“I was trapped within Foxwolf’s body because if I got out earlier, that accursed Banishedborn would have simply killed me then and there. Within Foxwolf’s body, my ability to use Ashflame to regenerate was very limited, lest I give myself away. But now that I am free and you are providing a distraction, I can simply return to my former glory. If you release me, that is.”

He had a point there. And besides, a part of Rieren was worried about Batcat. She had let its distraction go on for far too long, and the lack of any noise was more anxiety-fuelling than relieving.

“As you will, then,” she said, putting his head on the ground. “I will go accost the Banishedborn.”

“Yes. Off you go. I will join you before long.”

In truth, Rieren would have preferred him not to do that. There was no point in him getting himself killed right after she had rescued him. But he was the master of his own decisions, and Rieren supposed this was going to end one way or another with the Banishedborn.

Her real thoughts were still on how exactly she was going to tackle and defeat Essastior. The Temporal Recollector wouldn’t grant her enough power. But with the aid of Reaver Stance, it might just be enough.

Whatever plan she was coming up with quickly drew to a halt when she eventually found Essastior and Batcat.

She stared. They were… not fighting? Instead, the Banishedborn was breaking off chunks of a biscuit to hold them out for the Batcat, who was calmly chewing on them. The scene was bizarrely happy. Batcat was swishing its fluffy tail this way and that, while Essastior actually had a guileless little smile on his face.

Until he saw her, of course.

“…what are you doing?” Rieren asked, forgetting for a moment that she had come here prepared to fight.

“Ah, you finally join us.” He placed the rest of the entirety of the biscuit before Batcat without breaking it up, then dusted his hands before standing up straight. “Took you long enough. I was starting to think you had abandoned this precious little kitten.”

Rieren glared at Batcat, who was happily munching on the little biscuit, ignoring her completely.

“Oh, don’t worry about the cat. It’s rather adorable, I could never lay a finger on it. In fact…” He peered at her intently, twisting his head as though a different perspective was making some confusion about her clear to him. “You could be adorable too. In the right light, with just enough—”

“What do you want, Banishedborn?” Rieren asked, holding her sword at the ready.

Lightning flashed in Essastior’s hand, a spear of scarlet sparks taking form next to him. “I am afraid I must end you. I would have done so before had we not been so rudely interrupted. Twice, in fact.”

Batcat meowed from the background.

“No, I am afraid I must do this, kitten,” Essastior said, almost with just a hint of sadness and regret. “I cannot shirk my duty any longer. It shames me so.”

Batcat protested again, this time actually butting its head against the Banishedborn’s armoured leg. Rieren blinked at it once, then pushed herself into the System Shop to quickly purchase a Temporal Recollector. It certainly pained her a good deal to see most of her Credits disappearing. Unfortunately, the purchase was quite necessary.

“No,” the Banishedborn was insisting. “I am afraid I must. You cannot stop me, little cat. I understand parting from your mistress may be difficult at this point in time, but I am certain your fluffiness will grant you a new home in short order. And no, I do not think we can negotiate a more amicable solution here.”

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Rieren wasn’t sure how much more exasperated she could be. Batcat couldn’t have expressed all that in just those few words. She focused on Temporal Recollector in her hand. As soon as she broke it, she would leave this form behind and assume a state where she could hopefully stand a better chance of survival against the Banishedborn.

But before she could do so, she was interrupted by Elder Olg.

“Actually,” he said from behind. “I think there might be a way we can all depart without resorting to needless violence.”

Rieren turned around, just enough to see where the Elder’s voice was coming from but not so much that she lost sight of Essastior. It wouldn’t do to turn her back on an enemy. Then she froze.

The Elder was just… there. A few paces away from them, his head was resting on the Beast Core at the bottom upon the ground.

“What are you staring for?” the Elder asked.

“How did you get here without a body to move you?” Rieren asked.

Elder Olg ignored the inquiry. “Tell the Banishedborn about your past, Rieren.”

“What?”

Rieren twisted to face Essastior, who had retorted to the Elder’s statement with the exact same reply as she had.

“Go on,” the Elder said. “In return for plentiful information, he will let us leave. Won’t you, Banishedborn?”

“I have agreed to no such thing,” Essastior said.

He might not have, but even Rieren could hear the interest in his voice. The Banishedborn was intrigued. She swallowed. Did she wish to tell him anything about herself and her experiences in the world before? How much did he and the gods already know?

The most important question was whether he would even keep his word if she chose to divulge what she knew.

“We cannot trust him,” Rieren said.

“Well, it seems to me that we’ll have to,” Elder Olg said.

“For all we know, even after we strike some twisted deal where I reveal my past, he will still betray us and kill us. After all, his goal is my head and nothing more. As the Banishedborn himself has stated, he has tarried enough in his duty.”

Elder Olg turned to Essastior with something like a pleading look. “Surely you wouldn’t besmirch your honour to such a degree?”

“They have no such notions of honour as we do,” Rieren said. “It matters not what lowly mortals and pitiful cultivators think of them. Their loyalty lies only to their gods and their duty.”

Essastior finally stepped forward. The lightning spear in his hand faded to sparks that dispersed harmlessly in the air. “I think I have a few, specific questions that I would want answered. If you can satisfy me, I promise to let you go. Of course, my promise is worth less than my spit to you. As such, take this as a token of my goodwill.”

He held out his hand and offered a little brooch. Rieren didn’t move. She would be a fool to take anything offered by an enemy without even the most cursory of glances into whether it was trapped in some way or not.

But her eyes widened when she realized what exactly the Banishedborn was proffering.

“Ah, I see you recognize it.” There was a knowing, jagged smile on Essastior’s face. “It seems this Elder of yours is correct in that you might have some interesting information for me to learn about.”

“What is that?” Elder Olg asked.

“We call it a Banisher’s Brooch. They are used to… well, banish us. One throws it far and wherever it lands, the associated Banishedborn is stuck to that location.”

“What if you kill us before we can throw it?” Rieren asked.

Elder Olg cleared his throat. “I believe that is a good enough deal. So, let us get on with it. Grant us this Banisher’s Brooch, Banishedborn, and we can all be on our merry ways once we have answered you. Isn’t that so, Rieren?”

“Well—”

“Isn’t that so?”

Rieren stared at the Banishedborn for a while, then snatched the Banisher’s Brooch from him. If he was truly granting her such an item for the moment… then he was being serious. A moment’s look confirmed that it was indeed imbued with Essastior’s powerful Essence, so it wasn’t a fake. This was a real talisman.

“Hmm, I know a lot about you already, Rieren Vallorne,” Essastior said. He was eyeing her like a piece of meat he couldn’t decide how best to cut. “Or perhaps I should use your other name, Arianaele. Tell me, who granted you that moniker?”

“Starloper the Incandescent,” she said. “How many questions are you going to ask before your curiosity is satisfied?”

The bloody-haired Banishedborn only grinned. “If you get too impatient, you can always use the brooch. But onto the next question. You could not have accomplished what you attempted all on your own, no matter how you paint it in your own head. Which gods aided and abetted you? I have my suspicions, but I want a confirmation. From you.”

Rieren held back her grimace. She had been afraid that this was the sort of question the Elder’s deal would lead to. Questions she would much rather not answer.

But then, this was a good thing. One of the things preventing the gods from expending all their efforts into expunging their enemies was because they couldn’t trust all in their own ranks. And that was what Rieren needed to use to her benefit.

“Ivilhar, god of Old Fangs, and Medzedol, god of the Cleaved,” Rieren said.

Essastior pursed his lips. “I do not know if I am to trust your words. Ivilhar keeps to himself and rarely participates in anything, and Medzedol is one of those who is intent on hunting you down. You have strange… partners.”

She shrugged. “Make of it what you will. What else do you need to know? I am half-tempted to throw this brooch into an Abyss Rent.”

Essastior’s eyes widened just a bit at that, though he recovered his equanimity rather quickly. “Who are you seeking to meet in this land?”

“No one.”

“Who is seeking to meet you?”

“I could not tell you. I have no intentions of meeting anyone. Even the Elder is with me by sheer happenstance.”

“And what, pray, do you intend to do with the Abyssals?”

She had to blink at that question. What was his angle here? “Kill them all, of course.”

“Every single one? Even the ones who might be helping you?”

“There are none helping me.” Had he learned about the Gravemark Puppeteer and its offer to assist her? They had fought a while back, just before she had left Lionshard Sect. Besides, the monster was the one informing the gods about her location, which was the opposite of helping. “If there are, please thank them for me.”

“Of course. Final question, before you swallow the brooch entirely and consign me forever to your innards—if the gods were to cease their attempt to kill you, what in the world would you possibly do?”

Rieren stared at him. What sort of a question was that? Hypotheticals of that kind were no more than a waste time to dawdle on, when the truth was that the gods would never—

“What are you intending to do, Banishedborn?” she asked.

“I am the one asking questions here, Arianaele. Answer me.”

“I would take up painting. Perhaps dancing. Would likely dabble in weaving. And if I fail at all that, I can always go back to fishing. My father at least made sure I know how to do that well.”

The Banishedborn’s eyes had gone wide. Then he laughed, long and loud. Rieren was scowling by the time he stopped.

“As you will, then,” he said. “You have given me enough to go on with for now, though I will no doubt have more inquiries in time. Perhaps I will find some other way to threaten you then. In the meantime, I have some gods to confront.” Essastior took several steps back, his eyes falling to her hand holding the brooch. “Keep it, as a token of my goodwill.”

Rieren didn’t answer him. There were good reasons for both keeping and discarding the Banisher’s Brooch. For the moment, though, Rieren held onto it. The potential use was overriding the danger, especially since she had an idea how she could minimize the drawbacks.

“I will leave you in peace, then,” he said. “And hope that I do not find you in war.”

Large wings sprouted off his back and carried him into the air. All the red lighting in the ruins started to dissipate, and high up in the sky, the Banishedborn turned entirely into a gigantic crimson bird with a black tail.

She wondered what he would do when he found out the truth. Rieren hadn’t exactly lied. Ivilhar and Medzedol had helped her, though not in the way he might have thought. She had simply taken the help she’d needed.

“Well, that was that,” Elder Olg said. “Now let us get going.”

When Rieren turned around, she found him already several paces away closer to the end of the ruins. She sighed. Nodding at Batcat, she followed the Elder out of the destroyed Sect.