The few pieces of equipment that we’d kept with us, it turned out, had been neatly stockpiled in a room near the temple entrance. And to my immense relief, exiting the temple into the humid muggy green air of the jungle did not immediately result in a booming voice from overhead demanding surrender, or a sudden wash of cannon fire from an airship fleet.

Though honestly, the heat and humidity were almost as bad.

As the others were rooting through the various gear and equipment that the cultists had accumulated over the years, I asked the cult leader “So, what will you do now? I… would hope that you not continue your sacrifices. That…” I flailed about mentally, and finally settled on “-would make me very sad.”

The cultists still wandered the halls looking slightly dazed. I’d lost track of Anyim, but I was sure he had to be around somewhere.

He’s not important anymore. I thought. The cult leader is who I need to convince.

The cult leader turned to me and shook his head. “I cannot speak for the others, but for me, it is as though I have awakened from a haze of years. There is no more voice in my head, no spike of rage and pain driving me. It is as though I can think clearly, for the first time in… a very long time.”

He looked slowly around the room, then turned to me. “I think it is the same for the others. Whether that will mean they think they should continue as they were or not-“

I turned to him and grabbed his hand. “Then please. I will ask you-“

I pushed a {Persuade} as hard as I dared.

“-please stop the others from doing this again! Please… let it die here. Your goddess is reunited, and the voices in your head are silent. Let the mistakes of the past die there.”

The cult leader took a deep breath, then reached up and slowly removed his mask. He looked… normal. Pale, and slightly tired. I wondered how long it had been since he had bared his face.

He looked at me with a clear expression and nodded slowly. “I will. You have freed us from a nightmare we were not even aware of. I did not think that there were still heroes in the world such as you.” He flashed me a sudden smile, as bright and shocking as sunlight through the clouds. “It is good to know such people still exist.”

The World Soul whispered in my ear.

<{Gourmet} Advanced to level 4. {Arcanist} Advanced to level 10. Capstone skill, {Grand Summoning} unlocked. For retrieving the last unbound Arcana, and quieting the Cult of the Whispering Mother, you have advanced to {Gourmet:4} & {Arcanist:10}>

I pushed the awareness of my level up out of my mind and focused on the cult leader. It was… embarrassing but incredibly satisfying to get praise, to feel like I wasn’t just… running someone else’s story. I flushed and looked down at my feet for a moment before I looked back up to him.

“I don’t know if I qualify as that. But my name is Lilyanna.”

The leader nodded once more. “And mine is Chika. We will remember you, Lilyanna the hero. You and your strange friends.”

I gathered up the rest of the group, and with a final farewell to the hopefully reformed cultists, summoned Gate, and stepped through to the sea cave where we’d hidden the Sparrowhawk.

To my immense relief, and minor surprise, there was no encounter waiting for us in the cavern. The Sparrowhawk sat under its camouflage tarp, quietly waiting for us, our equipment and gear stowed neatly where we’d left it.

What was waiting for us, however, was an argument.

“I just don’t understand why we should fly to this ‘control center’ right away!” said Soriya. “We know that Deacon will be waiting for us, why would we rush right into his arms!”

Eshaan shook his head firmly. “That’s exactly the point! We need to bring the fight to him! We have a chance to end this!”

Lakshmi nodded. “The Empire and Kushistan are fighting a senseless war to fuel Deacon’s Arcanum with the souls they need! Without him to drive the war, it will come to a stop, I know it! It’s what an Air Pirate would do!” She said proudly.

I rolled my eyes where nobody could see.

And I thought you were growing as a person, Lakshmi. I thought to myself. That was just about the most clueless heroic princess speech I’ve ever heard.

Lakshmi spun around and pointed her finger at me. “What was that about?! You have a problem with stopping my father from being a damned puppet in a war?!”

I let out a little ‘eep’ of shock and jumped. Ok, so maybe not as well hidden as I thought. I thought regretfully.

“No, I don’t. I’m not sure he’s a puppet, but I agree Deacon is definitely behind the war. He’s almost certainly riding on the Church’s plotline, taking the Church’s power source as his own.” I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “In fact… I wonder if he’s assassinated the pope already? Normally it would be the pope who was evil all along.”

Soriya nodded in agreement. “Either way, why should we rush right into his arms?! We don’t want to play the villain’s game!”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Camaxtli tipped his head to the side in confusion. “I do not understand. What was the purpose of gaining the Arcanum if not to force a confrontation with this mastermind?”

“No, you don’t understand-” I said.

“Indeed.” Camaxtli replied. “That was exactly the gist of my statement?”

I rolled my eyes even harder. “Just… let me explain!” I took a deep breath and recounted my logic once more.

“We did choose to gain the Arcanum knowing that this would force a showdown with Deacon. We wanted to have the upper hand with the power scope, and to prevent Deacon from simply walking though the walls without opposition. However! None of that means that we need to rush into a confrontation without at least the concept of a plan! We know what Deacon wants, and we have it. We know… or at least we think we know… how this will play out. He’ll confront us and either attempt to steal the Arcanum from us, or use us to enact his plan.”

Soriya nodded. “Typically that would be him stepping in at the last minute to sabotage us, just as it looked like we’d solved the issue.”

Lakshmi looked confused. “But we can’t solve the issue, not without Deacon’s Arcanum. We need all the Arcanum all together to unlock the System, don’t we?”

Eshaan pounded his fist in his palm. “Brillant! We’re the ones setting an ambush for Deacon, when he thinks he’s setting the ambush for us!”

I sighed and rubbed my nose. “While that would be the ideal situation, I strongly suspect that we’ll be playing everything by ear. Either way, all the missing parts are going to be showing up at the Control Center, with two groups who want to use it for their own ends.”

“We can use that, then, as a starting place for our plan.” Daniyel said calmly. “This Deacon, he is not stupid. He will expect us to expect him. A classic situation, your enemy knows you know, and plans to avoid your plans based on what you know he knows… the thoughts can spiral endlessly.”

Eshaan looked around slowly, then said “So… that sounds like our usual plan. We go, and then we wing it when we’re there? Wait for him to make a mistake, and pounce!”

I sighed again. “He’ll be expecting us. He knows… he knows we’ll be expecting him. He’s me, remember? He has the same knowledge I do!”

The group was silent for a long moment, then Eshaan said “But it didn’t work for him. He captured you, and you got away, and that was… not what he wanted.”

I shook my head. “I’m not entirely sure what he wanted anymore. He needed me to touch the Arcanum he found… I think I actually might have unlocked the Arcanum he’s been using in his war. It would explain why he just let me go.”

“That, and he is expecting you to do the heavy lifting of acquiring all the other Arcanum.” Soriya said, nodding along. “Very classic villain trope.”

Lakshmi waved her hands. “This is all smoke in the room! What are we going to do about it?! What happens when we arrive, and he’s either there waiting for us, or just behind us with a group of troopers!”

Eshaan slammed his fist into his palm again. “We’ll crush em! We’re probably higher level than most anyone in the Empire!”

I pointed my finger at him. “That is exactly the problem! Probably? No, we can almost depend on the troops Deacon has with him to have gained levels in some absurd unholy abomination fueled way. I don’t know how exactly, but I am certain that Deacon and his troopers will be a match for us.” I finished grimly.

“Then we shall ambush them, as expected.” Camaxtli said. “We can expect Deacon to follow you. We arrive first. We hide ourselves, and we arrange to attack. You can offer to parley with him, and when he draws near, we will strike. A simple plan.”

I felt a grim certainty that somehow things just wouldn’t be that clean.

But what do I have to offer? The heroes never set an ambush, it’s always some big surprise that the enemy was following them all along? And Deacon was behaving an awful lot like a villain, trapped in his own plot. Maybe… this can work?

The roughest concepts of a plan to ever come out of our rag tag little group formed, Soriya and I started our ritual once more, drawing forth the ‘pull’ of the Arcanum, and dancing around the ‘present but not’ absence of Deacon’s Arcanum, we set a location.

Our dousing pendulum pointed straight to the center of the inner sea, just off the coast of Tol Rauko.

Of course. I thought wryly. Where else would it be, but the center of the map, hovering over the mysterious island?

Our plans set and our supplies checked, Lakshmi set course for the spot on the map, and the Sparrowhawk flew towards the Inner Sea.

We flew for eight hours, the vibrant green of the jungle below fading to the burnt tan of the desert sands, and then to the slowly building pale green of coastline. When the thin blue line of the ocean finally came into view, we were all ready for a break, and we once more cruised the shoreline, looking for sea caves to hide in.

Once the Sparrowhawk was safely down, I used Gate to bring us back to Breezewood. A quick bath to wash the last of the jungle’s humid sweat off us, and then we slept the sleep of the reasonably righteous. The next morning we set out once more. As we grew closer and closer to the point on the map, I could feel a draw, something inside me acting like a lodestone, pulling me closer.

I glanced over to soriya, giving her a questioning look. She gave me a nervous smile and nodded. Clearly she felt it too. No one else did though, a fact which was brought home when Lakshmi asked peevishly

“Where is it? It can’t be some tiny little thing, right?! It’s supposed to be the home of the whole System, for goddess sake! Are we even on the right course?!” she demanded.

I stared fixedly out the cockpit window, eyes locked on empty blue sky. I nodded, and then said “Yes.” My voice quiet, tense. I could feel it. It was close but it just… wasn’t there.

Until suddenly, it was. We passed some invisible threshold, some distortion field too close to do it’s job any longer, and suddenly it was there inf ront of us, an enormous building/ship/castle, floating in the sky, spires of crystal and silver gleaming in the air and so much larger than it should have been.

Lakshmi swore loudly, and heeled us hard to the side, the underbelly of the Sparrowhawk skimming along the fantastical filigree of crystal spires, silver arches and bridges over the air, and gleaming white stone walls.

A blink, and the vision was gone, a rippling heat haze behind us as the Sparrowhawk streaked outside of the effective range of what was clearly a techno fantasy invisibility shield.

“Holy blue hells, what the fuck was that?!” Lakshmi swore loudly.

I winced at the crude language, and felt my lips quirked in a half smile. “Thermoptic camouflage, I guess.” I murmured quietly.

“The fucking thing is invisible?!” Lakshmi shrieked in disbelief, as she slewed the Sparrowhawk around in a tight turn, cutting the speed sharply.

Once more the Sparrowhawk periced the effective radius of the shield, and the castle shimmered into view in front of us, now approaching at a much more sedate rate of speed.

“The fucking thing is invisible.” Lakshmi repeated, her voice now tinged with wonder.

“A working wonder of the Ancients.” Eshaan added, his voice filled with reverence.

Daniyel’s voice cut in. “And doubtless filled with equally functional defense systems. We must be cautious.” He laid his hand lightly on Lakshmi’s shoulder. She glanced up at him, then turned back to the controls, her eyes fixed on the approaching techno castle.

“Right.” She said. The Sparrowhawk slowed once more, and started to slowly spiral around the structure as we looked for a way in.