Lakshmi huffed. “So. Do you happen to also know the thing we’ll need to do to gain entrance at these mystery nodes?”

I grinned and shook my head. “Nope, not a clue! Lucky for me, I’ve got two experts-“ I pointed to Eshaan and Lakshmi. “-on Ancient technology with me!”

Lakshmi rolled her eyes and groaned, but I could see she was secretly pleased to be called an expert.

“I’m a little concerned-“ Eshaan started

I nodded before he could even complete it. “Oh yes, we’re definitely going to trigger an alarm and have to fight security systems at each node. Four fights in all, assuming we don’t trigger alarm systems on the way.”

“Can’t you just… do your thing?” Lakshmi waved at the big door in the central pillar with the glowing green letters on it.

I raised an eyebrow. “Lakshmi, I am a white mage from a backwater. I have no experience with the inner workings or intricacies of Ancient technology.” I tipped my head to the side and stared at her frankly. “Seer knowledge only goes so far. I need you and Eshaan. There’s no way I could handle this on my own.”

“Then perhaps we had best be off.” Daniyel said calmly, resting his hand on Lakshmi’s shoulder. “Especially if there will be fighting, we should be prepared.”

“I am ready.” Camaxtli said calmly. “I may be of some help, though the Alliance’s technology is not quite as familiar as the Jubilee’s.”

We picked a corridor leading away from the central hall by the ancent and well tested practice of ‘whatever is right in front of us’, and proceeded down it.

As predicted, skittering spider robots, Ancient battle constructs both humanoid and not, and sudden gouts of flame, ice, and spiked pits appeared along our path.

“You know” I said to Soriya as we stepped over and around yet another pile of disabled Ancient technology, “It strikes me that this place is in dire need of a safety audit. Does Korea have an OSHA?”

She smiled. “We are a fully modern country, Lily. Yes.” Soriya pondered, then nodded firmly. “Yes.”

“Oh good.”

“We call it KOSHA.”

I blinked, stopped and turned to stare at her. “Seriously?” I asked in disbelief.

Soriya grinned. “Seriously. But I expect the lack of safety precautions up here is both a benefit, and an expected result. Nobody is ever supposed to be here. And even if they were, it would be under extreme circumstances confined to a very limited area.”

She shrugged. “End result, intruders get flambéed.”

I sighed. “I guess we press on then. And apply more burn cream.” I hurried forward just as a whining roar announced another round of flame jets shooting from the walls and ceiling in an oddly ordered pattern.

“Crush-y smash-y burn-y bits, check.” I muttered as we danced through the jets in a carefully timed sequence.

“I hate these puzzles too.” Soriya said through gritted teeth.

“Well I guess it’s not so bad when we have flame protection, but we’d be meadowlark dust if we didn’t have you.” I smiled at her as we finally cleared the last of the hurdles, leaving us in a much smaller circular chamber where a single pedestal in the middle absorbed blue rays from the walls that hurt my eyes to look at.

Lakshmi seemed to be in seventh heaven, and Eshaan wasn’t far behind.

Lakshmi spun in place and said to me “Tell me how this works?! No, wait! Better, don’t tell me! This is the best puzzle ever! Come on Camaxtli, help me out!”

“I believe Eshaan would be a better assistant-“

Camaxtli’s patient words were interrupted as Lakshmi grabbed him by the arm and pulled him over to the console. Shortly, the three of them were murmuring and pointing to various points on the walls and arcane symbology that meant nothing to me. I sat down on against a wall to stay out of the way, and recover a bit of my mana.

“Ah hah!” Lakshmi exclaimed after a bit. “ Got it! A simple harmonic sequence in rising tones of mana oscillation!” She touched a sequence of buttons on the control panel, and one by one the blazing blue lines winked out causing sections of the wall to extend, baring the intricate innards to her examination. Lakshmi wiggled her way into the open access hatch, and disappeared from view. Shortly after that, the thrum of machinery changed in tone and pitch and Lakshmi squirmed her way back out, smeared with ancient (and Ancient, I supposed!) dirt and oil.

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“That’s got it!” She exclaimed, pointing her finger into the air triumphantly. “On to the next!”

We did indeed move on to the next, and then the next after that. The robot guardians were simple and repetitive, though I did dearly wish I could just shout command codes at them, or announce myself to make them shut down. Sadly, without the actual Arcanum, it wouldn’t work, and even if I had the arcanum, my hacker princess and company would have triggered all the security alerts anyway. And so we had to trudge down each one of the four corridors, battling ancient (and Ancient) automatons, pit traps and flame, steam, smoke, and ice jets.

It wasn’t like we couldn’t handle the fights, but the slow grinding away of our HP, MP, and supplies was irritating.

Down the fourth hallway, at the console, Lakshmi finally announced that she’d deciphered enough of the control systems to suborn the main doors at the center of the hallways. She turned to me.

“So what can we expect behind the door?”

“Oh, a big fight. No question.” I answered confidently. Soriya nodded.

The group nodded, and we chugged healing potions and mana potions to return ourselves to best shape. The faint taste of apple made me wistful for home, and mother’s brewing. I hoped this would be the end of it!

Have I really managed to outwit the plot? Is Deacon really not coming for us? I thought, chewing my lip with worry.

Eshaan punched my shoulder lightly. “Cheer up Lily! No matter what happens, we’ll always be together!” he said with his usual enthusiasm.

We headed back to the central hall, where the grand doors waited for us, words still glowing that same faint green.

Lakshmi immediately headed to the doors and started poking and proding. Shortly, a panel popped open, and she started to tinker inside. We kept a sharp eye out for alerts or interruptions, but nothing appeared, and no alarms blared. I was honestly starting to be a little freaked out!

Finally Lakshmi sat back with a satisfied sigh. “There!” She said with satisfaction. “That’s got it! You should be able to open the doors now!”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Ok everyone. Let’s see what awaits us.”

Soriya and I laid our hands on the door, and pushed.

Six Months Later

The day was lovely. The festival was in full swing, and the smell of food floating in the air was heavenly. The sun was bright and high and the smell of spring was everywhere.

Spring? Six months, but-

“Hey Lily! Come on, you’re going to miss the festival!” Eshaan called out, and caught me by my arm, pulling me into a hug and a kiss.

My thoughts blew away in the lovely spring breeze. Our wedding had been wonderful, and I still remembered it fondly.

The sky had been… had been…

“Lily, are you ready?!” Soriya’s excited voice called out. “It’s almost time!”

Oh yes, time. It’s time to return the Arcanum! I had forgotten! I mused.

“What an adventure, huh Lily?” Eshaan said, smiling at me.

Why is his smile so… oily? I don’t-

Soriya caught my arm and we were shortly at the Cavern of Trials.

The patterns in the cavern walls were strange, almost sinister. As though they had a deeper meaning, hidden from me.

I should ask Lakshmi. She’ll know! I turned to look for her, and there was a moment of frozen confusion, and then Lakshmi walked around the corner of one of the passages, where she had always been.

“Hey Lily!” She exclaimed. “I was just looking at the patterns! They almost look holographic! Like a vision of good fortune!”

I smiled uncertainly, opened my mouth to speak. Stopped.

A hologram? Like a vision?

A faint memory, coming to mind like a fizzing TV screen.

Another voice. A familiar voice.

I stopped. Stared around myself. A hundred small details suddenly seeming intensely, deeply wrong.

Eshaan’s smiling face in mine. Oily smile, broken flickering images. “Lily? What’s wrong? You need to give the Arcanum back?”

I blinked, my eyes watering. “Oh you… you fudgepot… you…! You…!” My fury robbed me of words completely and I stood in the cavern, tears stinging at my eyes, my fists clenched so hard my fingernails dug into my palms. My fury swelled inside me until I couldn’t contain it, the heat so profound I could feel tears trickling down my cheeks and dripping from my chin.

Even my oath against swearing meant nothing before the fury inside me. “You bastard!!” I screamed furiously, the white hot rage inside me finally escaping in a primal scream of anguish. And then I reached out and pulled the threads of {Spiritist} magical energy surrounding me, threads I now knew must be there.

The cavern cracked and splintered, shards of brilliant white light leaking through the walls like a shattered screen, the world frozen around me, and then it fell into a hundred thousand twinkling shards, the dust of dreams. And then it was gone, and once more I stood before the grand doors leading to the System’s control.

Reality

The closed doors of the System control.

Only this time, Deacon stood before me, his hand outstretched and surrounded by a brilliant white-gold halo of magic, his eyes wide in surprise and startlement. To either side of him, two paladins of the church stood ramrod straight, their weapons ready, and next to them… Anyim! The cultist from Nanwe!

My friends still stood to either side of me, their eyes glazed and mouth agape, as they saw whatever it was that they wished to see. Whatever their most cherished dream was.

I felt a rising fury bubbling up in me, an anger unlike anything I’d felt before.

He dared?! Without thought, my hand clenched into a fix, and I hauled back and punched Deacon in the face, as hard as I could.

Deacon reared back his nose streaming blood, his eyes wide. He stumbled several steps backwards and sat down hard his back against the doors and his eyes accusatory.

“You’re not supposed to do that!” He exclaimed, his voice aggrieved.