Alex looked down at the diminutive figure as she hugged him, and his first thought was of science fiction movies he used to watch as a kid. The skin was just enough off, with long lines over her eyes, that he could tell that she wasn't human. The eyes themselves, glowing blue, did little to dissuade that assumption. It was only a vague sense of former memory inside of him, like the remembered haze of a dream that told him to say 'she' instead of 'it.'

He wondered what people on Erth might call such a creature. However, that thought was squashed as he followed the string from his heart. A thin, almost invisible line of aether led directly into the android's tiny hand.

"I know you," Alex whispered, but he couldn't recall where from.

"Alex," she repeated, not answering his question. "You're back, right?"

"That thing was with you back on Dry Turtle." Bolton spat as he approached from Alex's right. "Hard to forget something like that."

"Yeah." Alex furrowed his brows, pulling the android's arms off him and kneeling to be eye-level with her.

Probing blue eyes searched his face, glowing like a phone's touchscreen. Alex got a good look at her, noting the long white hair hidden underneath her red hood. However, no matter how hard he searched his memory, he couldn't place where he had seen her before.

"I'm sorry," Alex whispered. "My head isn't all the way back yet. Who are you?"

Tears brimmed in her eyes as she looked up to Alex, the glowing blue light searching his face. Alex hadn't wanted to do it, but he couldn't see any other way. A hollow pit opened in his stomach, but it was too late.

"I am Mari," she said after a moment. "Magical Artificial Recombinant Intelligence. I am the Nighthawk's navigation system."

The tears streaming down her face made him believe her. The words sounded vaguely familiar, but they weren't enough. Alex placed a hand on her head, patting it as he gathered his thoughts.

"Mari, I know this is a lot right now," he said. "But can I see what you're holding?"

"Of course," Mari's voice took on a robotic tone, and she held up her hand, opening the palm to reveal a blue stone.

Alex squinted down at it, realizing it was a gemstone of some kind. As he watched, little electric sparks shot across its surface, but he didn't take it yet. The line from his chest led directly to it.

"What is it?" Bolton asked.

Hrrm.

An electric hum vibrated out of Alex's gate, even though he hadn't opened it yet. It was like a resonance between the gemstone and his curse. If he had to guess, it had a part of himself tied up in it, a part of the curse holding his memories hostage.

"I don't know," Alex whispered. "I'm going to take a look at it, Mari. Is that okay?"

"Yes," Mari's voice was small in the hum.

Alex picked up the gem from her hand, holding it between his fingers before his entire world faded away. One moment, he crouched in the alley, Mari in front of him and Bolton at his side. The next, he was sitting in a strange chair, looking out over a wide arcing viewscreen.

"We're approaching Grim Aegis."

Though her face was only a shadow, Alex recognized Erin beside him. She sat off from the pilot's chair, a green viewscreen in front of her, as she looked over yellow text. He probably wouldn't have recognized her if he had touched the gem without Bolton's curse suppressing the one that affected his memories.

"I cannot believe the size of it." Sayed stood close to the main monitor. "I have heard grand stories describing giants the size of mountains and dragons who could cleave valleys with their claws, but this is impossible."

His face was also wrapped in shadows, but that wasn't what caught Alex's attention. A massive golden globe, stretching beyond the monitor, engulfed the display, with a single half-orb of white light at its center. Alex knew this to be the Core, the protective bubble that covered the Twelve Kingdoms. The last time he had seen it was when he fled the Core after escaping August. Even now, he couldn't believe the structure was even possible.

The golden sphere contained the Twelve Kingdoms, or the Core, as many called it. There were four key islands, each serving as entry points for two quadrants of the nightsea. Before them, the half orb glowing like a blaring white setting sun was Grim Aegis, the key island that was the entrance for the First and Fourth Quadrants.

It was the next stepping stone to reaching the Dark Meridian.

"Considering the things we have seen, this is just a pittance of what fate has in store." Jean hadn't looked up from his seat to Alex's right, though he had the same shadow over his face. "When you see the inside of the Core, your breath will be stolen away."

"And then you'll get used to it," Li Wen said, tapping her screen in her chair by Jean's.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I don't think anyone can get used to that," Alex said, shaking his head as he leaned back in his chair. "How's the ship looking, Mari?"

"There should be no problems entering the island," the android's voice came over the speakers.

"Once we enter, there should be no delay," a voice spoke up from behind Alex. "We'll first go to a smaller city before we end the day."

Alex turned and saw another shadowed figure behind him. The figure looked like a knight, wearing chain armor with a silvered breastplate. At his side was the hit of a sword, and a shield was strapped across his back. Short silver hair wrapped around the blank space where his face had been, and like Mari, Alex had no idea who he was.

"It's your home," Alex said. "We'll follow your playbook until we understand what's going on."

"I fear that things have changed since I departed." The knight walked around the bridge, approaching the screen where Sayed stood. "We sail now into waters that are uncharted."

Slap.

"That is how all great stories start!" Sayed slapped the knight across the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. "What are we waiting for?"

Erin snorted, and Alex shook his head.

"Alright," Alex said, taking hold of the two orbs on his chair's arms and leaning into them. "Let's go in."

Alex opened his eyes back in the alley, Mari watching him with watery eyes and Bolton beside him. He didn't know how long he had been gone. His vision wavered, and his head hurt. He took in a deep breath, steadying himself before exhaling sharply.

"Well, what is it?"

"If I said I still have no idea, would you believe me?" Alex asked.

"If I ripped away my protection, do you think you'd remember?" Bolton spat.

"I saw a fragment of my memories when I touched it." Alex held up one hand, wrapping the gem in his palm before standing up.

"So, you remember everything now?"

Alex shook his head.

"If anything, I wouldn't have recognized as much of it as I did without you suppressing the curse that's doing this. I can recognize certain people in it, but their faces were covered in shadows."

"We are all the same," Mari whispered, her voice shaking. "I can see them, but I couldn't see their faces. Only yours when I touched the gem."

Alex nodded, standing and holding out the gem to Bolton. "Touch it, see if it does anything for you."

Bolton did so and froze immediately when his finger touched the gem. Mari wrapped her arms around his legs while Bolton stood frozen, hiding her face in his pants legs as they waited. Alex focused on keeping track of time. He needed to know how long Bolton was out when he touched the gem.

"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand, five one thousand."

He counted out each second, patting Mari's head to help him slow down his count. After ten slow-counted seconds, Bolton blinked. His hand recoiled from the gem, and he took a step back.

"The tarnation was that," he whispered before locking eyes with Alex. "I saw you back on Dry Turtle. The day we met."

"Memories related to me," Alex whispered, closing his palm around the gem. "Give me a minute."

He took a deep breath, focusing on the flow of aether around him as he inhaled and exhaled. Like in the park, he was trying to recreate the sense that had opened up to him on Aherlow. With the orb in his hand, back on the island, he could hear people impossibly far away. He even had a sense of their relative location, though it was largely an extension of his magnetic sense back then.

However, what he was doing now didn't involve his curse. His gate was closed. All he did was focus on drawing in aether through his breath and releasing it in a steady stream. Mari's arms wrapped around his legs faded as a sensation. Bolton disappeared from his mind's eyes. The buildings around him faded as he opened himself up to the world.

Over twenty people were asleep in their beds in the two buildings to his left and right, distributed unevenly through the floors. The higher rooms held one or two people, while the lower ones accommodated five or more in cramped quarters. Alex pushed that sensation away as he focused on the gem in his hand.

While he was connected to the gem, and it had its own connections stemming off it. Lines of aether, clear and nearly invisible, stretched out across the alley and down the street. Alex furrowed his brows as he followed the lines as far as he could without moving, pushing away his sense of everything around him to stretch the technique as far as it would go.

However, the strings of aether extended further than he could see.

Alex released his hold on the technique and returned to his body like a released rubber band. He pushed his unbound leg back, catching himself by throwing out his arms to keep his balance. It took a moment to steady himself and adjust his balance so he wouldn't fall over.

"It's connected to more than just me," Alex whispered.

"Maybe we should just crack it open." Bolton frowned, his mustache twitching. "That might fix you up."

"It might also alert the person who did this to us," Alex said, rubbing the stone between his fingers. "Think about it. You can tell when your curse doesn't work or is broken?"

"My curse always works." Bolton shook his head.

"Well, I can tell when someone breaks some metal from mine," Alex said. "Do we want whoever took our memories coming after us before we're ready?"

"Point taken. What's the plan?"

Alex looked down at Mari. She still had her arms wrapped tightly around his leg. He better understood who she was after touching the gem, but there were still too many blanks in his mind. He needed to know how they had gotten into the mess, and he couldn't do that alone.

"How many people can you 'reject' for?" Alex asked.

"Doing it for us already pushes my limits," Bolton said. "I can't sleep, or it'll break, and we'll be back to where we started."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Two days, give or take." Bolton spat before pulling out his cigarettes again.

"We need help," Alex said, ruffling Mari's hair absently as he thought through his options. "You can't extend your protection to other people."

"We could follow your little sense, find the other gems, and..." Bolton trailed off.

"Yeah, that's the problem. What do we do with them?" Alex whispered.

"What we need is information." Bolton puffed at his cigarette.

Alex thought through what he knew about Grim Aegis, which was surprisingly little with the state of his mind. He knew people like Garrick, and he knew his friends from visiting them, but beyond that, he couldn't even think about the name of the ruler of the island. Everything was wrapped out of sight like the mist that covered the lower levels.

He looked down at the gem. The limiting factor was memories. Breaking it might alert the person who had cursed them, but not breaking it made progress impossible. In the end, there was little choice. He couldn't work through it all with his mind so limited.

"I'm going to break it," Alex said. "There may be something I know about what's happening hidden inside."

"Didn't you just say that was a bad idea?" Bolton raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes a bad idea is better than no idea," Alex said. "Simple as that."

Bolton locked Alex with a gaze before nodding. Alex pulled Mari from his leg and stepped away, holding the gem in his palm. He closed his fist around it as he took in a deep breath.

"Might."

Crack.

A flood of light burned through his mind as a cascade of memories washed through him.

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