"Teleport."

"No."

"I need to see your pathways while teleporting so I can copy the skill."

"I know. That's precisely why I'm not doing it."

Lexie frowned, narrowing her eyes at Cecilia. "You know I can just make you."

"Then make me." A challenge glinted in Cecilia's eyes. She was bolder as this was about the third time she'd called Lexie's bluff. They'd been arguing since Uncle Max went hunting right, as the sun rose. Unfortunately, Lexie hadn't seen any lightning zombies last night, and they'd probably confined themselves to a different part of the forest.

Max said that sometimes, when the zombies hunted down other animals and ate their brains and skin, they would leave nice roasted carcasses for him to pick up, which he would then take home, dry, and salt for later. That was what he was looking for now, and he was probably going to head to town to talk to his Lizard-people friend.

Lexie had wanted to go with him, but she figured her time was better spent pestering Cecilia. The truth was that while she could make Cecilia show her skill, perhaps with the light card or simply by plain old torture, it would be a less effective means of getting what she wanted. She needed to understand the skill in depth or get the intent that would enable her to translate the skills into card magic.

Not just that, the card magic would have to apply to her Eldritch body, too.

Though Lexie thought it was probably easier for her to apply human skills as an Eldritch than vice versa, both because she was half-human already and also because human skills were easier and less complex than Eldritch ones.

So yes, she could simply compel Cecilia to display the skill and then steal it that way.

But for whatever reason, she didn't want to.

The tiny human side of her didn't want to hurt Cecilia, but that might change with time, and if Cecilia presented enough of a challenge.

"There's another reason I want it," Lexie said.

"Which will be?"

"I want to get Uncle Max out of here, and back to Earth." Lexie wasn't entirely sure why that was important to her, only that it had been the most important thing to her at one point in time. It was one of the reasons human Lexie had entered this dungeon in the first place.

So, Lexie figured she should honor the memory of the old Lexie with that.

And the fact that she also cared about Uncle Max was entirely beside the point.

"Lexie," Cecilia sighed in the middle of what she was doing, which was helping Uncle Max tidy up his space. Max hadn't asked her to do any of that, but maybe the woman simply wanted to be useful, and this was her way of working off excess energy. "It's not that I don't want to help you find your friends, but it's too soon to try again. I need more time with this power to figure out the ins and outs. We need more research."

"That is precisely what I'm suggesting we do. Research. We're not just going to get an answer on how to properly control Yasycht's power by sitting around and waiting for it to drop from the sky. We have to keep trying and trying, even if it's just small distances."

"Isn't it dangerous for you to keep interacting with Yasycht? I heard what Ryn said about him killing you."

"Yes, that is only if I try to control or subdue him, or to bring him under my soul line. Then I will die because I'm not powerful enough yet. But I learned that I can wield pieces of him and his power, and though it is often painful, it's not bad." Lexie was used to pain, and in this situation, pain was good. It meant she was getting more powerful.

She was refining her light, curing her curiosity, and gaining the skills she wanted. The pain was nothing compared to that.

There was the minor concern that using the soul card all the time changed the makeup of her soul, but that seemed to be limited to using the card at its max level.

So far, after prior use with Yasycht, she didn't feel markedly different when she'd only used it against minor creatures and Ryn. She felt a slight buzz after every use, but that was it.

Even during this last meeting with Yasycht, she hadn't used the card at its max, and she'd felt fine after some recovery. She probably couldn't use the card back-to-back even though she'd never tried, but one-time use with adequate resting periods seemed to be just fine.

At Cecilia's silence, Lexie asked, "Have you ever tried teleporting just another creature before? Without you being in it?"

Cecilia shook her head. "I've never needed to. It was always easier just teleporting myself."

"Then we can try that first. Start with an inanimate object, and try teleporting it somewhere else in this room. Then, when it works, we can try other living things and work our way up to farther distances. Then I connect to Yasycht and try to use his power to transport the object to Ryn and Pvilycht. If it works, then we know we can do it."

Cecilia paused to think about it, brushing her chin. "That's not a bad idea, actually."

"Of course not. I'm a genius."

Cecilia rolled her eyes as they heard Uncle Max's returning footsteps. They both turned to see him weaving through the non-explosive path with the scorched carcass of what looked like a giant three-headed deer slung over his shoulder, clearly missing its brain and parts of its flesh.

"Looks like they got to this one right before the day broke," Max was saying as he stalked in with the creature. "Didn't get to finish their meal. We got lucky."

"We didn't see any animals in the forest, apart from the bear," Lexie said. "Where are these ones coming from?"

"Caves. They've learned to hide to survive. When we run out of animals, the townspeople combine resources to bring in more from somewhere else."

"From where? And how?"

"I don't know."

"Hmm." Uncle Max had a curious lack of curiosity for how his new world worked. It seemed he was only concerned with staying alive and making gadgets, and that was it.

Lexie, on the other hand, wanted to know about this dungeon and how its stagnation created chaos. She wanted to meet and explore the other creatures and societies that had formed here.

She hadn't really taken the time to interact with the creatures in Yasycht's dungeon. Usually, she killed them too quickly for that, but now she saw the error of her ways. Now she would learn how they worked before she killed them, just in case she could learn some cool powers. Like lightning, for example.

"So," Max inquired, stretching. "What were you two talking about before I walked in?"

"About how smart I am."

Uncle Max snorted. "Glad to see you're as humble as ever, Lex."

Lexie nodded. She also thought she was very humble, especially given her power. She was especially humble for an Eldritch, because the creatures didn't typically bear that trait.

Max glanced around. "Did you two organize this place?"

"I did," Cecilia said, and Lexie watched the woman's face grow significantly redder than it had been before.

"Nice. Thanks."

"It's the least we could do, considering you're letting us stay here."

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Leave you out there with my niece? We may not have always been friends, but I wouldn't do that to you, Cece."

"Yeah." Cece rubbed her elbow and grew even redder. "Thanks."

"It's incredibly lucky that you two ran into me and not anyone else. Things could have ended up really nasty for you otherwise."

Cecilia nodded and then turned to Lexie's. "I think we should do it."

"Really?"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"You're right. If we don't practice, then we can't learn."

"Practice what?" Uncle Max asked.

"Teleportation," Lexie explained to Uncle Max what she wanted to do.

He looked disapproving. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Yes." The lie tasted bitter on her tongue, and it twisted uncomfortably through her body.

The truth was that she wasn't sure at all.

Part of being Eldritch was accepting the truth and presenting the truth. It wasn't the 'being deceitful' part that bothered her. Even if she deceived someone, as long as she did it with the truth, it was fine.

Everything else made her feel viscerally uncomfortable, like she was telling her story out of order.

Luckily, Uncle Max took her word for it, or maybe he resigned himself to the fact that he couldn't change her mind.

"Well," he reached behind him and brought out three vials of blood-red liquid. "It's your lucky day. I was able to trade one of the carcasses with my lizard friend, and he gave me these. Mana potions. To help you with a temporary boost."

"Thank you, I'll take it when I need it," Cecilia said.

"Alright. Good."

"Yeah. Good."

There was a moment of silence where the adults simply stared at each other until Lexie got impatient and said, "Cecilia."

"Right."

She tore her gaze away from Uncle Max, and Lexie shook her head. Humans got distracted too easily for her liking, although it was better than Ryn's endless chattering.

Though in a way, she missed that.

Cecilia's first approach to teleportation was by trial and error.

She tried to teleport a piece of rock to the other side of the room, and she held it in her hand and stared at it hard.

Nothing was happening.

Lexie coached her by saying, "Imagine you're linking the rock to the destination but also unlinking yourself at the same time."

Cecilia gave her a wry look. "Yeah, I know that sounds fine in theory, but it's a lot more complex in practice, Lexie. "

"Of course. I didn't say it would be easy."

Cecilia closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. She focused, with the background sound of Uncle Max chopping up the deer.

While she worked, Lexie looked at Cecilia's pathways.

She saw them glow, shifting faster, and it was far more flexible than anyone she'd seen on Earth. Even Xena's S-Rank pathways weren't that flexible. They were close to Dee's level of speed, too.

Cecilia's skill was at an extremely high level.

Lexie paid attention to the shapes that were forming. Of course, since Cecilia was human, her pathways would look slightly different from whatever Lexie was.

But it should be easy enough for Lexie to adjust.

Finally, Cecilia opened her eyes and shook her head.

"I need to do the maths first."

Lexie nodded. That was fine by her.

Cecilia started scrawling numbers on her system screen. Lexie watched her work, trying to memorize the shapes Cecilia's finger was tracing.

When Cecilia was done, she tried again.

The rock disappeared and appeared in the middle of the air, dropping on Uncle Max's head.

"Ow," he said mildly.

Cecilia smiled, pleased. "Distance is a little off, but I guess I have the hang of it."

"Good," Lexie said. "Now we move onto a bigger rock."

**

They started trying bigger and bigger items as Cecilia adjusted her aim. Once they could predictably land the object in the right direction, they then moved to farther and farther distances.

They took a break to have some of the three-headed deer soup that Uncle Max made, which Lexie more so sampled than ate. Human food was strange to her. She didn't really get hungry, but Ryn always insisted she ate the nutrient bars she made once in a while, so that her human form wouldn't start to look even more shriveled than it was.

Uncle Max was even more insistent that she eat the food. She swallowed as much as she could stomach before she had had enough. It didn't taste terrible, but it just didn't taste that good to her, but maybe that was just how human food was.

Did she even remember what human food tasted like?

Yes.

Suddenly, somehow, she remembered the warmth of a snickerdoodle, the sweetness of biting into it. For some reason, she craved it again, not out of hunger, but just to taste it.

The sentiment passed.

Lexie and Cecilia continued her practice. Lexie had gotten an intent for the teleportation card, and she went to sit by the entrance to weave it, while she checked in with her cousin to see how Ryn and Little Fae were doing.

"They are alive," Pvilycht responded. "But you should make me your disciple soon."

"Why? What do you mean?"

"When you used your...power on me, you weakened my bond with Lord Neqal. It is why I can follow your instructions rather than his. But if you do not complete your soul bond with me, then my bond with him will strengthen again, and I will be forced to ignore your orders and follow his."

"Can't I just do the same thing I did last time and re-weaken the bond?"

"You could, but I'm not sure how potent it will be from there."

Lexie sighed. Now she was faced with a dilemma.

While she liked Pvilycht and his intelligence, he hadn't entirely proved himself to her yet.

Having a disciple was an important and intimate practice. He would be able to siphon powers from her, and he might even be able to get some of her magic as a result. And maybe she would also change so that she would gain some of his magic, too.

It typically didn't work backwards, but this disciple-stealing business was new territory. No other Eldritch Lord did it to the best of her knowledge. It wasn't like she was creating a brand new bond with a newly Eldritch creature where they would only have the same skills as her. Pvilycht already had his individual skills that Lexie didn't share, and he was very good at them.

Lexie didn't quite know how that would affect everything once he was linked to her.

It was something she had considered a lot, what it would feel like to have him irrevocably linked to her. Would it make her better or worse? Would he be able to overpower her and turn the bond the other way, like she'd done with Ryn? Would he be able to analyze the basic makeup of her soul card and make that power his own?

She knew, from experience with Naem, that she could block Pvilycht or sever their bond if they needed to, but that had to take some effort, didn't it? What would happen if she couldn't do it? Lexie herself, as an inexperienced Eldritch, had pulled involuntarily from Naem before, without his knowledge, which meant that Pvilycht could also pull from Lexie.

What if she wasn't able to block it? What if he managed to siphon her magic anyway? She had to be careful.

But, she couldn't risk him going rogue and killing the other two.

"I'll do it soon," she assured him. "I shall be back soon. But for now..." She activated the soul card, and though he was elated to feel it, he did tell her that the potency was weaker.

Lexie sighed.

She also made a list of things that her soul card has done so far.

It bore burdens and took away pain. It gave them her light in a way they'd never experienced before, a way a human might, which was so wholly more pure and powerful than an Eldritch. It also siphoned their mana and enabled Lexie to use their skills.

All from a single card. Amazing. Now she saw why everyone was so obsessed with it.

Finally, before night fell again, Lexie decided they would practice teleportation with Yasycht. Cecilia had gotten enough practice with the items, and now it was Lexie's turn to try to send the stone to Pvilycht.

She went to stand in one of the cave doorways and called to Yasycht, activating her soul card.

Nothing happened.

She frowned. Maybe it was simply harder to feel him in this dungeon, since, though he'd invaded it, it wasn't his spawn?

Lexie tried again, calling out to him.

Nothing.

"What's wrong?" Cecilia asked, clearly reading Lexie's expression.

"I can't feel him," she said

"Can't feel what?"

"Yasycht." She couldn't even feel a trace of him, not even in the doorway. It seemed that Yasycht didn't have power over the dungeon, at least not everywhere.

So, how was he able to bring them here? How did he have access?

Perhaps Belsycht had allowed Yasycht's power to be confined to a certain location only.

There had to be an access point.

Was it in the forest where they'd appeared? Was that the access point? It would make sense, wouldn't it?

"We need to go back to the forest," Lexie said.

Max shook his head. "Not right now. Night will fall soon."

"I just need to check something," Lexie said, and before he could respond, she shot off in a gust of flames.

"Lexie!" Max barked, but Lexie ignored him. She weaved through the path with fireflight, and though Max shot out a harness at her, she managed to dodge it.

He was coming after her.

Lexie flew faster, and eventually she dropped into the exact place where she'd arrived from.

She tried to access Yasycht again, adjusting slightly to a different position each time, and attempting to feel the buzzing on her skin, but it wasn't there.

There had to be an access point. Where was it?

"Lexie!"

Suddenly, it hit her.

Uncle Max had said that they brought more animals from somewhere, although he didn't know where. What if Belsycht's dungeon wasn't making the new creatures? It was lazy after all.

What if they were getting the animals from the access point that Yasycht had provided to another dungeon?

That would either mean they could teleport–which Lexie doubted–or that they were solving a puzzle for which the animals were their reward.

Either way, there was a good chance that the townspeople had the access point.

"LEXIE BETH SPARROWFOOT."

Lexie flinched and felt a visceral disgust. She glared at Max. "I hate that name."

"I know, that's why I used it." Uncle Max looked pissed and sweaty. "Let's go right now."

"We need to go into town and find the access point."

"Lexie, I'm not playing with you, and I'm not asking your permission. We're leaving."

"But–"

And just like that, it darkened.

"Shit," Uncle Max swore, grabbing her wrist.

Before he could run, a menacing moan hit the air. On the heels of that was a clicking noise, growing louder as the temperature around them dropped.

Then, a rumble of thunder that was like whispered doom.

"Shit shit shit." Uncle Max drew his gun. "They're here fast. They must have been expecting us."

Almost faster than they could make out, the thunder boomed again, and a tall, slender, pale creature whizzed out from behind the trees heading for them.

Lightning crackled around both hands, fanged teeth bared. Its eyes were glowing with cruelty.

Lexie smiled.

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