Two days later, Daniel stood in a very tense room with practically everyone important in Pinion's Point. Before he'd come here that would've been Esket Marrow and leaders of the other teams above level 2, as well as a handful of local civic and religious leaders.

Times had changed. Zolyra had her own list of confidants, and you only made it on that if she was absolutely sure you weren't loyal to Soraso. Esket had fallen off, though to be fair not everyone who'd heard his confession was here either. Tlara sure wasn't, or the majority of Daniel's team. Murdon was, Touanki wasn't. He didn't entirely understand the logic of that choice, or a few others, but he also wasn't the one in charge. Zolyra's attributes would provide her insight he wouldn't have, to say nothing of her command experience.

Neither was he sure why they were meeting. Silora was looking petrified in her seat around what used to be a dining table so it was a fair bet she was involved. She'd been hard at work trying to find out the situation in the rest of the fallen kingdom, only able to do so as Zolyra had helped her steal her Focus Chamber from where it had been built in the Shattered Falls.

Everyone spent a quiet minute watching Zolyra as the draconoid Commander minded the magical runes covering the walls. Usually they faded after she activated whatever ability locked down an area, but when she stepped away this time they remained visible. "We're secure." Her weariness in those words showed that while Daniel had found moments of enjoyment and relaxation over the past week, she'd had neither. At the same time, there was firmness there as she briefed what might as well have been a war room. "Ladies and gentlemen, the current Regent of Threst is the greatest threat to the Octyrrum in the Realm, perhaps the world as a whole. Most of you were here when he admitted cooperation with the dark gods of monsters. He intends to take every region that once swore to Rikendia and turn it to their purpose. We are here today to stop him."

The corner of the table where Lograve and Murdon sat was the darkest at that moment. "He has Zozar there to support him," the Arcanist pointed out grimly. "I only know of that gestalt by reputation. Rikendia was able to pressure them into holding here, but they never tried breaking up their Sojourn. With the wind holding the top of the mountain, as it were, I don't see how we can entertain sieging Aurus."

"Aughal's Tyrant is planning to attack the city," Silora blurted out. Zolyra gave the Fate a withering gaze that caused the shavi to shrink back.

"What?" Murdon's voice had grown dangerous at the mention of his former assistant turned betrayer. Whatever impact having Tounaki at his side would've done they'd never know, but in this timeline the sound of Murdon's chair scraping back dominated the conversation. One draconoid looked intensely at the other, making several between them fear they would begin exchanging breath attacks. "Don't tell me you're intending on working with them."

"It's our only choice." Zolyra gestured and a quill began rapidly drawing a local map of the kingdom on the table's surface. It was essentially a labeled hex grid, making a now dull part of Daniel's mind wonder where the dice were. Each region name was accompanied by a small icon, and of the roughly twenty hexes, most had either a sword or the Octyrrum's version of a question mark. Only Aurus had a shield. "Soraso put out a call to reform the kingdom here. Silora has verified his progress to the best of her ability while pretending to still be in his service, and Aurus is the only region directly opposed to him. Others raise concerns, ask for time, but none outright object or suggest alternatives."

The local head of Scythe's church, the only other besides Quala that had been deemed trustworthy, took in a sharp breath. "They want to make that traitor a King?"

"Yes. We can't let that happen." The Commander waved her hand and the ink on the table evaporated. "For those of you that don't know, King is a special class of the Octyrrum awarded when enough regions swear fealty to another. Hubward, it's practically required because any unclaimed region soon becomes claimed. Think of it like a Tyrant whose powers extend to multiple regions." Her voice grew distant. "I saw one temporarily elevate an army made from their guard to effectively level 2 attributes. The King in question was level 5. If Soraso gains that class, we won't have to worry about Zozar. Once sworn, regions are bound to a King. He will use their resources to crush any resistance."

So, super-Tyrant. Great. Daniel was surprised to find there was more depth to the Octyrrum's system than he'd known about. People had talked about kingdoms and he'd known he'd been in one, but it was beginning to sound like the default state of territories not adjacent to the Crest was obedience to one monarch or another. Was this the governing system the gods had found most stable? I guess it's not like our democracy at home doesn't have its problems, but Soraso is the perfect example for why putting one man in charge of so much is a bad idea.

"What is this Tyrant proposing we do?" Janice asked. It said something that a room that didn't have a level 4 team captain did include her. While Daniel had been nearly killing himself and his team reviving Hunter, she'd been dutifully maintaining order in town. That hadn't escaped the Commander's notice. "I think I speak for the people of the Thormundz when I say they are one of the last we should trust."

"Rarely does fate allow us perfect allies." Zolyra's reply showed she was just as happy about circumstances as Murdon's look suggested. "Aurus has numbers, fealty of all other remaining settlements, infrastructure, agriculture, emplaced defenses…" she trailed off, though no one got the sense it was because she'd run out of things to say. "Our one advantage is that no one else is willing to send forces here on either side. With the Tyrant's help we may have a chance."

"And yet, I feel like we do the enemy's work for them." Quala leaned forward on the table, symbol of the Hand clutched in one of hers. "Much as I would enjoy seeing my sister again, meeting her on a field of battle stained by mortal blood is not the reunion I seek."

"Our target would only be Soraso," Zolyra assured. "If we can remove him quickly, the new Regent would be able to contest Zozar despite the level disparity." A new front opened in the conversation as a question was subconsciously asked across the table. All passed an appraising glance over Zolyra, some wondering if this was some kind of game on her end to seize power herself. Daniel was surprised to find he was included in the estimations of those who knew his deepest secrets, including the Commander herself.

If I took over Threst, how would that work with my other Spoke? Could I absorb it and gain its powers, or would that just tie me to the region? While a sword that could create portals was neat, he wasn't jumping to take on the same amount of responsibility that had crushed Murdon when he'd first met him. That being said, with the attention on him Daniel felt it was the time to raise the point he'd wanted to. "There may be something in the ruins that can help us too." Zolyra nodded at him to continue and he brought his Focus Shield out in front of him, navigating to the stored Arcadian alerts to confirm he hadn't initially misread them.

Arcadian Security Alert

>Corruption at Lower Aft Power Core node fully purged.

>Total remaining corruption: 96%

>Warning! Several incompletely purged nodes remain. Immediate attention is required to prevent node relapse.

>Closest affected node: Aft Starboard Ventral Battery

>Processing…

>Action successful. Path routed to nearest incompletely purged node.

"I'm almost positive the ruins are a massive ship the size of a city." What he wanted to say was the Arcadian was some kind of terrestrial spaceship, but no one would understand the reference given the Octyrrum's restricted knowledge on other worlds. "I should say that nothing has outright confirmed this, but there've been signs. When I was there last, I was told about a section of the ship called a 'battery'."

"Mana storage?" Zolyra asked with reserved interest. "If that can somehow be transferred to our forces it would be beneficial, but entering that place would invite reprisal. The logistics would become tricky if we wait until the attack begins."

"See, I'd say you were right, but I got the notification for it right after we claimed what was already a giant battery. The Arcadian called that a 'power core'. But this isn't just a battery, it's an 'aft, starboard, ventral battery'." A few in the room wore looks of confusion at that, and to be fair Daniel had had to ask Lograve what ventral had meant. "It's something on the back, right, bottom side. Battery usually means something with energy storage, but in the context of a ship, it can also mean a weapons emplacement."

"Hold it," the Scythe Cleric spoke up, and Daniel was beginning to see why the gods had been considering reigning in the destruction god's behavior if she had anything to do with her. "We're talking about pre-Collapse weapons? Fuck yeah, I want in on this."

"How powerful?" Zolyra asked, ignoring the Cleric.

"Well, no idea," Daniel admitted. "But there's a shipwide teleportation network in place so it's not going to be weak." He looked to Evalyn, who had remained silent thus far, and saw in her eyes that they were still going forward with the pitch. "I'll be honest, I don't want my team in Aurus. We're not used to fighting mortals."

"Few Blessed are," the Commander returned, but not with enough rejection to cut him short.

"Sure, but we can do more good if we can capture whatever's there." He was smoothing over a lot of wrinkles, like if they could fire said weapon through the sky limit, if it could aimed, or if it was too destructive and would blow Aurus off the map. But he didn't want to make Khiat kill people. He wasn't thrilled about it either, but there was an even more compelling reason. "Also, when this goes down people are going to be in danger. The hunters here are going to be missing, and while I doubt Soraso would go so far as to attack innocent people if we take the fight to them, the monsters won't be so kind. There are safe areas in the Arcadian where they can shelter. Not everyone, but some." Alex included.

While Zolyra wasn't willing to deny Daniel's plan, neither did she commit to it. "I'll decide on this once we have a better idea of the final plan. We have a few weeks before the Tyrant's forces will be ready. Word is the gestalt themself is coming. They've gained some form of mass protection ability that will block Fates from detecting them after reaching level 3."

"Level 3!?" Murdon exclaimed. "In so little time?"

"That's the nature of Tyrants. And Kings." With that reminder, the conversation turned back to a tactical discussion of how to break past Aurus' defenses. If all went well Daniel wouldn't have to know the details, but he paid attention just in case he wound up aiming the BFG he hadn't found in the armory at the place later. The basics were to contain the fighting to the upper third altitude of the mountain. The concentration of power worked for them here as the majority of noncombatants would be out of that area. That dynamic would last about as long as the fighting would need to spill out across the rest of the terrain.

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High level powers what they are, the chance of collateral damage is probably high. Zozar's supposedly taken over the entire mountain top, someone that big has to have attacks that could shatter Pinion's Point. Gadriel's old remark about breaking apart mountains came to mind, but he stopped reminiscing when the talk turned to the mountain's interior.

"What of the earth gestalt?" Murdon asked. "I know of a large colony within Aurus. While the people of the elements are extremely loyal to their collectives, earth and air are separate. Do we know where they stand?"

"No." Zolyra looked toward Silora to explain further, and the shavi grimaced.

"I tried to reach out, but Zozar… it's like I'm in a Spire that's completely locked down! It's unfair. They shouldn't be able to ward the entire city." Her eyes found Daniel as she took a large sip from her wineglass, as if he'd somehow given Zozar Divination Aegis just to spite her. "I mean, it's not like I could talk to the plant people and figure it out. Can hardly get anything through Farspeech."

"Can you try to find Khare?" Daniel asked, ignoring the Fate's ridiculousness. "Zolyra, you remember my teammate? They left Pinion's Point for somewhere, and it sounded like it had to do with their people. A Druid we knew showed up later and said some vague stuff that boiled down to them facing a problem, and that… well, I don't know. They said what Willow was doing was giving a lot of people hope."

"No, I can't. Thomas already asked me to," Silora said, still with a frown. "They're probably in Aurus."

"He did?" Huh.

"I don't tend to put much faith in cryptic Druid musings," Zolyra scoffed. "Anything actionable to that?"

"No," Daniel admitted, a little disappointed by the way the Commander had said that. He knew the Druid class had been ostracized to some degree from Marky because of connections people made between it and the Crest. Cloak had even said something about how the Octyrrum partially compensated for the presence of the monster system through it, so they weren't completely wrong either. Neither was that the right viewpoint. "But if I had to guess, the earth gestalt won't be against us."

"That's not good enough to base our plans on. They may remain neutral, or you could just be wrong." The Commander sighed as she realized after the fact how much aggravation was creeping into her voice. "Crest, we've been at this for two hours. I don't think I've been this close to a headache in years."

"Well, it's only the fate of the world if we lose." Zolyra peeked one eye out of the hand she had over her face to tell Lograve exactly how she felt about his humor at the moment.

"Pack it up. We have time to revisit this and I don't have all the details from Aughal yet. And remember, if any of you speak a word of this outside this room you'll learn what I can do with iridium scrolls." Carefully, she unfurled a third of a scroll laced with dull indigo metal from a spot near her primary heart to show she was serious.

With a level 6 scroll in play Daniel would've gladly left to get on with his plans for the night, but there was something he'd been waiting to talk to Zolyra about. "Commander, quick question. Do you know if we have any material I could use to make sending stones? I'm working on a project with Bekali's descendant that could make the ruins easier to clear."

"Assuming I authorize that play?" she grumbled, but considered the question. "Hmm. It's unfortunate you didn't ask before Soraso revealed his betrayal. The remains of the veteran stone eagle taken down near Marbleview function well if you can strip out the part of their essence meant to connect with their minions."

"The…" Daniel gaped, recalling Tounaki's description of the monster when the tale had been told to him. "That thing? I heard it was larger than the lightning dragon. Why the hell are sending stones so expensive if we have that much material?"

"Tell me, you're the Artificer." Zolyra's troubled, tired look broke briefly for a grin. "It's policy. Aurus restricted how many could be sold because of the potential issues that could happen if they flooded the market whenever something like that eagle got taken down. The frequencies they operate on are limited. Regulation started by reserving some for government use and spiraled from there." She sighed, still thinking. "Marbleview was quarrying the body but with Zozar and Soraso's influence I wouldn't ask them for any. I'm sure there's a supply here, I'll see if I can get you some."

"You don't need to know what it's for?"

The same eyes that had picked apart his blast bow design when they'd first seen it rolled in their sockets. "You thought I didn't notice the prototypes that 'Engineer' had in your courtyard? It's interesting work. I haven't seen anyone come that close to a proper golem at his level. I'd run over to Marbleview and grab a wing off that thing myself if I didn't have to stay here and make sure the town stays safe."

"Yeah," Daniel acknowledged, mentally wondering what it would look like to see the Commander pick up a section of stone the size of a castle wall and fly with it. "Thanks!"

"Thank me by giving me something I can use." She turned to the door and checked that her wards were still secure, watching as the glyphs briefly clung to someone as they left before snapping back into place. "You've played it straight with me, and we'd be in far deeper trouble if you hadn't led to Soraso outing himself. This is between just us, a little something to motivate you, or what's inside of you," she added knowingly. "Zozar killed the veteran stone eagle in a single blow."

That wasn't exactly the dramatic revelation Daniel had been expecting given the buildup. "Ok? I mean, you're level 6 too. I definitely don't want to know what you can do with that scroll unless it involves someone very far away from me."

The Commander opened her mouth, paused, and then summoned a second cage of glyphs around them. Despite the second use of the ability, the original one remained active. "You might have seen this considering your track record of fighting anything that comes your way. It's not universal, but there's a general rule to level disparity in hunts. Anything with a level advantage on you has the potential to grievously injure with a clean hit. Two levels is when you get into instant-kill territory."

"That monster was level 5." Daniel hoped it wasn't going where he thought it was going, but Zolyra didn't have any good news for him.

"There hasn't been a positive identification on Zozar since the initial deal that got his Sojourn posted here, and Soraso's Regency secured. That was almost a decade ago. Advancement at my level is tortuously slow if you don't take part in securing a new region, but you can progress." She rolled out her super scroll, though it was for her benefit this time. "It's possible they leveled since then, and if they have, I don't like my chances of beating them."

…

After that terrifying possibility was raised Daniel wanted nothing more than to either run to the Arcadian and stay there forever, or invent some kind of giant fan that would disperse Zozar like so much mist. And he had been making strides in the enchanting arena, using the past few days as downtime to redo wings, abusing the evolved wyvern's scales to upgrade armor by packing in self-repair and echo durability, and yes, making more bullets. He was kind of relieved they hadn't hunted anything recently as he was beginning to build up a stockpile.

Progressing toward mastery of a divine domain wasn't on the table for tonight, at least not until he could begin cutting into the time he'd normally sleep. Instead he sat on the edge of a smaller island close to Pinion's Point, but far enough away that few could look out a window and spot him. After a few minutes, someone joined him. "Spot me?"

"I've got Hunter's ears right now, so yeah. Weren't trying?"

Shuni shrugged out her arms as they shifted back from wings, the sleeves of her smoke-gray wyvernscale cloak flowing back over to cover them. He'd continued his success in altering color by giving her something that would be indistinguishable from the smoke cloud her boots could put out, as well as mix well with her naturally gray feathers. She turned her head at the false chiding in his voice. "If I was, you wouldn't have noticed. Be a bad start if you tumbled off."

"Right. Just keeping me on the edge then?" Without waiting for an answer, Daniel leaned back until his head rested on the short grass growing in the loose soil near the island's edge, his legs still dangling over open air. "It sucks."

Shuni didn't need to ask to know what he meant since she knew where he'd come from. The Rogue checked her surroundings one more time before settling down beside him, not close enough for them to lean against each other, but still within arms reach. "I know I've been pretty anxious since all this shit started. With what you've been through? It's hard to imagine."

"You don't have to, you know. If we get back to the Arcadian Lograve can open a portal back to Earth. You could see what it's like, take in the sights…"

"Escape?"

Daniel breathed a few times, trying to relax himself before answering. "If you wanted to. Zolyra doesn't know about the portal so I didn't tell her everything about my plan, but I think Eido would be a good place for people to shelter. At least short term. They have food problems, though we have enough bags of holding to bring what people would need." They could do it. Eido had an island ten kilometers in diameter to work with. Between the initial deaths leaving housing open and the outer rim mostly empty, they could fit Pinion's Point's population there with some strain. Creating a gap in the sky limit for long enough to get everyone through would be the real challenge.

His thoughts broke off as he realized Shuni hadn't replied yet. Instead, the Rogue was picking at the side of the island and watching clumps of dirt fall off as she detached them. "It'd be so easy to take you up on that. I mean, ignoring the fact that I couldn't go most places without people thinking I was a monster, it's… An entire world, safe. It's hard to believe."

Another reason hung in the air between them, unspoken just like people's concerns over whether Zolyra would reach for Tyranny. Daniel was at the point where he would comfortably admit he liked Shuni as a person. If you got past her trust issues and self-doubt she was reliable, like anyone else on the team. He owed her a lot, got her passions, and now that Khare was with his people it was nice to have someone else around who wouldn't object to getting as many daggers as he'd be willing to enchant.

But did he like her romantically? That was the question. Neither were sure, the only agreement being that they should take things slow. That there was anything to take slowly was a decision in itself. The nuance and complexity did annoy Daniel, but he'd played things fast and loose with Claire and was not going to repeat that mistake. He was a better person, a different person. And since that connection was there, Shuni couldn't just walk through a doorway and leave the problems of the Octyrrum behind.

"I don't see a way it doesn't get out eventually," Daniel remarked, before explaining further, "Earth and the Octyrrum. We can't take in billions of people and save everyone that way, but a few regions? If the truth came out… I can't even imagine."

"It'd be simpler if the monsters all just died and we could bring Eido back here."

"Simple, but that damns all the spirits to whatever's happening in the Astral." Shuni frowned with that, accepting the point. No easy answers to all the world's problems. This isn't what we should be talking about. Daniel sat up and felt his legs swing into the side of the island, dislodging more earth to join what the Rogue was turning up. "You know, we have rogues as a concept in my world. There's a lot of concepts here that are mirrored, but they aren't exactly the same."

Shuni's eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out where he was going with this. "That's not too weird. Wherever there are people you'll have thieves, right?"

"Not just thieves." He smiled encouragingly, trying to put her at ease. "There's this one story that a lot of our culture references, this idea of a gentleman thief." That got Shuni's attention. "I know several versions and the specifics aren't really important. Basically, it's about a guy who goes around stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Think of a place like Aughal, if that makes sense."

It was an auspicious topic to bring up considering Ashier was making their way to the region, not that Shuni knew that. She'd been discouraged after being left out of Zolyra's briefing despite the fact that only Evalyn and Daniel had been invited out of Wingcraft, and he was trying to make up for that now. "Sounds great, but somehow I doubt people on your side are lining up to respect pickpockets."

"No, but there's an understanding that the thief isn't always the villain." Daniel gestured to Shuni in general. "I look at you and I see the badass appearing out of the smoke to stop Bekali from cutting my head off. What I'm trying to say is that you've been in one part of your own world for your entire life. Take it from me, there's parts of Threst's society that are shitty. Who knows how Rogues are seen in other Realms?"

"I doubt it's that much different," Shuni replied bitterly. There wasn't a lot of hope in her voice. "I mean, you think there's a region out there that sees Bards like Heroes?"

"Maybe. I know this one looks up to their songbirds." He smiled again. "Everything goes well, you'll have a chance to find out. I remember what Soraso said to you when we were going into the ruins the first time, how you were 'one of the rare Rogues with a good reputation' or something like that." Daniel shook his head. "That's bullshit. You shouldn't start in a place where you have to justify yourself because of your class. I want you to know that going forward, we'll have your back. We're the people that are making Pinion's Point accept Spinner. If anyone gives you grief wherever we go because of five letters, then they'll have a problem with all of us, not just you."

Shuni was behind him before he had a chance to react. She was right, if she did try then he couldn't catch her Keen Senses or not. The wyvern sleeves he'd enchanted the night before wrapped around him in a hug. Not an intimate one, but Daniel felt more from it than if it had been Evalyn behind him instead. "Thanks. I don't want to seem like someone that needs a constant tailwind, but… but I'm really glad there's someone out there who really sees me."

"It's not like you don't make it hard to." Daniel patted one of her arms as she detached herself. He watched as she returned to sitting on the side, and when he realized she was closer than last time, he didn't mind. Below them, the darkness of Threst's night sky stretched into a black abyss it seemed you could fall forever through. It was a night shared with monsters and traitors, but at least here, at least now, both of them had found some measure of peace.

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