Again, Rix wasn't sure how long they had left him in the box. He continued to experiment with the quiet room as best he could. It definitely provided some relief, but he didn't find any way to improve its effects. Much like any of his visualizations, it became more difficult to hold the longer he worked on it, until his capacity to maintain it was measured in seconds. Eventually, he gave up.

Still, when they finally decided he'd had enough and removed him, the difference was clear. He still felt raw and damaged, but the edge had been taken off the aftermath, like a tiny part of himself had been shielded from the constant assault.

Soon enough, he again found himself in the interrogation room staring down Xu Sho. Unlike last time, the man looked frazzled. It was subtle — a barely perceptible tightness to his jaw, a rigid set to his shoulders — but having seen the First Master in all his confident, imperious glory, Rix clocked the difference.

The sight buoyed him just a little.

Much like last time they'd talked, if Sho had known anything concrete, there would have been no need for conversation. The very fact that they were again sitting in that room told Rix that nobody had cracked. He felt a momentary rush of appreciation for his friends. They'd kept his secret, even in the face of solitary's draining horror.

Sho didn't sit. He paced the width of the room once, his footsteps silent on the stone, before turning to face Rix.

"Two full rotations in that box," Sho began, his voice devoid of its usual placid authority. It was strained, sharp at the edges. "And still nothing. That little sect girl keeps asking for fruit. Your gang leader quotes prison regulations at me. None of you break. That surprises me."

Rix suppressed a smile thinking about Luna burying Sho in her particular brand of nonsense. "It shouldn't," he said. "Like I told you, we've got nothing to confess."

Sho gave an acknowledging nod. "It does seem that way."

His gaze drifted down to Rix's hands, then back to his face. "My son was a Peak Whisper. He bore my bloodline, the might of my corporation, and more you couldn't possibly comprehend. He could have been a Spark over a year ago if not for his own arrogance. What you said in our last conversation holds true: he could not have fallen to a piece of gutter-trash like you." His eyes narrowed. "And yet, when I look at you, my gut tells me differently. My gut tells me you are a viper hiding in the grass."

Rix's stomach dropped. How much did the man truly know? He was a member of the Jade Shadows, after all. Given that they hunted cultivators, he had to assume they had some method of detecting them.

But no specific accusations followed.

"Ordinarily, this would be adequate reason to continue your interrogation. The Warden well understands my position and is eager to make things right." A muscle twitched in Sho's face. "And yet, there is pressure from above him to end this disruption."

Rix couldn't stop the shock flashing across his face. "There is?" Had Kokuryu somehow intervened on his behalf? That didn't seem possible, but nothing else made sense. He'd never met anyone from Ironguard Enterprises except those employed within Spiritlock itself, and they were all obviously subordinate to the Warden.

Sho studied him, as if trying to judge the authenticity of his reaction. "There is," he confirmed. "The Warden received instructions this morning. If two turns in the box revealed nothing, there is nothing to discover and my son's death was merely a casualty of the realm." The way he twisted those last words said how little he thought of that.

The man took a step closer, looming over Rix and once again unmasking his Path. It struck Rix like a fist. "How is it that one so low as you has sway in the highest of places?"

Rix drew himself up straight, as though fighting a strong wind. "I don't know."

Sho compressed his lips, dissatisfied. There was a cold curiosity in his eyes now. This situation had thrown up far more questions than he was expecting, and Sho was used to getting the answers he sought. Rix got the impression the man was seriously considering bucking the orders and pushing further still, conducting his own little torture right here right now. There would be a price to pay for it, for sure, but perhaps he considered it worthwhile.

Eventually though, he shrouded his Path once more and turned away in disgust. "Well, however you've managed it, your punishment ends today. All of you. You are to be returned to your duties."

Hope flared in Rix's belly, only to be snuffed out almost immediately as the man continued. "But don't mistake this interruption for a conclusion. I will not rest until this crime is answered for. My reach extends far further than somebody like you can fathom. I have a group of friends who are sending a...specialist. A Truthseeker."

Rix furrowed his brow. He'd never heard that term before, but it didn't bode well.

"I thought your orders were to leave us be," Rix said.

In a flash, Sho was inches from his face, slamming his palms into the table. "They do not order me!"

The suddenness of it sent Rix recoiling. It was the first time he'd seen the First Master's veneer crack. Apparently even he had his limits.

Sho closed his eyes momentarily, regaining control. "The request was that your group's time in solitary come to an end. This will be so. But a Truthseeker's method of operation is significantly quicker and more subtle. It needn't be so…official. When the time comes, I will need but a scant fifteen minutes of your time." For the first time, he flashed Rix a toothy smile. "One of the chief sponsors of the arena talking with a promising new fighter? Nobody will deny me that small pleasure."

Rix suspected he was right. He could obviously stop battling in the arena, but it likely wouldn't make a difference. If the man wanted one more conversation, he would inevitably get it.

"You may think you have suffered now," Sho continued, his voice taking on a chilling monotone, "but the Truthseeker will cast this experience in a new light. It's their bloodline that makes them so special. It lets them flay your mind, strip every lie, every secret from your very being until all that's left is the naked truth. It's a violation, I'm told; a clean death is kinder. But it is effective."

"They won't find anything," Rix replied, trying, and mostly failing, to sound nonchalant.

Sho scoffed. "I think otherwise."

The man rose once more. "The truthseeker sect is small, and their services are in demand. As such, it will be three months until he arrives." He spread his hands. "So, I'm going to make you one final offer. You can tell me what I want to know now and I'll ensure that all involved receive a clean death. Or, in a few months, you will be party to an agony few in this universe have been unlucky enough to experience."

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Rix's mouth felt impossibly dry, but he met Sho's gaze. "For the last time, I don't know anything."

Sho let out a tiny, sharp exhalation. If Rix didn't know better, he'd almost say the man was impressed.

"Very well," said Sho. He moved to leave, but paused in the doorway. "I will learn what happened here."

Then he was gone.

Rix slumped back in his chair, letting his show of bravado fall away. His body ached, a deep, pervasive burn from the array. But a new sensation was beginning to override it. A cold sense of clarity.

Again, he had a definitive clock to work against. Three months to find Tolson's tunnels. Three months to make a plan.

Three months to escape before they tore open his mind.

***

It was some time before the guards collected him. Without a word, they led him up through an unfamiliar network of tunnels and into the Cauldron.

While this part of the prison was new to him, it felt relatively familiar. The same brown stone corridors, the same dim corners, the same thick, mana-imbued walls. The Cauldron was like the Farm's big brother. There were more prisoners here, so everything was larger, but the basic floorplan was similar: a yard, a mess hall, a training area, a dive site.

It turned out that it was close to dinner time, so the divers were done for the day. That meant a great many sets of eyes followed him as he was escorted through the yard to his cell. Some of their owners were familiar — fighters he'd seen in the arena — but he pointedly ignored them. He was cognizant that he was, once again, the smallest fish in the pond up here, and that probably meant that some of the locals would see him as vulnerable. When that had happened in the farm with Yutaro on day-one, things had gotten out of control so quickly. He wouldn't make that mistake again. Hopefully his ongoing membership in the Shadow Runners would shield him from would-be predators once his affiliation became known.

His cell was in Block B this time. If you'd laid it side-by-side with his previous room, he'd have been hard pressed to tell the difference.

"Is there anything I need to know about the Cauldron?" he asked the guard accompanying him. The man still hadn't spoken a word to Rix since arriving, and that trend continued as he merely shrugged then left.

Rix watched him go with bemusement. He almost found himself missing Scarface. At least he had personality, even if that personality was 'smug asshole.'

That thought brought everything that had happened rushing back to the front of his mind. He didn't know who had thrown their names to Sho. It could have been Scarface, the Divemaster, an Iron Hand member who was bitter enough to turn snitch — the list of people with suspicions was long. In the end, it didn't really matter. The fact was, they had Sho's attention now.

The threat of a Truthseeker was a terrifying prospect. Depending on exactly how they worked and what sort of questions they asked, the cost could be higher than just his own life. His head was full of forbidden secrets — Luna's cultivation, Wellspring's real role, Breaker's existence. Not everyone might know what to do with any of that, but Xu Sho and the Jade Shadows certainly would. The idea of coming here to exact his revenge, only to wind up dooming more cultivators to die was simply unacceptable.

The silver lining was that Rix had a window to stop that from happening. He needed to be single-minded in taking advantage of that.

The rumble in his stomach broke through his reverie. He was still uncertain how long they'd left him in the box, but he hadn't eaten the entire time. He could handle a little hunger, but the hole in him right now suddenly felt vast.

It didn't take him long to find his way to the mess hall. The room was much the same as the Farm's, just on a grander scale. As he queued up to receive his food, he felt a pang of sadness looking into the kitchen to a sea of unfamiliar faces. To his great surprise — and despite his best efforts — he'd actually left people back in the Farm that he'd miss. The weight of it hadn't hit him when he'd said his goodbyes. It hit him now, when he could feel their absence.

It wasn't even that they'd been incredibly close. Their relationships had been short, founded in shared circumstance and common interest. But trust is forged quickly in fire. Wing hadn't given him up even under intense suffering. Tolson had likely saved his life several times over. Nobody had stood by him like that since his family died.

He hoped he'd get to spend time with them again, but it didn't feel likely. They could theoretically talk in a few places where the halves of the prison shared borders, but those weren't exactly conducive to long conversations. And in a few months, he'd be dead, or have absconded to continue his climb to power, while back in the Farm, they would all just keep on as they were. Their trajectories were worlds apart from his.

His melancholy lifted a little as he spotted Luna across the room. She was sitting at a table with a group of people he didn't know. Though she looked haggard, she still managed an animated wave to beckon him over.

"You look how I feel," she said, as he slipped into a seat next to her.

He chuckled. "Right back at you."

From across the table, a man nodded. "The box'll do that. Like being stepped on from all directions at once."

"Some people pay good money for that," said another woman with a snicker.

A glimmer of amusement spread across the first man's face, though it didn't last long. "Well, shit. Guess I'm in the wrong business then." He was wiry and tall. He looked older, maybe fifty in mortal terms, though it was difficult to tell because unlike most other prisoners, his head was shaved completely bald. This would have been enough to make him stand out, but it wasn't his most striking quality by a long shot. That was reserved for his tattoos. Nearly every inch of his exposed skin was covered in ink. The work varied in quality from artful to downright crude, and it was difficult to tell where one piece ended and the next started. Rix briefly wondered if the man was actually brazen enough to be covered from head to toe in a bootleg array, but the ink didn't have the same quality as the mark the adorned his own chest.

He sized Rix up. "I'm Karn. You're Rix, I'm guessing."

Rix nodded.

"Welcome to the Cauldron," Karn said, though the heaviness of his voice belied his words. "And our little corner of it." He rolled his tongue around his mouth. "Wing's asked if we can take you in. Word from her is that both of you are pretty handy."

Rix and Luna shared a look. "We can be useful," he said. He didn't want to oversell himself, but he was proud of everything he'd achieved.

Karn looked sceptical. "We'll see, I guess." He let out a sigh. "You should know, this place…it's not like it is in the Farm. Down there, Wing's queen bee. Particularly now." He gave Rix a brief, appraising look. "Up here, though, we're just part of the pack. Lots more corporate interests in the gangs up here. Lots more muscle too."

The woman who'd cracked the joke interjected. "What he's saying is, being with us means something up here, but we don't rule the roost."

"We'll keep that in mind," Rix replied.

"I'm Tali, by the way," the woman said. She was pretty, with fine features and pale Tatsuyan skin. Her hair was cut short, just below her ears — an unusual choice in Cloudpiercer. It gave her a somewhat childlike air.

Tali glanced around, then locked eyes with Rix. "So, I have a question. Is it true?"

Rix kept his expression neutral, though he suspected he knew what she was asking. "Is what true?"

She leaned in conspiratorially, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Is it true that you're responsible for the death of a certain Omen's son."

"Tali," Karn warned with a growl.

"What? You honestly don't want to know?" she retorted. "Xu Sho had them in the box for a week. If they did it, and he still couldn't get a confession..." She looked at Rix with a mixture of awe and apprehension. "I want to know how they're sitting here alive."

"Seems to me like you answered your own question," Karn said, pointedly. "If they'd done it, they wouldn't be sitting here, now would they?" His eyes flicked towards Rix with that last statement.

Rix hadn't been sure exactly what everybody knew, but the message was clear. They were sweeping this under the rug.

"Correct," he said carefully. Karn nodded in approval. Tali didn't look entirely satisfied, but she dropped the issue.

Rix and Luna spent the rest of the meal in relative silence, taking in the group banter. It didn't feel that different to their usual Shadow Runner table, save the absence of familiar faces. Given time, perhaps they'd find their place here as they had in the Farm, but Rix suspected they wouldn't be here long enough, one way or the other.

The moment he and Luna had both finished their meals, he caught her eye and nodded outside. There was a lot to discuss that was best done privately. There was also the matter of working out exactly what the hells had happened to him when his meridians had ruptured. His spiritual network still felt in tatters, so he'd been holding off any sort of exploration, but his curiosity was building to a breaking point.

Excusing themselves, they left the room and headed out to explore the training yard.

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