It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the end of the Dauntless’s story came back to Mount Aeternia. After all, Keeper had to have gotten its claws on their souls somehow, and it wasn’t like it absorbed souls from across all of Aeternia.

Yet the fact we were headed there?

Yeah, it did surprise me.

Also made me wonder about Sebastian and why he’d been there. The most likely reason I could think of was Keeper. He’d made it clear that plenty of people had visited over the years. Yet there were plenty of secrets buried across Aeternia. For all I knew, he was after one I hadn’t even found.

There hadn’t been any mention of Sebastian in Balthum’s diaries, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t met him. It just meant Balthum had thought he was either too important or too unimportant to write about. Given the former Magus Dominus’ general disposition, I was inclined to guess the latter.

The briefing continued around me as they got into the particulars, discussing both Balthum’s and Sebastian’s strengths and weaknesses. It seemed that Sebastian was very averse to physical confrontations, preferring to almost exclusively act through his agents.

His soul-enslaved agents.

That he mostly used folk that any civilized person would want to see gone had kept Terra Vista’s high command from devoting more than cursory attention to him.

Of course, that had all changed when he’d taken one of them. Didn’t matter that the man was rumored to be worse than Sebastian himself, it had spooked the big wigs.

“We sure we even wanna capture this guy?” Kezil asked, arms crossed. “Sounds like he does more good than most.”

“We have our orders,” the captain replied, frowning. “And not a lot of latitude in how to interpret them.”

“Were he to simply execute these men, I would find myself inclined to ignore high command’s order,” Vaden said, rolling his fingers along the hilt of his sword. “Yet soul-magic is banned for a reason.”

“Command has made several exceptions,” Suzenne noted, though she didn’t sound pleased by the fact. “This really does seem like we’re being used to Spell away command’s dirty laundry.”

“I’m open to alternatives,” the captain said with a shrug. “Preferably ones that don’t lead to you being exiled from your home for the rest of your lives.”

“Wouldn’t be so bad, if we were,” Kezil said with a shrug. “Least we got our families, isn’t that right, Perry?”

“Yeah,” I said, the roof of my mouth dry.

Was suddenly thinking it wasn’t such a good thing I’d gotten Bevel and Ari to come along. With the speed of the Shadow, it didn’t seem like it would take us long to make the trip to Cape Aeternia.

And depending on how long the search took. Well, we might be out of the trial in less than a day.

Which was the good news. The bad was that none of these people had survived the experience.

I looked at each of them in turn. I’d had a hard time accepting it, since it had been keeping me away from home, but they’d all become important to me. Friends.

And I was about to watch them die.

A better man would’ve probably found a way to avoid it. To help them live, keep the trial going as long as possible.

I wasn’t that better man.

“What if… what if he decides us just being there is a threat?” I asked into a lull. “What if he decides to… eliminate the threat?”

“Boy’s got the right of it,” Kezil said, shifting in place, looking like he wanted to spit but with nowhere to do so. “Too dangerous to risk. Not even what we signed up for.”

“I must concur. Though I would enjoy testing myself against such a foe, the risk is too great, with my fellow’s families aboard,” Vaden said, nodding towards me and Kezil.

“I… I don’t think we’ll have much choice,” Suzenne said, staring down at the tablet in front of her.

“Suzenne?” Captain Sidhe asked softly. “What did you find?”

“Felor. If she’s been notified of the mission - which it would be foolish to assume she hadn’t - if she’s been informed, then if we fail to tag him, she’ll consider it a personal betrayal. She’ll come after us, not stopping until she’s hunted us all down. Our family too, even those we left back home,” Suzenne said, her hands shaking so badly she was barely able to hold the tablet.

Vaden and I each reached over to her at the same time, hands on her shoulders.

“That’s that then,” Kezil said, crossing his arms and staring up at the ceiling. “Front take me, they finally decided to be rid of us.”

“There remains a path forward, distasteful as it may be,” Captain Sidhe reminded us. “At least the region around Mount Aeternia is scarcely populated.”

The fact I didn’t have any news of Felor descending in the past meant that we likely wouldn’t succeed in our task.

It was… it was time. To tell them.

“Listen. I… I have something crazy I need to tell you. Something you’re not going to want to believe,” I said, forcing the words out.

They all shifted, and I couldn’t help but feel awful about the glimmer of hope in their eyes. Even the captain seemed ready to hear some hopeful news from their genius enchantineer.

“When I first set foot on the Dauntless, I didn’t expect to find friends. I was there to learn,” I said, working my way up to it. “Now. Well, now you’re all important to me. And I can’t… I can’t let you go into this blind. There are things I’ve never told you. Things that will be hard to wrap your heads around. But you have a right to know. Before it’s too late.”

And so, I told them the truth. All of it. The long, ugly truth.

Kezil stormed off three times, coming back to accuse me of lying. Suzenne sat and shook silently. Vaden nodded, gaze distant but eyes clear, as if only now did life make sense.

And the captain. The captain stayed on mission.

“None of that matters. If you’re right… well, then this’ll be our last mission together. Just… the parameters have changed a little. We still have to play it through. Can’t be damning you with us.”

“Sure we can,” Kezil snorted, before putting his head in his hands and letting out a muffled scream. He’d done that a lot after I told him I didn’t know what happened to his family. “No… no, you’re right captain. Boy’s done right by us, all the way through.”

“He could have chosen other paths,” Vaden said, still staring out the window. “Ones that left us used or hollow shells. Even abandoned us. Kezil is right. Percival is our friend.”

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“Can’t believe the one part that’s true is you have a family,” Suzenne grumbled, which earned a chuckle out of the rest.

“Sorry.”

A short while later, the captain dismissed us, and I made my way back to Bevel and Ari, filling them in on what was happening.

“This is the same man your friend is pursuing, is he not?” Ari asked from where she was sitting on one of the narrow bunks.

“Most likely. Certainly seems to be the same man,” I said, taking a seat beside her.

“Yep. Hope we get to meet him. Uncle Calbern said he was his mentor, so wouldn’t he be kinda like Calbern’s Papa?”

I stared at Bevel. “That was supposed to be a private conversation.”

“But you didn’t even put up a shield,” Bevel replied, tilting her head and pointing to the air shield ensuring our privacy at that very moment.

I chuckled shaking my own head. “Fair enough. Anyway, I… I’m not too sure about whether Calbern would consider Sebastian his father. Maybe, but I get the impression their relationship isn’t really like ours.”

“That’s ‘cause we’re too fraying awesome,” Bevel said, doing a fist pump towards the floor.

“Indeed,” Ari agreed, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Though I must admit to some worry. While these trials are generally safe, a reproduction of such a man seems like it may be an exception.”

“Hope not,” I said, rubbing my head. “Either way, getting you two involved might be trickier than I expected. No one’s willing to put you guys in danger. Not since you’re… real. Was hard enough to convince me to do my part. Besides which, I’m not certain how much we can actually change things.”

“We can still learn though, right?” Bevel asked, tapping the lighting enchantment near her head.

“Yeah. We should definitely take the opportunity to learn as much as we can. This whole ship seems like it’s based around experimental designs.” Ari, Bevel and I all exchanged a glance at that, a smile on my face. “So with that in mind, what do you say we get to it?”

I was met with a whoop from Bevel, and a demure yet just as enthusiastic nod from Ari.

The next few hours were spent poking our noses into every corner of the ship, joking and taking notes as we went.

Kezil eventually found us, demanding to know what we were doing. I told him it was a family bonding exercise. He stomped off, muttering to himself about ‘damned genius enchantineers and their damned genius families’ but didn’t interrupt us otherwise.

Eventually, the captain announced that we’d be slowing down, and that we should all find appropriate seating. I joined Ari and Bevel in the dining area which doubled as the overflow safety seating area.

Then we were landing at a point just outside Tetherfall.

We emerged from the ship, and glancing at Bevel, I realized something I hadn’t considered until that moment. We were back in Tetherfall before her family had been taken.

She was putting on a brave face, but I could tell she was practically chomping at the bit to go see them.

Kneeling down next to her, I pulled her into a one armed hug. Not trapping her, but making sure she took a moment to listen. “Hey. Remember what that family above was like?”

Bevel nodded, not saying anything.

“Right. Well, if your family is here, they’re probably going to be similar. So, you’ll be able to see them, but they might not see you. And even if they do, they probably won’t recognize you, okay?”

Bevel nodded again, still not saying anything.

“Okay. Well, know that no matter what happens, I love you,” I said, ruffling her hair before pressing a kiss against the top of her head.

She leaned against me, then nodded once more. “Love you too, Papa.”

“Good. Now get out there, and remember, I’m here if you need me,” I said, giving her hair one last ruffle.

This time she took off, leaping into the air. The squad, who’d been quietly been making preparations glanced up at her, all of them turning to stare at me.

Then Kezil grumbled out, “Damned genius enchantineers and their damned genius families.”

Vaden barked out a laugh, clapping Kezil on the back, and just like that, with a few shaking heads, Bevel’s stunt was dismissed.

Gathering together, we went over the plan again. We each had a special enchanted rod that would let us shoot one of the tracking beacons - ones I had apparently designed - at whoever we pointed the rod at.

The next few hours were spent canvassing the village. I was certain there was going to be an altercation between Balthum and Captain Sidhe at some point, but the Magus Dominus never bothered to greet us.

That the woman he had pined over for years had come into his domain and he hadn’t even noticed…

If he wasn’t such a monster, I might’ve felt bad for him. Instead, I shared a laugh about it with Ari after mentioning the fact.

“Would’ve preferred never to set foot in this place,” the captain said, having apparently overheard us. “There was a reason I never followed the man, no matter how much I once loved him.”

I didn’t get a chance to respond, because, surprisingly, I spotted our target. I simply stood and stared for a second as he walked out of one of the storehouses that sat above Tetherfall, his cane tapping the ground with each step.

Captain Sidhe noticed my gaze. Her eyes narrowed, raising her rod, only to lower it half a second later, pulling me back.

“Too many civilians,” she ground out as he moved into a small group of Tethered, shaking her head. “We’ll need to wait for a better shot.”

I followed along, shaking off my surprise. Sebastian really had been in Tetherfall. We were only a couple steps away when voices cried out behind us.

A pair of familiar faces emerged, Grivis and just behind him, a bored looking Balthum.

Sidhe stopped in place, eyes narrowing. Her fingers drifted lower, tracing the edge of the rod’s trigger. To my surprise, as Balthum greeted Sebastian, she lifted and fired. Before it had even landed, she grabbed the second rod from my hip, aiming once more and firing just as fast.

The first of the trackers landed on Balthum’s robe. The man clearly didn’t notice.

I never got a chance to confirm if the second landed, but considering that Sebastian was still alive, I suspected it hadn’t. Not in the real scenario.

It didn’t take long before we were back at the ship. The captain started pacing back and forth, continually looking back towards the village.

When the others finally returned, Kezil apologizing for missing his own shot, the captain waved it off. “Mine landed. He’s marked.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. She hadn’t looked back once.

Turning back, I scanned the horizon.

“She’ll be back,” Ari said, squeezing my hand, clearly referring to Bevel.

“Not worried about that, exactly,” I said. No what I was worried about was that Balthum and Sebastian had both been on the more real end of the simulations. Still scripted, but the sort that at least reacted to changes in their environment.

Why the trial had chosen to include that, I didn’t know. Whatever the reason, it worried me.

Thankfully, Bevel returned a short while later, her face stretched in an unfamiliar frown. She came straight to me, hugging me tightly. As soon as Sidhe saw Bevel, she ordered us all back on the ship. She didn’t even wait for us to get strapped in. “Percival, trigger the trackers. We’re leaving. Everyone buckle up.”

I nodded, finding the trigger already in my hand. It was a disconcerting feeling, to feel myself trigger the key rune sequence without actually doing anything.

It seemed that little event had been scripted.

Around me, the rest of the squad hurried to take their seats. I joined Bevel and Ari in the dining room once more, my autonomy returned to me.

The ship started to rumble, though I could tell almost immediately that something was wrong.

That feeling was only compounded when the front of the dining area was suddenly ripped open, leaving us exposed to open air.

As the ship struggled to right itself, I caught glimpses of a woman with a golden axe slung over her shoulder. Pressing on that muscle that slowed my relative perception of time, I was just barely able to make out her motions as she attacked Balthum.

She was yelling something too, though the words were too distorted to make out.

Then the Shadow spun and they were out of sight.

Less than a second later, we crashed down.

“Everyone alright?” I asked, undoing the safety buckle. I really hated how my magic was restricted inside these trials.

“Quite,” Ari said, waving a hand and removing our buckles with a quiet click.

“So not fair,” I chuckled before pushing to my feet.

“Woulda been better if we just flew,” Bevel said, knocking herself on the back of her head.

“I can’t fly right now. You, Ari?”

She nodded, and I sighed. “Right, guess that’s what I get for being a major character.”

Ari patted me on the shoulder, copied a second later by Bevel.

Picking ourselves up, we made our way out of the ship, each of us taking a moment to look around. The Sparrow’s Shadow was well and truly destroyed, pieces of the sleek airship scattered over at least half a mile.

I’d barely had time to get my bearings when a shape flashed past, cutting through the sky.

Felor stood there, glaring down at us, golden ax held loosely in one hand, young babe sucking at her breast cradled in the other. The sight should’ve been amusing, and perhaps to someone not on the receiving end of that glare it would’ve been.

Instead, I felt a genuine moment of terror, meeting that gaze. Because that didn’t feel like the gaze of a mere copy.

Below her lay the corpses of the others, each of them beheaded.

Kezil was with his family, having vainly tried to stand in front of them. Vaden’s arms were wrapped around Suzenne’s lifeless body, and the captain was only a few paces away from them.

“I am sorry it came to this, but I cannot allow his taint to spread,” Felor said, the words seeming to knock the breath out of me despite barely being loud enough to hear.

There wasn’t time to think about her words, even with my enhanced mental perception, since a fraction of a second after she spoke, that spinning ax was hefted, then slashed sideways. It should’ve missed. Afterall, she’d never let go of the ax.

Instead, it hit all three of us at once.

Far greater than the horror I’d felt when I’d first seen Felor appear, was the bone chilling dread that went up my spine at seeing the heads of Bevel and Ari roll away from their bodies before I, finally, blissfully, lost consciousness.