Arriving outside the trial, a scream of primal terror tore its way out of my throat before I could remember that what I’d witnessed hadn’t been real.

I found myself grabbing Bevel, then Ari, bringing them both against me even as their own screams escaped their throats. Ari even scratched at me for a second before collecting herself.

We stood there, breathing heavily for nearly a minute before I finally gathered myself enough to speak.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I took you into that. If I’d known…” I trailed off, clutching them tighter.

Bevel sniffed against my chest, then pushed away, just enough to shake her head. “Wasn’t your fault, Papa. Was that woman’s. She did that. Not to us, but to another family, just like us.”

Ari let out a shuddering breath, before gently pushing away. “Bevel is correct. It was merely… Unsettling. Most unsettling.”

I reached up, rubbing at my neck, still struggling to process the feeling of losing it. It had been strangely painless. More like a cessation of sensation than anything else.

“I… can we go back to your garage, Papa?” Bevel asked, voice low.

“Yeah, sure, we can do that. Ari would-”

“Yes. Time would help. We will have much to do soon, taking a few hours to process things… my father often encouraged me to do so,” Ari said, not releasing my arm. “Though perhaps we should return to Mount Aeternia first. I feel as though I need to leave this place.”

We nodded in agreement, making our way to the Waygate, Conflict standing silently above us as we passed. Even its chains remained still, as though not wanting to disturb us.

We returned to our home within the mountain and found our way to the observation room I’d made so long ago. Neta was there, as she often was, curled into a ball and staring out across Mistvale.

The sight of the valley caused all of us to pause. It had been easy to forget about the changes, with how busy we’d been.

It had changed again, since last I’d seen it.

“Wow,” Bevel said, stepping over to place a hand upon the transparent stone.

Instead of the ugly mess of mana that had dominated it before I’d finished the repairs, the mana now flowed in smooth bands, creating an effect similar to something I’d heard of but never seen on Earth.

An aurora.

The shimmering waves of color were soothing, and we all simply stood there for several minutes. Then Neta stirred, noticing us and came over demanding scritches and cuddles. Broken out of our stupor, each of us took a seat in one of the large cushions spaced about the room.

We exchanged a glance, giving Neta a minute of scritches. After her tribute was paid, I entered my Memory Palace once more.

The moment I was inside, I ran over to the door where Bevel was knocking insistently, the chime ringing in the background. I opened it and Bevel let out a loud sob as she threw herself into my arms.

I wasn’t much better, sliding to a stop.

Before I collapsed, I just barely had the presence of mind to move over and open the door for Ari.

She stepped through gracefully, but her composure collapsed the second Bevel and I hugged her.

All three of us sank down, and while I might not have sobbed as much as either of them, the tears still flowed. I wasn’t entirely certain if it was a good thing that the tears didn’t run dry, here inside my Mental Palace.

Eventually though, the pain and fear ebbed enough for us to at least move inside the shop to the far more comfortable couch.

“I saw my parents,” Bevel said as we sat, hand rubbing over her knees. “Them and Keria and me.”

Not having anything good to say, I simply kept my hand around her shoulder and squeezed.

“They didn’t recognize me, like you said. But they didn’t need to,” Bevel said. “I thought it would hurt, seeing them again. But… it didn’t. Not like I thought it would. Instead, it was sort of… hollow. Like how I feel after one of uncle Calbern’s sad stories.”

She took a deep breath then looked over to Ari.

Ari looked back, giving Bevel a small smile.

“Your turn,” Bevel said, gesturing towards the elven woman, giving us a small smile. “Sad moment.”

“I… well, I suppose one such moment would be when my friend Eletor passed away. He was much older than me, a good man, and a good friend of my father’s.”

“What happened?” Bevel asked, scooting closer.

“An accident,” Arizar replied, smiling sadly as she gazed into space. “He’d gone out to fetch a gift, one he intended to give to his beloved. Normally, he never would’ve gone anywhere near the piers. Was always complaining about the smell of the sea there. ‘Ain’t nothin’ wrong with wanting a lil’ fresh air, if’n you catch my meanin, Ari, my dear,’ he’d always tell me when I pointed out we lived next to an ocean.”

Bevel chuckled as Ari touched her cheek, wiping at the tears that still dampened her cheek.

“It was the first time in a decade there’d been a fatal accident on the piers. A catastrophic failure in the enchantments of a ship pulling into port. Father was… it was one of the few times in my life I’ve seen my father visibly angry. The worst part was, he investigated the crash personally, and there wasn’t anyone left to get angry at. It had been a simple case of poor maintenance combined with terrible damage during a storm. The man who’d piloted the ship had been responsible for the maintenance, and been caught in the crash. And the man who’d directed him to a commercial pier instead of the more robust repair tiers got caught in the explosion too.”

“That is sad,” Bevel confirmed, reaching over and squeezing Ari’s hand.

“It has been some time, but I still miss him greatly,” Ari said, gaze distant.

We sat in silence for nearly a minute before Bevel’s gaze shifted to me, Ari’s following.

“My turn, huh?”

“So it would appear,” Ari said, still smiling sadly.

"Sad moment… okay, I’ve got one,” I said, nodding somberly. “Went out with my mom when I was younger. We didn’t get to go out that often, just the two of us. It was…”

I shook my head, chuckling softly.

“It wasn’t anything particularly special. Not to most. We went to a fair, something a bit like the festival around the Tide Running. No magic or anything, though we did have these little spinning cups,” I said, making a projection of the ride appear in the middle of the little office, getting them both to lean in. “Anyway, we were out together and my mom bought me an ice cream.” Again, I projected an image of the cone and the scoop of tiger eye ice cream atop it. “It’s like a smoothie except made of milk and sugar, made into a dessert and… point is, it was a treat.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Anyway, the sad moment… my mom had just bought me the cone and this guy from the shop happened to spot us. He came over and tripped, bumping into me and sending both scoops falling to the ground.”

Ari and Bevel both stared at me for several seconds. Bevel tilted her head, then Ari let out a soft chuckle. “A bit like spilling one of your smoothies, I believe.”

“That’s not sad,” Bevel said, still squinting. “Couldn’t you have used your magic to just catch it?”

“Didn’t have magic,” I said, reaching over the projection to ruffle her hair.

“Oh. Right,” Bevel said, looking down at her hands. “Would’ve been like those moments after she… after the woman who cut off our…”

“Come here,” I said, reaching out and pulling my daughter into a hug.

“I did not wish to be the one to say it, but seeing you both like that,” Ari shuddered. “I fear the sight shall haunt me for the rest of my days.”

“Oh. Yeah, that was bad,” Bevel agreed, also shuddering. “Not as bad as… for a second, it felt real. As if I’d lost you and Papa and I’d go back to…”

This time I pulled her tight against me. She squeezed back just as hard, but didn’t cry.

“I’m… it’s fine. It was just… a lot,” Bevel said, wiping at her cheek.

“It truly was,” Ari said, shifting to look at me. Bevel joined her a moment later.

“I felt the same as each of you. Both the horror at seeing you like… like that. And the thought that it might be real,” I said, earning sympathetic squeezes from each of them. “It wasn’t just us. I… those were my friends. Seeing them like that, even if it was just a memory… if it isn’t…”

They both nodded their understanding. I’d explained everything before.

Instead of continuing to focus on what had happened, we continued telling stories of our past, happy and sad. Which was when I realized I’d never told Ari any of the details of who I’d been before being abducted and shoved inside Perth.

We spent nearly a week of subjective time inside, very little of it productive.

Except it had been healing, so that wasn’t entirely true.

Much as it had been horrible, the experience had also drawn the three of us closer together. Which was only further amplified whenever one of us needed a moment to just break down. Despite how much of a wreck we all were, I suspected we would all put on a tough face when we were outside.

Was starting to suspect that was already true, most of the time. It would be easier to do so, knowing that we had a refuge, not just a place we could retreat, but people who we could be open and honest with.

Finally, after far longer than we should’ve, we returned to reality. Neta was still curled up in my lap, watching over us as we’d been gone. I let out a long yawn, which prompted me to laugh a second later.

“A week without sleep makes a man mighty tired,” I said, smiling at the others.

Bevel nodded, letting out a long yawn herself.

Ari glared at us as she covered her mouth, unable to resist the pull as she too yawned.

“Papa,” Bevel said, coming over and clomping onto me.

“Yeah, kiddo?” I asked, hefting her up surprisingly easily. Hadn’t gotten much chance to use that enhanced strength I’d earned.

“Can we all sleep in the lake-view room tonight. I… I don’t want to wake up without you,” Bevel said, struggling to keep her eyes open.

“Yeah,” I looked over at Ari, whose eyes had crinkled up into a smile. “Yeah, I think that sounds perfect.”

Shuffling our cushions even closer, we prepared to sleep. Bevel kept shifting hers closer and closer before giving up and simply flopping down on mine, curling into my side.

Then she made grabby motions at Ari, who laughed softly. When Ari didn’t move, Bevel huffed out a breath, which turned into a full on breeze as Ari found herself deposited alongside us. She started saying something, but Bevel held her hand up to Ari’s lips. “Sleep now. Talk morning.”

A soft laugh escaped Ari, and I may have thrown in a chuckle as well.

With them curled into my sides, though mostly on top of me, I thought back to the final moments. I hoped the crew hadn’t felt too afraid.

Then I pushed the thought aside. I’d done all I could. Whatever happened next was out of my hands.

I woke to a mess of a rope-cat snuggled across my chest, an even bigger mess of hair wrapped around a scraggly arm in my face from one adopted daughter, and a far neater, but seemingly much more grabby elven woman clomped onto my arm.

Not the worst way to wake up. Not by a million miles.

Then I realized the reason I’d woken was Vendil coming in to help me get a start on the day.

He’d frozen in the entrance of the observation room, then started pulling at his beard.

“Morning Vendil,” I said, feeling almost chipper.

“Good morning, Magus Protectus,” Vendil said, seeming to gather some measure of composure from my own nonchalance. “Should I return later? I had thought we’d agreed to start early today, but if you need more time…”

“No. No, I should get up,” I said, carefully maneuvering Bevel’s arm out of my face. She attempted to latch onto me as I did so, but I slid Neta into place.

Escaping Ari’s grasp was a little trickier, since I had to get her to let go first, but soon enough I was standing and Bevel and Ari had cuddled up with each other, Neta on top of both.

I took a moment to imprint the memory more clearly, then turned and followed Vendil out of the room. I was deciding whether or not to tease Ari about the bit of drool that had escaped her mouth when Vendil started on my list with a very unexpected item.

“Near midnight, an older elven male attempted to access the Waygate Nexus. Luckily, the Tethered who they stole the Keystone from let us know it was missing before he used it. The cells caught them, of course. Your design worked perfectly. It was assumed you’d want to question him yourself. We’ve confirmed there are no soul-brands.”

“You had this waiting in the wings and you wanted to come back later?” I asked, even as I followed him down the ladder towards the catacombs.

“I… uh, you seemed rather entangled,” Vendil said, blushing while tugging at his beard.

“Right. Do we know who he’s working for?” I asked, deciding not to push him on the fact he valued my privacy.

“Not yet. As I said, we thought you would want to question him yourself. Selvi did propose simply feeding him to Keeper, yet I vetoed that.”

“Yeah. Nowhere near that point. Not for trying to sneak inside,” I said, shaking my head as we turned into the section of the catacombs we’d turned into cells.

Selvi was waiting next to one of the reinforced stone doors, arms crossed. She nodded to me as I approached. I nodded back, looking through the transparent stone of the cell.

These really weren’t meant for long term habitation, considering they were bare stone with no windows. Each wall had the same overpowered mana-draw runes inspired by the Golden Hall’s gazebo, keeping the room empty of any mana.

It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the best we’d been able to figure out. Now that I had Utility Access, I suspected we’d be able to do even more. The elf inside was sitting with his legs crossed and hands pressed together like he was meditating. Wasn’t much else for him to do, considering the limited light and lack of objects to interact with.

The chain strapped to his ankle further limited his options.

“Morning Magus Protectus,” Selvi said, apparently feeling more formal this morning as she pushed off the wall. “Appreciate you coming straight away. Wanted to question him myself, but your assistant insisted you be here.”

I glanced at Vendil, who flushed slightly, but otherwise just pulled out his notepad.

Casting the Spellcode for the door, I started Stone Sculpting away the solid stone locks we’d placed on the cell. Only then did Selvi grab one side and heft it open, letting out a rough grunt.

The elf inside stirred, opening his eyes and blinking up at us. “Ah, my captors have finally decided to begin their interrogation. I claim diplomatic sanctuary status as put forth under the Alvian accords.”

“Yeah, we never adopted those,” I said, shaking my head. He’d just tried to claim that he couldn’t be held at fault even if he’d killed someone, on account of the fact he was acting on behalf of his nation. “Besides, I doubt you’re acting on behalf of a nation I’d recognize.”

“Ah, it was worth the attempt,” he replied, giving us a small smile. “So, what then? Torture? I feel I should inform you I’ve been trained to resist such methods.”

“First, some breakfast,” I said, pulling several fresh pastries from my storage ring. “Would you like one?”

He blinked at me, looking between where I was chewing on a pastry and Selvi who was still standing there glaring at him. “Are you… truly using soother and bruiser on me?”

“Wow. That’s gotta be the worst name for it I’ve ever heard,” I said, snorting. We didn’t have to play good cop, bad cop, but still, what a name. Selvi grinned along, though it had the sort of edge to it that sent a chill down my spine.

“You know, I have this being upstairs I could feed you to, if I really needed the answers you’re hiding,” I said, leaning against the wall taking a moment to finish off the pastry. “But why don’t we at least give this a try first.”

He narrowed his eyes but nodded slowly.

Not that I had any intention of feeding him to Keeper. Much like with Balthum, we’d simply scan him as I questioned him, then feed the memories to Keeper in exchange for answers. It was even easy to pull off since the chamber had the scanners built in and he was secured in the perfect place for them.

After an hour of questions, he informed me that he was there as a representative of a concerned party to investigate rumors of ‘unnatural methods’ being used to produce food.

Closing up the room, leaving him inside, I was about to make my way to Keeper to get the real answers out of it when the cell across from us had the enchanted light above it flash. Going from the green of an empty cell to the red of a potential hostile, we all tensed.

When nothing came barreling out, I stepped up to the transparent stone to look through at the latest intruder we’d caught in the Waygate web.

A man in a scuffed but otherwise impeccable black and white suit lay there, barely breathing.

After a slight shift, they rolled to the side and Calbern’s face came into view. “Ah, master Percival, I do hope you’re there. It seems I may have slightly overestimated my ability.”