Amara eyed it all.

"I will admit...It is stunning to see what they have created."

Opal's cross brightened.

"If it's any consolation, your approach has led to a revitalization of the luminari. I'd love to show you all that we've accomplished with your support."

I spread my hands.

"Then let's see what the luminari are all about."

We floated from one outcropping to the next while exploring the dozens of shops. We oohed and aahed at everything all the while, and for once, I didn't attract the most attention. The luminari, to no one's surprise, were perplexed by Chrona's floating head, something that Hod made all the worse by perching on her most of the time. Still, it stopped people from gawking at me, and that was a bit of attention I could live without.

As we stopped in front of a glassware store, I shrunk myself down to the necessary size for walking in. Baubles, vases, and mugs lined every wall and every shelf while carefully positioned lights pierced through every piece. They created a cascade of ambient illumination. In fact, glass was used for nearly everything along with neon lights that cast a soft glow over the store. It was a feature of the luminari as a whole since they loved light over the privacy of more opaque materials.

I raised my hand over one of the vases.

"I’m guessing the luminari have these kinds of stores all over the place?"

Opal gestured to the back of the store with pizazz.

"They are, and in fact, they’re so common that they don’t draw any attention. That’s why this is actually the back entrance to the best theme park in Phorescia. Trust me. The owner and I go way back, and if you come through this way, you can reserve special passes so that you don't have to wait so long in the lines. My friends and I go there all the time."

Amara glared at the desolate tunnel at the back of the store.

"It looks like a portal to a biblical hell."

Opal's cross marking curved upward.

"Appearances can be deceiving. It's designed this way so that other luminari won’t search out the entrance. That’s why it's all icky and dim. It’s repulsive to most of us."

The store clerk gave us a nod. I pushed my wake through the entire building, and my psionically loaded mind gave me a subtle understanding of the place. I shrugged.

"Opal's right. It leads to a different ticket booth."

As we stepped through the storefront, Hod hurled himself from Chrona's head and began stealing everything off the shelves.

"Hod love shiny things!"

The store owner walked up to Hod. He was a stylish luminari in a suave waiter vest and slacks. As he spoke, he clasped his hands together.

"Uhm, excuse me, sir. These aren't samples."

Hod kept taking parts and pieces, his mind beset into a rampage. He was well beyond reason, so I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Do a comparison between this morning's inventory and whatever Hod leaves behind. I'll cover whatever the difference is."

Opal gawked as Hod rampaged through the store, breaking bottles, baubles, and busts. Opal coughed into her hand.

"He seems...Unique."

I frowned.

"He has an eldritch half, one that has eaten a large part of his mind. We're trying to find some way of returning his full faculties, but reversing anything done by eldritch sources is slow going. Personally, I just take him as he is since he's a great fighter, loyal, and has a great sense of humor."

Hod tripped and knocked over a stall holding many glass trinkets. He began pocketing the broken shards. I winced.

"He can be a bit much, sometimes."

Opal raised her palms while nodding.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have asked."

Amara hissed.

"You must know your pack. How else is a wolf to hunt?"

Hod kept destroying the store before the clerk hit me with a bill for 30,000 credits. I paid for it before we headed down the empty tunnel, Opal chatting away about how awesome the park was. After crossing an earthen crossway, we reached another employee who carried a circle across their face. They gave Opal a wink with their facial marking.

“Ah, Opal, are these...New friends of yours. Huh.”

They gawked at Chrona.

“That’s one big lizard.”

Opal put a hand on her forehead.

“Uhm, listen Kil. This is the guild leader and several of his followers. They’re responsible for saving our species.”

Kil just about passed out before scrambling for any apology he could send. He had nothing to be sorry for, but we still walked out with special lifetime passes in tow. Stepping past a checkup line, we entered the park after barely squeezing Chrona's head through the main entrance. The park itself was a mixture of the old and the new.

The place separated into a dozen different spaces with large, expansive tunnels connecting them. Across every surface, lamps, torches, neon signs, beacons, and bulbs flashed with different colors. The sheer volume of lighting fixtures left the place awash in dozens of blurring shades. It was like walking into a candy shop, the many bright, vibrant colors clashing and harmonizing in tandem.

In the corner areas, plenty of darker spaces held attractions that reminded me of haunted houses. Walking up to the largest one, Opal gestured to the attraction.

"This is The Lamentation. It's the best leythra out there."

My guildmates and I peered at each other before Chrona frowned. Our gialgathen tilted her head.

"Why would you name a bright, bubbly attraction after the cries of the damned?"

Opal spread her hands.

"Because it's a tactile, storytelling device. You really have to experience it to know. Just trust me."

We walked past a line of people who waited to enter the place, and they gawked at us. Opal calmed them down by blowing imaginary kisses at the crowd, which surprised me. Why would the luminari hold any regard for a blown kiss? They fed on light, so wouldn't light work better? Were my glowing runes sending weird signals that I didn't know about?

Those incredibly important questions burrowed through my mind as we waited. The luminari kept gawking even after Opal's gestures, so I raised a hand, crushing crystallized quintessence and tossing it to the waiting people. They scrambled for the shards before Opal stared at me. She tilted her head.

"A generous patron, aren't you?"

I smiled before raising my hand. Mana oozed from my palm, crystallizing into chunks of quintessence. They clattered on the ground as I laughed.

"Hah. You tell me."

We kept walking before Opal ran to the quintessence. It was our turn to gawk at her as she squatted down and tossed the crystals into her ring's storage space. When she finished, she walked over.

"What? A woman has to eat, doesn't she? Besides, there are energy rations right now, and this makes it a lot easier to live through them," Opal said.

Hod sorted his shinies.

"Hod wonder why park so bright if light so rare?"

Opal took a breath.

"It's...It's complicated. We try to be fair, but you know, nothing’s ever perfectly equal. Some people get more and others less."

Amara smiled.

"Ah, the sweet, sweet scent of governmental corruption. Oh so delicious, like a lamb waiting for the slaughter."

Opal stood up.

"Hey now, we can't fix everything."

Thoughts whirled through my mind.

“I think making everything perfectly equal requires a degree of control that is far worse than the lack of equity in the first place. Either way, let's see what this lamentation ride is all about."

We were shuttled by employees, sat down, and readied for our own personal ride. It was like getting strapped in for a rollercoaster, and the tunnel leading to the full attraction glimmered with many gemstones.

Keeping her with us, I pulled Chrona in a gravity well as she couldn't fit on the ride. We struck an odd scene to put it lightly. Either way, Chrona marveled at the bright lights.

"It's as if we're being moved through the stars themselves."

I shook my head.

"Not at all. This isn't hot, and there's no gravitation. That's the craziest part about stars. They're heavy enough to crush you just by being near them, let alone within them."

Everybody gawked at me. I shrugged.

"I used a star with a portal once. I called it a starthrower."

Amara nodded.

"A blunt name...But fitting."

I shook my hand at her.

“Exactly.”

Before questions rained in, the ride began. We passed through innumerable tunnels at around Mach 3. Fast, flying, and bright, the tunnel made me want to vomit. The twists and turns blurred the flashing colors together into a rainbow soup, and in a pre-system era, this would've been a one-way trip to a seizure or brain damage.

Despite the sheer volume of colors, the novel experience was fun in a demented, only-do-this-once kind of way, so Hod and I raised our hands. We both yelled for no real reason. Amara frowned with her arms crossed, and Chrona grew bored by the end of the ride. Opal had an entirely different kind of reaction.

She wept.

By the time we ended our ride, she was a total mess. Glowing tears ran from her cross, and her hair crackled in every direction. She wiped her face.

"Gah...I just love that last part. The way they separate but on such magnanimous terms. It’s...It’s just so wonderful. What did you guys think?"

Hod took a breath.

"Hod think second scene best one. Lots of purple. Hod like purple."

We stared at Hod for a moment before Opal put her hands on her hips. She pondered aloud.

"I never thought about it like that. There's a lot of depth there that I haven't actually unpacked. Huh. You're a lot deeper than you look."

Hod puffed his chest out.

"Hod must say...Hod deep like purple."

Opal's cross narrowed, her gaze intense and her words serious.

"Wow. That's...Profound."

I smile before pointing at the colorful tunnel.

"I don't mean any offense by this, but the way we experienced that ride was totally different. To me, that felt like it was designed to induce motion sickness. I’m guessing you see more from the light than just the blur?"

Opal gestured to it.

"The luminari see and communicate our emotions through color. This ride was a recent innovation done by one of our leading artists, Celest Kolus. He has taken the initial concept of an emotion-laden journey and added subtle layers to it. That turned a wild ride into an interpretable story, one of star-crossed lovers who aren't able to make their relationship work."

I leaned back.

"Ok, so it's kind of like a video."

The luminari squinted her cross.

"Video? Like the system's screens? The luminari have never been interested in them since they don't use actual light. They beam interpretable information straight into your mind, so it never resonated with us."

Chrona shook her head.

"The videos he speaks of are very different. I've seen the restored tapes from humanity’s old culture. They wield plasma within tiny, miniscule cells, and they turn them into shifting shapes with ease.”

Opal’s cross widened.

“That sounds incredible.”

Chrona peered off.

“It was. In that regard, what they lacked in strength, they made up for in their boundless creativity and resourcefulness. These videos were no different."

Chrona furrowed her brows, her gaze growing distant.

"In one of their ancient ruins, I found a device called a DVD. It showed an enormous and extensive illusion. It carried many ideas, people, even imaginary worlds. I saw my kin covered in scales and known as dragons. It was all quite interesting."

Opal bunched her hands together.

"Oooh, sounds like fun."

Chrona's let out a contented sigh.

"It was. So much so that I found myself lost in the history of these tapes. I kept watching and watching until I found days and weeks had passed in the blink of an eye. It was as if the person who designed these small discs had done so with the express purpose of trapping any individual that started watching them."

Opal leaned back.

"So it was an advanced illusion that wastes an individual's time? That sounds like a few stalling devices I know about. They never worked on the battlefield, but they were extraordinarily effective against politicians and other noncombatants. We had to create some censorship in our obelisk network after a few of those illusions ran rampant in the luminari populace. Several luminari’s even died from a lack of light exposure."

Chrona narrowed her eyes.

"Hmm. I would say that these DVDs were like that yet unlike that as well. It was certainly made to stall an individual, but I couldn't decipher what it tried to delay you from. Eventually, I decided that it was a means of taking oneself closer to death without experiencing existential dread or boredom in the meantime."

Opal covered the bottom half of her face with her hands.

"My goodness. That sounds terrifying. If someone mastered illusions like that, they could trap someone in a meaningless, alternate reality from birth and have them waste their time until their death. To have my entire life wasted on nothing-"

Opal stared at the ground.

"It's a fate worse than death."

Chrona's face crinkled.

"And there's another insidious element that makes it such an effective illusion. Never, not even once, did the feelings of the creator feel ingenuine. Whoever designed the device did so with a love for the medium. They believed in it. They thought the world of what they created, as if it would change the world for the better."

Chrona's eyes widened.

"And I still cannot fathom what drove the creators to design it."

I gawked at them, not knowing how someone could be rendered this distraught by a simple movie about dragons. Amara chimed in.

"Creating a voluntary illusion, one large enough to consume lives, isn't feasible. You would need an enormous collective of people incessantly churning out material for the fantasy. Otherwise, people would grow bored and leave it. Even the creators would succumb in time."

I smiled, feeling mischievous.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What if you incentivize people to create parts of that illusion, and then you had the illusion's contents made with the express purpose of hacking someone's neurochemistry? Imagine if it took advantage of your basic, primal emotions and reactions? You'd buy-in, especially at a young age, then become dependent on the neurochemical stream."

Amara shivered.

"Individuals would deteriorate into mere drones. You would effectively construct an artificial world that the species would fight to sustain."

I scoffed.

"Or, you know, social media. Same thing, really."

I explained what that was as we walked around. We got into a few discussions about it before reaching the next attraction. Stepping into a series of rooms, we joined other luminari surrounded by mirrored chambers. Opal explained it to us.

"These are called trances. You go into a room with a finely attuned sculpture at the center. Once within, you’re blasted by lights. You then bask in the reflections and shifting patterns. It's a shared experience that brings family, lovers, and even friends closer together."

I furrowed my brow.

"It sounds like sitting around a fancy disco ball."

Opal pointed a hand at me.

"Whatever you just said, I don't like the connotation behind it. I promise that a trance is way better than just some, er, disco ball thing."

It turns out, it was in fact, a fancy disco ball. Above what looked like a huge, empty hockey rink made of enchanted ice, a molded sculpture of glass rotated. The ice smoothed to a point where it reflected light like a still pond, and they darkened the entire room and flashed many lights into the chiseled model above. This created intricate patterns all over the walls where embedded gemstones furthered the display’s brilliance.

Ergo, a disco ball.

We walked in, finding many luminari floating, running in spirals, or sitting at the rink's edge. It was strange. Like a shared experience, the luminari basked in the flashing lights, and once again, the volatile color shifts left my eyes metaphorically bleeding. The luminari fell into those flashes, their bodies humming and resonating with one another.

Their spiritual reverence contrasted the gaudy, flashing display, but I had to hold down a long sigh. At this point, I wasn't so sure about actually wanting to tour the rest of the park or the luminari's attractions. This wasn't my cup of tea, and I planned on cutting the tour short. Before I could, Chrona marveled at the sculpture at the center of the room.

"Oooh. Marvelous craftsmanship. It's difficult to get glass to mold that way when blown," Chrona said.

Opal shrugged.

"We take a giant sphere and use lasers to carve out the models. We've had millennia to practice, so we're pretty precise at this point."

Chrona nibbled at her protective collar before peering at me.

"May I?"

I walked over and ruptured space. With enough room to get out, Chrona's hulking form wormed its way out of the pocket dimension. She took up about one-twentieth of the ring, but no luminari spoke up. They were entranced by the light above, so they kept relishing in the experience despite the sudden intrusion.

And Chrona added to it. She reached the center and tapped the glass sculpture with her tail. Opal took a step forward to stop her.

"Hey, that's fragile-"

I reached out a hand. I smiled.

"Just let her do her thing."

At first, Chrona's taps messed with the spinning sculpture's momentum, and the luminari despised her meddling. Dissent spread through the crowd, a few luminari almost leaving their trances. After Chrona used some temporal manipulation, she continued her attempts at music.

Those attempts matured over the next few minutes. She began with a light chorus of resonant notes. They built in volume and body, eventually swallowing the sounds of the entire ring. She condensed her primordial mana further, arresting control of the space around her. Augmented by time, she gained the edge she needed to master the newfound instrument.

She built on the tones, creating a melody. The melody expanded until it became something like a song. It kept building in its splendor, becoming a marvel of sound and sight alike. She balanced her taps so that the spinning wasn't interrupted but instead improved. The flashing slowed and became something subtle and no longer paralyzing.

Chrona let herself go, and she released wave after wave of beautiful, resonant ringing from the glass. It was like hearing a drummer that used windchimes, and Chrona wielded her tail to enact it all. She floated through each movement like a dance, and after several minutes, her music sang. It was like being in a different world for a moment, one that made everything seem brighter.

After half an hour, Chrona stopped her melody. She pulled herself down from her impromptu symphony, and she smiled at us.

"Ah. It feels so good to warm up my tail with some music. It's been far too long since-" She frowned. "Are you alright?"

The people around us clapped, and Hod cried, tears leaking from his eyes.

"Hod so happy. Silver dragon lady sound like mother stew after long day of hunting in desert. Sound take me back. Wayyy back."

Amara peered away, moved by the performance but unwilling to admit it. I clapped my hands.

"Wow. That was incredible. You really should do that more often. It brightens the world."

Chrona blushed.

"Thank you, guildmaster."

Opal spread her hands.

"You know, we haven't reestablished our celestial orchestra, so our people are starved for this kind of thing. We'd love to have you have a few performances for us. The fact you can make that happen even during a trance makes it truly special. Actually, I promise you that the luminari will fall in love with your artistry. I know I have."

Chrona peered at the glass sculpture above.

"I may, but only if you're willing to give us a few of those molds. They're so intricate, and they give any musician quite the breadth when expressing oneself with them. Normally, we gialgathens use ice in place of glass, but that was due to limitations in their construction, so I'd very much enjoy giving a few of them to other gialgathens. Ah, Maple would love one of these. She's far better at music than I am."

Opal pulled her hands together.

"Ooooh, this is going to be so, so good. There's other gialgathens that are half as good as you?"

Chrona scoffed.

"They are far, far better. You should've heard Meatrix. She was a legend before we lost her on my home planet during one of Lehesion’s raids."

Several luminari stopped their trances to walk over and thank Chrona, most of the individuals in Phorescia having seen a gialgathen before. As we left, Chrona beamed with a radiant grin from within her pocket dimension.

"I have never been complimented so thoroughly for my music. Seeing so many people enjoy it...Wow. I'd almost forgotten how satisfying it can be."

The light behind her eyes left, and she established a private, telepathic connection between us.

"I understand that I have many more years in our contract. If you say so, I shall cease these discussions and-"

I raised a hand and sent my thoughts back.

"You're totally fine to spend your time doing something like this. If anything, you could become a diplomat for the gialgathens and luminari. Strong relations between the two species would be great for my guild, so yeah, go get after it. However, there's one caveat."

She winced.

"And what would that be?"

I raised my hand.

"You have to let me know when your first performance is. I want to schedule a date with Althea to see it."

The light returned, and Chrona let out a roar. She turned to me.

"Thank you, Harbinger. I shall make the most of this opportunity."

I smiled.

"Not a problem."

We strode out of the mirror chambers, having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After experiencing a few more pleasantries, we walked out and explored on our own. We ended up in a petting zoo. Unlike the zoos on Earth, the luminari cultivated these tiny floating light balls. They had large eyes, made squee sounds, and even felt like the cold side of a pillow.

They were heavenly.

We walked out of the park pretty satisfied overall. Sure, it had its ups and downs, but it carried such a breadth in experiences that I couldn’t help but enjoy myself. Besides that, it had been a long time since I spent a day of leisure like this. The sheer novelty of it all also carried the hard parts and really sold the best aspects of it all.

Afterward, Opal took us to a fixture shop. Though it said fixture in the front, it was really a lighting store. It was a bit repetitive after all the other luminous attractions, but I will say this - they went all out. Thousands of different lighting solutions lined the walls. Did you need lamps? They had a thousand models all set up with various bulb make-ups, alternate shades, and complex filaments. What if you preferred a more homey solution? Their candle selection was second to none.

It was honestly pretty boring at first. Aside from the repetition aspect, I never liked shopping, and to me, it was a necessary evil. In old Earth, I spent thirty minutes a week at Walmart to get everything I needed. Outside of that, I may have spent an evening once a year at a thrift store to replace socks and underwear with holes in them.

I hadn't even contemplated doing something similar since getting my armor as it would've been a total waste of time. This store felt the same. I mean, I could literally glow, so I didn't need lighting solutions. However, upon closer inspection, the luminari had enchantments in and on everything. Those magical inclinations got my attention.

For example, the candle's wax was made in special cauldrons so they burned longer. The wicks were woven with schemic runes to enhance their visual flare. They changed the colors, heat, scent, sound, and even temperature of fire and light alike. The lamps mirrored that complexity. It also led to some satisfying personal victories.

In a twist of fate, Hod grabbed a dozen candles, each of them various shades of blue. He held them over Amara. Hod boomed his voice.

"Hah! Luminari make light cold. Hod knew it!"

Amara shivered before sniffling.

"You win this time, birdman."

To my surprise, I bought several thousand credits worth of goods here. In essence, all of this was possible by humans too, but the desire simply wasn't there. Lighting wasn't something we took so seriously. By comparison, this was a life and death-arena for the luminari. They researched entire fields dedicated to the task, and that desire showed in the products they produced.

Every piece carried an admirable level of ingenuity we wouldn't match for centuries, if ever. We wouldn't need these kinds of products just to live or impress, but that was also where a lot of the vivacity stemmed from. In going down this rabbit hole, the luminari also achieved impressive magical feats. As an example, I held a lamp that literally siphoned light away from its surroundings. It was twelve credits.

"How in the world did you guys make this?" I asked.

Opal leaned back.

"Uh. I don't know. I just buy this stuff. It took a lot of luminari a lot of research and a stupid amount of years to do any of this."

Her lack of curiosity was surprising, but Opal was focused, if anything. She shared what she loved, and she cared most about fighting, experiencing, and exploring. It was why she became a Fringe Walker - she could devote herself to those passions exclusively.

Either way, she didn't seem so bad. That is until the questions began. As I swiped dozens of goods into my dimensional storage, Opal began questioning me about how I fought. Where she expected my solutions to revolve around technique and refinement, I told her the truth. I was a simple man who worked within two domains: endurance and brutality.

I left little to the imagination, mentioning how a few unique advantages enabled my fighting style. Despondent, Opal let out a long sigh. It sounded like a sizzling spark coming from her lips. Or cross thing. Er, whatever it was.

"I really expected a refined warrior. It's kind of disappointing that you muscle through everything."

I put another dozen advanced light enchantments into my dimensional storage, floating each in its own gravity well.

"That's the thing - you can do it in your own way too. I have advantages, and I'll be the first to admit that. However, what I do isn't impossible. In fact, I think most people could do what I have done if they were in the same situation."

Opal let out a light laugh.

"What? Nonsense. You're insane, you know that?"

I had a sad smile on my lips.

"You don't know the half of it. I've got to be if humanity wants any chance moving forward."

Opal’s hair dimmed.

"Huh. Whenever I saw Earth, I didn't see anything too out of the ordinary with it. What's got someone like you so anxious?"

I began shoving stuff into my pocket dimension with gravitation.

"Remember, our planet isn't even a decade into the system."

Opal's cross widened.

"Oh yeah. That's right. It's easy to forget, but your world is as green as they come. Huh. That means the eldritch are super high level for how much time has passed. You have a lot of rifts too. It's about the same number of dungeons that you'd expect twenty thousand years into systemization."

I clamped my jaw tight for a moment. If humanity had that kind of time to face the eldritch of today, we'd be doing a lot better than we were. I shook my head before Opal crossed her arms. She tilted her head, staring at the ground.

"I get it. I really do. I've 'fixed' plenty of worlds, and there's always a sad story behind each of them. Some are like your planet with a lightning-fast eldritchification. It makes keeping up hard. You're generation experienced the culling, too, huh?"

I nodded. My voice was gravel.

"Yeah. We did. That, and a bit more. If I’m honest, it just keeps coming."

She peered away.

"I've helped a few planets get back on track after a middling start, but you're people have you, right? They'll be fine since you're wayyyyy ahead of the curve."

I raised my brow.

"Maybe. We have a lot of rifts on our planet since Earth's on some kind of dimensional fault line. There's a lot of issues with the Old One's too."

Opal shook her head.

"One thing at a time. First of all, the Old Ones? You know what they are?"

I shrugged.

"I've fought several of their avatars and killed them. They're a nasty bunch that seems hellbent on shaking things up. You know, if mass murder and the elimination of all life is keeping things fresh."

A bead of glowing liquid fell from her brow. It looked like sweat.

"That's...That's crazy. The luminari have heard of and had contact with an Old One before. Baldowah, I think it was called. It took a few of our earliest successors and, well, we really don't know what happened to them."

I frowned.

"They're probably insane puppets with no minds anymore."

Opal pointed at me.

"Welp. That sucks. I haven't really heard of anything good coming out of contacting them, but a lot of people do when they get desperate."

A tight grin came over my face.

"That's a great way to make a bad situation worse. My opinion withstanding, of course."

Opal perked up.

"That aside, I know this sounds crazy, but the extra dungeon thing could actually be pretty lucky."

Skepticism dripped from my face like a caustic poison. She let out a laugh.

"Ok, come on. I know it's hard to deal with, but those dungeons are an untapped resource. It's like having diamond mines grow out of the ground."

I raised my brow.

"Yeah, sure, if the diamonds were alive and trying to eat you."

She waved a hand.

"Diamond mines were dangerous in pre-system eras anyway, right? They were for us, at least. My point is that Earth is a planet that will experience changes over time. Mana will grow. The actual planet will grow. Even the power of the eldritch will grow."

She poked my chest, her tone playful.

"It means your people can get ahead, level fast, and become real players on the galactic scene. Other races will have to wait millenia before they gain that kind of autonomy. You could even find some newly integrated worlds and conquer them instead of being conquered. That's pretty rare considering how Schema does things."

I shook my head.

"The problem with the dungeons is that a lot of people are going to die."

Opal let her hands flop against her sides.

"Everyone is going to die. That's life. It's how you live that matters."

I took a moment, soaking in what she said. I frowned, my primordial wake enveloping us.

"The people who will die are individuals who can contribute various skills outside of fighting. When they pass, we lose their mental resources, abilities, and ingenuity."

My psyches settled onto the topic.

"And not all geniuses will be excellent fighters, so when they die fighting monsters, we lose what they could offer us."

Opal stopped moving.

"Dude. You sound totally different all of a sudden."

I peered at her.

"I am? How so?"

She shivered.

"For real, you're like a totally changed person. Woah. Weird. I feel like I'm publicly speaking, and that's not exactly my forte. Also, I'll, uh, I'll think about what you said."

I shifted my aura back to The Rise of Eden and set one mind on the conversation.

"Me too. I think you're right about it being an opportunity, but I don't want a bunch of people randomly dying. But I do get that some people will die regardless of what I do. For now, I’ll make the difference that I can. Speaking of, do you know what we can do to help with the dungeon transition or maybe stabilize reality some?"

Opal scratched the side of her face.

"That question is way above my pay grade. That being said, you can plan ahead. Make sure that people are aware of what's going on and that the changes are something they've accepted. If you can make everybody aware, then there will be way fewer casualties."

She moved her hands as if capturing something.

"Something I've also noticed with failing worlds is a lack of dungeoneering. There's actually a specialized class for it that a lot of people can get. It's a variant of the Speaker class, and even a few of them can make a huge difference in a world's development. For example, they can help chart out the physical growth of a planet as rifts rupture."

I furrowed my brow.

"Wait. There are professions that revolve around broken rifts?"

She peered up.

"Hm. I wouldn't say they're about broken dungeons per se, but just dungeons in general. Managing them is a huge part of a guild's responsibilities, and they're always valued in any territory or empire. If you run an efficient program, you can really amp up the long-term value and control of your territory that way."

She turned a hand to me.

"As a Fringe Walker, I work heavily with a lot of local governments to get control of those dungeons, clear out infesting eldritch, and create sustainable programs moving into the future. We don't just clear out the eldritch. We keep them cleared out. Well, a good Fringe Walker does."

My psyches swarmed with thought.

"So far, I've been using my rings and golems to help out my people. I've passed on some information about my build and skilltrees, but I haven't invested a ton into dungeoneering. You're saying that should change?"

Opal scoffed.

"Your guild is one of the strongest combat-centric empires I've ever seen. Especially if you consider how early into the system you guys are. For real, you guys rival forces who've had millennia to build themselves up. It makes talking with you all so lopsided."

I smiled.

"Ah, like we're ignorant brutes with big clubs?"

Opal shook her head.

"Oh no, more like you're just getting in contact with people. You're fresh and have interesting perspectives, too. Very pre-system from what I've gathered."

I pointed at her.

"I was going to ask about that. How do you get any idea about the general state of Schema-based empires and guilds?"

Opal laughed.

"What a weird question, but I can see why you’d ask it. So far, I’ve seen that you guys lack perspective. How do you get it? Well, the answer kind of sucks because it's all about time. The luminari have been an established force for thousands of years. We owned three planets and spent most of our history developing those worlds. That let us establish contact with dozens of empires, and they've really helped us understand what average is."

She puffed her chest out, her tone self-mocking.

"Not to brag, but yeah, my Fringe Walking was kind of a big deal for all that."

Her voice turned normal.

"For real, Fringe Walking is a large part of why we know so much about other empires. It's actually one of the reasons why I chose to be one in the first place. It's a universally respected profession, kind of like a healer."

I put the last bit of stuff I bought into my personal storage.

"I can see why. Fringe Walkers don't fight people. You fight monsters on the worlds that need that the most. There's honor in that, and it demands respect."

Opal laughed before rubbing her fingers together.

"And money. Lots of it."

I tucked a few ideas away as she said that. For example, my golems could act as Fringe Walkers, and I'd be able to develop lots of galactic connections using them. The money didn't interest me, though I wasn't opposed to making some. Instead, I'd help people and establish Earth across the cosmos. Unlike the credits, I valued those connections highly.

I spun a few other strategies up in my mind until the cashier interrupted my thoughts.

"That'll be 394,029 credits, sir."

Ouch. It was more than I expected, but I ended up taking most of their inventory. Using a mental command, I siphoned my credits to the shop. System-based exchanges were quick, efficient, and secure. Schema didn't even take a tax or subscription for the service. It just made life better that way, and it was a great reminder that the all-knowing AI wasn't all bad.

It could just use a lot of improvement in a lot of ways. And yeah, we all could, right?

Anyway, I left the store with lighter pockets and a fuller dimensional storage. The interesting enchantments would feed cipheric thought among the many Daniels who studied runes all the time. In fact, they did so as I moved and walked. How? Well, any animus of mine could interact with my pocket dimension whenever.

They moved the runes and viewed them along with many of the older sigils I found forever ago. A few of my extra psyches already broke some of the enchantments down and spread the information amongst my cipher studying Daniels. That process increased my knowledge of runes with each and every passing second.

It would leave a normal person exhausted, but I held a near-infinite amount of mental energy. Not using it was wasteful, after all. With that gear in tow, I stood tall outside the storefront.

"Alright guys, I think it's about time to leave."

Besides the fixture shop, Chrona, Hod, and Amara ate at one of the luminari restaurants. They all came over with disappointment on their faces. I had to pull Chrona out since she was back in the pocket dimension, and she shook her head.

"You'd think they would eat actual food," Chrona said.

Amara hissed.

"There is no blood or flesh. Just sticks."

Hod puffed out his chest.

"Hod bring sandwich. Hod two steps ahead. Hod always two steps ahead."

Opal stepped in front of everyone.

"Did you not enjoy the diar jouve?"

The enunciation sounded french. Amara raised her hands in frustration.

"Dair jouve? Dair jouve? It's a damn glowstick."

Opal's cross grinned.

"Of course. Diar jouve or more commonly called a glowstick. Whichever term you prefer, they're simple, easy snacks that are delicious even on the go."

Amara made a strangling motion.

"It's not even food, you walking advertisement. You're trying to feed us party props."

Opal shook her head, peering off in the distance.

"A party prop? That sounds like one delicious party."

I raised my hands.

"This may sound unrelated, but have you ever heard of something called a rave?"

***********************************************************

The sun set atop Phorescia's farthest desert dune. The ravine city was built along the line of the setting sun this time of year, and it bore down onto the place from dawn till dusk, making a line across the city's top. We watched that sunset from outside the city, the vast and desolate desert whipping wind in the distance.

We were covered in tourist attraction merchandise from head to toe. They really did get us; our credits were swindled, and our eyes were glittering. Too brightly, I might add. It was truly our first time being torn apart by an alien capitol, and it surely wouldn't be the last. The sheer volume of light trinkets was nauseating, and to my human eyes, they all looked the same after a while. Despite that, even after twelve hours, Opal gushed about all the attractions and stuff we hadn't done.

But yeah, I'd seen enough.

"Opal, we're about to leave."

She stood at attention, her jovial mood shifting in an instant.

"Oh, ok. Sir, yes sir."

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Please don't call me that."

Opal nodded.

"Yes sir."

Amara and Chrona laughed, and Hod stared at the sunset. He took in a deep breath before closing his eyes.

"Hod love and hate it here. It feel like home. Like...Like old world before monsters come. They reach us. They poison air. They poison mind. This place like world before monsters. Before seas dry. Before air burn when Hod breathe."

His voice was an iron curtain.

"Before Hod lose everyone. Even Hod."

We listened, and we grew cold. Chrona, finally outside of her dimensional restraints, leaned her head against Hod. Chrona murmured,

"It's ok. I lost my home as well, but I have learned that a haven is where the heart is. As I have found mine, we shall find yours, wherever it may be."

In that moment, two lost souls helped each other grieve for their lost home planets. Like that, we waited until darkness came over us, the air solemn and silent. During the night, they rested while Opal and I glowed. She did so from her natural composition, and I did so from world-ending amounts of mana. My aura was back to full strength, and it compressed my timeline to a standstill.

Hours into my honed focus, Opal leaned over and telepathized to me.

"I was worried about this trip, but you've got some good people with you."

I smiled, my eyes closed.

"I do."