"Blighted Night…"

The curse leaped from her tongue before she could stop it, but it summed up Vess’ feelings well enough. She and Evie had been talking for a while now, but each new detail burned at her. They were settled atop barrels nestled in a nook away from the arena, the remnants of Evie’s roast gherik greasing their fingers. Evie had offered up a rundown of what Vess had missed, and the enormity of it all set her Mind whirling.

The moon falling from the heavens, Amaranth eradicated, and the Ruin in the sky. Only the death of the Hierophant at Felix’s hands made any of the rest seem even a little worthwhile.

"And you all thought we died?"

Evie swallowed. "I can’t lie, Vess. I’d lost hope. Even so, we didn't have a funeral for you like the rest. It didn’t feel right.”

Vess’ hands had been tangled with her friends for a long while now and she clenched, trying to push along her Strength.

Evie sniffed. “Anyway. I knew you wouldn't go down to some bilgerat like the Hierophant.”

“Too many did, Evie."

"Suppose so,” she shrugged. “But that’s the past. Now… well, now is when Felix is fighting an Echo of Noctis to buy more time."

Vess’ lips pressed into a thin line. The Echo. She did not love that Felix was pitting himself against the Divine for her sake—even a diminished one.

Evie glanced around, wiping her hands against her pants. “We’re wastin’ time. We need to figure out why we’re in this Path and get ourselves out. Now.”

Vess set aside the bones of the bird, wiping her hands on a clean rag. "We likely have more time than you expect. Liminal spaces are not so cut and dry as you might think."

"Felix and Elowen said somethin’ like that. But it could be less time, right? Either or." Evie waggled her fingers. "Fuckery, ya know?”

“Fair enough."

Vess stood from the barrels, and Evie followed suit. "Still, it is nice to see you like this." Evie reached out, flicking Vess' long locks back. "Kind of unfair that you were this pretty even when you were a kid."

"I take after my mother.”

"Same here. Magda is the one that took after our dad. Built like a brick wall. My mom was more willowy, I guess you'd say.”

“An elegance that explains your advanced Agility even when we first met.”

“Explains nothin’. That’s just hard work, is all. Nothin’ gets handed down to me. Not like some heiresses I know.” Evie smiled and patted her on the head. “But at least you’re short."

Vess gave her friend a playful shove and Evie stumbled. “Damnation, you’re strong. Do you got all of your stats, too?"

"Are we not supposed to?”

“No clue. Still, our combined stats will make things a damn sight easier on this Path. Korcan ain’t exactly teeming with high Tiers.”

Vess blinked. "We?”

“Yeah, we. I found you and I'm sticking with you.”

“Paths are meant to be taken alone, Evie."

Her friend took her by the shoulders. "Yeah, maybe. But for a few glasses there, I thought you were dead. I'm not leaving your side again. Understand me?"

Evie’s Spirit was unguarded. And it shone with a care that nestled like a warm light in Vess's chest. Vess clutched at her friend’s hands, pressing them against her shoulders. "I understand. I am very much alive, though it was a close thing.”

They began to move, weaving their way through the crowd. The rough throng barely glanced in their direction, even when Evie spoke loudly over their shouting. “What exactly happened?"

"The Hierophant. She was too strong. We bought the time we needed but it cost us dearly. Yin was hurt, as was I, and when I made it through the Omen Door, she nearly broke her way in. I slammed it shut and was safe, but I lost consciousness. I'm unsure for how long, but it was several glasses ago that I awoke in that strange chamber on the Path.”

“The one with the light up doors?”

“The very same. I was injured, and even with potions and rest, the both of us needed time to heal.”

“She speaks as if I didn’t have to pin her down to make her rest.” Yin shook his tiny mane. “She is unbelievably headstrong for a Human.”

Vess scratched him under his chin, which made his tail thump against her leather pauldron. “Yin is a font of wisdom. So yes, we only recovered enough to progress a glass ago.”

“So you’re not far ahead of us at all. Explains how we’ve run into each other.”

Vess pursed her lips. “No it does not. Our Paths should not entangle. Everything I know of Omen Keys speaks of this journey as one taken alone.”

“You have a lizard on your shoulder.”

Yin flicked a forked tongue. “The Dragoon and I are one.”

“Uh huh. Have you figured out what the purpose of all this is?”

“Not for certain, but I am assuming I am meant to attend the Grand Tourney."

"Oh, right. That's why we were in Korcan! I remember Mags and Harn placed pretty high in the tournament, earned a purse that paid for lodging and meals for two whole years." Evie’s eyes went distant even as her smile warmed. "Those were good years.”

“A purse is a worthwhile goal. The Dragoons are here to participate as well."

"Oh, yeah." Evie scrunched up her face, remembering. "Their prodigy ended up being the winner of the Tourney, I think. That little whelp What’s-his-name.”

“Roden." Vess said with a smile. "And that's very interesting.”

“Why d’you look so happy?"

"Because I just beat him to the ground in training.”

Evie laughed. "So it’s settled! We do the tournament and you claim the top spot. Or!" she tapped her lip, "we do the tournament and we duke it out for the grand prize. Eh? Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Very. It is a solid plan of attack.” Vess cast about as they split through the crowd. She spotted Magda and the others engaged in yet another fight. “Hm, we can plan further in my chambers. Your sister and Harn seem to be preoccupied."

Evie looked in the same direction, and she looked conflicted suddenly. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”

Vess stopped walking. “Oh. Goodness, Evie. With all of this, I did not even consider—”

“It’s fine.” Her friend couldn’t stop looking at her sister, Magda, as Cal fought a mage in the arena. Evie’s voice caught, but she firmed it up. “She's not real. She's just a memory recreated by the System."

"Still, Evie. There's no reason to stick with me. Not for this."

Evie rounded on her, poking a finger at her chest. "Vess, I thought I'd lost you, just like I lost her. But I didn't. You’re here. This is real.” She flung a hand toward the arena. “That's a shadow. As much as I wanna play pretend, we still got a Continent to save."

Vess gathered Evie into a tight hug and pointedly ignored the hot tears that splashed onto her neck.

Little Dragoon. Yin undulated among her collar. He was agitated. There is a commotion in the direction of your chambers.

"What is it?" Evie followed her gaze. "Yin are you whispering something about me?”

He flicked his tongue at her. “The insufferable girl can come with. We may need the help.”

Vess took Evie’s hand and crossed the last patch of distance into the corridor. “Come. There’s something going on in my rooms.”

It was a short jaunt, but Vess was on edge. Yin had been right about there being a commotion. Dragoons moved briskly down the hallway in lockstep pairs, each one dressed in their finest armor.

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“Parade marchin’ around a trainin’ hall?” Evie watched them pass. “Somethin’s up, alright.”

When they reached Vess’ chambers, they found her father’s guards missing and her door askew. Cautiously, the three of them approached, but there was no indication anyone was within. At least, not currently.

“Someone has been through here,” Yin observed.

Evie snorted. “You think?”

Vess flared her Perception, fixing the details of her chamber in her Mind. The bed had been rumpled and mattress tossed. Her chest of drawers were disturbed, only a few of them actually closed and most of her belongings hanging out, and her weapons stand was askew, her training weapons cast onto the ground amid blank papers and a spilled ink pot.

“Gaze of the Unseen Hunter,” Vess whispered. Her vision transformed, turning the room into shades of orange and blue. It was cold all over, save for the discrete footprints that still carried a lingering warmth as they crisscrossed her chambers. “I can see at least three different people, judging by the size of their footprints. They were searching for something.”

There’s a clink of metal outside, and then a knock on the door. Evie pulled a knife free of her bandolier and palmed it while Yin slinked down into Vess’ collar. His golden head poked through her loose hair and his eyes were trained on the door.

Bracing herself, Vess opened it. "Where have the pair of you been?"

Two Dragoons stood outside. They saluted. “We were called away, Lady Dayne.”

“By whom?”

“Captain Reed. We—” The Dragoon shifted, clearly uncomfortable. “The Captain-Commander is here to see you.”

Captain Commander. There was a full rank above Darius’ father, who, as far as she knew, was the highest rank they had brought with them to Korcan.

She exchanged a worried glance with Evie and the woman’s nose had wrinkled. “Stuffed shirts. Can we say no?”

Vess smiled. “Unlikely.” Louder, she addressed the Dragoons. “Let him enter.”

The door opened wide and revealed him, flanked by two attendants. He did not smile or speak as he entered, but his attendants remained outside as he swept past Vess and Evie.

Captain Commander Dolgus. Known as a severe man, he was ancient by her young standards, having reached Adept Tier decades before Vess was born. Still, he showed few of his years and walked into the room with an air of command. He stood straight-backed and leanly muscled, his limp hair white but as full as any younger man's. Even the lines of time were etched lightly across his face.

"Lady Dayne," he gave her the precise bow of a superior officer to nobility. Vess gave her own greeting, that of nobility to commissioned officers. "And guest," he added, tilting his head curiously.

Evie gave a half wave, not bothering with any of the etiquette that Vess had taught her.

"A mercenary, it would seem.” The man’s Spirit was closely veiled and his face was as still as granite. “You have…ecclectic friends, Lady Dayne."

Once upon a time, Vess might have been cowed by the man’s act. Now she didn’t have the patience. "What is the meaning of your intrusion, Captain Commander?"

If Dolgus was alarmed by her tone he hid it well. There wasn’t a ripple in his affect. "Ah yes, well, I've come to inform you of some unfortunate news. You will be headed home."

"What?” Vess clenched her fist and Yin stirred at her neck. “Why?"

"It is not my place to explain why, only to retrieve you.”

“And what of the Grand Tourney?”

“This tournament will be handled by your peers. It is of no consequence."

Vess distinctly recalled that the Grand Tourney was of great political value. It secured them more trainees from Andiva and neighboring Territories. It also firmed up the trade deals they had with merchants, knowing that Pax’Vrell was a safe harbor. It had many functions, none of which were little in their consequences.

"That is a fabrication!”

The words came out a lot harsher than Vess intended. Dolgus blinked and his mouth curved ever so slightly downward. “I beg your pardon, recruit?”

“My…apologies. Sir,” she amended. “My understanding was that I would train for two years before returning to the Citadel. Those were the words of my father, the Duke.”

“The Duke has changed his orders."

"What? No.”

“I’ll have no more of your insubordination, Lady Dayne. Your name may grant you leniency but order can only stretch so far before it snaps into chaos.” He snapped his fingers and his attendants entered the room, handing him his coat and hat. “My servants will return in two glasses to pack up your things. We will be leaving at first light. Good day."

Without another word, the Captain-Commander swept out of the room, leaving Evie and Vess to stare after him in confusion.

"Well, he seemed a right pleasure," Evie said, leaning against the desk. "I don't take back that thing I said about spears and butts. He looked like he's jammed a couple up there." She hesitated, sucking at her teeth. "I’m assumin’ that didn’t happen before?"

"No, it didn't. I was injured before. That must have delayed whatever this was. I remember..." She paled. Memory rolled through her, cold water against fevered flesh. She remembered what happened after the tournament. "No."

"What? What is it?"

"It's my mother. She…” Vess swallowed and closed her eyes. “After the tournament, when I was recovered enough, I was told that she... That she died."

"What? This is when... Blind gods, I'm sorry, Vess."

Of all people, Vess knew that Evie’s words weren’t hollow. She sat against her rumpled, four-poster bed. “I’ve lived with this for so long that it doesn’t—it shouldn’t hurt more.”

“It does though, right?”

Vess nodded, unable to summon the right words.

The bed creaked as Evie sat next to her. “What happened next? In the past?”

"My… My father sent a contingent of Dragoons to bring me home. By that time the tournament was concluded and we all returned to Pax’Vrell. I wasn’t well enough to even ride a Manaship before that…but presumably, Dolgus had been dispatched to bring me home far earlier.” Vess frowned. “Why? My mother died against a monster while defending one of the border villages. A great beast that had required the Inquisition to hunt down. Its head is still mounted inside Scalebreaker Citadel. There’s nothing I could do, no reason to interrupt this mission.”

“Sounds like your father just wanted you home.”

“Perhaps, but—” Vess' eyes landed on her desk. “Someone ransacked my chambers. The Captain-Commander didn’t seem surprised. Why?”

Evie’s eyes narrowed and she palmed another knife. “You think he did it?”

Vess reached into her leathers and produced the scroll she’d pocketed when the creature had appeared. It was still sealed with the glyph of House Dayne. “No. But I think whoever did was looking for this.”

“A letter from your family?”

Vess didn’t answer, but stood up and cleared off her writing desk with a single sweep of her hand. In almost the same motion, she broke the seal and unrolled the scroll. A heavy orb dropped from its center and clattered against the polished wood. Vess stopped it with a single finger. No bigger than the fingernail of her thumb, it was absolutely covered in inscriptions.

“Looks like a sound ward,” Evie said, peering over Vess’ shoulder. “Give it a little juice.”

“You read my Mind.” Vess released a pulse of Mana from her palm. The orb soaked it up before releasing it in a wave that was far more condensed. A bubble surrounded Vess, Evie, and the desk itself before fading away from view. “Seems you were right.”

Her voice was muffled and dull to her ears, a side effect from eliminating echoes of any sort and something she’d experienced dozens of times while out adventuring. Hunting monsters while at low Tiers required stealth above all else.

Far more surprising, however, was the light that billowed out of the scroll itself. The words she hadn’t gotten to read flowed up into the air in luminous lines before rearranging themselves into familiar shapes. Hair, ears, and a familial nose. Her mother’s face shaped itself before them, and smiled.

Vess’ jaw worked and her nostrils flared, but she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe. Her mother’s face was beautiful, so much like the one she saw in the mirror everyday and yet utterly different. Her chin was a touch sharper, her cheekbones more angled, and the sandy hair was several shades lighter than Vess’ own. Her eyes, however, were the exact same shade of brown Vess once possessed, before Yin’s bond.

"My dearest Vessilia, I send you this, hoping it will find you unblemished. Do not carry this letter outside the sphere's radius. We cannot let others hear what I say, for your safety and your father's.” Her mother’s face blurred as if she were struggling with something. Her breath grew heavy. “We have been betrayed. The Hierophant has been hunting for something. Pieces of knowledge in the ruins at the border of our lands, where the ancient Dragon riders once held court. I sought an audience to demand her to leave the relics of our past alone. I was denied. When her zealots began attacking the people in our villages, slaughtering them when they got in the way, I interfered.”

Miera Dayne closed her eyes, and Vess picked out sweat on her brow and dripping from her nose. When her mother opened her eyes again, they were furious. “I killed them, my daughter. Inquisitors and Paladins alike, punished for their crimes. It is for this reason that I am to be executed."

Vess traded horrified glances with Evie and Miera continued on. "The Hierophant has sentenced me to death for treason. They have tried to put words in my mouth with pain, but I will not break. Already the whispers circulate this prison and beyond. They paint me in a grand light, speaking of a Great Beast—” Miera laughed, bitter. “As if there were any beast I couldn’t fell. Do not believe them, Vessilia."

“The Dragoons are meant to serve the people, Vessilia. Never forget that. The Hierophant has betrayed us again and again, but I am too weak to fight her alone. It is our duty to be the spear and shield of our people; to save those who cannot save themselves. It is the purpose of the Dragoons. We Stand Together, and together we shall overcome them all.”

Vess reached up but the magic passed through her fingers, gossamer and texturless. There was nothing there.

“Hold tight to your father. And tighter to your spear.” Her mother smiled at her, and that fierceness in her eyes only grew stronger. “I love you, Vessilia. I hope, one day, you can forgive me for what I’ve done."

The message winked out at the same time as the sphere of silence, and the scroll burned itself to ashes. Tears ran down Vess' face, but they were nothing to the rage that thundered through her heart.

She killed my mother. She—murdered my mother.

“What—” For once, Evie seemed speechless. “I got no idea what to say to this, Vess.”

“The Hierophant.”

“Yeah?”

“Did she die?”

Evie hesitated. “Felix said he put a sword in her chest—”

“Did she die?”

“I don’t know.” Vess straightened from where she bent over the table at the desk and Evie followed. “What do you wanna do?”

"Master Tier is close. I will hit it before I leave this Path. And then—" Vess forced herself to loosen her clenched jaw. “Then we shall see.”

“Then we shall serve retribution,” Yin growled.

As if that summoned them, doorframes suddenly stood behind them, empty save for a curtain of starry night.

“It appears we have completed this Path,” Vess said, and her eyes never strayed from the pile of ashes on her desk. “Go. I will see you on the other side.”

Evie lightly punched her friend on the shoulder. “Bet on it.”

The doors collapsed, and the three of them vanished.

Around them, the Path curled up, like parchment over a fire. Streamers of glitching static lifted into the air. The pieces dissolved, cracks cutting through the chamber, revealing deep gaps beyond the surface. Gaps that glittered like distant, cold stars.