I thought I was going to be taken straight to Ring One. My mind had somehow started thinking of Councillors as beings undoubtedly tied to the topmost Ring of Zairgon. At the very least, I was expecting some secluded corner in Ring Two.

  Instead, the Scalekin officer took me to the section of Ring Three that had been repurposed into a makeshift military camp.

  I was taken to the rear of the “camp”, where I was asked to enter one of the most abandoned-looking buildings I had seen in all of Ring Three. But for all that it looked unassumingly nondescript from the outside, the interior was anything but.

  “Welcome, Interpreter Moreland,” Se-Vigilance said from the end of the room. She was as tall and radiant as ever, her pearlescent feathers folded on her back. “Or is it Defender Moreland now?”

  The room was practically stuffed with so much paraphernalia, I was getting a little overwhelmed, and I wasn’t even using anything here. Tables strewn with documents, maps, and a surprisingly accurate three-dimensional model of Zairgon, devices that glowed and clicked and made me think of artifices, and—most surprisingly—a turtle with a metal shell in a fishtank.

  “Ross Moreland is right there, Councillor,” I said, trying not to be distracted by the oddity of a turtle.

  “True,” Se-Vigilance said. “But when you so respectfully use my given title all the time, I simply wish to return the favour.”

  I blinked. Was she… teasing me? “Is that a turtle, Councillor?”

  “Turtle?” Se-Vigilance looked down at the turtle before dipping a shining hand inside the tank to gently stroke the turtle’s back. “This is an Ironshell, Ritualist Moreland. Very rare, but also very strong. Did you know that their shells actually store mana in a form we’ve never encountered elsewhere?”

  “Um…” I decided against letting all the inane questions crowding my head come out. We needed to focus. It was almost crazy the Councillor seemed lackadaisical. We had literally been invaded by a massive swarm of monster bugs not much more than a day ago. “What exactly did you call me here for, Councillor?”

  “Can you not guess?” She turned her back to me. I saw that she was positioned in front of a large board where various notes and sketches had been strung up. “You felt it, didn’t you?”

  “You’ll have to be more specific. I’ve felt a lot of things.”

  “The tremors, Delver Moreland. You haven’t just felt those. You caused those, yes?”

  “Oh… you mean the Nether Vein. That’s what you wanted to talk about.”

  “Correct.”

  Now that I was noticing the notes and the sketches better, I picked up some things that suggested our topic of conversation. Scribbles that read “Eversight Dungeon”, “Nether Vein”, and even “Mana Implosion”, on one of the notes. A sketch that showed an overview of what looked like a massive gate, while another had that strange, chopped-off figure eight symbol.

  “Please recount your adventure in Eversight dungeon,” Se-Vigilance said. “I would appreciate it if you focused on the Nether Vein section of your story.”

  I nodded and then proceeded to tell her everything. There was no point in hiding anything. I got the sense that I wasn’t the only one stating my account of what had happened, so even if I kept back anything significant, I’d be found out pretty easily.

  And that was assuming the Councillor didn’t have some magical way of determining lies and half-truths, which was absolutely possible.

  “It is wondrous to believe that a mana implosion was all it took to unseal the Nether Vein,” the Councillor said musingly. “From the unawakened mana of someone who’s only Silver-ranked.”

  “Gold-ranked, now.” I paused. “Well, I suppose it depends on what you’re ranking.”

  Se-Vigilance hummed. “Gold-ranked. I mean no offence, but compared to the one who sealed it up in the first place, that’s not much better than Silver-ranked. So my amazement that you were able to reopen the Nether Vein remains undiminished, Archaeologist Moreland.”

  Archaeologist? Now that was a new one. “Oh, I’m not planning to remain Gold for any longer than I need to.”

  Se-Vigilance handed me a page, then floated towards the door while I looked at the sheet. I tried to stop my eyes from twitching. The Councillor’s handwriting was horrendous, almost as bad as that map Khagnio had drawn.

  If I hadn’t had Universal Language Approximator, I’d probably have been lost.

  “This states that what we experienced was just the gate,” I said. “That little lake of darkness.” I frowned as I read more. “It’s a guardian?”

  “Of course, mageling.”

  I whipped around to see that Khagnio was entering the room too, shedding the dull brown-grey cloak off his scaly shoulders. His dark tail seemed to come alive on its own now that it was no longer hidden. I ignored him to look at the Councillor closing the door behind him. “Did you invite him because of the condition of his tail?”

  “Correct!” Se-Vigilance said. “How very astute of you, Mage Moreland.”

  “I’m right here, you know,” Khagnio grumbled.

  “What are we really here for, Councillor?” I asked. I felt like I had asked that already. “We’ve got an invasion to deal with. The Blight Swarm is on our doorstep. We don’t have time to wonder about Nether Veins, no matter how fascinating they are.”

  Maybe I was being a bit disrespectful with my tone there, but it was true. There were heaps of differences in what the Councillor had to deal with versus what I needed to go through. She could rest assured that there were others, just as powerful and as competent, to handle the defence of Rings Three, Two, and One.

  Me? I was the one who was most responsible for safeguarding Ring Four and everybody who lived there.

  That was perhaps a little egotistical of me to think that way, because the reality was that I alone couldn’t look over the entirety of Ring Four. It was too large. That was why I needed the Anymphea, why the other cults were responsible for other areas.

  But still. I wasn’t stupid. I knew I was the focal point, that much of the defence’s capabilities lay on me. Hamsik and the other vampires had been right when they had worried about my safety. If I died, if something happened to me, so much of what Ring Four had accomplished—was accomplishing—would end up evaporating.

  Nevertheless, my words had been a little too forceful, a little too tactless in present company. The Councillor had judged them the same. I could tell by the way her aura had flared. It had been subtle, almost imperceptible, before. But now, it scoured over me.

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  “Perhaps a piece of the fault lies with me for not clarifying earlier how the Nether Vein is relevant to our current issues,” Se-Vigilance said. “Though I’d have hoped you would have enough faith in me, just as I have in you, Altruist Moreland.”

  Khagnio snickered. “Altruist Moreland.”

  I glared at him. “Aren’t you going to interrogate our crooked friend too, Councillor? He’s very fond of lying, grouching, and being a little shit.”

  It was Khagnio’s turn to glare at me. “I do not lie, mageling.” His eyes flickered to the Councillor. “Well, not in present company, I don’t.”

  “Ha.”

  Se-Vigilance cleared her throat. “I have already verified Khagnio Iyarthisz’s story. It matches your own, which pleases me.” She floated past us to once again stand before her board. “So let us get down to the real business—how the Nether Vein can help us with our current predicament. To that end, let us gather the clues we have been presented with. Tell me what you know, gentlemen.”

  “With all due respect, I’m not gentle,” Khagnio said. “But as for clues, hmmm. My tail is a right pain in my scaly arse, Councillor, I’ll tell you that. Can’t wash it, can’t brush it, gives me nightmares half the time too. Even when I’m awake.”

  That last bit made me wince. He had progressed from the style of depression I occasionally had to deal with to actual nightmares. That… didn’t sound good.

  “Mine isn’t as bad,” I said. “I get depressive feelings whenever I try to use my mana core. I guess an infected mana core isn’t as bad as having a whole tail replaced with… whatever that is.”

  “Netherthreads,” Se-Vigilance said. “That is what infests both of you currently. They are the twisted version of mana that Nether Veins use to function. It wasn’t always like this, but…” She shook her head with a tut. Apparently, whatever she had been about to say didn’t matter. “The Netherthreads you’re affected with are essentially a defence mechanism from the Vein.”

  Guardian, her note had read. We were essentially being repelled away from the Nether Vein. A warning that if we tried to delve deeper, we’d get a lot worse than depressing nightmares and PTSD.

  “How do we get rid of it?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to lose my tail again, mageling,” Khagnio said.

  I stared at him. “Even if it gives you nightmares?”

  He brought his appendage of condensed black threads close and gave it a comforting hug. “It’s just keeping me on my toes. Aren’t you, my sweet little tail?” he crooned.

  I made gagging noises.

  “Unfortunately,” Se-Vigilance said, sounding unsure whether she wanted to be bemused or not. “I am afraid I don’t know how to get rid of the Netherthreads. That provides another vector of motivation for unearthing insights about the Nether Vein. I’m certain you, Explorer Moreland, would like to be rid of them.”

  I sighed. Sure would be nice not to feel like I had seasonal affective disorder every time I tried using my mana core.

  “But why just us?” I asked. “Our other companions had suffered some wounds too. Smaller ones, sure, but still.”

  “It’s got something to do with the Weave too, doesn’t it?” Khagnio said.

  Se-Vigilance nodded. “You were both in a transitory state. Workaholic Moreland was awakening his mana core, even if it was through an unconventional process. Khagnio here was on the verge of awakening his Racial Aspect.”

  I ignored the fact that the damn Scalekin had never mentioned anything about being close to a Racial Aspect. “Workaholic?”

  Khagnio cackled. “Now we need the clue that connects it to the Blight Swarm, don’t we? All we’ve got is that they’re both from those old Ascendants.”

  “Correct,” Se-Vigilance said. “Both the Nether Vein and the Blight Swarm are a Monumental Opus created by the Ascendants of old. You must understand, neither were created to be the kind of dangerous, harmful things we experience them as. Historically, the Nether Vein used to connect all the realms across Ephemeroth.”

  “What was the Blight Swarm?” I asked.

  “A menagerie of sorts. A collection of different species, some of which needed conservation efforts to keep them from going extinct entirely. I can see you’re surprised, but it’s true. The Ascendants weren’t all horrible people.”

  I supposed it was surprising to think of these things that were out to kill us as once having had good intentions. Hell, I couldn’t even think of the Ascendants themselves as having been decent people. They had caused this whole mess. They were the ones who were so blinded by their own greed that they had allowed this world to come to a sunless, rainless state.

  “But do they have a direct connection?” I asked. “The Nether Vein and the Blight Swarm, that is? Sure, they’re both the Works of Ascendants, but anything beyond that? Do we know if they were made by the same Ascendant or anything like that?”

  Se-Vigilance sighed. One of her wings of prismatic feathers reached over her shoulder to scratch her cheek. “Unfortunately, details like that are much harder to come by. I am still looking for information as I believe that is the best way I can contribute to this issue. I decided to inform you about it because your unique interactions with the Nether Vein might grant you insights. If you do gain any, I want to know about them immediately.”

  “Hmm, I don’t think my nightmares are exactly insightful,” Khagnio said. “They’re just bad memories, Councillor. You don’t want to know.”

  “Regardless, if you do gain any, I wish to know. It might be the real key to stopping the Blight Swarm for good.”

  “We do have one other clue.” I described how I had seen the darkness oozing out of the monsters. A darkness that made my mana core throb.

  “Indeed,” Se-Vigilance said with a nod. “That is what made me connect them in the first place, when I saw what seemed to be Netherthreads oozing out of the Blight Swarm’s corpses. This is why further insight is paramount. Think about it. We might be able to stop the first invasion, the second, the fifth, even the eleventh. But if the Blight Swarm doesn’t stop, we will have to.”

  I swallowed. That was a concerning consideration. I didn’t really know just how endless the Blight Swarm was supposed to be. People had survived it before, so I believed we could make it too. But if they were far stronger, if they exacted a terrible price for survival, then what would even be the point of living beyond the Blight Swarm?

  But my fears didn’t find purchase on my mind, because a different set of considerations was taking its place. Nightmares. Insights. Visions.

  Sacrifice.

  I looked up at the Councillor. “I think I might know how to figure out if there’s a link between the Blight Swarm and the Nether Vein.” I glanced sidelong at Khagnio, who was looking at me questioningly. “But I’d like to propose a deal first, Councillor.”

  “You’re proposing a deal for your survival?” she asked.

  “Well, even if we survive the Blight Swarm, one of the Councillors has ensured that our temple isn’t going to survive regardless.”

  None of us were sitting, but the Councillor steepled her hands under her chin anyway. “I see. You are aware of the mechanisms needed to counter it, yes?”

  I nodded. “Yes, I was kindly informed. I’m just saying… if I can get you the information you need, then I hope I can count on you during the trial.”

  She smiled at me reassuringly. “Ross Moreland. You’ve already done enough for me to be on your side in the matter. Rest assured that Hristo’s overreach has not escaped my notice. It won’t be easy to overturn, especially since I am bound to support my colleague’s decision on the face of it, but I am willing to support your challenge of it as well.”

  I took a deep breath, then smiled and nodded as well.

  “Really, mageling.” Khagnio said as we headed out, finally free. “You’re lucky the Councillor likes you. If this was Lassikhio, your fleshy butt would now be on fire.”

  I snorted. “I might not be the most powerful person in Zairgon, but I’d be stupid not to use the powers I do have.”

  Khagnio just shook his head with a fanged smile.

  “You sure you’re okay?” I asked.

  “I’ll be fine, mageling. You just worry about your little Ring and everybody there. I’ve dealt with worse.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but Khagnio wasn’t the sentimental type of person, so I didn’t push it.

  He grinned. “Besides, I am getting my Racial Aspect soon enough.”

  I laughed. “What’s it going to be?”

  His slits thinned in obvious excitement. “It’s going to be a surprise. And oh, what a surprise it’s going to be!”

  Khagnio hissed out maniacal laughter.

  I sighed with my own smile. “Never change, Khagnio.”

  After the meeting with Se-Vigilance, I did one last round of checks to make sure everything was ready for the next invasion. We didn’t know when it was going to happen, though we’d get warning when the Blight Swarm started moving in. But it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

  Afterwards, I was going to spend the remainder of the day—or night now—training. I would have sparred with the vampires, but most of them were gone on the excursion.

  Turned out, I didn’t get much time to practice at all. It was Sreketh again, rushing at me just like she had the day Brasvay had paid us a surprise visit. I was once again alarmed that something had gone down.

  “Ross, Ross!” She came to a halt so suddenly, I was a little surprised I didn’t hear her feet screeching against the ground. “They’re here! They’re back!”

  Ah. Well, my alarm completely evaporated at that.

  “Slow down, Sreketh,” I said.

  I probably shouldn’t have said that because as soon as she had said her first words, I knew exactly what she meant. So, by the time Sreketh had stopped moving, I had started hurrying off.

  “Hold on,” Sreketh called from behind, Santoire somewhere even farther back. “I want to meet them too!”

  So did I. I wanted to see just what the Councillor’s excursion had resulted in.