Evantra and Noelle sat in the VR chatroom, with Evantra seated at the head of the table, and Noelle just to her right.

  “So… Caliburn. You didn’t have a chance to snoop around?”

  Evantra shook her head.

  “Between training for the raid and Guinevere kicking me out the moment my ‘initiation’ was over, I didn’t get a chance to thoroughly investigate. I did familiarise myself with the layout of the barge. Although… with all the organic traffic on the top floor, using the [ritual of concealment] to sneak into Elaine’s office was pretty unviable. I think we’ll have another shot on the day of the celebration in a couple of days, when the staff are concentrated in one area.” Evantra leaned back in the chair, scratching her cheek.

  “It is good to know that [ritual of concealment] seems to hide you from her optics… did you get the chance to test out your concealment on any of the other Ghostslayers?”

  “No, too risky. That being said… there is something you need to know about.”

  Noelle’s back straightened at her words, and she leaned forwards in her seat.

  “The purpose of the raid. Caliburn seemed to head directly for a particular construction site where they engaged a wyvern,” Evantra held up a hand, just as Noelle was about to speak. “I’ll tell you about that later. I noticed Guinevere slip away and enter the site. For one… I obtained a new artefact.”

  Noelle’s jaw dropped.

  “You WHAT?”

  Evantra grinned, but her smile eventually fell.

  “We’ll theory-craft later, that isn’t the crazy bit. Guinevere was engaging someone… or something in a gunfight. Noelle, how far can you take bionetics? What’s the most extreme case you’ve heard of?”

  The night she had returned to the church, the first thing Evantra had done was search up extreme cases of people who had installed bionetics – which referred to body parts that were cultivated from flesh itself. Instead of transplanting their body with metallic parts, they transplanted their features, or limbs, with bespoke flesh-comprised replacements. Taking off a ear to install another one of a different nature. Fluffelz the cat, the Vandemeer’s pet, was one such example – at least as it related to her glowing fur.

  For the most part, Evantra’s understanding was that they were purely aesthetic features. Her thoughts turned to the functional pair of wings attached to the strange figure’s shoulder blades.

  “Well… you know how off-the-rails corpos get… some of them change out their features every season. I’ve heard of rich kids styling themselves after sexy tigers, cats, bears, just about whatever you can imagine.”

  “Have you heard of anyone styling themselves after Veilcreatures?”

  Noelle gave her a resounding nod.

  “Tons. Those idiots glorify the Veil, safe and sound, high in their corporate towers. Why?”

  “Have you heard of anyone styling themselves after a teethling? With functional wings attached to their back? And changing the colour of their skin, switching their eyes out to a pair without irises, well… a cybernetic equivalent, and changing their ears?”

  “That is an oddly specific description…” Noelle’s voice trailed off as her eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Evantra…”

  “Yeah. The person, or creature, that Guinevere encountered had functional wings, was entirely blue, and looked like the larger version of a teethling. Oh, and they spoke in a language I have never heard before, and seemed to have been laying a trap for Guinevere. I found the artefact unattended on the roof of the building.”

  Explaining to Noelle what she had glimpsed, she watched as the girl’s brows furrowed in confusion.

  “If you’re suggesting it’s a Veilcreature… we’ve never found any sentient beings before. No matter how humanoid they are – the yaoguai, nymphs or gnomes for example – we haven’t had any success in communicating with them. They’re indistinguishable from animals in their intelligence. Wait a minute,” Noelle paused, her eyes narrowing. “Is this why you wanted to speak to Benjamin?”

  “Yes.”

  Right on time, they washed the portal flash, signalling the monk’s entrance to the chatroom. Just as she had last seen him, Benjamin was wearing his light orange robes, which she had to admit, juxtaposed beautifully against the menacing Wraithkiller SWS in his hands.

  Evantra rose, nodding to Ben.

  “Thanks for coming, Ben.”

  The monk broke out into a warm smile, giving her a slight bow.

  “Thank you for your gracious hospitality, Wraith.”

  His eyes shifted to Noelle.

  “I see that you have reconciled and that Twig is still possessed of all of her limbs. This pleases me greatly, Amitabha,” the monk’s warm smile shifted to “Twig”, who averted her eyes, her cheeks turning red at the nickname she was now cursed with.

  Greeting him with a smile of serenity to rival his own, Evantra gestured to the seat on the left to hers. When the monk took his seat, he laid his sniper rifle across his lap as one would a pet cat.

  “Please feel free to call us by our names. Speaking of which, why don’t we get the figurative elephant out of the way?”

  “Ah! There’s no need to kick Noelle out so soon.”

  “Ben!”

  Noelle shot the monk a look of reproach, and Evantra barely suppressed a smile. Benjamin began to chuckle in his seat.

  “I kid, I kid. I have heard that some believe that there are many paths to enlightenment, but I find that the most effective one is the road paved with jokes. They are excellent for diffusing tension, Amitabha,” the man bowed his head. “Although they somehow seemed to incense my elders, so it may actually be the path most fraught with danger,” the man intoned gravely.

  If the look that Noelle was giving him was any indication of his prospects of survival, Benjamin’s self-reflection was right on point.

  But it wasn’t Noelle’s scrutiny that he had to fear, at the current moment.

  “You wish to know how I was apprised of your name?”

  Evantra nodded, white, clouded eyes drilling into the man’s own black irises.

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  “I am currently employed as a dishwasher, in a bar in Bastion. The most curious occurrence took place recently, when a young woman, a doctor from Saint Raphael’s hospital, began complaining about a girl from Wisptown who fancied herself a Ghostslayer, and had somehow managed to get multiple slivers of glass stuck within the skin of her abdomen.”

  Evantra’s eyebrow twitched.

  “When Noelle had mentioned your visit to Bastion, it didn’t take a genius to infer what the purposes of the drone were for. When she reached out, utterly distraught after having rescued you from the Veilcreatures, I simply made an educated guess.”

  Benjamin beamed at her, as Evantra massaged her temples and Noelle diligently avoided her gaze.

  “Alright. Well… I hope I can trust you to be discreet?”

  “My lips are sealed like the gates to Shang-ri La.”

  “Ben… I’m pretty sure bloodspawn are still coming through from that realm, just the other day—”

  Evantra cut Noelle off.

  “Thank you. I also called you here to ask you a few questions about cybernetics… and bionetics. From what Noelle tells me, you’re quite the enthusiast.”

  Benjamin’s expression of levity hardened. The man subtly adjusted his posture, and Evantra’s gaze could pick out his discomfort.

  Curious.

  “What do you know about bespoke cybernetics? Top of the line implants that aren’t mass produced. What about them prevents them from being replicated at scale?”

  Noelle frowned at her in confusion, and Evantra watched as the monk stiffened further in his seat.

  I’m definitely onto something here.

  “From what I understand, the cost—”

  “The parts having to be made bespoke, yes. The complexity of creating top-of-the-line cybernetics. The cost of installation by a skilled surgeon. Resource scarcity due to the Veilsurges. All plausible explanations. And in other circumstances, I would have been convinced. There would be no reason to question. Is there anything more?”

  The man’s eyes traced over hers, searching. Evantra watched his shoulders grow taught, his grip around the Wraithkiller SWS in his hands tightening gradually.

  “You know,” Ben whispered under his breath.

  Evantra slammed the table, causing Noelle who had been anxiously leaning over it to jump and yelp.

  “Artefacts.”

  A degree of tension in the monk’s shoulders seemed to dissipate as Evantra said the word, and as Noelle stared at her in alarm. Evantra turned towards her.

  “Have you ever thought about just why there is a class of cybernetics that are ‘one-of-a-kind? There comes a point when they are way too powerful not to replicate them, no matter the cost. And if they could, I don’t doubt that humanity’s arsenal would be far greater than it currently is.”

  “You don’t think…”

  Noelle’s eyes widened in horror.

  “How… did you come to learn of them?”

  Benjamin whispered, as if concerned that his words would attract unwanted attention.

  “I can’t tell you, I’m sorry.”

  “Evantr—”

  She raised her hand, cutting Noelle off in her tracks.

  “I have one more question.”

  The monk nodded, subdued but alert, watching her every movement.

  “Bionetics. Have you heard of anyone using them to say… mimic the appearance of Veilcreatures?”

  “I… I’m afraid I—”

  Benjamin’s eyes widened, and he hurried to conceal his momentary expression of shock, adopting a somewhat shakier smile than he had at the beginning of their conversation.

  “What do you know about it?”

  Evantra watched as the man disappeared in a shimmer of golden sparks, as he disconnected from their private server.

  Now that… I didn’t expect.

  “Ben!”

  Noelle stood in alarm, staring at the man’s sudden departure, before she disconnected from the server. Taking off her VR gear, she watched Noelle hurry to extract her phone in an attempt to contact him.

  “Damnit… You saw that he was uncomfortable, you just had to go and—”

  “What, Noelle?” What?”

  Noelle paused, and her shoulders fell. Evantra’s eyes were like cold steel as they drilled into the bright greens of Noelle’s.

  “Don’t forget why we’re doing this. Just why we’re bothering to get to the bottom of it all. Have you forgotten?”

  Noelle seemed to withdraw into herself, and Evantra felt a pang of guilt as she watched the girl wipe a tear free from her eye before her face contorted.

  “You’re right. But that doesn’t mean you have to be pushy and a lichdick about it.”

  Before Evantra could stop her, Noelle stormed out of the room.

  She sighed.

  ***

  Evantra found Noelle outside, on the balcony of the church. The girl’s eyes were lingering on Elsecaller City in the distance, and she didn’t turn to acknowledge her when Evantra joined her. Evantra closed the door behind her, and she watched the gargantuan Demeteria corporation windmills rotate over the agricorp’s continental greenhouses.

  She joined Noelle beside the railing, letting out a small sigh as a brisk wind blew past her, filtering through her long, black hair.

  “Has he replied to you?”

  Noelle just shook her head, silent.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Noelle didn’t respond, but she stowed her phone in her pocket, casting her gaze to the city in the distance.

  “That’s not the only thing I’m upset about.”

  What have I done now—

  “Back during the raid, you stumbled across a poltergeist’s domain, and you decided to run in there? Even though I told you to consider travelling above ground?” The girl’s voice rose to a high pitch, betraying her incredulity at Evantra’s decision.

  Oh. That would do it.

  “I told Carmen.”

  Evantra’s eyes widened in alarm.

  “You what—”

  In the time she had spent with her the day before, Carmen hadn’t betrayed a single sign of her anger.

  “You promised her you would be honest, didn’t you? Or you going to start lying by omission as and when it suits you?”

  Evantra sighed. She couldn’t help but admit to herself that Noelle was right. She had agreed to that, but the thought of keeping the woman up at night as a result of her poor decisions didn’t sit right with her. Noelle rounded on her, brows furrowing, acid entering her tone.

  “Do you know how hard it was to prevent myself from picking up another cleaver and following her out past the junkyard in search of you?”

  Evantra stared at her in confusion.

  “We both wanted to kill you ourselves to save the poor ghost the trouble. You bloody idiot. What’s the point of having me as a techie if you’re not going to follow my advice? Or even consider it?”

  Evantra could feel a pang of hurt at the edge of the girl’s tone. She shifted uncomfortably where she stood. Noelle’s face was blank, turned towards Elsecaller City in the distance. Evantra felt her heart thumping in her chest, blood rushing in her ears. She felt her breathing constrict, the familiar feeling of anxiety carving through her veins.

  “Noelle, I can’t run from ghosts,” Evantra whispered.

  Noelle froze.

  She stared at her in silence, as Evantra let out a long breath. She forced her eyes towards Noelle’s fist clenched at her side as she struggled to get out the words.

  “I can’t run from them, because I ran from a ghost on the day of my parents’ death. It was my fault.”

  Each word was as excruciating as tearing apart thin pieces of her skin, exceeding even the pain the very first teethling in her first Veilsurge had inflicted. Evantra swallowed, her eyes downwards, averted from Noelle’s own. She could feel the girl’s gaze lingering on her, and she had the urge to run. It felt like she was bearing a part of herself to Noelle that she could not take back, that could be used against her at the girl’s whim.

  She continued nonetheless, her voice trembling.

  “They died because of a stupid mistake I made. Then, they held it back while I ran. They would have been alive if it weren’t for my actions. Then, when it mattered, I ran. Do you understand?”

  Evantra gritted her teeth and forced herself to towards Noelle. The other girl’s green eyes were wide with comprehension before she eventually looked away. They stood together, looking out at the city as the wind washed over them. From the look on Noelle’s face, it seemed like she had put the pieces together.

  “Of course I understand, I ran as well,” Noelle whispered.

  Noelle paused, and Evantra watched as her shoulders slumped ever so slightly.

  “I know how it feels. Even then, I was given a chance to fix it. I’m… sorry.”

  Evantra nodded.

  My chance won’t ever come.

  “Thank you for telling me. But that doesn’t mean that you run towards every ghost that you come across,” Noelle’s tone grew steely, her posture straightening, causing Evantra to blink in surprise. “It doesn’t mean you can just throw yourself at them. You have incredible potential, Evantra. More than any of these other Ghostslayers – even if they’re pumped full of cybernetics, which somehow harness the power of artefacts, like Benjamin’s reaction seemed to imply. You unlock their potential to a whole other level. But… not as you are right now.”

  Noelle gripped her forearm, fingers biting into her skin.

  “Wait till you wield powers like the strongest of magical girls and guardians once did. When you become terrifying enough to haunt the nightmares of ghosts and the Veil. Then throw yourself at them all you like. Hell, I’ll be right beside you while you do it.”

  Noelle seemed to catch herself, the vitriol on her tongue, abruptly burning away. She paused and took a deep breath.

  “Besides…”

  Noelle’s bright green eyes angled downwards towards Evantra’s arms.

  “Has it worked?”

  Staring down at her shaking hands…

  Evantra remained silent.

  “If you throw yourself to your death, you won’t have the chance to make up for it. So live, then do better and make them proud of the person you’ve become since,” Noelle whispered under her breath.

  “I know you can, because if a coward like me can manage it—”

  Noelle raised her eyes to meet her own.

  “Then so can you.”