Die. Respawn. Repeat.

To say that Wander is unhappy about the Integrators' raid is... a bit of an understatement.

"You're telling me I could have died permanently," he says, shuddering. "Being eaten!"

"We don't know that he was eating you," I say, trying to placate him.

In retrospect, I could probably have phrased that better. Wander turns to glare at me. "That does not make it better," he hisses.

"Sorry."

He grumbles under his breath, and I return to my temporary job of keeping an eye out for any meteors headed in our direction. The pulsating mass that was surrounding Wander when I found him was apparently named Tekk, but he'd fortunately proven not to be much of a problem. After I punched a hole through him, he just melted, pouring through the gaps in the floor and leaving behind a crumbling set of vaguely limb-shaped stones.

Of course, the lack of an Interface notification tells me he's still alive. I'm guessing he just chose to run rather than fight. Smart decision, on his part. I could have tried chasing after him, but there's a limit to how much I can do in these loops. Tracking down a runaway merchant just doesn't seem like it's as much of a concern as the meteors threatening to destroy the city.

That said, I slightly regret that decision when Wander tells me about what he's learned.

Critical Juncture, Orb Weaver, and Snap Retort. Two of those names aren't familiar to me, but the third one is—it's a skill the Interface once offered to me. Those vials are Interface skills, more likely than not. It means Anhar's usage of imbuement stones likely isn't a one-off. Whisper's looking into ways to grant people the abilities the Interface would normally grant them.

"Not just Whisper, I bet," Wander mutters beside me. He's staring back into the building, doing his best to ignore the meteors falling overhead. "He sounded like he was selling to others."

"Other Trialgoers?" I ask.

"Maybe," Wander says. "But they won't be the only ones interested in this kind of tech."

I wince. "Don't get me wrong, letting more people get skills isn't a bad thing, but..."

"You need the Interface to control the skills properly, right?" Wander doesn't look at me, but the way he taps his foot nervously on the ground tells me he has more experience with the subject matter than I might expect. "I didn't realize they were skills."

"You've seen people try to use skills without the Interface before?" I ask.

"Bimar has." Wander's voice is grim.

Right. The lab experiments. "Result wasn't pretty, I take it."

"She brought back pictures." Wander scowls a little. "I asked her not to."

I can only imagine.

Tekk, fortunately, wasn't able to take the vials with him. He did manage to shatter half of them, more by sheer luck than anything else—one of his pieces had fallen into the still-open briefcase when I punched him—but a good half of the vials were still intact.

"You're sure they're safe... wherever you put them?" Wander asks me, concerned. I shrug.

"They're as safe as they can be," I say.

They're in the Empty City dungeon, along with the rations Mari gave me ages ago and everything else I've thrown in there. I'm starting to wonder if I should even try to complete it, at this point—it's proving more useful to me as an inventory than as anything else.

I probably should. Eventually. It's clearly got some answers in there that I want. Maybe if I get myself an actual inventory skill first, preferably one that doesn't mean I'm risking life and limb every time I open it. I haven't been attacked by anything inside it so far, but if Ahkelios is right, then it's only a matter of time.

"You said Tekk called himself a Disconnected?" I ask Wander, partly to distract him and partly to distract myself. I can tell the situation is getting to Whisper, though he's doing a good job of hiding it. The ethereal Firmament that makes up his body just occasionally flickers. If it weren't for Firmament Sight letting me see the flickers of yellow emanating from him, I wouldn't be able to tell how scared he is.

"Yeah." Wander doesn't meet my gaze. He stares up into the sky instead, though he flinches and glances away when a meteor strikes one of the floating crystal citadels, shattering a tower and sending massive shards down to scatter over the city. "He didn't say anything about what that means, though."

"If he won't tell Whisper his name because of it..." I frown. Disconnected. "The goal of Integration—or the purported goal—is to connect a series of worlds to the Integrators. Once a planet is fully Integrated, it's not just connected to the Interface. It's connected to the Integrators themselves. Maybe that's what Disconnected means?"

"A person or a planet that's disconnected themselves from the Integrators and their connected worlds?" Wander asks. "I mean... maybe. It'd explain the need for secrecy."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"What was it like?" I ask. "Integration."

Wander sighs. "I don't remember," he says. "No one does. It's like the Integrators have always been here. They can show up anywhere, at any time... I mean, they never do, of course. But I know they can. Every Hestian does. It's like it's written into our history."

That's news. And worryingly similar to Teluwat's abilities, now that I think about it.

I wonder if the Integrators had that ability before Teluwat.

"Can't say that's encouraging," I mutter.

"No, but..." Wander trails off, hesitating a moment before he continues. "If it's possible to disconnect..."

"Right," I say. "Tekk's obviously evil, but he's given us some pretty valuable information. If a group like the Disconnected exist, then that means Integration might not be permanent."

"It means there's hope," Wander says. He doesn't say anything else, but I do see his Firmament grow a little brighter, a little more stable.

I smile slightly. It does, doesn't it? I've been engaged in the Integrators' games for so long that I've almost forgotten the bigger picture.

Still, these Disconnected are pretty secretive. Even Gheraa hasn't said anything about them, and if they won't even reveal their own names, then tracking them down is going to be harder than I'd like.

They're dangerous, that much is clear. Even Tekk is dangerous. Any enemy smart enough to run when they're outmatched is an enemy I need to be concerned about.

But maybe they won't all have to be my enemies.

For now, though, I'm stuck playing babysitter. Wander can't handle these meteors on his own, and it's too dangerous for me to leave him until we've met up with Vahrkos. The best we can do is make our way through the streets toward him.

Speaking of which.

I leap up to knock one away, gritting my teeth against the Dispel that bursts out of it as I do so. The amount of Firmament each one takes just to push away is... bothersome. I can't keep this up forever, and clearing the raid is still an unsolved problem. Even with Whisper's help, and that's assuming she keeps her promise.

"Are you okay?" Wander asks, his voice concerned.

"I'm fine." My breathing is a little ragged, but so far, this is nothing I can't handle. "I need the practice. If I need a break, I'll just carry you and dodge them."

"Oh." Wander apparently hadn't even considered that possibility. His voice emerges more nervously than I would have expected. "Uh... let me know if you need a break?"

I raise an eyebrow a bit. "I will," I say. My attention goes back to the sky, scanning the number of meteors raining down on the city.

I can't be completely sure, but I'm guessing this raid is specifically designed to drain me of my Firmament reserves. It's smart—that's one of the strategies that'll work against me across loops. Even if they aren't aware of what Gheraa's given me, they're making sure I can't just brute force the problem if I find a way around their limitations.

And yet beating one away doesn't take as much Firmament as it did before. I'm getting better at this. More to the point, I'm even closer to the next phase-shift, and the qualitative changes to my Firmament are starting to noticeably affect the performance of all my skills.

[ Firmament base attunement: 98.2%

Progress to next phase shift: 90.7% ]

The construct Gheraa left within me is still operating, albeit a little slower. I could push it, I sense—force an evolution of my Firmament here and now—but there's still too much danger lying around. I need to wait until I'm actually safe, and not likely to be, say, hit by a meteor while undergoing a change so fundamental.

The thought itches at me, though. Holding back at such a crucial time makes me feel like I'm making a mistake. It's not like I can't hide away in the lab and use a loop just to deepen my Firmament.

We don't know how long it'll take. Ahkelios chooses this moment to pipe in through our bond. Apparently, he's been listening in. Wait until I'm there, at least.

How's the Link going? I ask. It's been a while since I've been able to get an update from him. Is Vahrkos okay?

Your skill is busted, Ahkelios grumbles back at me through the link, but I can feel the relief in his voice. Vahrkos is fine. Your Temporal Link copies every event that happens. There's a copy of me fighting with you, so I'm staying back and out of sight to make sure nothing changes.

I breathe a sigh of relief. That should mean I'm free to rely entirely on the skill, provided Whisper doesn't throw anything off. I can do that by getting her support only after both Vahrkos and Wander are safe—in other words, pretty much what I'm already doing.

As for the phase-shift... I'll do it with Tarin and the others nearby, in case I need something external to help the shift along. Who knows. It helped the first time. I think Gheraa would have mentioned it if it had, though.

We should be there soon, Ahkelios adds. We just beat Anhar and your copy's briefed Vahrkos on the situation. You should cancel the skill so I can update him.

I take that in, then cancel the skill. I can feel Ahkelios's amusement across our link—apparently, Vahrkos was not particularly pleased with the way my copy vanished in front of him. He calms down a little when Ahkelios explains the situation, and in no time at all, he's on his way to meet us.

It actually doesn't take long at all for him to show up. I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose—Wander and I have made it more than halfway toward the military base just going through the streets.

What does surprise me is how emotional Vahrkos looks when he sees Wander safe and sound. I see him start to run, then force himself to slow down and walk at a normal pace, practically grinding his teeth the entire time. Then he comes to a stop in front of Wander and just... stands there awkwardly.

Eventually, Vahrkos manages to force out some words. "I was worried," he grunts.

Ahkelios flies back to my shoulder. "He was a lot more than just worried!" he declares loudly, making the morphling flinch and glare. "You should have seen his face when I told him you almost died," he whispers to Wander.

It's not really a whisper. He says it more than loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Wander, fortunately, isn't nearly as awkward as Vahrkos is. He drags the morphling into an open hug, squeezing him so tight I'm almost worried his carapace will crack. I smirk a bit at the sight—evidently, Wander's braver than Vahrkos in at least one respect.

As much as I'd like to give them their moment, though, I'm a little pressed for time. "Vahrkos, I need to get going. Can you keep Wander safe?"

"These things will not come near him," Vahrkos says. "Your friend has briefed me on the situation. We'll seek out Thys and Thaht and ensure they remain safe as well."

That's one weight off my chest. I give him a grateful nod. If Vahrkos is going to handle Thys and Thaht—though if I'm being honest, I'm half-expecting their massive suit of armor to suddenly burst through a building at any moment, considering this is the perfect situation for it—then I may as well meet up with Bimar.

Assuming I can find her, anyway. First stop: Miktik's workshop.