Die. Respawn. Repeat.

Versa stares at me. She doesn't snatch her wrist out of my hand. Instead, all four of her eyes fixate on me then scan me slowly from head to toe.

It's... uncomfortable. I get the feeling that she's assessing me—deciding whether or not I'm a threat. Unlike Naru and Whisper, she doesn't immediately flinch away from me. Instead, the spines along her arms and shoulders bristle.

I can't tell what that signifies. Excitement? There's definitely a sense of interest in her eyes, and it's the kind of interest that makes

"Trialgoer." There's a distinct series of clicks in her voice as she speaks. She straightens, pulling her wrist easily out of my grip; it's a moment before I realize she disabled Phaseslip to do so. "I'm surprised to see you here. Figured you'd be off doing... whatever Trialgoers usually do. Fighting monsters? Looking for the exit?"

"Do you know where it is?" I keep my tone casually disinterested. The whole thing about the Trial's exit is pretty low on my list of priorities, but I'm not going to pass up information that might be valuable.

"That would be telling." Versa grins at me, something sparking in her eyes. "You could always make me tell you."

I narrow my eyes. She's spoiling for a fight. I don't think she's as hostile as Naru indicated, but more likely than not...

Her eyes flicker to Naru, and I see a clearly recognizable emotion. Distaste.

She's about to attack, but not me. Naru realizes it a second after I do, and Firmament flares up around him defensively; I feel it being channeled into a skill a fraction of a second before all his feathers turn silver. Versa whips past me a second later to deliver a punch—her feet dig into the ground hard enough to leave a crater behind, and she swings two arms directly into Naru's chest.

He blocks. Barely. I hear him grunt as her fists dig into his forearms, creating a series of spiderwebbed cracks in his silver shield. He tries to retaliate, but he's ponderously slow in comparison: she leaps back before his retaliatory punch can land. There's a shockwave of force that travels from his fist, but it dissipates by the time it hits her.

Interesting. That looks like a skill that captures and returns the force from the attacker. There's an upper limit on it, judging by the way Naru rubs at his arms—one of them looks like it might be broken.

"Uh, Ethan?" Ahkelios asks. "I feel like we should do something about this."

"I do not believe I have recovered sufficiently for this," Guard mutters. He looks more annoyed than he does frightened, though.

"Dealt with them before?" I ask.

"Naru visits occasionally," Guard grunts. "I do not have all my memories of him, but he's... troublesome."

"I bet he is." I let my Firmament flow into my core, channeling a skill I haven't had the chance to properly test. Distorted Crux.

The Seedmother was too big for the skill to really show its strengths; the most it could do against it was allow me to dodge its projectiles. It doesn't help that like my other rank S skills, it consumes a ton of Firmament to keep it going.

But I don't need to keep it going for long.

Versa launches herself toward Naru again; this time, I step in her way, and she begins to slow down. She realizes what's happening quickly, but not quickly enough—she has too much momentum to change directions quickly, and more importantly, I don't think that's what her skillset is based around.

Speed and quick, rapid blows. Distorted Crux trumps whatever Speed skill she's using. There's not much you can do if time itself is slowing down around you, and the closer she gets to me, the more time slows. I take a step closer, hiding my grimace at the way the Firmament draw increases; judging by the way she begins to wince, I'm guessing she's draining her own Firmament trying to defend against the skill.

She can move more than most would be able to, but this is still more than enough for me to catch her by the wrist. Her gaze flicks up to me, evaluating.

"Fine. I surrender." The words come out slow and distorted. Naru tries to take advantage of my hold on her, because of course he does—I feel him gathering energy for a massive blow that would not only take her out but probably half the village with it. I levy a glare at him.

Tarin, meanwhile, hits him with a wing. "Stop!" he squawks angrily. "You blow up village again!"

Naru stops. Good. I'm not sure I have the Firmament left to deal with that.

I can already tell dealing with this fight in every loop is going to be a pain.

A tentative, uncomfortable truce follows. Versa doesn't leave—she seems to recognize that her presence is making Naru uncomfortable, and she's enjoying that. In fact, she sits herself as close to him as possible, practically leaning on him despite his attempts to bat her away.

"Are you sure she isn't going to try to kill him again?" Ahkelios whispers to me. I glance at them, then shake my head.

"I think she's having more fun making him uncomfortable right now," I say dryly.

"Sure am!" Versa says cheerfully. She crosses her legs on the log she's sitting on, places one hand on Naru's shoulder, and balances precariously in a semi-lean that makes the massive crow tense up.

"I feel sorry for him," Guard comments.

"Naru said you have a grudge against him," I say. "What'd he do?"

"Oh, you know." Versa shrugs, but there's a nasty smile in her voice that tells me she knows I won't like whatever she's about to say—which is interesting, because she shouldn't know anything about me yet. "Killed some people I consider under my protection."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I didn't know they were under your protection," Naru growls out.

"Not an excuse, featherbrain," Versa says with a shrug. "You know how I operate. You should've looked out for my mark."

"Do I want to know why you felt justified killing people?" I ask, rubbing my temples. Naru glares at me.

"I maintain a strict border around my city," he says. "If you trespass, I take care of it. Simple as that."

"You're an idiot," Versa says. "Just say what we all know; it's an opportunity for credits for you."

"The credits are a bonus," Naru says, which isn't a denial. "I don't allow trespassers. Everyone knows it. It's on them if they enter the city borders without getting approval."

"What, approval through the process your draconian guards force on everyone?" Versa rolls all four of her eyes. "Spare me. I don't think they even bother submitting half the reports. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they pretend people are approved just so they can watch the slaughter."

Naru stiffens. "They wouldn't do that," he argues, but wow is it obvious he doesn't believe what he's saying. So much so that Versa doesn't even bother with a response.

"I no longer feel sorry for him," Guard says.

Yeah, I'm with Guard; I take back my sympathy for him. It's amazing he can say that and still claim to care about the loops killing Hestia, which is admittedly my main concern at the moment. I haven't forgotten the claims Hestia's Heart made to me all the way back in the Quiet Grove.

That it's dying. That it needs help. That the planet is filled with echoes of past loops. Ahkelios is one of them, and many of the monsters I've encountered, I suspect, are similar distortions. It's been a while since I've tried to establish a Temporal Link with any of them.

Maybe I should.

Tarin and Mari already know about all this, given the looks they're giving their son. He withers a little bit under their disapproval, but he also isn't apologizing. Mari makes a noise of irritation low in her throat before going back to cooking; Tarin looks at Naru with an expression that's somewhere between angry, disappointed, and sad.

I rub my temples. "Okay," I say. "I'm going to put that aside for the moment, because as much as I'd love to argue with Naru, I'm going to have to do it every single loop, and that sounds exhausting."

"Can't disagree with you there," Versa says cheerfully.

"I already argue with him a lot," Tarin says. "It not work. He stubborn."

"I am protecting my city." Naru's words come out as a growl.

"I need to know more about what you said," I say, ignoring the exchange. "You said the loops are killing Hestia. And about it dying even faster without the Integrators. Versa—is that true?"

"Yep," Versa says with a shrug. "Honestly, the only reason I didn't kill you right off the bat is because I need to talk to you about that. Who knows if you're going to be in the same spot next loop."

That's... a dangerous thing to admit. I raise an eyebrow at her. "You think you could have?"

Versa smirks. "Fifty-fifty. I would've enjoyed the challenge. Too bad I wouldn't remember it. Now that I have a better idea of what you can do, maybe sixty-forty."

"Bold claim," I say. I don't mind it; better to be underestimated than overestimated, and with her loop privileges denied, I'm going to have the information advantage eventually. "Why is Hestia dying?"

"Why are you asking her for answers?" Naru bursts out. "I'm the one that told you about this!"

Is... is Naru really getting jealous over who I'm asking for information? I stare at him. Versa does, too. All of us do. He shrinks back a little bit under the collective force of our gazes, but tries to keep his chest puffed out.

"Okay," I say. "Why is Hestia dying, Naru?"

"Because," Naru says, floundering for a moment. "It's—there's been too many loops. You've seen all the echoes from the past loops, right? The monsters."

"Sure." There's quite a lot of them on the way to the Great Cities, although I rarely stop to fight them. Most of them aren't very interesting challenges, and the few that are aren't usually worth the slog to get to. Or are just disgusting.

"There aren't supposed to be so many monsters," Naru says. "But the more loops there are, the more echoes arrive. And the more... we call them Tears, but the Interface calls them Hotspots."

I frown. A Hotspot is where I first met Naru. I remember completing one of them—it's the one that gave me access to the Empty City—but it hadn't struck me as anything significant at the time. "Why Tears?"

"Because they keep getting bigger," Versa says. She leans back against a manufactured web of Firmament. Naru glares at her, but she continues, unphased. "Like a tear in the fabric of space. It's hard for us to track things across Trials, because we don't get to keep our memories of previous Trials. But there are a few tricks. Marks we can leave to check on things, basic information we're allowed to retain."

"And the reason you're talking to me about them?" I ask. If Versa is bringing this up to me specifically, then it's because she thinks there's something I can do about them—more than what she and the rest of the Hestian Trialgoers can do on their own.

"We can close the Tears with some effort, but we aren't officially part of the Trial," Versa says. "It's not as effective when we do it, and they get bigger from loop to loop, not just Trial to Trial. The Integrators keep them somewhat in check, and we can use our notes to keep an eye on them. But thanks to you, we don't have access to that anymore."

"I'm not apologizing for that."

"I don't expect you to." Versa seems amused more than anything. "And frankly, most of us are still going to attack you on sight. Fun fact: killing you? Worth a lot of credits for us."

Of course it is.

"But we're technically aligned in purpose for this," she continues. "If we want to properly close a Tear—at least for your Trial—we're going to need your help. So what do you say, Trialgoer? Care to close a Tear or two?"

"What happens if I don't?" I ask.

"Well, I'd threaten to hunt you down, but it's not like I'd remember to do that." Versa hums to herself. "But you don't want those growing too big. It'd affect your Trial. And judging by the way you've been protecting people, you don't like it when your Trial hurts people, so..."

She's not wrong. I sigh. I have a bit of time between each Ritual stage in the dungeon, so this seems worth pursuing.

"Fine," I say. "If you have a Tear—"

"Me first," Naru interrupts. "There's a Tear near my city. I need you to get rid of it."

I stare at him. Versa just shrugs; she doesn't seem to care one way or another, as long as the Tears are getting closed.

"If I'm going to help you close your Tear," I say, "then you're coming with me."

That way, I get to learn about everything Naru can do. And maybe find out more about what's going on with his relationship with Tarin and Mari. There's a few things there that seem... unspoken. Not that I'm planning to act as bird-therapist.

My thoughts are interrupted by a loud declaration of "Food!" from Mari. She dumps a selection of plates in front of all of us. "Eat," she says. "I not know what you do, but eat first. Then go."

She looks at me, and something in her seems to soften. "I not remember you," she says, but she bows her head slightly. "But you protect husband. And Hestia. Thank you."

I offer her a small smile as I take my plate.

Hestia told me it was dying. Whatever these Tears are, I suspect they're just a symptom. Like with everything else, I'm going to have to dig deeper.

Maybe Kauku will have some answers. I feel the Knight stir within me at the thought. The rest of the Inspirations are there, waiting for me to take them. All I have to do is be strong enough to receive them.

The Tears can be a start while I wait for the Empty City to finish whatever it's doing.