Die. Respawn. Repeat.

We've moved into the nearby forest. I'm alone, at least for now—Guard is hovering nearby in case something goes wrong, but that seems unlikely. I can feel how much cleaner my Firmament is, how much more easily it flows through my body.

More than that, every skill I own resonates clear in my mind. I'm almost certain I could use those Submerged skills if I wanted to, even. Now's not quite the time to risk that, though.

I flex my fingers, watching Amplified Gauntlet shimmer over my skin, nearly invisible. It's bizarre how much more easily my power flows now. It's always felt like using Firmament was something that required effort. Now it responds so quickly that I have to be careful not to overexert the skill by accident.

Making the gauntlet invisible is a matter of will. A few rounds of testing have shown that the precision of my control has grown to the point that I can manifest it over one finger at a time if I wanted to. I can even use the skill to manifest rings of metallic Firmament around my wrist, though I can't imagine why I would want to do such a thing. Ahkelios seemed satisfied when I demonstrated it, though. Something about partial, incomplete skill manifestation.

All this is a testament to how much more flexible my skills are now, but it's not exactly what we're here to test. Considering what I've just read?

I need to see what the difference is up close. I need to see exactly how much has changed, and not just with my skills—that part's self-evident just from a bit of practice. Apparently the changes run deeper than that, and the only way to find out exactly how effective they are is to put them to the test.

Right on time, a Guilty Chimera charges toward me, herded by Ahkelios. The first time one of these attacked me, I was barely able to block in time; the only reason I could at all was because of Precognition warning me a split second before it happened.

This time, though? I can see it moving. It's not that it's moving in slow motion, exactly; rather, it just feels like I have plenty of time to react. To move, to dodge...

I frown, noticing something interesting.

I could also do nothing at all.

This time around, Precognition isn't firing. There's no sense of incoming danger. I can feel the force the chimera is pouring into this attack—lightning blazes across its scales, and there's a swirling tide of liquid swelling in front of it—and yet I feel not a hint of a reaction from the skill.

So I let Amplified Gauntlet fade away. I hold a hand out, palm flat.

I wait.

A roiling tide of electrified water slams into me a split second before the chimera itself does. There's about three seconds of crackling static and rushing, turbulent water. Three seconds where some of the smaller trees are physically uprooted and blown back, and the larger ones have pieces of their bark explode from the snap-boiling of the sap within.

Me, though? I'm fine. It hurts the way a static shock hurts—a sharp sting on my palm that fades remarkably quickly.

The chimera's snout is crushed almost cartoonishly against my hand. Its expression is almost comical, eyes wide in a mixture of shock and pain; I find myself grimacing at the sensation.

It might look comical, but I can feel how many bones are broken in its skull alone. I remember these things having skin that's comparable to steel, and it's been crushed into nothing through the force of its own blow.

The Aspect of the Body resists change, including changes in inertia. All that force blew right back into its snout, and I think something about the Aspect of Force made the blow effective where it normally might have passed through its body.

I take a quick step forward, twisting, snapping my other fist into its face. More to put it out of its misery than anything else; I learned what I needed to. I can test Temporal Link with the next one. ℟ÄΝǒ𝐁ȧ

[You have defeated a Guilty Chimera (Rank A)! You have gained 12 Physical points. You have gained 12 Astral points. You have gained 20 Firmament credits.]

That's one question answered. The structure of my rewards has changed. We learned a few things, going through those Interface notifications.

First among them is that the Interface has changed the way it organizes and categorizes my skills and credits. I no longer have Strength, Durability, Reflex, or Speed; instead, they've been altered into something it calls Aspect Pools. There's a whole set of notifications that read largely the same, starting with Strength:

[Congratulations, Trialgoer. You have uncovered the Revelation of Force.]

[You have unlocked the Force Aspect Pool.]

[Strength has been upgraded to Aspect of Force. Your Strength credits will be converted into Aspect points at no additional cost.]

[NOTICE: Force skills operate at higher levels of efficiency compared to standard Strength skills. Overuse of them may result in injury. Caution is recommended.]

There were twelve sets of notifications for these in total, three for each of the four upgraded categories. And then there were four more intriguing ones:

[Anomaly detected. Compensating...]

[Your Force and Body Aspect Pools have merged. You have created the Physical Aspect Pool. All accumulated Force and Body points will be collectively added to this pool and may be redeemed for skills of either category.]

[Your Mind and Energy Aspect Pools have merged. You have created the Astral Aspect Pool. All accumulated Mind and Energy points will be collectively added to this pool and may be redeemed for skills of either category.]

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Those particular notifications made it sound almost like none of that was supposed to happen. Not that I minded. More interesting to me was what came after.

[The Physical and Astral Aspect Pools provide a passive bonus to your respective traits on top of what your level as a Firmament practitioner offers you. Banked points count more toward this passive bonus than held points.]

It takes a little digging, but the Interface explains what that means with a little prompting—all I have to do is focus on the Aspect Pool I'm interested in. The window that pops up does so with an almost sluggish reluctance, but the descriptions are more or less what I'd expect.

The Physical Aspect Pool boosts my physical traits. The Astral Aspect Pool boosts my ability to control and perceive energy, both internally and externally. With all the points I've spent, my default bonus is... well, it's a lot.

Enough that a fight with a Guilty Chimera—a fight that would normally have required me to use my skills, to dart around and wear it down—now mostly feels like I'm bullying a child. I use a quick wave of Firmament to wash the blood off my knuckles and watch as the chimera's body fades away.

"Next one," I tell Ahkelios.

I'm a lot more confident now that I have a better idea of what I'm capable of. The next Guilty Chimera that Ahkelios sends at me sees that. It looks a lot more hesitant, circling around me slowly instead of charging blindly, but that's fine. If it won't come to me, I'll just have to go to it.

Even just moving feels cleaner, somehow. Like I'm moving the world around me as much as I'm moving myself through the world. I'm not so fast that the chimera can't react to me, but I'm fast enough to catch up to it. The Aspect of Energy speeds me up, and the Aspect of the Mind tells me where it's going to go.

I leap the exact moment it tries to dodge to the left, hook an arm around its neck, and trigger Temporal Link.

"I'm sorry."

Her hand shakes. There's a weapon of some kind in it—I can't quite make it out. The vision from Temporal Link is fuzzy, like the events within it happened many, many loops ago. I can tell that it's a weapon. I can tell that the lizardlike woman holding it is pointing it at someone that looks remarkably like her. Her brother? Why would he be in the Trial with her?

"Don't do this," he begs. "Please, we can figure this out together! Haven't we always?"

"We can't." There's a pained sort of determination in her voice, but it's not the kind I'm used to. It's not determination born from hope or love or a desire for anything better.

It's determination born from pain. The kind you're left with when everything else is broken. The kind that leads you into making mistakes that stay with you forever.

I know it all too well. I want to step in, to interrupt, to interfere—but like with all the other temporal visions, nothing happens when I try to grasp her wrist. This is an event that's been repeated across time and space, over and over and over. All I'm witnessing is the scar left behind.

"How do you know?!" her brother cries.

"Because we already tried." Her grip on her weapon tightens. Her voice becomes a little more manic. "You can't grow. You're weak. You hold me back every time, no matter how we try to get it done. I need to get out, and I can't—I can't do it with you."

"And killing me is going to help with that?" he asks. He tries to take a step closer, but flinches when she fires a shot that sears itself into the wood behind him.

"Yes. The Interface says it will." She swallows. "I just need to kill you enough times. It's fine. It won't be real. You won't remember."

He opens his mouth to protest. It's real for him, no matter how many times she loops. But he doesn't get the chance. A weapon fires, cutting through him too quick for either of them to react or rethink their actions.

And I see it happen again and again. I see the echoes of it, all across time.

After the thirtieth try, she stops apologizing. Doesn't speak to him before she does it. Doesn't look him in the eye.

But the guilt remains.

The Chimera is trembling when the link breaks. It lets out a low, keening whine—the closest thing to a cry I've ever heard from one of them. Then it turns to me, fire blazing out of its scales. It's not alive enough to understand what it's feeling, but it does know that I was the cause.

There's only one humane option here. What I'm fighting is just an echo. It's not a true Remnant, not something that has a link to the original Trialgoer I might be able to trace.

All I can do is end it.

[You have defeated a Guilty Chimera (Rank A)! You have gained 4 Physical points. You have gained 25 Astral points. You have gained 20 Firmament credits.]

The forest feels a little more quiet than usual. I watch as the chimera's body fades away, the Firmament holding it together dissociating into nothing.

"I think that's enough for now," I say, just loud enough for both Ahkelios and He-Who-Guards to hear me. They rejoin me in the small clearing that was created by the first chimera's initial strike; Ahkelios looks like he's about to congratulate me, but he senses something through our link and quickly changes course.

"You okay?" he asks, concerned.

"I'm fine." I hesitate a moment, trying to decide if I should elaborate. "Just saw another one of the past Trialgoers that went through this Trial. I think she killed her brother."

Ahkelios pauses. "And you're sure you're fine?"

"I will be." I shrug uncomfortably—it's not that the vision didn't affect me. There's something else about it that's bothering me, though.

You can't grow. You're weak.

I can't imagine thinking the way she does. Both Guard and Ahkelios have taken strides to grow on their own, even without my help. But it might be time that I become a more active participant in that growth—if they're going to be fighting by my side, then I owe it to them to help them past any roadblocks they might have.

Ahkelios has the Interface now. His next shift is just a matter of time. But Guard? He's still struggling with the enormous amount of Firmament he carries. My fix is enough for him to live a relatively normal life. It's not enough for him to push to the next phase shift, to stabilize and anchor himself through the layers.

"Guard," I say. "We should figure out if you can phase shift. Are you up for it?"

He's startled, I can tell. He looks at me like he isn't quite sure what to make of what I just said. "Now?" he asks. "I have made previous attempts..."

"And it hasn't gone well, I know," I say. "But I want to see what happens when you try. I'll keep an eye on your Firmament and be here if anything goes wrong. It'll give me a better idea of what's stopping the phase shift."

Oddly enough, Guard looks embarrassed. "I am willing to try," he says. He maneuvers himself so that he's sitting in the middle of the clearing and takes a deep breath, cycling air through his vents. "I do not think anything will go badly wrong, exactly, but... you will not think less of me when I fail?"

Ahkelios scoffs. "Come on, who do you think we are?" he asks, nudging Guard.

"You did save our asses back in the dungeon, don't forget," I say.

Guard nods, seeming a little reassured. It's always surprising to me when he showcases these little moments of vulnerability—I wonder if he's started feeling a little more comfortable with us. A little less like he has to constantly project that image of being a protector and a shield.

I kneel behind him, placing my palms on his back and extending my senses, feeling out the edges of his soul.

"Ready when you are," I say.

The lights on Guard's body dim as he reaches within himself—

—and I feel something else react.