Die. Respawn. Repeat.

Zhao picks up almost immediately, to my surprise. It's almost like he was waiting for the call. "Ethan!" he says, full of excitement. "You are alive!"

"I should hope so," I say, laughing at the enthusiasm. "I found a way to get around my Trial's restrictions. You should be able to contact me freely now."

"That is good news!" Zhao says. "It has been such a long time since we were able to speak! Or at least, it feels like it has. I suppose not much time has passed on Earth. These Trials make it difficult to keep track of time."

"Like you wouldn't believe," I say dryly. "My Trial is a time loop."

"Oh." I can practically hear the way Zhao's eyes widen. "That sounds... I am not sure how that sounds."

"It's tiring, let's leave it at that," I say with a chuckle. "I'd love to catch up, but the message you left me sounded pretty important. What's the situation?"

"Ah." Zhao's enthusiasm fades away for something a little more somber. "Yes. It is rare for a dungeon to take more than a day or two for completion. Anything longer usually indicates that something is wrong. Three of us went into a dungeon known as the Sewers recently, and they have not returned in four days, now."

I frown in thought. "The Sewers should take longer than most dungeons to complete, from what I know," I say. "There must be a reason you think something went wrong."

"Yes," Zhao says. "We were able to speak with those in the dungeon at first, but two days ago, they became unavailable on the Interface. We do not know why. But Adeya said that your name was mentioned, so I thought to contact you." He hesitates. "There is much we should catch up on."

"No kidding," I say. One detail of what he said stands out to me. "What do you mean, my name was mentioned?"

"It is difficult to explain." Zhao takes a moment to consider his words. "There are... people in the dungeon. That in itself is unusual. They mentioned your name."

I blink. "The scirix?"

"Yes!" Zhao sounds relieved. "Yes, that was what they were called. They said you helped them. Adeya also mentioned something about there being some kind of Ritual? She said something about prerequisites."

The words make me stiffen. "Just to be clear, you're saying the Interface asked her to complete a Ritual stage?"

"Yes!" Zhao nods emphatically enough that I can hear the wobble in his voice. "You know what that is?"

"It's probably the source of all our problems," I mutter. "Okay. So she's doing a Ritual stage, which means she probably got caught up in the Empty City's Ritual. That's why the dungeons are linked and why the scirix remember me."

"I do not understand," Zhao says. "You say this like it is a bad thing."

"It might be," I say. "Ritual blowbacks can be dangerous for everyone in the Trials. That's what happens if you complete a stage but fail a prerequisite. The Integrators don't want us completing them."

"When you say it is dangerous," Zhao says carefully. "You mean—"

"—that it can kill people who aren't involved in the dungeon, yes." My voice is grim. I need to get into the dungeon as quickly as possible. If the humans in there don't already know about Ritual stages and their consequences, there's a good chance they'll end up causing a blowback. I don't know what that will look like, and I don't want to.

"That is..." Zhao sounds a lot more concerned, all of a sudden. Not that he didn't already.

"Yep." I'm already pulling up the Interface. "I should check on them. Is there anything else that's urgent before I go? Information about the Trials or the Integrators?"

There's a second of hesitation. "The most important thing is that we are trying to avoid completing our Trials," he says. "We have learned about an entity known as the Sunken King that may be awakened if the Integration is complete. Most of us are stalling in the hopes of finding a solution before that happens."

That comes as a surprise. My brow furrows. It sounds like the information they have about the Sunken King is a little different from mine—we'll have to compare notes when we have time.

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"Got it," I say. "I might have some information about him as well, but you're playing this right. Stall out the Trials as much as you can. I'm going to get your friends, and then we need to have a talk about everything that's happening and how we're going to fight back."

"I am looking forward to it," Zhao says. "Be careful, Ethan."

"You too, Zhao."

"Zhaohu."

I pause. "What?"

Zhao sounds a little embarrassed. "The Interface did not record my name correctly," he explains. "I am Ong Zhaohu. Or Zhaohu. It is not important! I am sorry, it slipped out—I am used to correcting people—"

"—because of your username, yes," I say with a small laugh. "Thank you for letting me know. We'll talk again as soon as I can secure the Sewers. Stay safe, Zhaohu."

I end the call. Ahkelios is watching me with concern and worry both; Gheraa, on the other hand, just looks a little confused. It probably doesn't help that he could only hear half the conversation. "I'll explain later," I tell him. "We need to get into the Empty City."

Gheraa pauses, then shrugs. "Sounds good to me," he says, accepting with surprising grace. "I'm ready when you are."

"So am I," Ahkelios offers.

I smile a little. I've been incredibly lucky, I think, to have found friends so willing to dive into danger with me. Guard is one of them, even if he isn't here right now. I hope he's able to find what he needs.

"Keep alert," I say. "We don't know what's changed, so we need to be ready for anything."

With that, I reach into the Interface, and pull out the key to open the portal back into the Empty City.

The first thing I notice is that there's resistance. The key doesn't want to be turned, and the portal doesn't want to open. Part of it, I think, is the fact that there are Trialgoers in the dungeon already—I can feel their Firmament interfering with my attempt to open the gateway.

The Integrators don't want too many Trialgoers in the same dungeon, I gather. They can't directly prevent it, so instead they try to make it harder to open the gateway for every Trialgoer already inside.

Interesting, but not enough of an obstacle to stop me. I flood the key with my own Firmament, pushing it out and overwhelming the interference; little by little, the Interface gives way, and before long a golden portal gleams in front of me.

Then I step through, Ahkelios and Gheraa following close behind.

The difference when we first step into the Empty City is stark. It's clear that a lot of time has passed within First Sky since the last Ritual stage, because there's an oppressive weight in the air that wasn't there before. The entirety of the city feels quieter and grayer; the plants and buildings all wear dull, muted colors, and even the normally bright tones of the scirix's carapaces seem to be worn thin.

It's clearly had an effect on the mood of the city, too. The few scirix I see roaming around are doing their best to carry on with their lives, but there's no mistaking the weariness in their postures and eyes. It doesn't help that there are barely any of them around compared to the hustle and bustle before.

The impact of Color Drain Firmament, no doubt. I can feel the dome around the city—the whole of First Sky has been sealed off, just as the record of its history described. It feels like...

It feels a lot like the barrier I've encountered around the Tears on Hestia. They aren't identical—this one is solid, for one thing—but I wouldn't be surprised if they were related in some way. It's obvious, at this point, that First Sky is the product of some sort of research on Color Drain Firmament; if I had to guess, it's a part of a much larger project that was used to build the whole concept of the Interface and the skills within it.

It's a sobering thought, because it seems to have been done with no regard for the lives within the city. The Elders left, so they were perhaps warned of what would happen, in some way. Did they betray their own people? Abandon the city of First Sky to the results of the Scions and their experimentation?

Why was Kauku so interested in the events that happened here?

That last question is probably the most important. Whatever the Elders did and why they did it—I can't change anything about that. But Kauku's interest in the memories contained here... that might matter. Especially if I'm going to be confronting him in the near future.

That, and there's still something I need here. Gheraa might be back and on my team, but that's the result of a paradox sustained by Hestia's Heart. To resolve that paradox, I still need to figure out how to actually bring him back.

For now, though, I have a more immediate concern. I glance at the Interface window floating in the corner of my vision.

[Ritual Stage 3: Water the Seed]

Prerequisites:

0/3 Align the sewers

7/7 Protect the expedition team

Prevent Firmament saturation

Current saturation: 89%

I'm not sure what the first objective means, and the second one allows a knot of tension to loosen slightly—it looks like I managed to get here before anyone died, at least.

It's that last objective that demands my attention, though. Prevent Firmament saturation. Of the Seed, presumably, that number is sitting at 89%, which is uncomfortably close to failure. Given how long the Ritual stage has already been running, there might still be a fair amount of time before it's fully saturated, but...

I keep an eye on it just in case, and just as I'm about to start looking for the entrance to the Sewers, the number ticks up to 90%.

My mouth thins into a grim line. Not that much time, then. It might be pure coincidence that the number changes as I was looking at it, but somehow I doubt it. Maybe there's a trigger condition or something similar. We'll need to find Adeya or anyone from the expedition team and ask.

And judging by the swell of Firmament I can feel rising from below, we need to do this fast.