Die. Respawn. Repeat.

It does not, to my relief, take much time for us to find the expedition team again. They've mostly stayed put since my death, as far as I can tell, and my Chromatic Strings lead me straight to them instead of into a group of monsters; it helps that most of the monsters near the entrance to the Sewers have been largely cleared up.

The other thing that's a relief? The Interface opens up with a new notification as soon as I find the expedition team and meet with them properly.

[You have unlocked the sub-dungeon The Sewers. The Sewers dungeon key may be used to rejoin the expedition team at will.]

It's a little convenient, sure, but I'm not complaining.

Admittedly, I'm not quite prepared for the reaction my arrival causes. The three humans—ones I later learn are named Adeya, Taylor, and Dhruv—look cautious, awed, and uncomfortable respectively. The scirix seem mostly glad to see us, and we spend a few moments exchanging greetings. Novi seems particularly excited for me to meet her children, and makes me promise to come talk to them once I'm done with the humans.

After that, we find a quiet corner of the Sewers to talk in. Ahkelios and Gheraa split off to catch up with the scirix. Gheraa seems intent on avoiding the humans entirely. Ahkelios, on the other hand, is fascinated by how much Yarun and Juri have grown since the last time he's seen them. He opens by demanding an update on their lives, which makes me smile a little.

He doesn't change much, no matter what happens, it seems.

Adeya is the first to break the silence between us. "I need to know," she says, looking startlingly serious. "Are you working with the Integrators?"

I blink, a little thrown. This isn't how I expected this conversation to start, but I take a moment to consider the question anyway. I'm not sure how she found out, but if she's already suspicious, then lying's only going to make things worse.

"No," I say. "But I'm guessing there's a reason you asked me that."

Adeya pulls out a piece of paper that is decidedly not a piece of paper. I grimace at the feeling it gives off—it's made of pure Firmament, the way Gheraa always creates his constructs. An obvious Integrator creation, if there ever was one. He hadn't mentioned leaving it behind.

"This would be one of them," she says, handing me the note. She doesn't sound accusatory. It feels more like she's going through the motions, asking the question she knows she should ask. I glance through the note, then up at her expression.

Adeya is testing me.

She's come to some kind of conclusion already based on the contents of the note. Now she's waiting to see if I'll confirm or deny it. I grin—I can appreciate a healthy amount of caution, and I can definitely appreciate her willingness to risk asking.

"I'm working together with a defector," I say simply. A quick look at Gheraa tells me he's pretending to be deeply engrossed in a conversation with one of the scirix. Considering the nervous glances he keeps shooting at us when he thinks I'm not looking, though, he probably knows exactly what we're talking about.

"A defector." Adeya's eyes narrow for a moment. I can practically see the gears turning in her head. "And you're sure it's not a trick?"

"I'm sure," I say. I could explain further, but instead, I wait. Adeya stares at me for a moment, trying to decide how trustworthy my judgement is; it doesn't take long before she nods.

"Good enough for me," she says.

Dhruv, sitting beside her, makes a frustrated sort of noise. "What do you mean good enough?" he demands. "You can't expect us to just believe that the Integrator you're working with is on our side. They're nothing but manipulative bastards!" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

I don't react to the outburst, but I do pay attention to how the other two respond. Taylor leans away from him, almost like he's frightened of what I might do. Adeya just gives him a sharp look, which is enough to make him snap his mouth shut.

Interesting. They've all got very different opinions of me, it looks like.

"I'm sorry about him," Adeya says.

I shrug. "It's not like I wasn't expecting something like this," I say. "But just so we're clear, I expect you to treat him like another member of the team. If we're going to have a problem, I'd rather we get it out in the open now."

At this, Dhruv speaks up again. "I don't trust you," he says. "I saw you. You didn't even look human when you were fighting. What kind of human laughs when they're about to die?"

"The kind that's died a lot," I say dryly. Part of me is surprised I'm not angrier at his hostility, but in the face of the evils I've seen perpetuated by Hestia's Trialgoers, this all seems... unbelievably petty.

"What?" Dhruv asks blankly. Adeya gives me a curious look.

"I was wondering about that," Adeya says. "I didn't know if I believed it when they told me. Your Trial allows you to come back when you die?"

"Sort of," I say. "My Trial is a time loop. Everything on the planet resets when I die. It's restricted to just the planet, though."

Taylor's mouth drops open. "That's why you're so strong!" he says, practically gushing.

"I was really hoping you were going to say it was a universal time loop," Adeya mutters, ignoring him.

"That'd make things a lot easier, wouldn't it?" I agree.

Dhruv bristles. "None of you are taking this seriously," he says. "Is he even still human? What kind of person dies over and over again and just gets over it?"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Pretty human, last I checked. Except for my bones," I say mildly. "I have indestructible bones."

"Can I see them?" Taylor asks excitedly. I stare at him.

"No?" I say, although it comes out as a question. "I... I don't know how I would show you my bones."

"Right. Sorry." Taylor deflates a little. Adeya seems kind of amused by the interaction, and Dhruv seems... well, no less annoyed than he was already.

"You've already seen them, technically, if that helps," I offer. "That's what my armor is."

"Your armor's made of your bones?" Taylor asks, eyes wide. "Awesome."

"Horrifying," Dhruv mutters.

"Irrelevant," Adeya says. "Enough, Dhruv. You're going to have to get over it. We need Ethan's help to clear this dungeon either way."

"I am sorry about the whole laughing-while-getting-crushed thing," I say. "That was probably more traumatic than I intended."

Dhruv doesn't say anything, but he gives me a small nod, withdrawing into himself slightly. Adeya sighs a little, watching him, then changes the subject.

"We need to catch you up on everything," she says. "And you should probably catch us up on what you know. But first, we should probably figure out what we're going to do about the dungeon."

I nod, thankful for the shift in conversation. "You've been here longer than I have. What have you got so far?"

"You've experienced the worst of it," Adeya says. "It's a labyrinth. The dungeon's designed to trap and confuse us. The tunnels move around, which makes it almost impossible to get where we need to go. Every time we figure out a way to navigate it, it either moves around or uses that to trap us."

"That's probably not actually the worst of it, knowing dungeons," I say. Adeya grimaces a bit, but nods.

"You're probably right," she says. "Which I kind of hate, no offense. I've had enough of the Sewers."

"I'd like to get this Ritual stage done as quickly as possible," I agree. "You haven't found anything else of interest? Something related to that objective about aligning the sewers?"

Adeya frowns in thought. "There was a chamber that had some kind of trap in it," she says. "It's what cut us off from our Interfaces. We can't leave the dungeon or talk to anyone from the other Trials. Except for you, apparently. I'm guessing that trap wasn't meant for us."

That makes me sit up. "Describe it, please," I say.

"It's hard to describe," Adeya says. "It was full of Firmament that made it hard to see into the chamber. It tried to seal us in the moment we stepped inside, so I made the decision to retreat. We barely made it, too—I think the only reason we got out was because the Firmament doesn't affect the scirix for whatever reason."

There's only one thing I've encountered that behaves like that, but I'm not sure I want to believe it. If I'm right, it's... alarming. I open the Interface to check our current saturation level.

"I'm going to channel a skill," I say. "Tell me if you recognize the type of Firmament I'm using."

Adeya raises an eyebrow at me. I see her eyes flicking to the side as she checks for the same thing I just did. "Go ahead," she says. "I'm assuming it's important."

"I need to be sure it's what I think it is," I say.

With that, I channel Temporal Link into a small sphere above my palm. I don't do anything with the skill—I just need to know if Adeya recognizes the type of Firmament involved.

She stares at it for a long moment, then slowly nods.

"It's similar," she says. "I'm guessing that's not a good thing?"

"No," I say. "Not at all."

It takes a while for me to explain what's happening in Hestia—the Fracture, the Tears, and the oddity of temporal events scattered around the planet. Taylor's eyes get so wide during my recounting I almost worry they'll pop out; even Dhruv looks reluctantly engaged. Adeya, thankfully, is more concerned about the practical consequences of this.

"If you're right, there shouldn't be any Tears here," she says. "Except you've been in this dungeon before, so it's partially inside Hestia's temporal barrier."

"I think that's what caused it, yes." Almost reflexively, I reach out with my senses, trying to detect anything that feels like a Tear; the tunnel walls still block my senses, though, and I grumble with frustration. "It's probably what cut you off from your Interface, too. The temporal barrier is the reason I couldn't talk to any of you while the Trial was going."

"And you found a way around it?" Adeya asks.

"Yes, but it's an item, and I've only got the one," I say. "I don't think it'd help you leave, either."

Adeya sighs. "Figures," she says. "Any idea why Tears might be showing up here?"

"None. My best guess is that things on Hestia are worsening, and anything that intersects with the temporal barrier is going to start degrading," I say, sighing. "We should get going. I'll seal that Tear if we run into it again, but I'm not sure we should seek it out—"

Taylor mumbles something. I blink and look over at him. "What was that?"

Taylor clears his throat, embarrassed. "I think I saw what was in the Tear," he says. "Before we backed out. There was some kind of valve?"

There's a long silence. Adeya and Dhruv both turn to stare at him; Taylor, in turn, shrinks into himself slightly. "I didn't think it was important," he says. "But, uh, now that you mention it..."

"We haven't seen valves anywhere else," Adeya says, glancing at me. I nod.

"It's probably related to that align the sewers prerequisite," I say. "Which is good news, believe it or not."

"How's that?" Adeya asks. I grin.

"I didn't deactivate Temporal Link," I say. The orb of Firmament hovering above my palm begins to unspool. "And if what we're looking for is a Tear, I can almost certainly find it."

It helps morale a lot to have a concrete goal to move toward. Everyone seems a lot more enthusiastic to keep moving once we tell them the plan—there's a tangible sense of relief in the air, like the ordeal will soon be over.

Which is true for most of them. My job is probably going to be the most painful part of all this, so I can't say I'm too excited about it.

Mostly because I'm pretty sure Ahkelios would get mad at me if I did. He's right, to be fair; I shouldn't get too used to dying as a stratagem. It's just what would work best here.

I'm also far from done talking with the other humans. Still, now that we've got a plan, we decide it's better to talk while we make our way to the first of the Tears. There are three of them, according to Temporal Link, which only further proves that they're related to the alignment step.

To my surprise, Dhruv approaches me as we begin preparing to leave. He says nothing for a moment, and then begins to speak.

"My Trial is mostly puzzles," he says. I glance at him, but he isn't looking at me. "I haven't... I haven't seen a lot of people dying. Seeing you die like that threw me off. I might have been more suspicious than I needed to be."

That's as close to an apology as I'm going to get from him, I think. "Don't worry about it," I say, chuckling. "'Kelios made fun of me for it after. Sometimes I forget how different things are for everyone else."

I pause. "You might need to get used to it, though."

"No promises." Dhruv's smile doesn't quite reach his eyes, but his shoulders ease a little, and he moves away to strike up a conversation with Gheraa.

He's trying, at least. Same as the rest of us. I watch them for a moment, then turn back to my own preparations.

Which, for me, is mostly figuring out how I'm going to talk to them about the Sunken King.