Die. Respawn. Repeat.

"Occasional downtime indeed," I say dryly. I stare at the chat interface. It's a list of every single other Trialgoer, labeled by planet, Trial, and number; some of the names are crossed out, which is a distressing thing to look at, and the others...

Well, the problem with the chat feature is that I can't interact with it. The entire screen is grayed out. There's a message sitting right on top of the screen.

[ Temporal band interference too great. Please stand by. ]

Talk about a disappointment. I'd been hoping to speak to some others, maybe get a bit more information about what the Integrators are up to and what the other Trialgoers might have gleaned from their encounters with them, but it looks like that might not be a possibility. I'll check in occasionally, just in case.

If nothing else, it gives me a way to check on how the other Trialgoers are doing. The majority of them are still alive, and that, at least, is a relief. I scroll through the list a few times. It's not a surprise that I don't recognize any names, but...

Five dead so far.

More than I'd hoped, less than I'd feared.

Resha Goodwin. George Halloway. Lu Xin. Ciaran Byrne. Inaya Devi.

The names are meaningless to me, but I take a moment to memorize them anyway. It doesn't feel right not to. I don't know how many people even know that they're dead. Do they have family waiting for them? Friends? How much do the people back home know about what's going on?

"Are you okay?" Ahkelios' voice sounds oddly subdued. He's standing on the table, looking up at me with concern, and I can't help but feel a small surge of affection.

It's nice not to be going at this alone.

"I'm fine," I say. It's only a small lie. Ahkelios seems to sense it, though, because he immediately gives me a severe look and crosses his arms across his chest; I laugh a little at how absolutely pouty he looks. It's incredible how well human emotions translate across alien body language or maybe that's the Interface at work again. "I'm just looking at how many of the other Trialgoers have died already. It doesn't feel like I have a lot of time."

Ahkelios grimaces a little, then sits down on the table. "I don't remember much," he says hesitantly. "But I do remember the first time I unlocked the chat feature... Over half of my planet's Trialgoers were gone. Just like that."

"Do you know if your planet passed?" I ask.

Ahkelios shakes his head. "I gave up before I ever found out," he says, his eyes briefly distant. "I hope they're still out there. I can't imagine..."

He doesn't finish the sentence, but I can feel the sentiment radiating from him. Sometimes I forget that he's been through all of this, too, even if his memories only come to him in bits and pieces.

"You should tell me about what your home was like," I offer. "Your people, your culture. I mean, we're two different species meeting for the first time, right? I feel like that gets a bit lost in the whole Trial thing."

Ahkelios gives me a small smile, like he knows what I'm trying to do, and shakes his head. "I don't remember enough," he tells me honestly. "But I want to. As soon as I remember more."

"It's a promise," I say. Just means we'll have to figure out how to restore him sooner. I hold a fist out to him, more on reflex than anything else, and to my surprise, he fistbumps me.

I guess some things transcend cultures.

I pull myself to my feet. Using the Eye doesn't seem to have tired me out as much as using the Mirror; if I had to guess, there are qualitative differences between Inspirations. I check my status just to be sure the Mirror had been marked as (Firmament, Unique).

The Eye is marked as (Reflex, Rank A).

"Reflex doesn't seem to be all about mental speed," I mutter, half to myself and half to Ahkelios. "The skills and Inspirations I got were all related to the mind, but..."

"The categories have fuzzy borders," Ahkelios agrees. "I think it's a translation thing. I wouldn't put too much thought into it."

"Hm." I'm not sure I agree, but I don't disagree enough to argue with him at the moment. I take one last look around the empty room we're in, reaching out with my Firmament sense in case there are any fragments I'm missing...

As far as I can tell, the room is empty. I take a sip of water from the satchel Mari had forced into my arms, and then step back out into the chasm that was Fracture.

The air is different. It puts me immediately on alert. There's an electrifying tingle in the air that wasn't there before, and I don't know what could possibly have changed. My Firmament sense is flaring up.

Strangest of all is the fact that none of this was clear to me until I stepped back outside.

I fall into a slightly more cautious stance. Mental Acceleration is always active, but I push a little bit more Firmament towards it, just in case I need to react to something. Intuitive Analysis isn't reporting any problems, but it is telling me that something dangerous is afoot. Whatever that something is, it isn't anywhere near me, but it's present.

When nothing happens for the next minute, I start moving and searching.

The next house is completely empty. One of the charging alcoves is present, the one that's presumably meant to house a Fractured Guardian, but there's no hint of a Guardian in it. The lines of Firmament within the alcove are dead, and on closer inspection, I realize that the lines have been worn off intentionally, it looks like.

There's a pile of rubble in the room.

I very carefully avoid thinking about it, and move on.

The next few homes I check are similarly empty. The tingle in the air makes it difficult to sense the sparks of Firmament that were so clear before; it's like the whole Fracture is saturated with Firmament, and it makes my ability to sense it almost useless. It's a little more muted in the homes themselves, at least.

It's in the fifth home that I find something different.

This one is decorated. It's not colorful; there isn't much in the way of color here. Everything is made out of the same pale-brown stone. But there are carvings decorating the walls, deeply intricate carvings that don't just look like lines of Firmament; there are rocks on the ground that look... worn, for lack of a better word, the edges rubbed away until they form perfect, flat shapes. Some of them are stacked on top of themselves in precarious towers.

There is a Fractured Guardian here, sleeping in its alcove. I tense, but it doesn't move or react to my presence, and no one else is here.

"Ahkelios..." I say slowly. The little mantis climbs up to my shoulder from where he was clinging to my back, peering around the room in silence.

"Do you think they're alive?" he asks.

"I don't know," I say. The one I fought hadn't seemed that way, but then it had also been berserk and attacked me immediately; it probably wasn't a good example of the Fractured Guardians as a whole.

"Let's leave this one alone?" Ahkelios suggests uncertainly, and I nod. There isn't any Firmament here to indicate there might be a skill shard anyway. I step outside, feeling that electric tingle of Firmament settle across my skin again

Intuitive Analysis flares. I feel that tickle of Firmament suddenly become something more, something originating from deep within the Fracture.

I dart backwards and react with pure instinct. Barrier. Crystallized Barrier!

The two barriers flash into existence. The first one evaporates almost instantly from the pure Firmament that radiates out from deep within the Fracture, a blast of pure-white that I imagine must be visible for miles around; the Crystallized variant cracks, but holds. I use the time it grants me to call up another two Crystallized Barriers, gritting my teeth at the pressure it exerts on me.

The Firmament blast is directed upwards, which is the only thing that saves me. What I'm dealing with isn't the blast itself it's the dregs of it, the spare pieces of energy that radiate out to the sides.

But I have to hold the barrier for what feels like an entire minute, and it's a strain on my Firmament. I feel the first Crystallized Barrier finally break into nothing, and I'm forced to take a step back so I can make a third; even through the two Barriers in front of me I can feel the sheer heat of Firmament pressing down on me.

But eventually, it fades.

I'm left panting. Ahkelios is clinging to me, eyes wide with terror. "I don't remember anything like that," he says, his voice half a squeak.

"What was that?" I mutter. I step outside, staring up into the sky; there isn't a trace of the Firmament anymore. The stone around me is scorched, but nothing seems overtly damaged by the Firmament; it's enough to hurt anything organic, but it doesn't seem to do much to stone.

"We should hurry," Ahkelios says, looking around nervously. "If Naru is investigating anomalies..."

"Right. He might come here."

There's the sound of stone scraping on stone, suddenly, and I glance behind me. The Fractured Guardian is coming to life. I tense up again, ready to fight if it attacks but instead of attacking me, I watch as it hurries over to its little towers of stone, as if worried that they were knocked over.

It seems... surprised that they aren't. It looks around slowly, until its gaze lands on me, and then it gives me a small nod.

I don't know what I'm supposed to make of that.

It stops paying attention to me there, and I grimace, forcing myself to get going. If Naru if any of the other Hestian Trialgoers are on their way here I need to make this quick.

The translation stone is, I think, at the far end of the Fracture. I stop looking for other skill shards for the moment, deciding that it's not worth my time; the single shard I have will be enough for Mari to examine if I manage to bring it back to her, but right now, I need to successfully bring it back to her to begin with.

Intuitive Analysis agrees that the stone is probably at the far end of the Fracture, so I ignore all the homes to the side and just book it as fast as I can. Triplestep and Firestep carry me, the flames of each step dying on the stone surprisingly quickly; there are a few Guardians that leap out of their homes, looking to attack me, but with my stacked skills it's easy to dodge out of the way.

Hopefully, they don't follow me.

The far end of the Fracture where I suspect the stone is looks far grander than all the other generic homes built into the side. It's hidden in a crevice, and so isn't visible from outside the Fracture, but it looks almost like a temple. The pillars surrounding the doors are intricately carved, and there are swooping lines of architecture that flow into one another like the curves of a river.

It's an awe-inspiring sight. I'm tempted to spend a moment to take it in, but with the potential threat of someone coming to investigate the Firmament burst, I just push open the doors and hurry in.

The walls glow with Firmament. There's a stone at the end of the hallway, but in front of the stone is a statue a more decorated, more intricately designed version of the Fractured Guardians.

I sigh, and settle into a stance.

I probably should have expected that a temple like this would have an equivalent boss fight.