Exiting the building, then dropping a few stories to the crystal-covered ground below, Hiral got his first good look at Visionary. In a way, it wasn’t so different than the last time he’d seen it. They were somewhere near the edge, the devastation from the allied-fleet attack spreading in both directions around them.

  Behind him—thanks to his sensory domain—what few buildings still stood were little more than rubble, now covered in a thick layer of permanent crystal. The building they had just exited still stood around ten-floors tall, with the top levels torn off, the wreckage of it filling the street to Hiral’s left. Beside it, the unmistakable skeleton of an allied airship stood itself encased in the crystal payload it had carried.

  Even without the entombment, the ship would’ve never flown again. Either the crystal had grown over while it was still on fire, front half buried in the next structure across the street, or the crystal had grown over after the fire had gone out naturally. Whatever had happened, it didn’t leave much behind.

  Ahead of Hiral, the city stretched, the previous towers having been carved apart by suicide, last-ditch efforts to stop the Fallen from claiming the world for their own. Just like in the dungeon, Hiral had to wonder if the cost had been worth the result. Just within the few thousand feet of his sensory domain, he could feel four downed airships, each big enough to carry hundreds of people. That wasn’t even accounting for the NPCs—no, the actual civilians—who’d died in the terrible battle.

  “This seems worse than the dungeon,” Seena said, crouching down to run the fingers of her plated gauntlet across the crystal covering the ground.

  “Only because we didn’t stick around to see the result,” Yanily said. “Even after the Fallen got taken care of, how long do you think the battle went on?”

  “Once they committed,” Laseen said. “There was no going back. This crystal doesn’t have an off-switch.”

  “Hiral?” Seeyela said, pulling his attention to where she pointed. “That way, right?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Toward the center of the city.”

  “I’ll move a block or so ahead of you,” Seeyela said. “Follow where I go, unless I tell you otherwise.”

  “Got it,” Seena said.

  “I don’t sense anything moving,” Hiral said. “It really is like the whole city is dead.”

  “This is as much a tomb as the Necropolis of Ur’Thul was,” Yanily said, referring back to one of the dungeons they’d done what felt like a lifetime ago. “Uh, maybe more of one, since everything in there did try to kill us…”

  “Shush, Yan,” Seena said gently, her sister already a block away and motioning them forward.

  Like that, with Seeyela leading and Hiral scouring every inch he could squeeze his sensory domain into, the party moved. With S-Rank bodies and stats, they moved quickly, covering multiple blocks in less than a minute. Sure, they could’ve gone faster, but they also didn’t want to rush into anything.

  Something about the city reminded Hiral of the city within the Palace of Creeping Death. A sense of foreboding the closer they got to the middle. Like whatever was waiting there was bad news.

  Hiral shook his head. They were S-Rank now. If anybody could handle bad news, it was them.

  “This city feels much larger when you aren’t looking down on it from a skybike,” Romin said.

  “We’re making good time,” Hiral said. “Halfway there.”

  “Still nothing else besides us moving?” Seena said.

  “Nothing else,” Hiral confirmed.

  “Maybe something about the city is keeping the Enemy away from it?” Yanily suggested. “I don’t feel anything like the Spear of Clouds’ power, but… this was the Fallen we were talking about. If their history is similar to our history, they would’ve come up with something to keep the storms away, wouldn’t they?”

  “If anybody could,” Laseen said. “It would be them. Never heard of them exploring the option, but, then again, I wasn’t exactly part of their in-crowd.”

  “Something we can keep our eyes open for,” Seena said. “If it’s true, whatever it is could be useful after we get back.”

  A good sentiment the party seemed to mull over as they moved quietly after that, building to building, block to block. The further they went, the less overall destruction stood around them. This deep in the city, entire buildings stood unscathed by the battle that had taken place. Not that anybody had survived it, Hiral spotting entire crowds huddled together beneath the crystal that had encased them.

  The victims were everywhere. Fallen on the street. Crouched inside an alley or a doorframe. Hidden inside vehicles they hoped would protect them. It didn’t work. Another block after that, the party started finding what looked like people locked in motion. That guy over there, he was clearly running when he got encased in crystal. Then, there, that woman was in the middle of picking up a small child, the kid’s feet hanging several inches above the ground.

  Even further, a whole group of people stood mid-dash where they were trying to get to some kind of stairwell leading down beneath the street.

  “It’s like they were flash-frozen,” Seena whispered. “Like what that Infested I fought in the tower could do.”

  “This deep in the city,” Laseen said. “I bet the crystal dust was everywhere. Whatever the allies used to finally harden it must’ve happened all at once.”

  “They did say more powerful targets would take longer to encase, didn’t they?” Yanily said.

  “Something like that,” Seena said. “All these people, they were just normal.”

  “Why…?” Romin started, looking from crowd to crowd. “Why do some of them look like they’re running in the wrong direction?”

  At the question, the group paused—even Seeyela where she stood in the lead—to look at what the Bonder had seen. The man was right. Some of the people were definitely running toward the edge of the city.

  “Going to help other people?” Seena suggested. “No, they wouldn’t do that with kids in their arms.”

  “I’m sure we’ll find out if we keep moving,” Seeyela suggested, waving the others to continue.

  That turned out to be exactly the case, the group finding a new swath of destruction not even a few streets over. Like an entire line of city blocks had been gutted, a trail of buildings was simply missing. The ground where they’d stood had been scoured clean by a tremendously powerful force. Beyond that, it was shambles for thousands of feet before at least some of the buildings still stood.

  “Hiral?” Seena said. “Why didn’t you say anything before we found this?”

  “Huh?” Hiral said, blinking as he looked up at the question directed at him.

  “You okay, Hiral?” Seena said, moving closer.

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  “Me? Yeah,” he said.

  “You sure?”

  “You look kind of out of it,” Yanily said, the spearman snapping his fingers in front of Hiral’s face.

  Hiral jerked his head back a full half-second after Yanily’s gesture.

  “Sorry,” Hiral said. “I started sensing a new kind of runic energy—a third kind—a couple blocks back. Trying to figure out what it is. There’s something different about it. I guess I got a little distracted.”

  “A little is an understatement,” Seena said. “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Absolutely,” Hiral said, waving a hand to dismiss the concern. “Despite the ruins of the city, I feel great. Something about this new runic energy is… energizing. The normal runic energy of Terminus is just—I guess the best way to describe it would be—raw. Normal. My body has learned how to process it, thanks to Black Hole Solar Heart.”

  Just to make sure they knew what he was talking about, he snapped the notification window out for them to see.

  PIM Upgrade: Black Hole Solar Heart—Possessing an endless capacity to consume, one of your Twin-Star Solar Hearts has evolved / collapsed to become a Black Hole, greatly increasing the rate at which you can absorb any energy, solar, runic, or other. This evolution has further spurred your original Solar Heart to undergo its own advancement, allowing it to passively produce The White.

  Note: While the Black Hole Solar Heart does not possess quite the same energy generation potential of a sun (yet?) it provides substantial passive solar energy regeneration while no other source is available. In addition, it passively absorbs runic energy, The Grey, and a portion of any energy you encounter, while generating The White.

  Note (2): External energy that mixes with that provided by the Black Hole Solar Heart sees increased potency and efficiency, and is immediately typed automatically based on user’s affinities.

  Note (3): The Black Hole Solar Heart itself acts as an additional, substantial reservoir of power.

  Note (4): All energy within your body or Eternal Domain is substantially easier to manipulate thanks to the Black Hole Solar Heart.

  “My ability subroutine fails to understand how that functions,” the PIMP construct said, though Hiral didn’t bother commenting on it, moving on in his description.

  “When we came to Terminus,” Hiral said. “And I felt that raw runic energy compared to what was coming through from Genesis, I noticed how refined the energy from our world felt. Like it had been purified over and over by being trapped there without being able to go anywhere. It was a qualitative improvement that made the Terminus energy taste like grass compared to something like berries or fruit.”

  “And this new energy?” Seena asked, though she stood very close to Hiral, her eyes narrowed as she stared into his.

  Hiral reached out and patted her on the head to make sure she wasn’t worried about him.

  “This new energy,” he said. “It’s not just purified, but… refined. It’s incredible. If the natural energy of Terminus is like grass, and the stuff from Genesis is like berries, this new energy I’m feeling is like a full, five-course meal.”

  “And your body is processing it naturally?” Laseen said, a similar look on her face as on Seena’s.

  She must want head-pats too.

  So, Hiral pulled the old—young again?—vampire over to him with a small burst of Attraction, and proceeded to give her exactly what she wanted. By the way her mouth dropped open, she really liked it.

  Then again, since Seena was looking over at Laseen like she was, maybe his girlfriend was jealous. He should stop.

  One more pat for the vampire—along with a kiss on Seena’s cheek—and Hiral darted between the pair, appearing up beside Seeyela so suddenly she jumped a little.

  “Let’s get going,” he said. “Not far now.”

  Before she responded—pausing when she got a headpat too, just for good measure—Hiral jogged ahead of the group. With several thousand Dex getting used, his jog covered several blocks before the others even moved from their spots.

  Buildings blurred by on both sides of him, the crystal sparkling like diamonds as he moved. Pretty. So caught up was he in the way the light moved through the crystal, he completely overshot his target by a good five blocks, then had to turn and backtrack.

  “Whoops,” he said out loud with a giggle that trailed off as he found himself in the center of the whirlpool of runic energy. Right where he stood, the purified energy from Genesis converged, while the refined, third type of energy simultaneously emerged.

  And… It. Was. Amazing.

  Head tilting back, eyes going to the sky high above, his whole body relaxed. Not enough he fell over, but it almost felt like he was floating. Colors swirled in front of him, the wind itself becoming visible, small creatures—Elementals?—dancing around him with a song on their lips. He could feel the unbelievably soft fabric of the Seeker’s Regalia against his skin, and it was somehow even softer.

  No wonder Nat liked it so much. Wow. It’s amasoft. Heh, Yeah. Amasoft. I should tell her that. She’ll probably…

  “Ouch!” Hiral’s head snapped up, his eyes focusing on the two-foot-long, crimson needle protruding from his chest.

  “Definitely some kind of debuff,” Laseen said, the vampire and the rest of the party surrounding Hiral where he stood.

  “What are you talking about?” Hiral asked them, shaking his head and blinking rapidly. What had he been doing?

  “His eyes are back to normal,” Seena said. “Thanks, Laseen.”

  “No thanks needed, girlie,” Laseen said. “That skill has a bit of a cooldown, though, so boy, whatever drug you found yourself on, don’t take a second hit.”

  “Drug?” Hiral said. “I don’t really… remember anything since… since we started finding people in the streets in the crystal. They looked like they were running.”

  “Not even the third kind of runic energy?” Seena said.

  “Third kind…?” Hiral said, instinctively reaching out until Seena’s hand caught his chin and pulled his face to look at her.

  “Don’t go looking for it,” she said. “And stop your Solar Heart from passively absorbing it. Can you do that?”

  “Why…?” Hiral started, but the look on her face—and on the others—cut him off. A small tweak, and he cut off his body’s natural pull on runic energy. Almost immediately, he started to twitch, while a spike of pain brought his hand to his head. A bout of shakes came next, his whole body feeling like he’d been dropped in freezing water. That lasted several, very unpleasant seconds until Abyssal Runic Regeneration+ washed through his body with infernal energies.

  Where the infernal, purple flames passed, the strange symptoms vanished, liked they’d been immolated within the fire.

  “What in the hells?” he said. “The runic energy is some kind of… drug?”

  “The rest of us don’t feel anything,” Yanily said. “You’re the only lucky one.”

  “What about Left and Right?” Hiral said, turning until he found his doubles standing at his sides.

  “We’re fine,” Right said.

  “I suspect we would’ve felt something similar had you absorbed us,” Left said. “Though, that may have also blocked the effects of the runic energy. You seem particularly susceptible to whatever is causing it.”

  “What is causing it?” Seena said.

  “Before that,” Seeyela interrupted. “Does… does this spot look familiar to anybody?”

  Tearing his attention from his doubles—and trying to piece his memory back together for the previous thirty seconds—Hiral looked around. From the way the buildings curved away in all directions, it was like they stood at ground zero for a very large bomb. Or, at least, a tremendous release of power. The only things really of note, were six, equidistant buildings covered in crystal around them.

  In a way, they looked more like melted hills than anything else, each standing close to a hundred feet at their tallest, leaning points.

  “What do you see, Sis?” Seena said.

  At the question, Seeyela moved to a spot in the middle of the six hills, then pointed at crystal growths extending across the ground like creeping frost from those hills in her direction.

  Except, as Hiral looked at the flat streaks of crystal, they weren’t the same as the other growths he’d seen. No, if anything, they looked more like the trail a snail would leave behind it. As if something had started closer to the middle, then crawled—slowly—away to climb the hills.

  Climb…?

  “Imagine a ten-foot-tall man,” Seeyela said. “Standing right where I am. A spear shoved through one of us,” she looked at Seena, “while the rest of us did everything we could to slow the monster down.”

  “This is where we fought Laapdoug,” Hiral said, catching on to what she was saying. “Which means the six crystals we got embedded in were right…” he trailed off, pointing to the ends of the trails leading to the hills.

  “The original six,” Seena said. “The ones we played the roles of in the dungeons, they escaped?”

  “Why would they climb up a building-hill-thing?” Yanily asked. “Why wouldn’t they go around?”

  “Because it’s not a hill,” Laseen said, floating beside one of the not-hills. “Or a building.”

  “What is it then?” Romin said.

  Laseen lifted her hand to point at the crystal. “That, in there, is Zero-T. The healer from the group that saved me in what you all call The Buried City. The original six didn’t escape.” She pointed at the six not-hills. “This is them.”

  “This is…? Oh no,” Hiral said, igniting his pseudo-aspect for the extra power, then stealing himself against what was coming next. Reaching out with his senses, he felt for the third type of runic energy, careful not to touch it, just to follow it. As soon as he did, he groaned.

  “Hiral?’ Seena said, the flames of her mantle flaring as she saw him reacting to something. Weapons came out in the hands of the others as they all turned, looking for whatever it was Hiral had felt.

  “I figured out what’s happening here,” Hiral said. “With the runic energy. Worse,” he said, looking at the hill Zero-T was encased in. The hill where one of six, thick braids of refined runic energy funneled into. “I think we just found the Raze.”

  No sooner had he said the words, than a pair of eyes opened near the top of the crystal hill, and the whole thing began to stand.

  “Looks like they just found us too,” Yanily said.

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