Chapter 44: The Mask Breaks

The sun was merciless before it'd even finished rising.

Melissa had never been to the Scorched Sands before, but they definitely lived up to the name. A vast sea of white dunes stretched to the horizon, dotted with cacti and dry bushes which did little to liven up the scenery. Riding through the night had gotten the group quite a ways into the desert, yet their progress had slowed dramatically the deeper they went: the skeletal horses didn't get tired, but their bony hooves slipped and sunk in the grainy terrain. She decided around the third time she'd nearly fallen from the saddle that she wasn't in any hurry to revisit the area once the war ended.

"Melissa, did your stomach just growl?" asked Celia, with whom she was riding. Her voice was weak and hoarse.

"It could've been yours," she mumbled, stifling a yawn. "I don't think I can tell anymore…"

"We still have some food left in the shulker box, I could-"

"No. No stopping, Cece. Just… keep riding. I'll be okay."

Celia sighed. "There must be something I can do to help you. You sound terrible right now."

"So do you," said Melissa, hearing her force back a yawn of her own.

"I can stay focused for as long as I need to," she countered. "But you sound like you're about to pass out."

She didn't have the energy to argue further, so she quieted down and leaned her head against Celia's back, closing her eyes. "Fine… do you mind if I just lay here for a bit?"

"Of course not. Rest as much as you need…"

A harsh splotch in her vision was left by the sun's reflection in the sand, one she could still see even with her eyes shut. Melissa- like the rest of her friends- was hungry, parched, and exhausted from the ride. But the Inland Alliance rode along anyway, too battered and afraid to stop after their encounter the night prior.

"Hey," she heard Cupa say. She was riding with Felix again, and Blake wasn't far behind. "So, can we talk about what just happened now? Has it been long enough?"

"I suppose we have had enough time to process it," replied Celia. "Mostly…"

"Great. So… what WAS that?!" Cupa nearly shouted. "We get jumped in the middle of the night by some thing which looks like the fake people the Illagers had, he talks about killing Felix, and then he almost kills all of us, too! And when we miraculously beat him, he drops a Genesis Core that just vanishes? What HAPPENED back there?!"

"I've been wondering the same thing since Tenebyss," Felix said. "And I still don't know…"

A sense of guilt weighed on Melissa. Even before officially meeting Felix, she'd heard plenty about him from Celia over the past two years since the Countess had first met her. Based on her stories, he seemed perfectly credible and well-spoken, but Melissa hadn't believed him when he claimed to have died. How could she have? It would've sounded absurd no matter who said it; dying only to wake up in bed was literally the stuff of nightmares, and nothing more. She'd assumed there must have been some other explanation for how he made it back to the city, even if she couldn't think of one.

That preposterous claim had been made just over a week ago, when they'd left Tenebyss. Fighting the things in the Illagers' hideout had been strange, especially if they looked identical to Felix's mysterious attacker, but Melissa still hadn't seriously thought what he'd said was true. It was the near-death experience the group had just escaped, and the enemy who was so strong as to almost seem unreal which finally made her more open to consideration. At that point, anything sounded reasonable.

"How are you holding up, Blake?" she asked, opening her eyes but still leaning on Celia. "You were rather out of it after… what exactly did you do? You bound two Genesis Cores?"

His horse was stumbling and slipping as much as the others', but Blake didn't seem to notice it. He'd been staring into the distance for some time. "No… it was only the one."

"But back in Luxmouth, we saw Tara's eyes change and she started acting different after trying to use two at once," said Felix. "We've never seen anybody have trouble with just one, have we? And in Tenebyss, her eyes were still pitch black, but yours are fine now."

"I know all that!" Blake snapped. "I get it! I'm still trying to figure that out myself, okay?"

She felt Celia shift, and saw she was looking at Blake with worry in her eyes. "Did something happen when you picked it up? Which one was it exactly?"

Blake sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I think it was that 'human' Core. I just grabbed the first one I could, since we were pressed for time. But when I touched it… you know how whenever we first pick up a Genesis Core it plays us a short memory or something?"

Everyone nodded. That was yet another mystery, one which Melissa hadn't found the time to spare much thought to lately.

"Well, this one was different," Blake said. "There was only one person talking, and it wasn't the voice that sounded like Steve's."

"Our attacker's," Celia corrected, earning an annoyed look from Blake. She'd prohibited using the name the night before, for reasons unknown to the rest of the group.

"The point being," he continued, "the speech we hear is usually pretty quick. But that Core… it just kept going. I wasn't holding it for long, but from the second I touched it to just before I broke it against myself, it wouldn't stop talking to me. Or… not to me, that's not the word. Not even to anyone else, I think. It sounded like it was apologizing."

Melissa's brow furrowed at the thought. "Really? For what?"

"I'm not sure. It was barely coherent, and I swear the voice was about to burst out crying. The only word I could make out- I think so, anyway- was… 'Brother.'"

Celia stiffened, and Melissa sat up straighter too. The implications may have been lost on him, but everyone else had seen what happened.

"Blake… do you remember anything after that?" Celia asked, her tone uncharacteristically slow and cautious. "What you did after binding the Core?"

"Nothing. I was going to bind it to myself, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground in front of Felix. All of us were badly hurt. Before that, it's all a blank to me."

Celia cleared her throat. "You… were not yourself. You made no attempts to fight- and I am not accusing you of anything- but rather began to plead for our attacker to stop. When you spoke, your voice was the same and yet your words… sounded different. You called him Herobrine."

"Just like the Usurpation did," Felix added. "And this time too, he didn't seem to know what you were talking about."

Blake was quiet as he mulled it over. Melissa could see the mounting anxiety in his face. "O-okay, so… what does that mean? That somebody trapped a memory of Notch into the Core, and by binding it I got possessed for a minute? How would any of that even happen?"

"Maybe if we find the purple one it'll make more sense," Cupa suggested. "You said these things come in pairs, didn't you?"

Felix nodded. "That's right. And since we have a Usurpation tracker, I should be able to make it search for the location if I configure it to the Core's energy. I think I can figure it out, at any rate…"

"We will focus on that once we reach our destination," replied Celia. "Melissa, are you feeling well?"

She was tired, hungry, and confused, not to mention slightly terrified, but she pulled herself up to give Celia a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm fine. Thank you for looking out for me."

That won her a blush, and an earnest smile. "It is my pleasure."

Melissa leaned against her once again, wishing their time together could have been in the context of anything but a war. They'd known each other for four years, having been introduced during House Lumis' diplomatic visits to Tenebyss. Neither of them had many close friends around their age, so they were almost drawn together on principle, for want of anyone else to really socialize with. She'd expected the Countess to be prim and proper, and of course very courteous and mannered- if just a bit pampered. None of that turned out to be false, but what Melissa hadn't counted on was for Celia to be, well, fun.

Spirited, romantic, and lively, it hadn't taken much for her to open up and ramble about the many places she wanted to see, or the things she wanted to do. Proper decorum, outside of the meetings with TOEC's and Tenebyss' officials, was not her immediate priority. The cavern city forever lived under a tinge of gloom and despair, lingering from the tragedies it had suffered in the past, and the least melancholic discussions Melissa tended to have were with TOEC employees or her own family as they went over business plans and details of the mining industry. Celia, therefore, was the beacon of light and imagination for which she'd been desperate. Melissa was never quite sure why her friend liked her given her much duller origin, but she treasured every opportunity they had to spend time together regardless.

After two years of knowing her, Melissa's feelings had become deeper, and she'd taken the risk of confessing them. Any fears of tarnishing their friendship were put to rest when Celia reciprocated: even if House Lumis' visits were infrequent, their discreet connection remained strong.

"Celia asked me if we could really have a chance together, once this is all over," Melissa thought. "She'll be busy helping her dad lead Luxmouth, but… TOEC's going to be pitching in too, of course. It's not like we'll never have contact with each other. Maybe… maybe I CAN be at her side in the end."

She put her arms around Celia to hold herself closer, resting against her once more and envisioning that happy future. Thwarting the invaders and saving the Overworld were their own rewards, of course, but Melissa saw no reason not to hope for herself too.

The desert stretched onward.

"Squad, gather around! We're going over the plan one last time."

Esme had just finished double-checking her inventory when she heard Sir Paolo calling for his soldiers. Once she was convinced she hadn't misplaced anything, she made her way over to join the assembling agents, squinting in the rising sun.

Industrial Redstone Research Squad 3, at a dozen members wearing refined havenite armor, was almost as large and well-armed as an Expansion team. As such they'd been fairly easy to travel with over the last day, making their way northwest from Incursia through the Great Badlands. What few wild monsters had tried to attack were swiftly put down, either by one of Paolo's swordfighters or his crossbowmen. Both types of combatants were impressive to see in action, yet compared to them Esme felt a little out of place and underprepared.

It wasn't as if she had nothing. Her inventory was stocked with redstone materials, assorted rations, and a crafting table and the ingredients to make whichever tools or weapons she saw fit. There was also a Genesis Core tracker and an extracting device, in case she needed either. Of course, she also carried an enchanted communications book to stay in contact with Sir Paolo and his team, or to reach out to Overseer Fornax directly- the range on Usurpation comms books was limited, yet Esme's destination was close enough to the city that she could still contact Incursia if necessary. Most importantly of all, her inventory contained the experimental Titan, condensed to the size of a block and ready for deployment. She'd been given a green-bound enchanted book as well, which could issue commands to it.

The joint detachment (if it could even be called that) had only made camp for a few hours overnight before continuing on, and they'd reached their target at around midday. Esme, though weary from the long march, was in better shape than she could have been- the journey had beat traveling through the Nether again. She and the others were hiding at the base of a plateau, on the opposite side of which was the supposed Illager outpost they were to conquer.

"Scouts from the Expansion Division report these Illagers have built their tower over an abandoned Inlander village," Paolo explained once the rest of them had gathered. He was keeping his voice low. "The GCRB," at this, he nodded toward Esme, "hasn't picked up any signs of a Genesis Core in this area, but Overseer Fornax suspects the Illagers must have something worth defending if they're maintaining a presence here."

"Some other kind of treasure, maybe?" Esme thought. "But what could be worth more than a Genesis Core?"

Paolo continued. "Whatever the truth is, our objective is a simple one: wipe out the Inlanders here and take anything that might seem useful. Dame Esme will be joining the battle with a Scout-Class Titan, so the rest of us will be drawing the Illagers' attention until she can deploy it. From there, conquering this outpost will be a breeze. Any questions?"

The IR3 Squad agents shook their heads, as did Esme. She found the Titan in her inventory and held it close, taking a deep breath in anticipation. Open combat, as much as she'd experienced it in recent weeks, wasn't getting any easier for her, and the dread leading up to it had actually gotten worse. She put a hand to her cheek, feeling the scar tissue left behind by her own mask, and did her best to shake off the anxiety. Now was her chance to atone for disappointing Fornax- to prove herself a worthy Usurper.

"Do you think we really need to go on patrol?"

The deep grunt of a voice came from around the plateau, and the assembled agents went quiet as footsteps drew nearer. Esme listened closely.

"Don't be stupid," said another speaker, "we always do this. Why stop now?"

"I'm just saying, we haven't heard from the mansion in days. Those evokers can't ever shut up about 'plans' this and 'surveillance' that, so why're they givin' us the silent treatment all of a sudden? If one of 'em doesn't stop by, we won't even be able to use our bad omen magic to call reinforcements.

"He's got a point, boss," a third chimed in.

"Don't I?" the first asked. "What's the holdup?"

A trio of Illagers came around the corner, loosely holding their weapons. They were immediately set upon by the waiting IR3 agents, who attacked before their presence could be revealed. Esme found she couldn't help but close her eyes and look away until the commotion- and the Illagers- had died down.

"Okay, we're clear," Paolo said. "Dame Esme, whenever you're ready."

She forced herself not to look at the bodies. "I'm ready. I'll start to deploy the Titan."

He nodded and drew his curved diamond blade. "The rest of you, with me. We'll take them by surprise."

With that, his team set off around the corner. Esme first put down her crafting table and built new iron tools for herself- a sword, a pickaxe, and a shovel- figuring she would need them in case she had to enter the fray personally. Once she was ready to get to business, she set the Titan on the ground and pulled out her green enchanted book. The first page included instructions on how to command it, and some of the syntax made her raise a brow. Regardless, it seemed straightforward enough, so she brought her quill to the paper and began to write.

/activate Usurpation:Scout_Titan_Mk1 Unit_001

A loud "click" sounded from the Titan, and its limbs spread out like she'd seen back in Incursia. It unfolded itself from the block configuration, standing upright before her. The purple crystal in its head glowed, and the early morning sunlight glinted off the iron panels all over it.

/commandtitan Unit_001 Directive:Follow GCRB:Jade_1

"Kind of hard to write this out," Esme muttered. She didn't think Overseer Fornax would mind the feedback once she returned, not if it could be used to improve the Titan's operation in the field.

The sounds of battle could already be heard- Paolo's forces had engaged the defenders. Esme's command, difficult as it may have been to write, took effect: when she slowly made her way around the side of the plateau, the Titan followed behind her. They came upon the scene of IR3 Squad facing off against an equal number of Illagers wielding axes, at the edge of a…

"Wait a minute…"

The outpost they'd been sent to conquer didn't look very much like something Illagers would have built. Its small, squalid buildings in the plateau's shadow offered little in the way of military applications, or even in basic defense. The low roofs, the simple wooden furnishings and small crop planters nearby, the well from which some miniscule amount of water could be drawn… this wasn't an Illager outpost at all, but the dwelling of typical Inland villagers. One which had been taken over by their more violent counterparts, but a typical village nonetheless.

Esme thought it was strange, but wasn't about to let that distract her from the task at hand. She could see a few Illager archers taking up positions behind the houses, trying to get a clear shot at Sir Paolo's forces. In a hurry, she wrote down her next instruction.

/commandtitan Unit_001 Directive:Search_and_Destroy Inland:Illagers

It got to work promptly, stomping ahead of her and between two houses until it sprang upon the first unsuspecting crossbowman. He only noticed it a second before its clawed hand clamped down on his head, tossing him like a ragdoll against the side of the nearest building. One of his nearest cohorts, alarmed, spun and shot at the Titan, but the arrow simply glanced off the side of its armor plating. It didn't even move for another moment, as if silently taunting its attacker for such a feeble effort, before it sprang forward and grabbed the Illager by his face, slamming him into the ground.

As the Titan steadily made its way up the street, Esme found she could just follow behind it, for most of the Illagers were still preoccupied with Paolo's team and hadn't realized what had entered the town when they weren't looking. Those who remained in the streets, standing guard at the various buildings, were swiftly overwhelmed by the Titan's brute strength and agility. It appeared to lack intelligence, preferring to just bear down on its foes without fear of retaliation, but even that didn't impede its progress much. On only one occasion did an Illager guard manage to strike it with his axe, leaving a dent in the back of its armor, yet the Titan was barely fazed. It punished the attacker by wrenching the weapon free of his hands and bludgeoning him with the handle.

"The Titan doesn't seem to grasp how weapons are supposed to work," Esme thought, even as her stomach turned from the display, "but its bare hands are strong enough to make up for the difference. Still, maybe that could be changed with future models…"

It didn't take long for the pair to reach the village's center, where a very large house about two chunks long and one wide stood by the town square. Unlike the wood and terracotta used across the rest of the village, this one was built with cobblestone and lacked windows. It sported a banner depicting an Illager's scowling face on one side, but otherwise had no decorations and looked very out of place. The Titan set upon two surprised guards before they could draw their weapons, smashing them against one another and throwing them right through the wooden doors. Without any input on Esme's part, it stomped into the house to finish them off. She cringed when one of the Illagers had just enough time to blurt out a plea for mercy, before a violent crack cut him off.

But there were other voices coming from inside: whimpers and hushed questions from multiple speakers, some of whom sounded much younger than the average Illager soldier. Confused, Esme scrawled one last instruction in her notebook before stepped through the broken doorway to see what was happening for herself.

/commandtitan Unit_001 Directive:Hold_Position

The Titan had come to a stop above its fallen targets and was staring down the building's single long room. It wasn't a house at all, but a prison: narrow jail cells lined the sides, with metal doors and iron bars keeping the captives secure. Said captives were Inlanders, humans and villagers alike, and their ragged clothes and thin, malnourished figures made Esme pause.

"Who are you?" asked one of them, a child. "Are you here to save us?"

More apprehensive questions followed, each from a prisoner who looked more confused than anything. None of them expressed concern to see a Usurpation soldier, or anger for that matter. She was wearing her hood, cloak, and mask, so it wasn't as if she didn't look consistent with other wastelanders, yet none of it seemed to matter to them.

"…how long have you been here?" she found herself asking.

"Our village got taken over… I think it was five months ago now," said another prisoner, this one an adult man. "We haven't been able to reach out to anyone for help, since none of us could escape. Where did you come from? Did Granitetown send you?"

Esme's blood ran cold. These people didn't even know about the war- about the Usurpation! They'd been held captive in their own town for so long that news of the invasion hadn't even reached their ears. She was almost certainly the first person from beyond the Inlands they'd ever met, and they didn't realize it.

"Did we just save them? But they're our enemies… what am I supposed to do now?"

The Titan's head swiveled on its neck, and the purple gem in its face aimed right at Esme. Within her inventory, the black communications notebook gave off a chime: she'd received a message from someone. Wondering if Sir Paolo needed help outside, she opened it to the glowing page. But the message was sourced from Incursia, and the sender was identified as Fornax.

[Why are you delaying, Dame Esme? Give the order to attack.]

She stifled a gasp and looked at the Titan's "eye." It wasn't moving, but its silent gaze had somehow just become even less comforting.

"O-Overseer?" she asked. "Can you see me?"

The prisoners gave her odd looks and whispered to each other. A second later, another message appeared. [I can also hear you. The Titan is relaying information to me. Why are you delaying?]

She gulped. "Apologies, I will get back to work. There should still be more Illagers to help Sir Paolo deal with."

[No.]

Esme's pulse quickened. "N… no, Overseer…?"

[Your instructions are to wipe out the Inlanders here. Sir Paolo will handle the Illagers. Command the Titan, Dame Esme.]

Eyes widening, she looked around the room again. The prisoners were still asking if she would open the cells and let them out, and she could see so much hope in their eyes. She realized what she was being told to do.

Her trembling hands went for the black notebook again; speaking her reply aloud would only terrify the Inlanders present. With her quill, she wrote, [Overseer Fornax, we don't need to do this. They aren't threats to us like the Illagers are. They don't even know about the Army.]

The Titan leaned forward, its eye still trained on her. She took a step away.

[You have let me down once already, Dame Esme. This is your chance to prove your worth. Command the Titan. Do your duty.]

Esme's heart was pounding by then. She put away the black book and took out the green one, barely able to keep her arms steady as she opened it. With a shaking hand, she held the quill just above the page. The Titan- and Fornax by extension- watched her closely, as did the prisoners.

"What are you waiting for?" somebody asked. "Let us out!"

She began to write.

/commandtitan Unit_001 Directive:Search_and_Destroy

All that remained was to specify a target. Inlanders in general would suffice. As Esme brought down her quill again, surrounded by pleading eyes and nervous whispers, she hesitated to write the final words. The book fell from her hands.

"I… I can't," she said, breathing hard. She turned to face the Titan again. "Overseer! This isn't going to help our cause, it's… it's just wrong!"

The room went silent. The Titan didn't move, but she couldn't meet its crystal gaze. After a few seconds, another message reached her black book. [You have failed your assignment. You are demoted in rank and stripped of authority in the Genesis Core Research Branch, in the Industrial Division, and in the Usurpation Army as a whole. I am assuming command of the operation.]

The Titan's head turned away from her, and it stomped toward the nearest cell. The occupants, two villager children, gasped and shrank away from the bars, leaning against the walls. Esme picked up the green book in a panic and tried to write another instruction, but her frantic scrawl to stop the Titan was met only with another message at the bottom of the page: 'Control Overridden.'

"Don't do this!" she cried, as the Titan began to punch at the bars. They bent inwards, and the prisoners screamed. "Please, Fornax, you can't!"

[You will stay out of the way. I'd hoped you wouldn't disappoint me like Ray has. I'd expected more of you. Yet you've let me down as well.]

Her thoughts raced. Ray? Had something happened to him? Why hadn't she seen him around the GCRB headquarters recently? Where had he gone? And why did Fornax say he'd disappointed her too? The Titan broke apart one of the bars, trying to pull off another so it could fit through. The children were sobbing, clutching each other in the corner.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" shrieked another prisoner, rattling the bars of her cell. "STOP IT!"

"Please, don't! They haven't done anything to us!" Esme shouted at the Titan.

[Stay where you are and wait. We will discuss your failure when you return.]

The metal clanging, the cries and screams, the whirring of the Titan's joints. It all sounded muffled in Esme's ears, as if everything around her was disappearing into a blurry numbness.

Then it rushed back all at once, every sensation hitting her in unison, and somewhere in her she felt the spark of a new motivation. She returned the book to her inventory and drew her sword.

"No," she declared. "No, we WON'T."

Esme sprang into action, stabbing at the Titan just as it finished breaking open the cell. Her sword embedded in its rear armor plating where the Illager's axe had left a dent, and it stopped trying to reach the Inlander children. Its head spun around to face her, and its body followed a second later, yanking the sword from her hands. One of its arms swung at her, but she jumped back and avoided its grip. Forgetting its initial targets, the Titan stomped after Esme, its claws outstretched like a zombie's.

She fumbled through her inventory for a stack of wooden planks, which she jumped and placed beneath her to make a short tower. The prison's ceiling was low, but not so low that she couldn't get herself four blocks high, more than enough to stay out of the Titan's reach. Undaunted, it latched its claws into the sides of the planks and began to crawl up after her like a spider. Esme jumped from the pillar and landed behind it, grabbing onto her sword on the way down. Her momentum tugged the blade free and even tore open a gash in its armor, but the actual damage seemed minimal.

The Titan dropped to the ground, rotating its limbs to land on all fours and scuttling toward Esme. She stabbed at its face with a yelp, but it caught her weapon in one of its front claws and snapped the blade like a stick. It tossed the metal shard aside, continuing toward her and reaching out again. This time, she couldn't avoid it fully: its claw latched onto a strand of her gray cloak.

But this gave her an idea. She pulled down her hood and lifted the cloak over her head, tossing the whole thing onto the Titan's face as it stood to reach for her with its other hand. Esme, still in her havenite armor, dropped her broken sword and equipped her pickaxe. The Titan tugged off her cloak and threw it to the floor, and before it could continue its pursuit she swung the pick as hard as she could, straight through its purple crystal eye. More than that, the tool embedded deep into the Titan's iron face. She pulled it out and backed away, observing her results.

Esme hadn't destroyed the Titan, but by exploiting its weak point she'd rendered it blind. It thrashed its arms wildly, attempting to find her with no success, and stumbled about the prison floor. She knew the only way to stop it for good would be to disable its redstone engine, still housed behind its iron chassis, and crept around back to strike again. Her eyes landed on the gash she'd opened before- a second later, so did her pickaxe. The point buried deep into the Titan's lower back, causing it to jolt and reach behind itself. She let go of the handle before it could grab her.

Her pickaxe was still buried in its back, but the blade had actually punctured through to the front of its torso, and its movements were slowing down. She must have struck through the engine, because the dusty smell of hot redstone filled the air as the Titan stumbled and collapsed onto its stomach, struggling to get back up. Esme made her way around it again and pulled out the pick, then brought it down one last time onto the Titan's upper back. It finally stopped moving, its limbs and head slumping to the floor.

The prison fell silent again. Esme could feel the captives' eyes on her as she dropped to her knees, gasping for breath and wondering what she'd just done. She raised a shaking hand and removed her mask, staring at it. The green lenses reflected her tired face, and the scar left on her cheek. There was still a dent in the edge.

Esme dropped her mask to the floor, stomping on it as hard as she could until it snapped in half.

"I'm not going to kill for you," she said, unsure if Fornax could still hear her through the Titan. "I won't be your monster."

"Um… t-thank you, miss…"

She looked up. The two children in the cell had come out of the corner and were close to the bars. Tears still stained their cheeks, but they didn't look hurt.

"Thank you for saving us," said the other.

Esme felt the blood drain from her face. "No… n-no, don't thank me. I almost let it… you almost…"

She shook her head and stood up, retrieving her broken sword and the gray cloak from the floor. Afterwards, she went cell to cell and broke apart the bars with her pickaxe until everyone was free. Esme didn't receive congratulations or praise, mostly suspicious stares and the occasional mumbled "thank you," but she didn't care. She didn't deserve anything more than that.

"There are others here like me," she said once she'd freed the last prisoner. The townsfolk were all looking at her, and some even shoved their children behind themselves. "I won't hurt you, but they might. You all need to find somewhere to hide."

"Who are you really?" asked one of the men in the small assembly. "We've never seen people like you before. Why is your skin so gray?"

She took a deep breath. "My name is Esme. I come from the world beyond the great wall north of here, from the place you call the Far Lands."

They may not have known about the Usurpation, but that they understood. The villagers gasped and muttered to each other, some giving her even warier stares.

"An army of people like me, called the Usurpation, has entered this region of the Inl- the Overworld, and they intend to conquer it. A group of us was sent to this town to test this machine, an invention of ours built for war. The others should still be fighting the Illager guards."

"We can hide," said another villager. His expression turned more suspicious. "We'll stay away from them. But what makes you any different?"

Esme hung her head, a wave of conflicting feelings crashing over her. "Maybe nothing. But I can't just sit back anymore and let people get hurt. I have to do… something."

"And that is?" he asked.

"I'll figure that out. Is there anyone else who needs to be freed?"

One of the older villagers shook his head. "This is our whole town. But we have heard the Illagers speak of a prisoner they're keeping under the church. They could have brought somebody else here."

Esme looked at her sword. It was snapped in half, but still sharp enough to use in a pinch. It would have to do. "Okay, I'll go investigate. The rest of you, find somewhere safe to hide until we're gone."

She ran past the townsfolk and was out the door before anyone could reply. Only half-certain what she was even doing with herself, she listened for the sounds of battle. Sure enough, somewhere in the distance she could still hear Sir Paolo's team fighting the Illagers. That would give the citizens time to find safety, and she could use the opportunity to rescue the final prisoner.

"I just abandoned the Usurpation," she thought as she looked around for the church. "The wastelanders. My people…"

She noticed a message had reached her black book. Dreading what she would see, she opened it.

[The Inlanders will kill you. And soon, the entire Usurpation Army will know what you did. There is no place in the world for you, so run, little traitor. Run back to the wastes, and rot away in the dust where I found you.]

Esme snapped it shut without a second thought. There was no turning back now, no begging for forgiveness or a second chance. She'd made her choice, and she would stick by it to the bitter end.

"Ray… Jade Squad… I'm so sorry, everyone. But if this is the Usurpation's true face, then I am a Usurper no more."