Lonewolf hated the desert heat. If he could choose, he would prefer travelling during the night. But Seritha's mid‑morning request to accompany her to a most likely broken warding seal couldn't wait until night. The sorceress was very distressed about it, apparently she fell asleep in the middle of work and when she woke up a few hours later, the aether disturbance was already there. She didn't know how long it had been this way and insisted on going right away. If he didn't stop her, she would probably leave without even eating anything.

They walked through the desert for almost an hour. He himself could do it in half the time, but Seritha couldn't keep up on the sandy surface. And she was tired. Lonewolf didn't remember if he had seen her not tired. She worked on everything that needed touch of aether, from the warding seals and glowing and heating stones to weapon upgrades. She was the best sorceress and scientist they had. There were some others who could help her, but most of them could perform only the simpler tasks. Out of the roughly two hundred people in the shelter there were only about fifty daevas and the most common ones were scouts like himself. There simply weren't enough people to do the work needed, so Seritha took it all on herself.

"We're here," he stopped in front of a rock formation not higher than him. Seritha was a few steps behind him, wrapped in a similar sand‑coloured scarf as he was. Before she made those few steps he quickly looked over the surroundings. Nothing obvious disturbed the sand or the rocks, either no one was there or they covered their tracks.

"Thank you," the sorceress kneeled in front of the rocks and reached for an unusually flat stone. She carefully removed it and revealed a magical seal made of mostly drenium wires, encased in a thin layer of purple wax, which held it in place on the rock underneath it. At the first glance the seal looked intact. "Something's wrong," she frowned. "Please look around, something's interfering with it."

"Uhm," he nodded and carefully scanned the sand and rocks around them. He didn't know what to look for, his education didn't include things that could interfere with magical seals, but he knew the desert. Anything that didn't belong here would be suspicious. The immediate area was clear, there were no tracks except their own and the stones didn't show signs of manipulation. Although that didn't have to mean anything, any tracks except the deepest and most used ones would be covered in a few hours by the winds. He slowly walked around the formation and didn't find anything either. He climbed on the rocks and looked around from a vantage point. There was only desert and in the distance there were mountains and the Shelter crater. He wanted to jump down, but something between the rocks caught his eye. Just a brief unnatural glint, but it was enough to get his attention. It was a small piece of a golden thread, only a few centimeters long. Could this interfere with the seal? It looked like an ordinary thread to him.

"Could you please come back? I think I found it," Seritha suddenly said. "They changed the seal."

"What do you mean by changed?" he jumped down. "And I found this."

"What? No, that's just junk, probably from someone's clothes. But it's proof they were here," she shook her head. "Not that it needs one. Look at this," she held the seal, now with few traces of the wax, in front of him. To him it looked like an aetheric seal, if there was something wrong with the design, he couldn't tell.

"I can't see what's wrong with it, sorry."

"The hair. It shouldn't be there," she explained. Yes, he could see thin black fibers wrapped around some of the seal's parts. "I don't use hair like this, not in warding seals. Back in the day I read about experiments of using the bearer's hair on their shields as a form of personal protective wards, but the results were unstable. And it wasn't suitable for covering large areas. And even if it somehow made sense, where would I get black hair? From you? Why would I do that? No, no, I would use my own hair for that," she shook her head. "Sorry, I can examine that later. Now I have to replace the seal. You don't have any aetheric devices in your cube, right?"

"No, just a few potions."

"Those should be fine, please keep this until we get back," she gave him the seal and he promptly put it in his cube.

She pulled a new warding seal and a lump of wax from her own cube and gave him the wax to hold on it for a moment. Then she put the seal on its place between the rocks and traced the wires and diagrams with her finger to bind aether to it. After a few minutes of incantation she extended her hand towards him and he gave her the wax back. While still holding the seal in place with one hand, she cast a simple fire spell from the one holding the wax, which quickly melted and covered the new seal, keeping it from moving.

"Do you have some bandages?" she asked, her hand full of blisters. Her own fire didn't hurt her, but the same thing couldn't be said about hot wax.

"Sure."

"Oh, no. They're inside," Seritha's eyes widened in horror.

"Who's inside?" he asked, but he already suspected the answer.

"The Elyos. Or Lepharists, I don't know exactly, but there are four aether signatures that are not supposed to be there. That... fake seal," she pointed at his cube, "was concealing them. We have to get back. No, you have to get back, you'll be faster alone. Just leave the bandages here and go."

Lonewolf thought about it for a moment. She was right, he would be there faster.

"No, we're going together. You're too important, I can't leave you in the middle of the desert alone."

"There are innocent people inside, civilians even. We have to warn them!"

"There are also Runa and Darrand and Engor to protect them. And Veille and that idiot of gunner are capable too. And at least twenty others. But you're clearly exhausted and if I leave you here, you won't be able to get back on your own."

"But..."

"Runa made it clear you have to stay alive. Because you keep everyone else alive. So let's go. Together. We'll do what we can."

~ o ~

Runa ran through the tunnels as fast as she could, leaping from shadow to shadow, following the bursts of aether deep inside the ancient complex. Her conversation with the young ranger was interrupted by Darrand's distant yell. It could be just him lashing out in anger at someone, but a few seconds later other people screamed. And as she ran, she met two terrified humans running against her. Their faces told her everything she needed. There were intruders.

~ o ~

Nesha could only stare at the man in front of her. For a moment even her thoughts have stopped. It didn't make sense, he wasn't supposed to be here. The last time she had seen him, the Lightshade was being disbanded. She was sent to Morheim shortly after that, she had so much to deal with, she didn't even spare a thought for any of her former companions. But that didn't mean they stopped existing, right? But Cerullon, her former commander, wouldn't come here all by himself just to free her.

"Are the others..."

"We have more work to do," he cut her off and threw a small object at her. She caught it and recognised a key for her aether‑cuffs. More than gladly she got rid of them.

"What work?" she asked without moving, waiting for her body to adapt to the aether again.

"Follow me," he turned around and left the room.

Nesha hesitated. It was wrong. Everything about this situation was wrong. But the only way to find out what was actually happening was to do as he said. For now. Outside her cell were two bodies, her guards. One was even quick enough to draw his sword before he died from one precise strike. Both of them used to be daevas, but neither has shown any signs of being pulled.

So no obelisks around... good to know.

She picked up the dead guard's sword, it wasn't her favourite weapon, but it was better than being unarmed. As soon as her rescuer stepped into the shadows, a little violet butterfly flew towards them and exploded. The blast wasn't deadly and Nesha was partially shielded by the door‑frame, so she was just mildly shaken, but it was strong enough to bring the assassin back from the shadows.

"That work," with a dagger in his hand he pointed at the person coming towards them.

~ o ~

Deep in the caverns, Cathy couldn't move or take her eyes off the fight. Darrand noticed the second Elyos in time to sidestep and hit her in her face with the pommel of his sword. He was strong, stronger than anyone Cathy has seen, but even he was struggling against those two well coordinated assassins. It took only a few seconds before he was forced to just defend himself. The aether rope lashed out of his sword, throwing one of them off the balance, but the other one used that moment to stab. The Asmodian could only raise his left hand in defence, as if he had a shield, but he didn't and the dagger cut deep into his forearm. He screamed, no, roared in pain and anger and tried to hit the assassin, but his arm was slowed by the injury. He already had several cuts, but none of them as serious as this. Blood was dripping from his arm onto the stone floor. He needed healing. Cathy raised her hands and tried to focus the aether into that injury, but they were too far away and she didn't dare to get close.

Please... someone... help... no, oh no...

She turned around. Miss Anteia was still lying on the floor, not moving. Cathy crawled towards her and immediately weaved aether around the deep stab wound under her ribs. She barely felt any traces of life from the Elyos healer.

Please, Aion, I'm sorry, help me save her.

Through her tears she stopped seeing contours and shapes, but she didn't wipe them. She needed the healing to succeed. She had to save her.

A burst of aether and bright light from behind her almost knocked her down, but she didn't dare to stop.

~ o ~

Veille didn't want to wallow in her guilt, but since Nesha arrived, she could hardly think of anything else. She tried to concentrate on her work, infusing aether into glowstones, so the Shelter had light for another few days. And for a few minutes she was successful. But once she steadied the flow of aether, her thoughts shot in that one direction. Should she keep Nesha as a baby? Or should she tell her the truth, when she had Ascended? Or when she was accepted to Miragent? She should have found enough courage to tell her at least on that day, when Lightshade came to Inggison. She shook her head. No, it's too late now. She put aside another charged glowstone, but instead of reaching for another, she got up. She needed a break to sort out her thoughts. And maybe talk with Nesha again. She had surely already calmed down, recovered from the initial shock. She might have some questions. And even if not, Veille just wanted to see her daughter. She left the makeshift laboratory she shared with Seritha and walked across the crater towards the tunnels with prison cells. Few steps in, she stopped. The guards in front of Nesha's cell were dead and the wooden door opened. From the inside she heard a voice that didn't belong here. And Nesha replied to him.

Please, Aion, I don't want to fight her. Please, tell me it's a misunderstanding!

She was a sorceress and as such her training didn't involve much of illusions, but to become Lord Kaisinel's Wing she had to learn a few extra tricks. She weaved a thin layer of aether around her, making herself invisible as long as she stayed still. A blue‑haired man in dark clothing walked out of the cell. She knew him. A prominent officer in Hushblade legion, who later became the leader of Israphel's personal cleaning unit. Almost immediately he hid in the shadows. That was bad. If he left like this, she wouldn't find him again until he hurt someone. She quickly sent an explosive butterfly to the space she'd seen him the last. It didn't hurt him much, but it was enough to bring him out of the shadows.

"That work," he pointed at her with a dagger he drew during the explosion.

Then Nesha stepped out of the door and froze in shock.

Veille didn't wait. She didn't want to hurt her daughter, but she couldn't allow the residents of the Shelter to get hurt either. She cast a sleep spell on Nesha. But that moment of distraction was enough for Cerullon to step through the shadows behind her and stab. She raised an aetheric shield just in time and teleported away from him. The narrow tunnel gave him advantage, she couldn't maneuver well and all he needed was a moment close enough to her to deliver the death blow. Immediately after she reappeared she sent a few bolts of fire at him as a distraction and summoned roots from the ground to hold him in place. But the floor was made of a thick layer of rock, there were no natural plants that could assist her aetheric roots. He was bound, but only for a moment. She cast another sleep spell, but he was able to shake it off and ran towards her. On his way he kicked Nesha to wake her up. She snapped into consciousness and looked around in confusion. Cerullon wasn't paying her any further attention and attacked Veille with multiple quick blows. The moment her shield flickered and disappeared, she tore a half‑loose boulder from the ceiling and dropped it between them to get a bit of space. She froze the air around her to slow him down and ran further into the tunnel. She knew she'd get to the end soon, but she couldn't afford to stay in his reach. From what little moisture in the air she could find she formed ice shards and sent them at him, immediately followed by flaming rope wrapping around him. But the temperature shock slowed him only for about two seconds. He threw a dagger at her. With the aether whirling around her and forming a new spell she managed to deflect it only enough to not hit her straight in the chest. But it still scratched her on the right side of her ribs. The cut wasn't deep, but it broke her concentration and gave him time to become one with the wind and, even injured, darting towards her with an incredible speed. She didn't wait for him to stop and teleported behind him, towards the exit. As if he expected that, he leaped through the shadows again and appeared behind her. But instead of stabbing her, he dodged an attack from Nesha, who stepped out of the shadows right next to him. Veille stepped back, prepared to cast another fire blast, but didn't dare to release it, when her daughter was that close to her target. Nesha didn't get to attack again. Cerullon knocked the sword out of her hand, hit her face with his bare fist and pushed her against the wall, his forearm pressed against her neck. Veille let her spell dissipate and quickly formed the aether to cast sleep on him, but again, he shook it off without any effect.

"So you are a traitor," he spat. "Then die."

"NO!"

Before the echo of Veille's scream vanished, Cerullon was hit by something from the other side of her and the attack of his dagger changed from deadly stab aimed under Nesha's ribs to just a deep gash in her side. She screamed with pain.

"How about you die instead," Ylrian recharged his gun with new aether and shot again.

Cerullon quickly scanned his surroundings and then even faster retreated into now empty Nesha's cell. As Veille reached the door, she could only see him breaking a seal on a teleportation scroll and vanishing.

"Nesha!" the sorceress knelt beside her daughter, unsure what to do. Nesha was heavily bleeding from her side and was losing consciousness. And the dagger has probably been poisoned.

"Freeze her," Ylrian said and ran further into the tunnel and into other, empty cells, his eyes glowing, as he searched for whomever could hide in the shadows.

"What?"

"Freeze the wound and around it, so the poison doesn't spread that quickly. All's clear," he returned.

Veille concentrated the aether to the wound. She didn't know how to heal, but freezing just part of the body wasn't that difficult. She only had to be careful to not freeze the spine or brain, that could cause permanent damage.

"Can you do that while moving?"

"Yes."

"Good, let's go," Ylrian carefully lifted Nesha from the ground and carried her towards the infirmary.

~ o ~

Aielyn followed Runa through the tunnels. She couldn't keep up, the senior daeva was using the shadows, which slowed most people down, to give her a boost instead. Could she learn that too, if she lived for long enough? She lost sight of her, but the two terrified people running towards her were a solid sign of the right direction. That and Darrand's shout. The human woman tripped and would fall, but Aielyn caught her in time.

"Are you alright? What happened?" she asked, while helping her stand.

"The Elyos... a killer..." the woman said, shaking. "I... I just wanted shower... but he was there... stabbed her... Thanks Aion, Master Darrand was there to fight, but... I ran..."

"It's alright, you're safe now," she tried to calm her down. "Runa and Darrand will take care of this. Go find Engor, or any other daeva and tell them what happened, to be on alert. Can you do that?"

"Y‑yes, madam," the woman nodded.

"Good, now go."

The young ranger left the terrified citizen and ran towards the lavatory. As soon as she reached the end of the tunnel, she saw an arrow hitting Runa's chest. A flash of an incredibly bright light filled the entire room. Aielyn closed her eyes and shielded them with her hand, but the light vanished almost as quickly as it appeared and she instinctively summoned an aetheric arrow and searched for the enemies. Two of them, a man and a woman, were around Runa, who, against every sense appeared to be fine, as if no arrow hit her. But it wasn't these two, who fired that arrow. There. On the other side of the cave, behind the river, there was another person, Aielyn couldn't discern the details, but this assassin clearly held a bow. And was preparing to fire again. She shot her arrow at the dark figure. It missed, but Runa disappeared from her spot just an eyeblink before the enemy's arrow would hit her and the archer's body fell to the ground. She moved through the shadows so fast! No, that was wrong, she didn't move through them. She became the shadows. The next moment she was back, disposing of the male assassin with one precisely aimed blow. The woman used those few heartbeats to throw a smoke bomb at them, leap through the shadows to the other side of the cave, pull out a scroll from her pocket and break the seal. Aether converged at her and with a snap she disappeared, leaving her two dead companions behind.

Runa stood there, in the middle of the cave and Darrand and Aielyn were just gaping at her. She looked... different. It was still her, but at the same time it wasn't. She was... more. When the shadows around her settled, she walked over to Cathy, who still tried to heal Anteia, and gently put her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"She's gone," Runa almost whispered. Her voice remained the same.

"But she's daeva," Cathy sobbed, but continued with the healing. "If she's gone, why... why is she still here?"

Anteia's gone? As Aielyn's eyes also filled with tears, Runa did something she would never expect of her. She pulled Cathy closer and hugged her tightly. She whispered something Aielyn couldn't hear and after a few moments she gently wiped Cathy's tears and they both got up. Runa led the girl towards Darrand, who was still clutching his arm, trying to stop the bleeding by himself. Cathy knelt beside him and tapped into the aether again. The smaller wounds closed, but the deep one on his arm only slowed down.

"It is... wrong," the girl whispered. "Something's stopping me from healing it."

"It's the poison," the templar said.

"How serious is it?" Runa asked.

"I can function for about half an hour with it, if I can stop the bleeding, my lady," Darrand bowed his head.

"I‑I have bandages," Aielyn blurted out. "Here," she pulled a pack of odella‑scented bandages and began unwrapping them.

"Good," Runa nodded. "Darrand, you and Lyn will take care of the dead here. Search them thoroughly. I'll go and make sure there are no more surprises like this in the Shelter. And I'll send Engor here, if he's available. Cathy, you'll come with me."

"Yes, my lady," Darrand said with his head still down. Aielyn nodded, as she began wrapping the bandages around the templar's arm, trying to be as gentle as possible. The wound didn't look good at all.

Runa took Cathy's hand and walked out of the cave.

"Dammit!" Darrand hit the floor with his healthy hand.

"Hey, calm down, I have to tie these bandages, if you want them to stay at their place."

"Then tie it quickly, we have orders to follow," he grunted.

"What happened? You never followed Runa's orders so quickly."

"Are you blind or what?" he looked at her as if she suddenly grew scales or something.

"I..."

"Whatever," he shook his head. "Are you done? Good. Now go search those Lepharist fuckers, take their cubes and weapons and everything."

The templar got up and slowly walked towards the dead body of Anteia. He knelt beside her, closed her lifeless, dim green eyes and folded her arms on her chest to make her look as if she was just sleeping. He gently touched her cheek and whispered: "I'm sorry."

~ o ~

Lonewolf made sure Seritha was still keeping up with him and jumped from the edge of the Shelter crater, spreading his wings just before he hit the ground. As he landed, he immediately noticed Ylrian, who was carrying that Nesha prisoner. She was badly injured and her face was twisted with pain. Veille was running around them, occasionally casting a cooling spell on the wound.

"Stop right there," Lonewolf summoned an aetheric arrow and aimed at Ylrian.

"What the fuck are you doing? Can't you see she needs a healer?" the Elyos gunner yelled.

"What happened?"

"We were attacked. By a Lepharist elite guy. The guards are dead. She's hurt."

"And? Is the intruder dead?"

"No, he teleported away as soon as Ylrian appeared," Veille said. She looked exhausted and she had a shallow cut on the right side of her ribs. Yes, that looked like she was fighting.

Seritha glided down and landed next to him.

"Was she attacked in the prison cell? And where are her aether‑cuffs?" the Asmodian sorceress asked, barely catching her breath.

"How the fuck should I know?! When I got there, that asshole ran away! So stop threatening me and let me take her to Engor!" Ylrian was clearly losing his nerves.

"I don't understand why we should try to save someone responsible for the deaths of Mastarius, Kohbe, Shairun, general Hisui and many others," Seritha's gaze was ice‑cold. "In fact, we should kill her and make sure she stays dead."

"Seritha, please," Veille looked like she'd start crying at any moment.

Lonewolf clenched his jaw and looked around.

"Can you still sense the intruders?" he really wanted to see that woman dead, but Lepharist assassins running among them were a priority.

Seritha closed her eyes for a moment and pointed towards the lavatory tunnel: "Three in that direction. The fourth has disappeared a few moments ago, they might be telling the truth. Wait, something's wrong. Someone else is there. Can you feel it? You should be... I... I can't sense those Lepharists from before anymore, there's just that one immensely powerful being."

Lonewolf did notice the change in the aether. Even though he didn't have his senses attached to a large warding seal network, he knew something was there. It was a familiar feeling.

"Let them go," Seritha suddenly said.

"What? Why?"

"I want her dead as much as you do, but the person over there might have some questions for her."

"You know who it is?" Ylrian asked.

"No, but I have a guess. Lonewolf, please come with me," she walked towards the lavatory. Lonewolf dismissed his arrow and followed her. They reached about half of the tunnel, when he saw those two figures quickly walking towards them. Seritha's eyes widened and she held her breath, covering her mouth with both her hands. The smaller person was Cathy, but she wasn't the source of this power. No, it was the other one. She had raven black straight hair reaching down to her chin, black piercing eyes that were always watching. Her jerkin was torn at the top of her chest, revealing a silver chain with broken blue gemstone, there were also tiny blue shards all around it. And her face... it looked almost like Runa's, but with a few different details here and there. He knew that face. Both he and Seritha dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

"My lady," they said in unison. Seritha added: "I'm happy to see you've returned."

"Returned?" she stopped in front of them with a sad smile. "I was here all along. Rise, no need to be this formal now. We were attacked. What happened to the warding seals?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, my lady," Seritha got up. "They... created a different seal and replaced one of our own with it. It was hiding them from my senses. I fixed it and... there were four of them, right? I don't sense anyone out of place now."

"Four? I met three."

"One fought with Veille near the prison cells. According to her, he teleported away. But not before he killed the guards and heavily injured the prisoner," Lonewolf said with his best report voice.

"Thank you. Lonewolf, go there and help Darrand and Lyn with the dead. Seritha, you... go take a rest. Ask Veille to cast a sleep spell on you, if necessary. I will need you very soon at your full strength."

"Yes, my lady," again, they said in unison.

Lonewolf immediately ran forward. But not because he'd be so eager to follow the order. He was still angry and a bit shaken about the attack and his inability to stop it, but now he had hope. They all had hope. Lady Triniel didn't abandon them.