Ian and those unoccupied by the subterranean threat darted into the manufacturing center, spreading out around Var’dun’a. The ground still smoldered and smoked from Mo’qin’s earlier blast, the air rippling with heat.

Even though they seemed to be alone in the chamber, they relied on a limping Por’sha to communicate: They could never be too careful. While the woman’s torso was still trailed by noxious cuts, she was able to keep up by boosting herself forward with wind elementalism.

“Wolfien?” Var’dun’a inquired, giving the man a quizzical look. “Any news from the future?”

He shook his head. “Still trying to find the artificers: They’re well hidden.”

They stood in place for an awkward few seconds. If the walls here weren’t so thick, I’d be much more help, Ian thought.

Suddenly, Wolfien’s face lit up. “We found the artificers hiding underneath the cafeteria. They were evacuated through a secret passageway in the wall.”

“How’d we find them?” Ian wondered.

Wolfien blinked once, his mouth dropping slightly open. “You found them.”

Ian immediately felt sheepish. In scenarios, he wasn’t under his current limitations. While he still wouldn’t be able to see through the walls, he could imagine some of the strategies he might employ if not trying to be covert.

“Retrospective later,” Var’dun’a growled. “Lead the way, Wolfien.”

The facility was eerily quiet as they traversed its halls. Var’dun’a turned invisible before taking point, stepping lithely around Wolfien like a ghost, neither seen nor heard. Like Ian, the guardian was relying on vital vision to avoid getting in her way.

Wolfien paused before a tall, wooden door. “Just past this is the cafeteria. As soon as we enter, they’re going to suspect that we know their hiding spot. Dunai, freeze the guards and artificers as soon as they enter your range, then knock them out: Ensuring their survival is worth risking your early exposure.”

Ian frowned, wondering what futures Wolfien had witnessed. He was only to be used as a last resort, suggesting that the guards, or perhaps even the artificers themselves, were under orders to prevent themselves from being taken alive.

One of the Remorse practitioner guards could reversibly scramble the minds of the artificers. While the original practitioner might be able to undo the damage with minimal lasting repercussions, even a peak practitioner like Ezenti may be unable to intervene. It was the perfect strategy to prevent knowledge falling to the enemy while maintaining the power to restore anyone that fell back into their hands.

Wolfien continued relaying future Var’dun’a’s commands: “They have a Regret practitioner amongst them. Thankfully his scenario time is less than my own, probably around ten seconds. The goal for all of us will be to get the guards and artificers within Dunai’s range. General, carve the floor at the back right corner of the cafeteria. Druni, break the pipes in the wall and flood the place. Everyone else stay out here until I say otherwise.”

Ian gave Por’sha, Arima, and Koff a nod. Seems like we can force the artificers and guards out with only two people, Ian thought, feeling slightly nervous. Granted, their two were among the most powerful practitioners in the entire SPU...but the guards were likely powerful in their own right; moreover, they would all be outfitted with glosSwords. If they can repeat what their compatriots did to Por’sha, we might be in trouble.

“On your mark, general,” Wolfien stated.

Var’dun’a waited for several seconds, breathing slowly and deeply, vitality pumping through her body. She nodded once, then darted inside, essentially disintegrating the door on her way in.

I suppose it was faster than just opening it, Ian thought. And perhaps more unexpected.

Druni followed behind, jumping through the door frame and following Var’dun’a towards the room’s back-right corner.

“Jump up!” Wolfien commanded. The two women leapt into the air, Por’sha assisting from afar. A moment later the ground burst into crackling flames.

Jumping didn’t slow down Druni’s task: She made a motion with her arms toward the wall, causing a grinding sound to echo through the hallway. Ian could see the dull grey stream of water as it began to gush from the cafeteria’s right wall.

“They’ve begun to tunnel away,” Wolfien reported. “Earth elementalist.”

Var’dun’a let out a grunt of frustration before kicking off the ceiling, flipping in the air, and slamming into the ground. Her feet broke open the floor and kept going, dropping into the passageway below. As she rolled off her momentum, the general exchanged her invisibility for incorporeality, turning translucent to even Ian’s vital vision.

Druni funneled the water into the artificers’ former safe room. The general’s feet and legs turned opaque, allowing Druni to propel the two of them through the recently-excavated earthen tunnel on a torrent of water.

“Dunai, can you still track the general and Druni?” Koff asked.

Ian frowned. “I could a few seconds ago, but now they’re leaving my range again. The walls in this place are too solid.”

“I can still see their arrows,” Arima murmured, narrowing his eyes. “They’re making good progress.”

“The general’s going to reach out to Koff and Arima over quantum channel,” Wolfien interjected. “So we’ll still be able to communicate with them even though they’ve gone beyond Por’sha’s range.”

The wind elementalist nodded. “Good to hear. So, then, what’s the plan?”

“The artificers knew they had no chance in a direct confrontation and ran. The general and Druni are faster, but they’re being cautious, giving themselves at least twenty seconds of distance.” Wolfien winced, grasping his head. “Arima, Koff, tell the general to speed up. Por’sha, bring us left.

“They’re speeding up,” Koff reported a moment later. “But it’s getting harder the further they go: The water’s drying up, and Druni’s had to bust through reformed walls for the past minute or so. If we aren’t fast enough the artificers are going to escape the building.”

This seemed to give Wolfien an idea. “That’s...perfect, actually. Since they don’t know about Dunai, they’ll think they can escape if they reach the open air: They count two wind elementalists among their number. Yes, this should work...Por’sha, speed us up, follow my lead.”

They continued down the hallway, Por’sha’s wind lengthening their strides and blowing them forward. She manifested a curved wind buffer to help them make a left turn, following Wolfien forward to what appeared to be the end of the hallway.

“Break the wall!” Wolfien commanded, gesturing to Por’sha. The woman nodded and flew forward, a lotus of Dark and wind crunching and grinding the wall’s reinforced surface. The ensuing destruction was uncannily quiet, akin to a swishing breeze. After a few seconds, all that remained was a gaping, jagged hole: their portal to the outside.

“Koff, tell the general to proceed with care, but increase pressure!”

“She says they’re doing their best,” Koff replied. “We’re lucky that artificers have been slowed by the reinforced material of the walls, else they would’ve escaped a minute ago. They shouldn’t be able to dig so quickly with only one earth elementalist, but their glosSwords amplify their abilities.”

“Tell the general that Druni’s water isn't going to run out, so don’t be conservative. Everyone here...out!” Wolfien commanded. Por’sha went through the hole first and manifested a buffer of wind that supported her arms, then planted her feet on the manufacturing plant’s exterior. She looked like a wound spring, ready to leap off the wall at the opportune moment.

Wolfien, Koff, and Arima followed behind her, Por’sha supporting them on a nimbus of air before depositing them on the wall next to her. With all four crouching on the wall, Ian had the impression he was looking at a team of divers.

He was the last to exit the building, holding himself aloft with his decemancy. It’s time to stop playing coy, he thought to himself. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath as the wind from Por’sha’s supportive barrier toyed with his hair and robes.

When Ian opened his eyes again, they shone an electric violet, flecks of reddish-pink jumping from his eyes like sparks. Black, oily, whip-like flames curled around him, a familiar comfort. He had avoided actively practicing decemancy since entering Godora’s airspace, so letting loose felt euphoric.

“Keep it to a minimum, Dunai. Don’t give the enemy any more intel than absolutely necessary,” Wolfien muttered. “You don’t know who might be watching with the assistance of an amplification tower.”

Just then, Nixia’s voice sounded out unintelligibly from down below, seizing Por’sha’s attention.

“The enemies down here are unconscious,” Nixia said, her voice now being projected. “But Mo’qin’s a bit injured, and Zuliman’s close to passing out. We could use some vitality, Wolfien.”

“In a minute,” he replied. “We’re moments from capturing the artificers. Dunai, I need you to fly forward as far as you can.”

Ian didn’t question the command and surged forth. A few seconds later, Wolfien spoke to him again, saying, “Come back, but on a curved trajectory. You need to angle yourself...yes, like that.”

Ian held his angled flight path, his trajectory headed straight back to his starting point. He still didn’t see any sign of the artificers and their guards.

“Emergence in 10, 9, 8...”

Ian prepared himself to react, internalizing Wolfien’s original instructions: lock and drop.

“...3, 2, 1!” Right on cue, a perfectly-circular hole blasted out from the building and plummeted to the ground. A group of guards and artificers emerged, two of the guards whipping up a powerful wind behind them and launching the group forward. The glosSwords seemed to empower the wind, enabling just two elementalists to propel everyone else forward. The other guards’ glosSwords appeared to be changing form, presumably to flight mode. If they managed to activate the mode while soaring on an amplified elementalist tailwind...Ian could understand why the Godorans thought that they’d be able to get away.

Too bad they ran into me. Ian locked all of them in place, then slammed their heads against the wall of the building, knocking them out.

Var’dun’a and Druni emerged from the enemy-excavated tunnel, breathing heavily. Upon seeing the unconscious bodies of the enemy lolling about, suspended in the air by Ian’s decemantic touch, Druni began to laugh.

“They might have glosSwords, but we have Dunai,” she said softly, smiling.

“And the element of surprise,” Por’sha noted, nodding her head toward Wolfien. “Incredible work, guardian.”

Wolfien chuckled. “It’s thanks to everyone else, really,” he replied, motioning for Por’sha to lower him to the ground. She acquiesced, the Life practitioner touching down next to Nixia. “Our victory is largely thanks to the general.”

“Por’sha, go with Koff to find any unequipped glosSwords. If we need vertical lift while you’re inside, we can rely on Dunai, even if it’s less than desirable,” the general commanded. “No offense, Dunai.”

“None taken.” Ian knew that to most, being moved around like a doll was an uncomfortable experience.

Por’sha lowered everyone else down to the ground level, while Ian collected the unconscious bodies and strung them out behind him. When he joined the others on the field below, the shadow of the manufacturing plant above paired with the black, charred grass framed Ian and his floating entourage in a grim light.

Ian walked over to Wolfien, the man currently bent over Mo’qin. The man’s chest was covered in shards of deeply-embedded rock that Wolfien and Nixia were removing by hand. Zuliman sat on the ground next to them, fatigued to the extent that her vitality shone gray.

“Guardian Zuliman, mind if I help?”

She bowed her head slightly forward. Interpreting the gesture as agreement, Ian began to enliven Zuliman’s body. Unlike Wolfien, Ian couldn’t just pump Zuliman full of vitality and call it a day. Instead, he began a round-about process of controlling the overexerted, dying tissues such that they selectively fed and empowered their neighbors. Where healing with Life energy was akin to planting new trees, invigorating with Death energy was like putting down fertilizer and providing water and sunlight. It took more time to grow trees from the ground up, but the result would look the same.

At least in my case, it doesn’t take too much longer, Ian thought. Zuliman’s vitality was already improving, her complexion flushing pink. She peered up at him and smiled.

“Thank you. I definitely overexerted myself...” She coughed and flecks of dark blood came up. “Oh.”

“You’ll be alright,” Ian smiled. “Good job holding the enemy underground.” While Ian hadn’t been focused on the outside, he knew that there had been a battle of wills, Zuliman fighting to keep the people contained while Moqin elevated the underground temperature and Nixia tried to mentally attack anyone that fell into her range. In the end, Ian figured it had been too much, the subterranean soldiers succumbing to the rising heat.

Zuliman sighed. “And to think, today’s only just getting started...”

Ian’s mouth pressed into a thin line. He turned around and glanced back up at the massive truncated pyramid of the manufacturing facility, noting its charred, broken, shieldless exterior.

Soon, they’d leave this battleground for Corvid. Today is probably going to be the most important day in my entire life, Ian thought. Entering the Infinity Loop had completely changed his life’s trajectory; while that day itself had been fraught with escaping Pardin’s guards and journeying across the Bay of Ramsay, Ian still felt that it was lacking in significance.

In contrast, today he’d be taking an entire city’s citizens as ransom: His actions would directly and immediately affect the lives of thousands and ripple out to affect millions more. It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t a game, and it most certainly wasn’t a simulation: The attack on Corvid was really happening, however unreal it seemed.

Ian shuddered, goosebumps rising along his arms. Dwelling on Corvid won’t help me now or in the future. In the meantime, he had an old friend to re-awaken: Bluebird.