“Is there a reason why?” Lilian asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I want it back too. But it feels like there’s something more there for you.”

“Not everything is complicated. It’s the pursuit of knowledge, Lilian. Old World Magic is a tool that belongs to everyone. It was lost because a bunch of idiots abused it and caused the Great Wars. I just want to undo the damage they caused.”

“And how do you know it’s not the Old World Magic itself that’s flawed?” Lilian challenged, making her way over to her bedroll and sliding inside it. “Look what it did to the desert. And the Buried Gods too – how is that something that people should have?”

“You’re right that the Buried Gods shouldn’t be allowed to exist,” Angel agreed as he crossed his arms. “They’re weapons of war, and Old World Magic should be used to improve life, not destroy it. But they’ve got it and the rest of the world doesn’t. We need to level the playing field.”

“I can’t see how that would go wrong,” Lilian said with a chuckle.

“I’ll deal with that if it happens. I’m going to bring it back, Lilian. Preferably before those Reawakening buggers do. As for you, I’m not comfortable doing any modifications quite yet. It’s not like an artifact where I can start over if something goes wrong. I’ll take another look tomorrow.”

“That’s fine. Do you want first watch?”

“I’ll take it.”

Lilian rolled over, wrapping herself up and huddling from the wind as it started to pick up. Angel drummed his fingers on his knees. He waited until her breathing slowed into a steady rhythm, then pulled the System artifact out of his travel pack.

The orb hummed at his touch. It seemed different than before – more alive. A tingle ran down his arm. A crackle of purple energy slipped down his right arm. Angel glared at it.

“Don’t even think about it. This is not for you. You touch this, I am going to be very, very angry.”

The energy intensified, then flicked out. Angel blinked. Had it understood him? Now that he thought about it, Reave had actually been speaking to the Star Fragment. Did it have some form of intelligence?

All he seemed able to dig up was more questions. Angel pressed his lips together and made sure to keep a healthy distance between the orb and the Star Fragment. The last thing he needed to do was fry the artifact while it had information about his new relic in it. And Lilian.

Angel’s mouth turned down at that thought. He’d done his best to hide his true reaction when he saw the Magitech within the woman, but it had set off so many alarm bells that he could barely hear.

The complexity of the miniature machine within her was unbelievable. Angel was only certain of one thing – Lilian hadn’t lied about whoever making it being dead. There was nobody alive who could make tech like that.

Angel let out a slow sigh. She was hiding a lot, but it wasn’t like he was being completely open with her. Even so, the opportunity to study the intricate Magitech was something he wasn’t going to get anytime in the near future, and he was determined to make the most of it. Progress didn’t come for free.

It took a force of will to put the artifact away. It was too loud, and he didn’t want to wake Lilian and draw any suspicion. He pulled some scrap metal out of his bag and started to shape it, carving pieces off with his metal hand. His movements were fluid and practiced to the point where he was barely paying attention to his work. He was completely lost within his own mind as he reviewed what he’d learned.

Despite what he’d told Lilian, Angel was more than confident he could make a serviceable adapter that very night. It wouldn’t last long, but it would be enough to give her a significant recharge with the blimp canister. There was even a component that was there specifically for that, but it didn’t seem like Lilian knew it existed.

He almost made the component then and there. The only thing that stopped him were his ever growing suspicions of Lilian. Angel liked the woman and seriously wanted to believe that she was truly on his side but growing up in the desert had left him with little room for naive optimism.

There were a number of major facts that made him doubt her backstory, and the biggest was the Reawakening base itself. The books that Angel had found on the Reawakening only mentioned the possible existence of the base, not its location.

There should have been no way for her to know anything about where the base was. Not unless she was related to the Reawakening somehow. Of course, there was the small chance that her artifact was more up to date than the standard maps, and that was what he was holding out hope for.

Angel tossed the piece of metal back into his bag. She still had some time left. It wouldn’t hurt to push off a solution for a little longer. Not when so much was at risk. IF Lilian was innocent, he’d heal her immediately. And if she wasn’t… well, he’d deal with that when the time came.

Nothing troubled them, and the rest of the night passed silently. They swapped watch halfway through the night. When the next morning arrived, Angel and Lilian had a quick, plain breakfast before setting back off into the desert.

The next several days of travel fell into routine. They sped through the desert through the early and daylight hours, then stopped so Angel could continue studying Lilian. While she was asleep, Angel worked on a small device, adding parts to it one by one. A small pack of wargs gave them a scare one night, but they were able to evade the creatures before a fight could break out.

By the time they grew close to Stormpoint, there was a little less than a week left before Lilian’s self-proclaimed timer ran out. They had yet to even gain sight of the city when Lilian slowed to a stop atop a dune. Angel shot past her, then turned around and hopped off once he got back.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “We aren’t at Stormpoint yet.”

“The Reawakening’s base isn’t going to be right at Stormpoint,” Lilian said, shaking her head. “It’s close, but probably still a few days of travel. That’s a problem, as I’ve only got about six days left. Maybe less. Maybe more, but I don’t want to count on it.”

“That makes sense, but I have no idea where it could be,” Angel said, chewing his lower lip. “I was hoping we could ask around the city. Anything like a dangerous catacomb or hideout would probably have at least some legend around it. Some danger area or the like where people go missing.”

“We don’t have time,” Lilian said, clenching her hands. “Unless you’ve got the solution to my problems in that head of yours, you need to see more Old World Magic, right? You won’t find that in Stormpoint.”

“Then what should we do? We can’t just wander around the desert hoping we’ll stumble into it! If we’re fast enough in the city–”

“Look, the map artifact I’ve got has an uncharted area,” Lilian said abruptly. Her words came out a little quicker than usual. “It’s about two days out from the city, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. It’s as if someone were trying to hide something.”

Angel fought to keep the unsettling churning sensation he felt in his stomach from reaching his face. “You think it got wiped somehow? And by wiping it, they gave it away?”

“It’s our best bet,” Lilian said, swallowing. “I’ve got no other choice.”

“Then we’ll do it,” Angel said. “Lead the way.”

Lilian nodded. She fired her skates back up and shot off at a slightly new direction. Angel followed after her and the desert sped by once more. They traveled through the day and the night passed as normal.

They continued in the same manner the next day, traveling until just a little bit before the sun started to dip below the horizon. Lilian slowed to a stop in the middle of a large, flat stretch of sand.

The low sun cast the world in dull orange hues, and it was just starting to get chilly enough for Angel to be glad to be off his board.

“Is this the area?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Lilian replied, turning her skates off. “It’s here.”

Angel flipped his eyepiece down and scanned the desert floor. It took a moment for the artifact to pick anything up, but a faint orange line lit up beneath their feet. He wasn’t even particularly surprised to find that it was strongest only a short walk from where they stood.

“You were right, Lilian,” Angel said, but his excitement was mixed with apprehension. “It’s here. There’s a magical signature beneath our feet.”

He tossed his board onto his back, then jogged over to where the line ended and dug around in his pack. Pulling out a specialized canister, Angel twisted the top and placed it on the ground.

It shuddered as the tube expanded, pressing outwards and shooting sand up like a fountain. The device snapped to its full size, revealing a metal door beneath the sand. It was several times thicker than the entrance to any catacomb that Angel had seen, and lines of Old World Magic ran across it.

“Would you look at that,” Angel said. “Good guess, Lilian.”

Lilian said nothing, choosing to hop down into the manmade hole. She grabbed the thick handle and pried the door open. Angel slid down beside her and peered into the darkness. A long hallway greeted them, lined by unlit braziers. At its end were two moderately sized doors.

“You’ve got four days now,” Lilian said. “If possible, I’d very much like to live through this.”

“Don’t worry,” Angel said, feeling sick. She’d known exactly where the base was. Her explanation of the map felt hollow and fake. “I’m not far now. Most of the design is in my head. If I can just get the last tiny puzzle piece, I’ll have you fixed up within an hour.”