Even after saying the words, he wasn’t convinced they were real. Angel grimaced and grabbed Soul by the shirt. With a heave, he pulled the man off the chair and sent him crashing to the ground.

“Show at least a little respect!” Lilian exclaimed.

“No,” Angel said, putting the orb into his travel pack. “He doesn’t deserve it.”

“Well, what about the relic? I need that.”

“Not yet.” Angel shook his head. “Soul was a devious bastard. We aren’t putting anything inside you until I’ve had a chance to look it over. Trust me. Besides, the core I put in you should last you for a good bit longer.”

Lilian nodded with no small amount of reluctance. “If you’re sure, fine. Regardless, it looks like Soul was a lot more focused on getting deeper into the catacomb rather than escaping it.”

Judging by the dozens of jagged scars covering the room, Angel couldn’t help but agree. They were almost entirely focused on the back door, with only a few on other portions of the stone and metal surrounding them.

“See if you can figure anything out with the monitor,” Angel said as he walked up to the door. “I’ll see what I can do over here.”

Lilian slipped into the chair and spun it back towards the blinking monitor. Angel ignored her as he focused his attention on the runes before him. His eyebrows incrementally rose until they threatened to disappear into his hairline.

“What madman would build something like this?” Angel murmured after a few minutes.

“What?” Lilian asked, peering out from behind the monitor.

“The runes here are about as basic as they get,” Angel replied, pointing at one of the lines on the door. “Pretty much strengthening and protection runes exclusively. No traps or defenses.”

“What’s strange about that?”

“It’s the power lines they’re hooked to,” Angel said. He moved his finger to a thick white line of Old World Magic that ran out from the door and into a crack in the wall. “Not only are there a ridiculous amount of power limiters around it, but it’s massive. Easily one hundred times or more the size that it should be.”

“So the runes are really strong or something?” Lilian guessed.

“Or something,” Angel agreed. “This is like powering a sentry orb with a Buried God. It’s overkill by a ridiculous amount. And it also means that my Star Fragment is going to chip its teeth if it tries to take a bite out of this. In fact, if this door fails, I might blow us all to kingdom come.”

“What’s new?” Lilian asked with a smirk. “So how do we get the door open? The monitor is screwed. It doesn’t respond to me at all.”

Angel rubbed his chin and let out a heavy sigh. “The longer we’re here, the more uneasy I get. My best bet is rerouting the power rather than cutting it off. I can do it, but it’ll take some time.”

“It’s not like we’ve got another choice.”

Angel inclined his head, conceding the point as he took his scribe out and started to draw on the walls. Even with his skill, it was a slow and tedious process. He took even more care than normal with each line, making sure to draw them several times over to ensure they were thick enough to handle the force of the Old World Magic flowing through the stone.

He started at the top of the door, drawing a circular pattern before winding his way down to either side, stopping just a short distance before connecting his work to the runes on the door.

“Okay,” Angel said after checking everything he’d done one more time. “This should redirect the power – for a little, at least. Depending on how strong the flow is, it’ll eventually surge and destroy my pattern.”

“Meaning we explode?”

“Maybe,” Angel replied, waggling a hand in the air. “It’s a little more likely that the door just shuts itself again. I wouldn’t bet on it, though.”

Lilian nodded her understanding. Angel drew a deep breath, then quickly drew in the final remaining lines and connected his work to the door. The hum of Magitech in the room sputtered. Gears slowed and the lights flickered, dimming.

Brilliant white light started to fill the pattern Angel had drawn above the door. Energy hissed and popped around it, growing denser by the second until his hair stood on end. Finally, the large vent let out a final belch of green smog and the door shuddered.

Angel pushed it with the tip of his shoe. It moved easily and a gleeful smile stretched across his face. “Look at that. It worked!”

Lilian didn’t respond. He frowned and turned to look over his shoulder. Lilian stood frozen behind him, a stiff expression on her face. On the other end of the room were two Reawakening members.

Angel instantly recognized one of them as Reave. The man didn’t have his wings out, but the bandages covering him were a dead giveaway. Beside the man was a shorter woman carrying a metal staff with wood rings dangling from its tip.

He blurred into motion, raising his arm as a canister clicked into place.

“Stop.”

Angel’s body jerked to a halt of its own volition as the word tore out from behind the woman’s mask, blasting through the cave like the roar of a dragon. He couldn’t even grit his teeth in defiance. After a moment, he also realized that he couldn’t breathe.

“Well done, Angel,” Reave said, pacing up to stand beside him and Lilian. “If I didn’t have wings, that little pitfall might have been quite annoying. Even so, your work here was marvelous. It would have taken me a long time to get that door open. I probably would have had to blow it up.”

He didn’t wait for a response. The bandaged man turned to Lilian and clicked his tongue. “Shame to see you here, Cowl. You can’t have much longer left to live, so it must be doubly frustrating to know that the person you sacrificed your relic for is back in my clutches.”

Reave paused, then chuckled. “I’m sure you’re wondering how Body stopped you. You were mistaken in thinking that Mind was unable to contact you after you left us. We were simply biding our time, I’m afraid. Not that we planned to do anything if you stayed out of our way. It really is a shame.”

“Enough monologuing,” Body said, her voice sounded normal this time, without any traces of energy or magic within it. “Do we kill them now?”

Reave didn’t respond. He pushed the door behind Angel open and took a step into the room. Angel desperately wanted to turn around – almost as much as he wanted to breathe – but Body’s magic was irresistible. His head started to spin from the lack of oxygen, but he couldn’t even stagger.

“Not yet,” Reave said, letting out a small cough. “It seems we have further use for our Tinkerer. I do wonder why Soul’s body is here, but not nearly enough to ask. Let them breath before the boy passes out and wastes more of our time.”

“Breathe and follow Reave’s orders,” Body commanded. Angel drew in a ragged gasp. His body was still locked in place, but he could breathe again.

“No talking,” Reave said before Angel could say anything. “Both of you. Turn around and walk into the room two paces.”

Angel spun like a toy soldier and followed the man’s orders. The room behind the door was disappointingly small. It was plain stone and not much larger than a privy. The only thing within it was a detailed rune circle on the ground.

“Tell me what this rune circle does.”

He obediently knelt before it and examined the markings. Angel raged within his mind, desperately trying to wrest back the slightest modicum of control, but it was fruitless. Body’s control of him was complete.

As angry as he was, the woman’s magic forced him to examine the runes. Unlike the ones on the door, these were far from simple. Angel stared at them for several minutes, putting the puzzle together in his mind. There were more foreign runes than he’d ever seen on it, but it seemed to somehow link two different locations. If he had to guess, Angel would have said it might be some form of teleportation magic.

“Magic,” Angel said. He blinked. He’d only thought that sarcastically, but the word had actually slipped out of his mouth despite Body’s control.

“Tell me exactly what it does,” Reave snapped.

“I think it’s a teleportation circle,” Angel elaborated as her magic tightened its grip on him. Within his mind, Angel smirked. Evidently, Body’s magic could only force them to do exactly what she said. If there was any room for interpretation…

“Where does it lead?” Reave asked, cocking his head.

“I don’t know,” Angel replied honestly.

Reave let out a hum. He crossed his arms and thought for a few moments. “Then I suppose we still have use for the two of you. Lilian, Angel, step onto the circle. Once you teleport, walk off of it and then walk back onto it after one second.”

Angel and Lilian jerked into motion, unable to resist his orders. They strode onto the runed floor. Green energy crackled around them, springing up like water from a pressurized hole. Within moments, the air was almost opaque. With a loud pop, Angel felt something invisible yank on the small of his back and his world went dark.