“One last thing,” Ash says. “You can join into groups of up to five, though if groups win, they must split the spoils. If you win alone, you’ll keep the entire corpse.” He chuckles darkly. “If you form a group, you must stay in that group until the end–no take backs, even if your group members have lost all three lives.”

He looks over all of us. “What are you waiting for?”

Suddenly a pillar of earth juts upwards, ashy soil falling to the ground in clumps while it ascends. He gestures to Ketu Bryant, and the Moon practitioner leaps off the earth. It’s not just ascendant energy that launches him–it’s almost like he’s being pulled upward, as though gravity is working with him, rather than against him.

I shouldn’t be surprised, but I haven’t seen many Moon practitioners who use their practice for more than water elementalism or lowering temperatures. Controlling tidal forces is supposedly extremely difficult to get right, with only powerful affinities able to influence them enough to affect objects with the mass of a human. It’s yet another explanation for why Ketu is able to move so quickly when skating–controlling his mass definitely gives an advantage.

As Ketu alights next to him, Ash begins to talk to him in a lowered voice, pointing toward the ground. As though snapped out of a spell, everyone else realizes that the competition has already begun and the entire group devolves into controlled chaos as mentors find their assigned protege and proteges consider teaming up.

Krath Mandur and Farona Pyre appear before us and gesture for us to follow. They lead us several hundred feet away before stopping.

“We have some ideas for what you should do to fight this thing. There are a few key things to keep in mind, though,” Farona says.

Mandur meets her eyes and nods, taking over. “Firstly, this is a race. You need to find and kill this beast quickly. But often, ascendants conflate killing quickly with recklessness–diving off the deep end and learning through rapid–and deadly–trial and error. That’s exactly why Ancient Ash is placing everyone on a death restriction.”

Maria raises an eyebrow. “I suppose we’re being encouraged to fight smarter, rather than stupider?”

Farona cackles. “You say that like it’s obvious. But dear, when you see the many arrogant ascendants in Eternity with infinite lives and infinite time, it’s astonishing how easy it can be to embrace easy stupidity. There’s no need for craft. With enough time, you’ll gain power, and everyone’s starting skill levels are already quite high–people don’t ascend unless their practice is at the mortal pinnacle.”

“Stubborn persistence,” Krath says. “That’s the ascendant way.” He turns his head and glances at Ash’s earthen pillar. “But it isn’t the way to true mastery, to achieving the apex. You can’t brute force your way into mastering four affinities.” He sighs. “It’s a lesson all too easy to forget.”

“While it’s obvious that Maria and I are pairing up–” we’d split the spoils of the centipede regardless “–should we be trying to collaborate with anyone else?”

Krath considers my question. “Possibly.” He turns to Farona. “Is there anyone you think would help round them out, in particular?”

She frowns. “Well, we got End, Sun, and Death. Definitely nobody with any of those. Can’t see Moon being very helpful–what are you going to do, freeze the giant centipede to death? Its unmutated parent clearly went head-to-head with a powerful fire elementalist and came out unscathed until being submerged in lava. If heat can’t do much damage, I can’t see cold being effective.”

“One thing you two lack is long-range perception,” Krath remarks. “You can only see vitality so far away. A wind elementalist mixed with Regret would probably be most helpful. In general, having a Regret practitioner as a team mate would be highly advantageous, though there aren’t many to go around.”

Wind elementalism and Regret... I sigh inwardly, thinking of Euryphel.

Maria squeezes my hand.

“You also lack offensive power,” Krath continues. “As Ascendant Pyre pointed out, Maria’s flames won’t do much against the centipede. I suspect that Death affinity will be reasonably effective, but the massive size of the centipede–assuming it’s as big as its parent–will render offensive Death affinity moot.”

Y’jeni, how are they expecting us to fight it, then? With End arrays? If we were in a plane like Messeras’ jungle, I might be able to create an army of constructs, but Vizier’s Crown is a Death practitioner’s nightmare–everything is inanimate and devoid of energy.

“If I can get inside the centipede, I might be able to wreak more damage than you expect.”

Farona tsks. “Maybe a Dark practitioner. If the centipede is the triumph of a powerful Life practitioner ascendant, you can bet its chitin will be nearly impenetrable.”

“So, a wind elementalist and a Dark practitioner,” Maria says. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

I rub my jaw. “One thing I’ve been thinking about is where the centipede is hiding. If it’s really as big as we think it is, shouldn’t it be easy to find?”

Maria catches on. “Unless it’s not out in the open.” In other words, burrowed underground.

Krath nods. “Fine–let’s add an earth elementalist to the list, then.”

—

Ascendant mentors Mordika, Jeseria, and another ascendant whose name I already forgot stand next to Farona and Krath. Alan’s mentor–the one I can’t remember–doesn’t speak much. She’s sunk herself into the ground so that only her head is visible, her tan skin almost blending in with the ash.

The mentees–me, Maria, Vik, Alan, and Marcus–stand across from them.

“I’m not surprised you and Alan are together,” I murmur to Vik, wind elementalist and Jeseria’s mentee. Vik and Alan were close during what I can only describe as the pageant pre-game.

She shrugs and leans into Alan, our earth elementalist. “Wind and earth typically make a good combination for a challenge like this where we need to track something down.”

With crossed arms, Marcus–the hyper-offensive Dark practitioner who nearly killed Maria back in the first pageant round, and who I tangled with in round two–regards us with an aloof countenance. When we saw him with Ascendant Mordika back by Ash’s pillar, she had been trying to convince him to join a group, but he’d simply stared at her like she was crazy. When we’d come along, Mordika had practically tackled Krath and invited herself and Marcus into the group.

Not that we minded–we wanted an offensive Dark practitioner. But I wish Marcus’ attitude was a bit better. He’s completely unsociable.

“Alright, everyone,” Jeseria announces. “We have our five. The plan is simple–Vik and Alan scout. When we find the centipede, Dunai’s lich will create an End array using Dunai and Marcus’ energy. We’ll assess the main plan of attack once the centipede is in our sights.”

“Sounds good,” Alan said, placing his hands on his hips, his vibrant pink cape billowing out.

It is simple, but I have no improvements to suggest. At the end of the day, we just need to find this thing. But what Krath and Farona mentioned earlier about being smarter about how we use our practice sticks with me. The obvious “dumb” solution is to simply scout using elementalism. But what if we’re missing something?

“What’s to stop others from killing us while we scout?” Marcus asks. It’s the first time he’s spoken without being asked directly. “Three lives, and we’re out of the running.”

I blink. Yeah, that’s going to be a problem.

He snorts coldly. “I bet Ash is telling Ketu all about how to assassinate everyone. Ash doesn’t have a Moon affinity and isn’t a water elementalist, so he won’t be able to advise Ketu on the specifics of his practice, but he understands how this game works better than anyone else.”

Alan frowns. “I would prefer not dying prematurely. I think Kuin would have my head if I screw up again.”

The mentors smile amongst themselves knowingly. So–they’d been waiting for us to figure that out? I guess that means that they aren’t just going to tell us all the answers.

I sigh. “Alright, so we need to protect Alan and Vik while they scout. Marcus, can’t you turn them incorporeal if necessary?”

“I can,” he says with distaste. “In Eternity, I go with an offensive strategy since deaths are unimportant, but I kept myself alive long enough to ascend. Rendering a few ascendants invulnerable is well within my capabilities.”

I turn to Maria. “We can provide backup. If you keep them safe, we can retaliate against anyone trying their luck.”

“One last thing,” Jeseria says. “Why do you have a frost dragon with you? He’ll just get in the way.”

Sah lifts his head, as though knowing that Jeseria is insulting him. He’s curled up twenty feet away, his claws buried in the soft ground.

I pause. “Karanos told me that I’d need him. Said we’d be traveling through the void.”

Ascendant Jeseria narrows her eyes. “But we didn’t need to travel more than a few seconds at a time through the void to get here. You didn’t ride Sah, did you?” Suddenly she clamps her mouth shut and clears her throat. The other ascendant mentors give her wry looks as she bows her head. “I’m going to stop talking now.”

Us proteges fall contemplative, mulling over the newest piece of the puzzle that is the hunt. Karanos wouldn’t have mixed up the route. Bringing Sah is a clue, one that I don’t fully understand, but it puts me on edge.

With that, we set off on our hunt.

—

Crystal sat next to Karanos atop Ash’s pillar. Her eyes weren’t particularly good–Ian had enhanced them, but fish eyes couldn’t compare to the eyes of creatures like predatory birds–but there wasn’t much to see, so she didn’t feel too left out. Besides, she could see reasonably well through the eyes of others. Even with tight mental defenses keeping her out, she had been getting progressively better at skimming surface thoughts, including people’s perception of their environment.

Ascendant Suncloud had shown her what was possible. And if it was possible, Crystal endeavored to achieve it.

What do you think of this challenge? she asked.

Karanos considered for a moment. “Ash knows very well that none of the proteges has had to face a creature like this before. He’s trying to knock them down a few pegs. It might seem like he’s giving Ketu Bryant an advantage by assigning himself as the man’s mentor, but I don’t think that’s his intention. Ketu’s already gone off on his own, relatively unprepared.”

I heard Ash give him advice that sounded reasonable, Crystal replied. He spoke of the centipede’s strengths and weaknesses.

Karanos shook his head. “Even so...Ancient Ash is not like you or I, Crystal. Every thought, every action, every word is carefully measured. He is a man who seeks the ultimate pinnacle of mastery. I do not fully understand why he has come here, but it isn’t for fun and games.”

He played a game with me, Crystal said. We had fun.

Karanos chuckled. “He wanted to endear himself to you, little fish. What did he get you to tell him?”

About Ian, Crystal conceded. He asked about him.

“Care to guess why?”

I thought it was only because of me, Crystal said. Ash, too, is a Life practitioner. He said he wished to know who had brought a fish out of water, and I told him.

“Maybe that is all, maybe it isn’t,” Karanos replied. “Assume it isn’t. What is Ash’s angle? Why did he come this year, of all years, to the faction gathering?”

Crystal caught various muddled suspicions bubble up from Karanos. Perhaps you are overthinking it.

Karanos narrowed his eyes and stared straight at her. “Do I tend to overthink things?”

Depends on if they involve your female associates, Crystal quipped.

“You–” Karanos groaned. “I am serious, Crystal.”

As am I. Ash’s mind is locked down tighter than any I have seen. His true thoughts and intentions are a mystery, so I must judge him by his actions.

“You don’t know anything about what he’s done,” Karanos said, grimacing.

Do you? Does anyone here? This is the third time you have ever seen him in person, is it not?

Karanos was silent. “I trust my intuition, and it says that he wants something. He came with a purpose.”

I trust your intuition, too, Crystal said. But I also trust my own. Ash is here for something, perhaps...but that need not be a bad thing. If he is here because he thinks Ian has the potential to rise to his own level– Crystal cut off as she sensed Karanos’ discomfort. Oh. You worry that Ash will steal your protege from you. Funny, as you struggled for two months on whether to give Ian that honor.

Karanos just gave her a tired look. “If Ash wanted him, all he’d need to do is hand over a return beacon with no strings attached other than the assurance of Ian’s return. My plans for revenge would become moot. Ian could forget about Achemiss and return immediately to save his home world from its Infinity Loop disease.”

Crystal knew it was more than that, but didn’t force the issue further. Do you know where the centipede lies?

Karanos gave her a crooked smile. “No, but if you want to see it, I can find it.”

Will you keep me safe if I wish to enjoy the show? Crystal asked. Watching ascendants fight a beast the width of a city block intrigued her.

“What do you take me for? Of course.”

I ask because the beast sounds dangerous. Ian thought it might even be a riftbeast. Is that not true?

“In some ways, it is similar, but rifts are transient, unstable things. The beasts within them cannot grow for too long before they die in the rift’s collapse.”

Crystal’s heart swelled with curiosity. She had seen Ian’s memories of the riftbeast, had marveled at its size and power. Karanos’ projection of the Life practitioner’s centipede had enthralled her, but this mutant was going to be something else entirely.

I wish to see it, she repeated, practically bouncing in place.

“Then you shall,” Karanos stated, leaping down from the pillar.