Zaria was still a few miles out from the Tower and just getting ready to wake Vysala when a voice in her head stopped her in her tracks.

The voice carried more than just words, however. Emotions came with it. Caution. Anger. But above all else, a nearly overwhelming sense of power. Zaria quickly commanded Rav to go wake up Vysala before she responded.

came the reply.

Zaria wasn’t in her body, so didn’t have teeth to grind, but Cestmir’s threat still rankled her.

Amusement flowed from Cestmir at the phrasing, and Zaria brushed past it.

Cestmir hesitated before responding. It wasn’t an apology, but to make nice with the overwhelmingly powerful dungeon, Zaria chose to believe it was one.

Zaria said.

Cestmir chuckled in her mind.

Zaria couldn’t refute that, so just let the comment hang in the air for a moment and let Cestmir continue.

Tension crept into Cestmir’s voice.

A shriek inside of Zaria snapped her attention back to Vysala’s room, and she couldn’t help but laugh. Rav had, needing a way to wake up Vysala, licked her cheek like an eager puppy. Except his tongue was nearly as wide as her face.

Cestmir asked.

Cestmir rumbled with mirth.

“Zaria! What the shit?” Vysala shouted to the air. She stalked towards the porch.

More amusement poured out from the core, who was definitely less abrasive than his greeting would have suggested.

Vysala had reached Zaria’s body and was staring at it, her arms crossed. “Did you tell that mimic to lick me? I thought I was about to be eaten!”

Zaria slid into her body. “I told him to wake you up. Should have been clearer. But then again… what good options are there for a mobile box to wake you?”

“He could have…” Vysala said, then trailed off. “That is…” Vysala crossed her arms. “Okay, you have a point, but by the withered tits of the Dust Queen, I still don’t like it.” She took a deep breath. “Are we there? I don’t see the Tower.”

“Close enough for Cestmir to contact me. I was talking to him just now.” She switched to Cestmir.

“How much should we tell this guy?” Zaria asked Vysala. “I don’t know protocols for the Coven.”

Vysala rubbed her cheek a couple times, then muttered something about a bath before answering. “Cestmir knows everything that happens in the Tower. He’s incorporated it into his dungeon structure. So… tell him everything.”

Cestmir cut her off.

Zaria blinked. Vysala raised an eyebrow, and Zaria motioned for her to sit down. “Just a second. Working things out with Cestmir.” She switched back to the elder core.

Cestmir said.

Cestmir’s mental voice carried so much anger, it would have terrified Zaria if it was directed at her. Thankfully, his fury seemed to be focused elsewhere.

Zaria made a note. That was probably an archaic plural for ignoramus, but ignorami sounded like a fun word to play with later.

Cestmir went quiet for a moment, but there was such a heavy weight to the silence that Zaria could feel it.

Zaria was cut off when it hit.

“Okay, Cesty baby, we need to talk.” The person speaking was tiny, only a couple of inches tall. She was female, with hair the color of rose petals and wings like tulips, hovering in the air. “Or rather, we don’t need to talk sometimes. It’s time for you to learn how to send me information quicker.”

Cestmir answered. Zaria knew it was Cestmir, but his thoughts were quicker, brighter. Younger. That was the only way she could put it.

“It’s so easy. Just take the memories and focus on them, then spin them up like they’re mana. Send them at me in a rush.”

Cestmir tried. He tried a few times. Zaria could feel each attempt, each failure, as if it had been her own. The sensation of spinning memories was bizarre and alien to both of them until it wasn’t.

Zaria blinked.

The entire time he’d been talking, Zaria had been spinning up her memories as the knowledge Cestmir sent had shown her. She threw most of everything at the Platinum Dungeon. Almost her entire memory up to this date. It was a gamble, giving him so much, but at the same time… if he wanted to crush her, he was Platinum, she was Tin. For all the power of being a walking Dungeon core, Cestmir hadn’t been exaggerating about how badly a single one of his basic mobs could wreck her.

Zaria only held back the exact details of how her mobs worked and what she had seen through the Fissure. The former she held back because any advantage could be life or death if someone in the Coven became hostile. The latter was so she wasn’t giving up every single one of her bargaining chips right away.

Beyond that, though, it was best to get everything out there. If Cestmir was going to take umbrage to any part of Zaria’s existence, she wanted to know before she got closer.

Cestmir laughed and sent her the image of a smiling face along with the amusement.

Zaria sent a face in response, mirroring the elder core. Her expression was a sigh to accompany the thoughts.

“Zaria, what’s going on?” Vysala was tense, her hands on her knees, and she looked like she was ready to do something with all that nervous tension, but had no outlet.

“Cestmir and I are having a meeting of minds. I’ll get us moving, though.” Zaria switched back to Cestmir. She sent a wink with the latter two words to make sure her intent was not misread as anything other than her trying to be friendly.

Zaria sent him appreciation, then walked forward, moving much slower, the strut of a chicken just pacing around the barnyard. “He seems cranky but nice,” she said to Vysala.

Vysala sighed and slumped back in her seat. “I’m glad to hear it. Cestmir… he’s become like a second Guild Master for us. His disapproval would have been terrible for you. Probably me too, if I’m being honest. He cares about us, but the Coven is his real love. If he considers any one member a threat to the whole…” Vysala trailed off. “I didn’t think his map range extended this far, or I would have warned you to stop sooner.”

“It worked out fine,” Zaria said. “So. What should I expect when I see the tower?”

Vysala smiled. “Well, just wait a couple more steps. You’re almost there.”

Zaria was intrigued by the mystery, and bit back the urge to walk too much faster. The landscape here was craggy. Nothing that Zaria hadn’t been able to maneuver around, but enough to obscure her vision - which meant she had no warning before she rounded the corner and saw it.

The Tower of the Midnight Coven. It was larger than any tower Zaria had imagined, so tall it looked like its peak would scrape the bottom of clouds. The central pillar was easily as wide as a castle, and there were turrets coming off it at irregular angles with pointed tops that put Zaria in mind of a witch’s hat. There were flying buttresses coming off the tower as well, but they took the flying part painfully literally. Instead of attaching to the ground, they just attached to smaller towers that floated in the air, dozens of them surrounding the structure.

All of that would have been impressive enough for its sheer size and complexity, but the walls of the tower took that to the next level. By some trick of magic or mystic material Zaria did not know, staring at the tower was like looking at the night sky. If it had been night, the tower would have been nearly invisible. For the day, however, it looked like someone had taken the midnight sky and cut out an image of it in a perfect shape of a tower, then pasted it into the middle of the day sky.

If Zaria still needed to breathe, it would have taken her breath away.

Some of Zaria’s wonder must have shown through her body, because Vysala beamed. “Welcome,” she said, “to the Tower of the Midnight Coven. I do hope you enjoy the view.”

“I do,” Zaria said softly.

A group of people were approaching on Zaria’s map. A Bronze rank group of five. When they arrived, Zaria would have to answer questions and have conversations.

So, in the interim, Zaria just enjoyed the beauty of this strangely alien tower and waited.