Our journey out of the Blacksands ended up taking us significantly longer than my entrance. A week passed without much interruption – the weather turned once more, the sky going back to the overcast grey I had become used to, and the temperature dropped even further, making me doubly thankful that both myself and my companions had thought to bring heating flasks.

After that initial choice to run ahead, Darina stayed with us. None of us said anything about her running off on her own; I think the experience itself was punishment enough, given her past and the ideal she seemed to be trying to live up to. Of course, she was still mostly ignoring me, and I was holding to my promise to ask fewer questions, though I had not given up on trying to bridge our divide. It made the journey a little lonely, as Reff and Riffa were generally reticent and much of the time outside of practice was taken up with sibling bickering, which admittedly still made me smile. As a result, however, I was mostly left to my own devices as we ran. Evenings and nights were taken up with the aforementioned practice, and while I enjoyed it, fighting is not particularly conducive to conversation, despite what anime or kung-fu films might tell you.

By the time we left the Blacksands behind and re-entered the plains – which I was told surrounded the cold desert on three sides – I was craving a solid conversation, and about ready to risk Darina’s scathing tongue again.

The sky was dark by the time we settled in for the night, so I could see the stars again for the first time in weeks. The four of us had split into teams – with Darina obviously refusing to be on my side – and fought to a standstill. The apprentice’s all-out aggression meshed quite well with Riffa’s more defensive tactics, and it helped that they were both making progress in integrating their respective Exemplars. Riffa’s puppets were getting more fluid, and she increased her finer control, and the delay I had exploited in our first bout was shrinking every day. For her part, Darina seemed to heal faster and faster every day – I had no idea what her Exemplar was, but if it made her healing faster, I could well imagine a time when she would be effectively unkillable.

For my part, I was finally noticing a slight increase of Praxis within my energy centre. It was not much, but it was the first real growth I had seen in a month. It gave me hope that I would be able to complete my Core and compete with my friends on a more even level, though that of course begged the question of what my own Exemplar would be.

Shaking the question from my mind, knowing that it was pointless speculating, given my limited knowledge, I walked over and sat next to the savage little apprentice.

Darina eyed me warily, her gaze not quite aggressive, which I took as a good sign, but still not really what I would call friendly.

“Darina, I’ve noticed your healing has been getting faster as we travelled. Is that to do with your Exemplar?”

I had been told not to ask about Exemplars with strangers, and had been able to stifle my curiosity so far, but I did not really consider her a stranger at that point, if not quite a friend. But I did want to remedy that, if at all possible.

“You promised me you would shut up. Shut up.”

Her response was fairly predictable, but I had been expecting it. I did pause for a moment before replying, giving Instinctive Precognition a chance to warn me, but nothing happened so I proceeded.

“I don’t remember promising to shut up forever. You’re almost certainly going to be there when I start my own Path, it only seems fair to tell me about your own.”

“I do not care what your Path will be, so your argument is stupid.”

“Well, fine. I guess. But still, it’s really impressive. I heal pretty fast, but even if Reff hits you with his body covered in literal lava, the damage is gone in moments. Does it still hurt even?”

Flattery was of course my next angle of attack – some people were uncomfortable with compliments, but there are relatively few people who hate them outright, so I thought it was a gamble worth taking. It seemed to work, partially as when Darina opened her mouth with the obvious intention of telling me to shut up again, instead she hesitated. After several seconds, she looked away and I thought she was going to go back to ignoring me, but instead she spoke, her voice reluctant but it was better than nothing.

“I absorbed a beast called a ch’en. It is a very small – relatively speaking- shelled dragon able to change its form. It allows me to reshape my flesh and multiplies my ability to regenerate my own flesh. The effect is small at the moment, but growing. As you have noted.”

While the young woman was speaking, I thought I heard something in the dark beyond the camp and I turned to peer into the black made impenetrable by the glow of the heating flask. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that Darina returned her gaze to me.

“You prod me into telling you of my Path and cannot even pay attention when I answer you?”

I had been listening of course, but I could see how she could think otherwise. Turning back to her, I held my hands up and spoke quickly.

“I was listening! Sorry, I thought I heard something. So, you absorbed a shapeshifter? Will you be able to transform when you finish integrating it?”

She looked at me with suspicion for a moment, and I could see the wheels spinning, trying to decide if she should really take offense or not, but luckily, she seemed to accept my explanation and continued.

“I may be able to shift my general appearance, with practice once I have completed my Path, but I will not be able to change it fully, as the ch’en can. My intent was on the ability to amplify my healing. Master has said that once complete, I may be able to recover from any loss save losing my head.”

She sounded proud at the end, but I could not see if her face matched the tone, as I was once more staring off into the dark, having heard another sound, like a light brushing. I may not have heard it at all, it was so quiet, but the air was still and the grass was quite long. Inevitably, however, that was again when Darina chose to look at me.

“You..! Fine, if you do not-”

“Shhh, I heard something again.”

“I do not need your excuses, your disrespect is evi-”

“Shut up..! I seriously heard something.” My voice was low and urgent, cutting through the start of her tirade. Reff and Riffa had taken note of us, and of my words. They were looking around into the dark as I was. For her own part, Darina was alternating between glaring at me and the darkness.

Rising, I reached out and slipped the hot flask into storage quickly and glanced around while trying to force my night vision to adapt. I could not see much, but even as I was about to turn back to my companions, Instinctive Precognition flared to life within me and without conscious thought my Focus flicked on, lightning surging through and out of me. Twisting my body, I braced and drove a twisting punch out into what I thought was thin air. I felt something impact my forearm and deflect as it rotated and my fist cracked into something hard, and with a flash and snap a figure dressed in black appeared before me, already flinging back.

“Shit!” My cry of warning was not the most informative, but I knew my friends would be able to see the falling figure by the light of my electrical nimbus. And besides, it is not every day you spontaneously punch somebody out of invisibility, and I felt the exclamation portrayed my feeling quite accurately.

I felt the heat from Reff’s armour flow into existence and I glanced over to see Riffa’s puppets gathered around her like a Secret Service detail. Darina stood in place punching and kicking at thin air, and I for a moment stood goggling at her; she did not seem to actually be hitting anything, but I had the distinct impression that anybody who got within melee range with her would regret it.

My inattention would have cost me, if not for the ability I had chosen what seemed like an age before. Instinctive Precognition once more reacted without volition and I half stepped to the side and drove a knee up into what turned out to be the groin of another figure in black which seemed to have been trying to kick me in the face. They went down with a muffled groan, their hands desperately cradling themselves and I winced, thinking what lightning would do if applied directly to your balls. Shuddering, I stepped in to kick him in the face, knocking him out and ending his misery.

I heard a thud and turned to see another black clad person lying in the grass with flames licking about their clothes. Not wanting the grass to catch, I did the only responsible thing I could think of and quickly moved over to stamp out the flames, which conveniently seemed to remove any plans the person had for getting back into the fight.

“Help!”

I turned again at the shout to find yet another ninja-wannabe trying to protect their face from the jackhammer like rhythm of Darina’s headbutts. It was the figure, rather than the apprentice that had cried out for help and I felt kind of bad for them, even as they lapsed into unconsciousness and Darina stood, somebody else’s blood all over her face. She glared about her and pulled a long blade free of her stomach and tossed it aside with disdain.

Without warning I backflipped, the world spinning end-over-end. I landed on my feet, disoriented as I looked around me – the reaction had obviously come from my abilities, but I was unable to see the source of whatever attack I had blocked. Thinking quickly, I pushed harder on my Focus and the light about me surged and connected with an invisible figure in front of me. The lightning did not seem to faze them, but it did outline them, and the huge two-handed sword they were using.

I quickly pulled out my sword – having long since cleaned it – and fell into the basic guard stance of The Blade’s Tide.

It was an interesting experience fighting an invisible person – now that they were being outlined by my electricity, I could see them so I no longer received the appropriate reaction from my precog, but I did still react ahead of them. I had almost universally been punching above my weight, especially over the last month when I had most been around people at least at the Path level, and all talented fighters in their own right. In comparison, this guy seemed much more manageable.

Though my actual experience with the sword was limited to practice, the edge my Focus gave me, along with my ability to react before he made a move, allowed me to implement what I had practiced with a surprising amount of success.

Using the flowing turns and sweeps of the sword form, I moved to limit his options, always present to cut or cripple, at just the right angle to make it hard to sweep my lighter sword aside. The Blade’s Tide was not a form based on brute strength, but on the elimination of opportunity, like a checkmate in chess. This is why Walker had called it defensive – it was about defending yourself until your opponents had no more moves to make, and then pulling them under.

Our blades clashed as I deflected his own and moved in, turning to meet him at odd angles and keeping my sword as a threat at all times, forcing him to adjust to me, until at last I had him. His sword was too far off the line after one particularly strong slash and without thought, my sword angled up from my hip. I stepped in and drove my point home into what my best guess told me was his heart.

My guess was proven true as the invisibility faded; I could see their flesh, pale and bloodless in the gaps of their mask. Without a sound, they toppled back and I yanked my sword free.

Looking around, I saw my friends checking bodies – they had apparently finished off the unconscious while I was busy. They looked around warily as they went about their business, but they seemed at least somewhat confident it was over. I knelt to wipe my blade clean on the grass before I looted my own corpse, netting some additional cash and another sword I could actually lift, before I rose once more, still wary. No further attacks came, but I was not keen to give up my vigil, cautious that this might be a ploy to get us to drop out guard.

“With smouldering anger, these people are the same as those who brought the plague, Hunter. The Risen Throne.”

I looked back at Reff, who was now stood to my side holding up a familiar looking pendant; they were the same as those I had taken from my kidnappers, and the same as the one I still had from our assault on their mansion.

“These Uppity Chair fuckers... they must be after the egg again, but why wait so long?”

“In consideration, until recently, we were in the company of an Apex, or more than one. It is unlikely they would risk such a thing within their proximity.”

“You know these people?” Darina had come over to us as we spoke; she was covered in blood to quite a shocking degree and I wondered just exactly how much of it was hers and how much her unfortunate opponents.

“Sort of. They’re the people who had the egg, the people who set off the plague. Real bunch of assholes. Even if this lot were just mooks, we should be careful, they have some much heavier hitters. Right Reff?”

“In confusion, I do not know what a mook is, but we have indeed encountered stronger examples of their forces. I doubt this is the last attempt we will suffer.”

I really did not want to meet Creepy Shadow Faced Laughing Guy again, as I was not eager to spend any more time in the Black, or any other worlds any time soon. I might not be quite as lucky in making it back, the next time. Nor did I want to meet my torturer, McGreenCatDude.

“You’re right, we should set watches every night. We’ve been pretty complacent, I guess.”

Darina looked like she wanted to argue the point, but she obviously knew I was speaking nothing but the truth, because she neither argued or called me an idiot. Small miracles, right?

“With curious consideration, how did they know we would be traveling this way?”

Riffa’s voice was certainly curious, but otherwise seemed unconcerned by the ambush. She had deconstructed her puppets, though it struck me that I did not know where she got the sand since we had left the desert.

“It seems logical that we would return the egg, right? That has to be a normal thing to do, given the possible consequences?”

“In confirmation, you are likely correct, Hunter. I doubt they would be able to steal the egg a second time from an Elder, so it makes sense that they would attempt it’s interception.”

“We need to throw them off, if we can. What’s our next stop? Do we run until we reach the forest, or could we find another outpost? How common are those Plainsrunner things?”

“It is pitiful to rely upon a beast to transport you. You have legs, have you not? You should be sufficient for your own travel.” The apprentice’s words had the ring of a quote to me, but I dismissed her words without much thought: if riding was good enough for Walker it was good enough for me.

“Well, that seems to be what they’re predicting, so pitiful or not, if we can make it to an Outpost, we should. Anybody have any other ideas?”

The others shook their heads, and after a little cajoling, Darina admitted that she knew where the closest Outpost was. Our destination decided, we dragged the bodies away from camp and reluctantly sat back down. I once again brought the flask out, and offered to take first watch. I sat facing outwards, staring into the night as I cultivated and refined, recalling once more all the misfortune the Risen Throne had brought me and dreaming wistfully of payback.