The quartermaster didn’t jump into the air as we entered, instead only letting out a surprised squeak. I stumbled for a moment, the pain of my wound not so easily ignored now. Oroc cocked his head, thinking. “Could you bring the man to the medical centre and request stitching up his wound?”

The quartermaster looked incredulous. “Uhh, we have plenty of Menders in the Medical Section. Perhaps they could…” She trailed off.

Oroc laughed, “That is sadly an issue, he cannot benefit from magic.”

“Uh, okay. Just follow me.” She led me to the medical centre, where the Mender, though befuddled, complied with Oroc’s request. He poked at my wound, baffled.

“Your blood vessels seem to have knitted themselves together, even though the flesh hasn’t done so yet fully, and the skin was unbroken over this if I’m understanding this correctly?” I nodded, but didn’t elaborate. “Huh, I’d say get some rest, that still works with you right?” I smiled.

When I returned we were led by Oroc off towards some kind of study. Oroc simply phased through the door, a stark reminder of his ethereal nature, Jubin opened the door, leading as we stepped into the room.

“Just lay the clothing down on the table.” Oroc stated, trailing a finger over one of the bookshelves that lined the wall. I placed the clothing down on the table, multiple stacks almost half a metre tall. He turned to us, and motioned us to sit.

“A quick rundown of our history will likely be appropriate. The Brigade was formed by three people, names you don’t need to know, who were unified by a single item.” He pointed at the clothing that lay on the table. “The Liaen.” He said, drawing our attention to it. “Doesn’t look like much does it? It is capable of altering its physical properties, changing from granite hardness to the strength of wet clay.” Which explains one part of a puzzle, I thought, reminded of the soft clothlike properties of the material.

“The Brigade’s more than that innit?” Aon remarked. “If fancy cloth was all it took we’d have come across some briny members.”

“True, because the Liaen chooses its wielders, we don’t think its sentient, but it’s definitely capable of scanning cerebral patterns and forming, if not an understanding, then at least an impression, of whomever is in direct contact.” The three stared blankly at him. “It can read minds.” Oroc said, a wry smile on his face once more.

They reacted with dull surprise, seemingly numb to it all.

“Around the last century Treben had one of our greatest periods of technological advancements, that coincided with societal upheaval and value shifts.” He smiled thinly. “Some would have called it a ‘Revolution’ in science.”

“It also preceded one of our most cataclysmic incursions by the Adversary. It had made Annihilators that matched our advancements in mobility, and began using stronger, more accurate projectiles to pair with our discovery of gunpowder.” Oroc continued. “Proving what we had always suspected: The Annihilators advanced with us.”

“It was a maddening proposition, for it meant that the Annihilators responded to our advancements, to our strength. It had been considered once we realized that before globalization, back when we knew only of our parts of the world, the Annihilator appearances were localized.” Oroc stated. “It became unshakable fact when their designs kept changing, moulding themselves to parallel our own technological advancements.”

A pull once again registered on my body. So quickly? I wondered. Before refocusing myself on the conversation.

“You were chosen as a contingency, if we ever fell, it would fall to you to bring back the articles of the Brigade, and up to me to decide if we should ever use it again.” The clothing disappeared, swallowed by Iocenes from below, as he manifested his mouth on the table surface itself.

“Wait, what?” Jubin said, blinking at Oroc. “The Brigade is one of the strongest assets in our struggle for survival, if you give up, who protects us?”

“You will, as you did before the Brigade was formed.” Oroc answered. “Over decades this has been forgotten, but the Brigade’s formation also predated a surge in Annihilator strength and numbers. Almost as though in response to our newfound strength in unity. Did you think older civilizations relied on us to survive?”

Silence took over the room as they mulled over the implications. “What then occurs to your Headquarters in Laroanther, to Iocenes, and to yourself?” Fralator asked, hand on his chin.

“The Brigade will be disbanded, I will be kept within Iocenes, keeping watch.” Oroc said, his voice small, but firm. “The auxiliaries will remain, a reminder of unity, between all countries.”

“You give up?” I ask, “After this time, why? It is not because all the deaths, this was planned.”

“We would never give up while we still drew breath, inaction is anathema to our personalities, but if they truly are adapting based on us, we have killed far more than we have ever saved.” Oroc stated. “We promised that if ever we were destroyed, we would recruit no more into our ranks.”

“I’ll ask that you work together in the Auxiliaries, if possible.” Oroc said, “We stipulated that the three must be patriots, but ones who appreciated unity and understood its value. A limited version of Liaen magic, which is honestly still far beyond us.”

“And him?” Fralator asked. “The being asked something of him did it not?”

“It asked for him to seek out the Adversary and return it.” Oroc said, bluntly, to the shock of the three. “It seems entirely capable of wiping humanity off the face of the planet, so Tolsin here will most definitely be going on his trip.”

“As to what it was, I have no idea, and I swear, on all the spirits of my ancestors and God above, that I speak the truth.” Oroc said. “I had not expected the difference in skill between the brigade and you. It’s what ultimately reaffirmed my decision.”

“I don’t like this, the Adversary gone, the Brigade bowing out, and this as well. It don’t sit well with me, even if I understand why you’re doing this, it feels wrong.” Aon said.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll begin discussing planar travel with Tolsin here, Iocenes will likely take him to begin tonight.” Oroc said. “Tell the quartermaster to perform protocol Sunset.”

They nodded, closing the door behind them. “Tolsin, pick up the orb. Iocenes? Swallow us please.” I fell into its maw, beneath me, and landed on my back within its stomach. “A rift has already appeared hasn’t it?” Oroc asked. “I saw you lose focus for moment, which is rare.”

“You can not feel it?” I asked, curious.

“This isn’t really me anymore, my body is gone, my soul remains, and since pulls on my soul can’t really be felt, well…” He shrugged. “I also can’t open portals, though Sense remains, as does the ability to Delve, even if I don’t need it, benefits of being a disembodied soul and all.”

“Anyway, pick it up.” He said, “Without gloves or gauntlets, direct tactile contact is required.”

I reached for one at the top of the pile, my fingers brushing across it as I laid my hand on it. I sighed. “Didn’t work I…” I stopped, as the clothing subtly changed colour.

“I never doubted that this would be the outcome.” He said, sombre. “You’re one of the Brigade now. May you always find the strength to do what must be done.”

“I thought magic didn’t work on me.” I said, trying to will the colour back to its original shade as it flickered through a few other colours.

“Healing magic doesn’t work because it suffuses your body with energy and uses your soul as a base for it to transmit, you don’t have one, so it didn’t work. Even if you had a soul, your cells mightn’t have reacted appropriately to the energy.” Oroc stated. “This one scans your brain, and far as I can tell you have one.” He watched my efforts amusedly. “Though maybe it’s wired a little differently.”

He guided me through simple exercises, allowing me to control its hardness, tensile strength, as well as giving me finer control over its colour. “Now relax, stop thinking too hard, so it won’t react to your thoughts.”

“Once you’ve Lurched a lot more times, you’ll be able to move along realities themselves, at which point you’ll be able to come back here.” He gritted his teeth slightly. “With the Adversary in tow. Though before that, when you can travel between planes, try to attune yourself, each plane on each reality will have a distinct… feel to it, finding that will be essential in your travels.”

“Take a rest, where you are headed may not be hospitable, and its generally open for about a day or so.” I nodded, and retired for a rest.

When I awoke, Oroc beckoned me into Iocenes.

“I think we can squeeze in a little more training before the portal begins to enter the possible destabilization stage.” Oroc said, leading me out onto a small plain. “These are going to be simple exercises, your wounds are best not agitated. I know of a few death worlds out there, you’ll need to be as rested as possible before you leave.”

This time the training was to shift, which apparently applied within the same plane as well as between them. Sense was essential to it, though heavy concentration wasn’t necessary as the disturbances were very prominent. Oroc explained that the more I Lurched, or even shifted at the highest level, the clearer Sense would be, as well as the size of the areas that I could shift in.

I threw a rock, letting it go just as my hand passed near a locus. The rock left my hand, propelled through it by a slight jerk, it shifted to a point several metres to my left and back. I moved a few steps, attempting to reach through another point and extricating the rock mid-flight. My fingers brushed against it, and the rock bounced. I leaned in quickly, relying on Sense to tell where the rock was, and closed my fingers firmly around it.

“Alright, good, let’s recap. To shift an object into another plane, you need to use energy, because you need to displace whatever is on the other side of the membrane.” He illustrated with an image, making a rock appear within a cup of water, causing it to spill out. “Which means offensively you won’t be able to use this to blow up your opponents by pushing objects into them unless you have enough force to tear apart their body, at which point why are you doing this anyway?”

“As you Lurch your ability to shift will become stronger, allowing you to shift larger objects at a larger distance from the locus. Side effect will be that it strengthens your Sense.” He continued. “Each locus is connected to two points, as they represent points where planes are close together, and what you do is push them together more, so as it grows more loci will be usable.”

“Finally, don’t do this randomly, many planes will either be empty or unsupportive of life, due to gravity helping to pull planes and realities together you’ll most likely end up in moderate areas, not gravity wells like stars and inside planets nor gravity-less environments like deep space.” He stopped.

I nodded, mentally recording what he had said. It seemed like there was a lot of luck involved. “Before the Rifters formed, how many people like me died traveling using Lurches?”

Oroc shrugged, his body language deliberately cavalier. “There are no real records, but I doubt the Rifters themselves would have been born if the rate was extremely high, since the number of people like us is pretty low.”

I sighed, stepping up to where Iocenes lay, his body mostly in the Magi plane. We made the journey with me as a compass, diving and surfacing along the way to pinpoint where the rift was. I exited, Oroc standing beside me as he looked at it.

“One last thing I should tell you.” He said, walking between me and the rift. “When I was a part of the Rifters, we tried to see if we could fuse magic with our abilities.” He took a breath. “We succeeded, but it was far too dangerous, it could cut across planes, change form and catch onto otherwise intangible constructs. I gave it to the Rifters, a friend sent me a missive a few months ago. They were at war, and had scattered it in the event that they lost.”

“Find it, it will be useful, but do not flaunt it, and do not lose it.” He emphasized, leaning close “It is the only thing I can think of to hurt the Adversary, and by proxy likely the only thing to hurt whatever took it.” He continued. “It should remain inert until you come across it.”

He stood aside. “Good luck, comrade. May you find your way home.”