Angel would have liked to say that it took too long to explain everything that had happened to Daliah, but he would have been lying. More than anything, he wanted to lie down and rest for a week.

They went over everything he could share about the Reawakening over the next hour over the best plate of food that Angel could remember eating. What exactly was in it was a mystery to him – he barely had a chance to look before he shoved it into his mouth.

Daliah showed impressive reserve for someone who wasn’t used to waiting for others. She managed to make it an entire five minutes before she got impatient and moved the plate back a few inches to force Angel to explain everything.

“So Soul is, for all intents and purposes, immortal,” Daliah concluded. “And he’s trying to stop Old World Magic from coming back?”

“That’s the gist of it,” Angel said. “The only member of the Reawakening left is the Mind, and something tells me that Soul is going to take care of him.”

“That does bring up a very concerning question,” Daliah said, drumming her fingers on the table. “Several, actually. First, why did he wait so long? If Soul was as powerful as you say, he should have been able to kill most of the Reawakening members already.”

“The only logical answer is that he still needed them for something,” Angel said, pulling the plate of food back over to himself and shooting her a glare. Daliah didn’t react, so he started filling his mouth once more.

“But what?” Daliah asked. “With today’s events, he should have been able to open the Vault and presumably get rid of whatever it is allows Old World Magic to return in the future. Instead, he just let you kill Reave and tried to finish Silver and my future Tinkerer off.”

“I was wondering about that as well. I thought it had been a long time since I fell down, but Soul didn’t seem concerned with finding me. In addition, Silver and Tilly were supposed to follow after us in a few hours, not half a day later. What happened there?”

Daliah cleared her throat. “Don’t worry about that.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Some of my guards got a bit overzealous,” Daliah said, narrowing her eyes. Angel’s skin prickled. “Silver still happens to be a wanted criminal, and the fool stopped wearing his mask so he got recognized. It somehow took my idiot guards a fair amount of time to inform me that the person we were tracking had already been found and didn’t just happen to have ‘Wind Snake’s’ weapons.”

Angel snorted. “Good to see that bureaucracy is still our greatest enemy.”

“I was suitably busy with dealing with the fallout from Blackstone, so it took me far longer than it should have to catch what happened,” Daliah said, her eye twitching slightly. “I sent them ahead to find you as soon as I did, and by the time we caught up once more, they were under attack.”

“Right. You mentioned multiple people were attacking them,” Angel said. “Who were the others?”

“According to your companions, they appeared to be the Reawakening,” Daliah said grimly.

“What? That can’t be right. Which members?”

“Shield and Reave.”

“Now I know that’s impossible,” Angel said. “I just killed Reave a bit ago. Ripped the Magitech out of his chest myself. There’s no way he could have been fighting anyone.”

“Not to mention that you killed Shield on the Buried God at Blackstone,” Daliah added. “They weren’t particularly difficult to fell, either. Neither exhibited any of the abilities given to them by their Star Fragments. They were just tough humanoids, and enough attacks will bring everyone down. Soul was no exception.”

“Clones,” Angel mused. “But not the ones that Shield used. Those were from his Star Fragment. In a way, I can see how Soul would get them. We know he’s made multiple bodies for himself that look the same, so it isn’t impossible to believe that he had the ability to recreate the other Reawakening members. The real question is why.”

“And what Heart has to do with this,” Daliah added.

“And that,” Angel agreed before letting out a heavy sigh. “Daliah, we – or rather, I – have been playing into his hand from before you even approached me. I don’t know just how wrapped up in his web I am. I’m hesitant to suggest anything just because of the level of influence he’s had over me.”

“I trust I can think for myself,” Daliah said, interlacing her fingers. “And while Soul might have had an influence on you, you’re also the one that knows him the most out of everyone. What is he going to do next? There is no time for self-pity. Get over it. The Barren is at stake.”

Angel scrunched his nose. “You could have at least tried to be understanding. I’m trying to have a deep moment.”

“Save it for later,” Daliah snapped. “We have work to do.”

“Fine,” Angel grunted. “Let’s lay out everything we know. At least you’ll have the same information I do, so I can blame you when things go wrong.”

Daliah rolled her eyes but gestured for him to continue.

“First, Soul has kept the Reawaking around for years. At first, it was to draw people that wanted to find Old World Magic and kill them. But, at this point, it has to be for some other reason. He gave them Star Fragments and made them functionally immortal, but poisoned them with the very Magitech that granted them that life.”

“He then had them seek the Buried Gods and attack multiple cities, trying to power them,” Daliah put in.

“Right, to get power for the Vault,” Angel continued. “But we messed up enough of his plans that he had to use alternatives for the last bit of power. And yet, when he finally gets a chance to do what he wants, he stops and goes outside to kick some children.”

“You’re certain he isn’t insane as well?”

“Absolutely,” Angel said. “Well, not in the way you’re thinking. He’s completely insane, but not in the same way the Reawakening was. Soul knows what he’s doing. It just makes no sense to me. Heart is also a mystery.”

“Do we know what Heart’s Star Fragment did?” Daliah asked.

“No,” Angel admitted. “He never showed us. And, now that we’re talking about Heart, I didn’t see him at the bottom of the chasm either. It’s possible I missed him since it was quite large, but he was pretty large.”

“Another mystery,” Daliah said, narrowing her eyes.

“Now you know how I feel,” Angel grumbled. “Nothing makes sense. I just want to hunt for shiny things that make magic.”

“You can do that once we’ve dealt with this. Do you have any suspicion as to what Heart’s Star Fragment might do? It could be important.”

Angel rubbed his chin. “Lets see. Assuming Heart was a real person and not just some strange Magitech construct, he was almost entirely made from metal. That implies that either Soul wanted him to be stronger than the others, or…”

“He was getting poisoned more?” Daliah guessed. “His body needed to be more resilient to survive the damage for a longer period of time. That could explain why Soul had Heart ‘die’ all those years ago. It might have been becoming obvious.”

“That would imply that Heart either knew or could do something that Soul desperately needed,” Angel mused. He stood up and walked around the table, forcing Daliah to crane her neck to watch him. “And yet, however important it might have been, he ditched it to chase after people that should have been completely irrelevant.”

Angel continued circling the table while Daliah sat there, her arms crossed in front of her chest and her mind lost in thought.

“Wait,” Angel said, stopping abruptly. “Everything Soul has done up until this point mostly appears to be logical, even if we don’t fully understand it.”

“That depends on your definition of logic, but keep going.”

“Well, it makes zero sense for Soul to chase after the others. We can agree on that, right?”

“Stop asking rhetorical questions when you’ve clearly realized something,” Daliah said.

“Give me my moment,” Angel replied. “If Soul has been acting logically all this time, then there’s no reason to believe he’d suddenly change now. He went after my friends for a reason.”

“Revenge on Lilian?”

“No, he couldn’t care less about her. I know who it is now,” Angel said, his hands tightening. “Alison. He saw her using Old World Magic.”

“While incredibly powerful and important to our future, I fail to see how one girl using Old World Magic would cause Soul to abandon all his plans to attack her instead.”

“I don’t know either, but I’m certain now. He was after her,” Angel said. “We need to talk with her. We’re missing something, but I don’t think it’s far.”