Zeke led the assassin through the tower, taking more than a little pleasure in the man’s obvious surprise. Since being reborn into the new world, Zeke hadn’t had a lot of chances to just show off, and he had to admit that it felt good, seeing Carlos’s awestruck expression. The tower itself hadn’t changed much over the past few weeks, but the sculptures ringing the ground level had grown more detailed. In addition, a couple more had been added, one depicting their three-week war against the fire ants, and the other showing Zeke bursting out of the amalgamation’s throat. Finally, the sculpture and fountain that had once dominated the ground floor had grown into a carved staircase leading to the upper levels. The entire party was represented in the carved, spiraling staircase in the center of the ground floor, which was tiled in deep crimson and white.

“What is this?” asked Carlos, following along behind Zeke. He ran his hand along the sculptures which made up the staircase. “This is all of you. Who carved it?”

“The tower,” Zeke said. “Call it a skill.”

“A skill,” was the man’s muttered echo.

Zeke still wasn’t sure what to think of the assassin. Bound and restricted as Carlos was, Zeke didn’t think he posed much of a threat. The runes that comprised the collar and shackles suppressed his skills – Zeke’s knowledge of runes told him that much – but they did nothing to restrict his stats. If Zeke found himself so restrained, it would do little to mitigate his ability to fight. Certainly, without [Leech Strike], he would be more vulnerable, but his endurance and vitality were high enough that it would take quite a bit to put him down for good. And in the time that that took, he could wreak all sorts of havoc.

Zeke climbed the stairs, which, after the sculpted base, were entirely unsupported, save by magic, and Carlos followed. Pudge came after, looking as intimidating as he could manage. Certainly, when Zeke looked at his companion, he saw an overgrown teddy bear. So, it was sometimes difficult to remember that when others beheld Pudge, they saw something totally different – a fully grown and extremely powerful dire bear. With Pudge following so closely, Carlos didn’t dare tarry.

The staircase spiraled up to the second level, which contained the suite of rooms claimed by Talia. They were almost completely bare, with plenty of open space. Because of the undead girl’s minimalist nature, most of the space had been relegated to common use. Often, despite each level being a self-sustained apartment, complete with a functioning kitchen and all other requisite facilities, the entire group chose to eat meals together on that second level. It was also where they held sparring matches at night or when the weather proved uncooperative. Finally, the suite also contained a room they’d started using for meetings. That’s where Zeke led Carlos, only to find that everyone else had already arrived.

“This is incredible,” Carlos breathed. “This is all self-contained, right? I’ve never seen technology like this.”

Zeke waved at one of the stumps that served in the role of a chair, saying, “Sit down. We have questions.”

“Questions you should answer truthfully,” Tucker said. He was leaning against one of the walls, tossing a grenade up and down in his hand. Inside the glass globe was a malevolent purple liquid that screamed danger, an overt threat if ever Zeke had seen one. “Nobody likes a liar.”

“We will not hurt you,” said Talia, sitting cross-legged on the floor, her hands in her lap. Her dark hair, which, at some point, had grown green streaks, hung around her head like curtain, unbound from her usual braid.

“Unless we have to,” provided Abby. “Even then, we’ll be as humane as possible. We aren’t monsters.”

Pudge chuffed, reminding everyone of his hulking presence.

“Well, most of us aren’t,” amended Abby. “And Pudge is more like a mascot. He’s harmless.”

“Until he isn’t,” Tucker added. “I’ve seen him rip a –”

“Enough,” interrupted Zeke. “Carlos here knows how much danger he’s in, don’t you Carlos.”

The bedraggled man looked around at his captors, then sighed, “I do.”

“Good,” Zeke said, sitting on another stump. It wasn’t particularly comfortable; for all its magic, the tower didn’t provide furniture, so they’d had to make do with what they had on hand. Aside from the rocking chairs and a few beds, that meant various hunks of wood they had picked up along the way. At least the tower had seen fit to provide a table, even if it was attached to the floor. “Now, tell me who you are, what you’re doing out here in the desert, and what’s in that shimmer out there.”

“And tells us about the shackles,” added Abby.

“Right. That, too,” Zeke said, his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward.

Carlos’s eyes darted around, making him look almost like a cornered animal – an analogy that wasn’t so far from the truth, really. Then, he hung his head and sighed. After a few more seconds, he raised his head and said, “My name is Carlos Alfaro, and as we’ve established, I am a member of the Crystal Spiders. I don’t know what kind of dealings you’ve had with my guild, but I assure you that, if you help me, it’ll all be made right.”

“I’m not worried about your guild,” Zeke lied. In fact, the idea that there might be assassins waiting for him around every corner had haunted his dreams ever since they’d been attacked on their way north from Beacon. Perhaps Carlos’s presence was a blessing in disguise. The man was a high enough level that he had to have some degree of status with his organization. That, in turn, might be useful in getting the Crystal Spiders off their back. “We’ve dealt with them before, and we’ll deal with them again. What I really want to know is what you’re doing out here.”

“I…I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not even sure where ‘here’ is. I can make some guesses, but I was taken in Jariq and moved here while I was unconscious.”

“And imprisoned?” asked Abby.

“Who took you?” Talia asked almost at the same time.

“I was…listen, I know you have some preconceived notions about what the Crystal Spiders are,” Carlos said, glancing from Zeke to Abby, then back at Talia. “And outside the Red Wastes, they’re probably accurate. But here? In Jariq, we’re not just assassins. We help keep the peace.”

Tucker nodded, saying, “That tracks. I’ve been to Jariq a few times. It’s run by gangs like the spiders. They’re usually associated with the Sultinate, who’s kind of at the top of the pyramid.”

“Okay, so let’s assume you’re not a hired killer,” Zeke said. “What were you doing when this mysterious ‘they’ took you?”

“It’s no mystery,” Carlos said. “I know exactly who took me. It was the Jaguars. Specifically, a man named Itzli. Maybe you’ve heard of him. I don’t know.”

“I have,” Tucker said, once again confirming that he was the most worldly of the group. “Regenerating powers. Uses a club. Kind of reminds me of Zeke, actually. If Zeke was a couple centuries old and from a culture that routinely practiced human sacrifice.”

“Fantastic,” Zeke muttered. “Okay, this Itzli. You implied that he was part of a group, right? So, are they responsible for the shimmer?”

“I…I don’t know,” Carlos admitted. “Maybe? It’s all so confused. I don’t even know how you see that rune formation. To me, it’s just…never mind. That’s not important. What’s important is that there’s a keep over there, and below that keep is a series of caverns and caves. I don’t know –”

“It’s always got to be caves,” said Zeke, shaking his head. “Why does it always have to be caves?”

“At least it’s familiar territory,” said Abby, flashing a smile in his direction. “And you won’t be alone this time.”

“So, we’ve already decided we’re going in?” Tucker asked. “We don’t even know what’s down there, and –”

Zeke held up a hand, asking Tucker for silence. Then, he turned back to Carlos, saying, “Continue. What’s down there? Why is this keep here? And why do they want to conceal it?”

“Nightmares,” Carlos said. “When I first woke up, I was interrogated by…by…one of the leaders of my guild.”

“Called it!” Tucker said.

“You didn’t call it,” Abby said, rolling her eyes. “You just said he was evil.”

“He is,” Tucker said. “I mean, look at him. Dressed all in black, shackled, and with that tattoo on his chest – how could he be anything but an escaped prisoner, huh? He probably kills babies.”

“I do not kill –”

“Jesus Christ, Tucker – can you please just let me do this?” Zeke shouted. “We need information, and what you’re doing is not helping.”

“Fine.”

Zeke motioned for Carlos to continue, and after taking a deep breath, the man said, “For the record, I don’t kill babies. Just wanted that out in the open. I don’t kill anybody who doesn’t deserve it.”

Zeke nodded, but he couldn’t help but wonder who made decisions about who deserved to die. But he knew the answer. The strong got to decide. Everyone else just had to live with their judgment. Even so, he didn’t say as much. Instead, he listened as Carlos continued his explanation. He told of how he’d been captured while investigating a series of disappearances and how he’d escaped captivity, only to find himself stranded behind enemy lines. Over the course of a few days, he’d managed to investigate the caverns and escape the keep, but not without seeing a host of disturbing sights.

“I knew some of the people there,” Carlos said, shaking his head. “But it wasn’t them.”

“What do you mean?” asked Zeke.

“I had – have – a friend,” he explained. “He’s the whole reason I got into this mess. His neighbor went missing, and I was trying to find her. I don’t know. I saw her in there, but Rhoda was…different. In the keep, I mean. I’d only met her a few times, but…well, she looked different down there. It was like she didn’t know me. No – it was like she wasn’t even human anymore.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked Zeke

“I think there’s something controlling the people in there,” Carlos said. “I don’t know what they’re trying to do, but those people, they didn’t act like people. The ones aboveground are mostly normal, but in those caverns? They move like zombies.”

Talia blinked, which for her, was almost like flinching back from a hot stove, and it wasn’t that difficult to see why. The mention of zombies cut far too close to home for her.

“Not like, literal zombies,” Carlos said. “The ones over in Farindale Forest, I mean. More like…I don’t know. It’s so hard to explain. It was almost like someone or something else was driving their bodies.”

His eyes flicked to Talia, and he swallowed hard as he made a connection. Zeke said, “Talia isn’t one of them. She’s one of us. And if you keep looking at her like that, I might start to get angry.”

“And I wouldn’t like you when you’re angry?” said Carlos.

“Something like that,” Zeke said. “Talia’s special, but she’s not…nothing else is driving her body. I can guarantee that.”

Some of the tension left Carlos’s body, and he sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I can accept that, I guess. But the point is that…I need to figure out what’s going on. I don’t know how close we are to Jariq, but I’m pretty sure we’re close enough that this is a threat. I have people I care about in the city. So, either kill me and get it over with, or release me so I can figure out how to get these shackles off. When I do, I’m going back in there and –”

“The shackles? That’s easy,” Zeke said. He reached out, touching one of the manacles. In seconds, he’d identified the glyphs that bound the underlying runes together. He severed them and was rewarded with the telltale clink of the metal bindings falling to the tiled floor. He did the same to the other manacles, then repeated the process with the collar around Carlos’s neck. “There. All better, right?”

“W-what? How did you…”

“Those bindings were based on a really crude set of runes,” Zeke said. Reason probably suggested that he should leave the shackles right where they were, but he was taking a calculated risk by choosing to trust the man. “They’re actually kind of genius, though. They don’t actually block your skills. Instead, they redirect the mana you would normally use to activate them. That mana is then used to reinforce the bindings. After a few days’ rest, someone with enough mana could have overloaded them, though. So, I think they were only ever meant to be temporary.”

He picked up the length of chain which was attached to one of the shackles, then casually pulled it apart. The links broke without much protest. “Brittle, though,” he said. “Really brittle.”

Rubbing his wrists, Carlos said, “They usually use normal chains and extra shackles with anyone they think has a high strength stat.”

“Ah. Makes sense,” Zeke said.

“T-thank you,” was Carlos’s response. “Why help me, though?”

Abby stepped in, saying, “Because we made a mistake last time we were dealing with the spiders. We let a girl die. And you’ve done nothing to hurt us. It wouldn’t have been right to just kill you.”

“But we will,” Tucker said, still tossing his glass globe up and down. “One wrong movie, and I’ll toss this at you. You don’t want that. Unless you want to melt from the inside out.” He shrugged. “To each his own, I guess, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Stop it,” Abby said. “We’re going to need his help.”

“Not the way I see it,” Tucker said. “I say we just blow everything up. I’ve got these grenades – special combination of force and fire – that I can brew pretty quickly. I’ve even got enough ingredients for like a hundred of them. We zip in, plant the grenades, then get out. Zeke can toss one of those exploding rocks at one we leave exposed. It’ll go boom, which will start a chain reaction and bring the whole place down. Easy peasy.”

“What about the people inside?” asked Abby.

“I have friends in there!” Carlos half-shouted. He started to spring from his chair, but before he could move, Talia was standing over him, a glistening, green claw hovering only inches from his throat. All around them, shadows deepened, elongating into spikes.

“Stop!” Zeke bellowed. Everyone turned to look at him. “Just stop. We’re not going to kill anyone until we know what we’re dealing with.” Then, he cast a glare at Carlos, saying, “If you keep building that skill, it’s not going to end well for you.” He held up his hand, spacing his thumb and forefinger only an inch apart, adding, “I’m this close to letting Talia do whatever she wants with you. This close. So, for your own good, let that skill go.”

After a tense moment, the shadows retreated. Carlos muttered, “Sorry. I’m already on edge, and I can’t just let those people die. Not unless…not unless it’s the only way.”

“We’re on the same page, then,” Zeke stated. Then, he ran his hand through his hair. “Okay, so we need to investigate. We need to figure out what’s going on. If those people can be saved, we save them. If not…well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” He looked at Carlos, asking, “Is that acceptable to you?”

Carlos nodded. “It’ll have to be,” he said, no small amount of ire bleeding through. Then, he sighed. “I’m being unfair. You’ve treated me better than I could have expected. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Zeke said. He turned to Talia, saying, “Can you show him to the bathroom so he can get cleaned up?”

Talia nodded, and then, without a word, turned and walked from the room. Zeke nodded in her direction, saying, “Better follow her or she might resort to dragging you.”

Carlos leapt to the task, leaving Zeke and his other friends alone in the room. Once he was sure they wouldn’t be overheard, Zeke said, “Tucker – make those bombs. One way or another, that keep is going down. I hope we can help the people inside, but…”

“But if what Carlos says is true, and those people are being controlled, we have to cut it off,” Abby supplied. “I think we’re all in agreement there.”

“You had me at ‘blow everything up,’” said Tucker.

“Nobody said that,” Zeke stated.

Tucker shrugged. “That’s what I heard,” he said. “I can have about twenty of them ready in the next couple of hours. More if we wait until morning.”

“Get to it, then,” said Zeke.

Tucker didn’t waste any time, instead heading back to the stairs to climb to his suite of rooms. There, he had a full alchemy workstation; it wasn’t as well-stocked as his tower had been back on Micayne’s estate, but according to the alchemist himself, it was still elaborate enough that it would be the envy of any other alchemist.

“I don’t trust that guy,” Zeke said once Tucker was gone.

“Tucker? Or the new guy?” Abby asked.

“Either?” he said, shrugging. “I mean, Tucker’s loyal, at least. But Carlos…he’s a spider. This whole thing feels like a mistake. Do you really think we can trust him?”

“I don’t know,” Abby admitted. “But we can’t go through life thinking the worst of everyone we meet. That’s just a recipe for unhappiness.”

Zeke didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but then he stepped closer to Abby and wrapped her in his arms. “So long as we have each other, I don’t think we have to worry about unhappiness.”