When Rory found himself in back in his world, he found that things had certainly moved on. He couldn’t have spent more than an hour trying to free Alex from wherever they had ended up, yet it looked as though several hours had passed by.

For one, he had returned to the exact spot where he had disappeared to begin with. It was dark, but not difficult at all to see that things were as he had left them. The nearby buildings were broken, the street had been torn up, and various sparks, fires, and noxious purple vapours marked the evidence of the Corebeast’s destruction.

The only difference was that the area was deserted.

It took a while for Rory to make himself move. Try as he might to see all that he’d done as a legitimate success, the absence of Alex at his side clawed his heart. He had obtained deals from both the Homeworlders and the Otherworlders, going on to establish himself as a legitimate, system-approved merchant. He had prevented the Corebeast from destroying his home. He had even freed Alex from their binds and given them a fighting chance.

Yet, despite all that, the hollowness in his chest only seemed to grow. Right after finding his child, after miraculously discovering that they were alive, he had lost them. Again.

But with those depressive emotions came a storm of unanswered questions. What had Alex been doing with the rebels? He had learned they had wished to bring down this system that had started the apocalypse, and now that he thought about it, he understood that they and the other rebels with them had been using the Imps to hide from the Invigilator.

None of which explained how Arelland had found out about it. There was the knowledge that the Imps had used something like Rory’s DNA to get the Corebeast to target him, but how did that connect to determining that the Imps were holding his offspring?

Maybe it had simply been suspicion. After all, it was the most logical conclusion. Since Rory was certain the Imps hadn’t obtained anything from him that could have let them set the Corebeast on his tail, they’d had to have obtained the next best thing. His progeny, who carried his essence. Maybe Arelland had simply put two and two together on the fly, and his gamble had proven right.

But then, the elf had refused to elaborate or explain. Rory grunted. If he had known the Imps were holding Alex, he would have never approved of the plan to turn the Corebeast around in their direction.

Arelland must have suspected his worries about Alex would have prevented his cooperation with a plan like that. For good reason, too. It had been incredibly risky dragging the gigantic monster there. The issue remained that Arelland had taken Rory’s choice away from him. Had seen fit to drag the Invigilator here and let Arkone take away his child. Had torn apart his family.

His family…

Rory had started trudging along without seeing where he was going properly. His head was now filled with thoughts of Viv and what she must have gone through after seeing both her child and her husband disappear with the Invigilator. He supposed that was his fault for not warning her, but then, everything had been so crazy at that moment. Trying to pass off a message to Viv would have alerted the Invigilator that he was planning something.

Head filled with unhappy thoughts, Rory was eventually spotted by an Otherworlder. A small part of him tried to dredge up some kind of worry at being alone with the elf, but he couldn’t muster the effort to think anything of it. Especially since the elf they met turned out to be one of the ones they had helped a few weeks ago—Delrunis.

The old elf didn’t ask many questions or prod Rory too much. Instead, he just helped Rory reach his destination. If there were monsters on the path to the palace, they didn’t meet any. Delrunis simply propped up Rory onto his mech suit’s back, then zipped along the dark roads, the gloom occasionally interspersed with streetlamps that glowed fitfully.

Along the way, he informed Rory about everything that had happened. When the Invigilator had disappeared with Rory, Alex, and the Corebeast in tow, the Homeworlders and the Otherworlders had kept up their careful, unspoken truce and departed peacefully. Viv, still distraught and furious, had threatened to kill Arelland and the rest of the Otherworlders if he didn’t explain all that had happened from his perspective.

After some quick words that Delrunis hadn’t heard, Arelland had been able to mollify Viv enough to get her back to Belcourt Palace. She was safe there, as was everyone else in Rory’s group.

As much as he was relieved to hear that Viv was safe, all his head could really focus on was the fact they had talked. Which meant that she knew.

When they reached the palace, Rory found that everyone was still up. It wasn’t too late just yet, but had he been there from the beginning, he would have suggested an early bedtime just because everything had been so stressful.

The darkness didn’t hide the evidence of the Corebeast’s rampage. Rory grimaced as he saw it, as he smelled it in the air. The Corebeast’s fires had ruined much of the hillside, ash and scorched ground all that remained of entire swathes of the woods around Belcourt Palace. Smoke tinged the entire area grey and quickly clogged up Rory’s nose with its stench. The entire hill looked crumbly and on the verge of breaking apart, though he hoped that wasn’t really the case.

Shouts erupted as soon as they got within sight of the main gate. Rory recognized Ned’s voice, and there were others in the cacophony too, but it was Viv who reached him first. A red bolt deposited her before the others got to him, and she wrapped him in a giant hug.

“You’re safe,” she sobbed. The hard planes and points of her Thunderclaw arm stabbed through his clothes, but he bore it as best as he could. “I was so worried.”

Rory hugged and patted her back. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t bring them back. Alex is…”

“Shh. We can talk about that later.”

He pulled himself back from her and tried to search her face in the gloom. The sheer cavalcade of emotions roiling across her face made his breath catch. Relief and despair warring against each other, tightly-bridled anger underlying them both, a bone-weary exhaustion she was desperately trying to hide, and more Rory couldn’t begin to fathom just then.

Viv took his hand and began pulling him towards the palace. She nodded at Delrunis. “Thank you for bringing him here.”

The old elf watched them disappear within the palace. Just before he left, though, Rory turned around and called out to him.

“Tell Arelland I want to talk,” Rory said. “As soon as possible.”

Delrunis stared at him, then nodded tightly before departing.

Rory was led back towards the palace in relative silence. Several of the others came out and greeted him with relieved smiles, though nobody spoke beyond murmuring their welcome. They all looked… happy. Unlike Viv, unlike himself, there was no sign of despondence.

They had to be curious about what had happened, perhaps wondering what exactly had made Viv and Rory sad. She must have told them something. Nevertheless, they’d likely expect some sort of statement from Rory too. He could see the curiosity in some of their eyes.

Before he could say anything, though, they ushered him into the main hall. Several of them were busy getting food ready, and a pleasant smell of soup and something lemony wafted into Rory’s nose. They must have been holding out on eating in his absence, probably too worried to keep any food down. But now that he was here, the feast could commence.

Nobody said anything as they began eating. They all tried their best to not show that they were anxiously awaiting his words, focusing only on the food before them. Rory tried to do the same, but it was getting difficult. The warm morsels of meatloaf got stuck in his throat and he had to wash it down with regular gulps of water. A distant part of him marvelled that they were now able to cook more complicated meals than frozen dinners.

“Are you having trouble eating, dear?” Viv asked. “Maybe we can go somewhere more private, if you need some space.”

She looked kindly at him, the concern in her eyes making his heart melt. He couldn’t do this. Clearing his throat, Rory stood straight up.

“Rory,” Viv said, trying to stand up next to him, but he waved her back down.

“It’s fine.” He took a deep breath. “This won’t take long.”

Rory looked out over everyone else who was in the hall. Dez, Ned, Trish, and Allen sat close by, Sue sitting with her hand in May’s a few feet away. Malcolm and Darcy weren’t far off with April, Bo, Leo, and Leanne nearby. Diane and Harley were close by two groups of former Neophytes. Samson sat not far from Alia, with Lucy and Ferdous heading the latest newcomers to their party. They were all looking at him with silent expectation.

“I don’t know how much you’ve heard of what went on,” Rory said, holding their gazes one by one. “But there’s not much to tell. Suffice it to say that we’re safe. That we’ve made it. The merchant business is up and running and we’re no longer in danger of being ousted from our home.”

“What happened to you, Rory?” Sue asked.

Dez took his cue from her. “Where’d you go? What… happened there?”

Viv stared at him as well. She wanted to know, just as they all did. They had all held off to respect the space Rory might have needed, but the silence was suffocating him. He needed to get it off his chest.

Rory took another deep breath, then briefly explained what he had seen and gone through. He didn’t do a great job of summarizing where he had found Alex, or how he had freed them and the Invigilator’s subsequent arrival with the Corebeast. Questions arose, and he clarified as much as he could.

But in the end, the tale wasn’t long. When Rory sat down again after he was done, he got the feeling that learning what had happened hadn’t really satisfied anyone. It had lightened the shroud that had enveloped his heart, however.

The others’ expression said the same thing he felt. Nobody really cared what had happened there. All they really needed to know was how they were going to get Alex back.

After dinner, Rory decided to take a stroll outside in the grounds to clear his head. Viv accompanied him, and as much as the conspicuous absence of their child weighed down like an anchor on their hearts, the gentle mood of nightfall slowly made him feel more at ease than he had in a long while.

“Are they really gone, Rory?” Viv asked after a few minutes.

“I don’t know,” he said simply.

They were standing close to the shimmering barrier of the Safe Zone. Only a few hours ago, it had been in grave danger of disappearing at the whims of the Invigilator.

“And do you know any way to get to them?” Viv had rounded on him, holding his eyes with the steady anger that she had been suppressing all this time. “Do you know how we can free Alex? How we might fight the In—”

“I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hands with his. “I want to get to them as much as you do. But I need time to think. To come up with a plan. I know we might not have much time. Hopefully, we’ll figure some…”

His voice trailed off as his eyes widened. Viv caught the look of alarm on his face, then whirled, only to freeze up just as Rory had.

A rent had opened up in the air before them, depositing the Invigilator right in their midst.

Viv shook herself free from her surprise. Her Thunderclaw arm was back, metallic blue scales flashing alongside sparks of red lightning. But just as she was about to shout and attack, the Invigilator forestalled her.

“No!”

That single word petrified them. Rory’s reactions had been thawing, but the voice that came at them clutched his heart in an unbearable vice, rooting his very soul as though it had been crucified.

It was Alex.

“Mom,” they said. “Dad. It’s me.”

Viv’s arm dropped, her Thunderclaw scales disappearing to leave her with nothing more than her stump. “Alex? How—how are you…?”

She couldn’t even finish the question, and Rory couldn’t blame her. His brain wires were trying to cross and short-circuit. Somehow, instead of Arkone, the Invigilator before them was Alex.

Of course, it could be that Arkone was pretending to be his child, but that made no sense. For one, it wasn’t Arkone’s style. For another, the general aura about the Invigilator before them was… different, in a strange way. The wind that blew in was gentle and soothing, the air no longer stuffed with the stench of smoke. There was almost a strange sense of peace around them.

Save for the fact they were facing an Invigilator.

“It’s me, I promise.” Alex’s voice had taken on a choirlike quality, as though multiple instances of them were speaking at the same time. “I’ve just… taken the Invigilator’s place.”

“I don’t understand,” Rory said. “How? Why?”

“It was the only way to survive. And more importantly, the only way to end all this.”

Rory swallowed. End all this. Had Alex somehow made himself an Invigilator, all to end the system’s apocalypse?

“Alex.” Viv approached the tall, dark being before them, one hand held out as though to clasp it around her child. “Won’t you come back to us?”

The Invigilator floated backwards, making Viv halt. There was an air of uncertainty about them. “I’m not your child anymore. I can’t be, I’m sorry. I only came here to warn you. Things will be in upheaval soon, and you need to be cautious. You need to survive.” Alex turned around without warning. “Take care.”

“No, Alex,” Viv said as the air sliced open before the new Invigilator. “You can’t just leave us like that.”

Rory watched, silent, as his only child vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. In moments, he and Viv were alone again.

Ages seemed to pass before either Rory or Viv could move again. All the while, Rory’s thoughts stormed around. Alex was an adult. They were responsible for their own decisions, and neither Rory nor Viv had the right to go against whatever goal they had set for themselves. In fact, if Alex had asked, he would have helped his child do whatever it was they needed to burn this whole system shenanigan to the ground. If destroying the system was the price he’d have to pay to be a family again, then so be it.

But the scale Alex was playing on was so far above Rory, there was in truth, almost nothing that he could do.

After all, how much had Alex themselves had orchestrated everything that had happened so far? The easiest way to take down most things was from within, so it was no surprise they worked themselves into a position from where they could tear apart the system from the inside out. So, how much of recent events had Alex manipulated to get to that position?

Viv was walking back towards him, the despondence in her eye giving way to a steely look. “You know the mantra, Rory?”

He stared at her. Then slowly smiled. “Of course. Whatever dreams the parents have is secondary to their children’s.”

“Exactly. But…”

“But that doesn’t mean they have to do it alone.”

Taking her proffered hand, Rory led her back towards the palace. A part of him really was at peace at discovering that Alex was all right. That they were alive. All in all, things were a success. His business had been established and he knew the whereabouts of his child.

All he had to focus on now was getting his family back together.