I shook my head and turned off Nia’s eighth lesson. “Okeria didn’t have a good reason to act on it until he found us. So the big question is why he hasn’t gone and done it since we got back, which leaves a few good theories. Either Scalovera’s blocking his access to all the crystals, Keratily has to be out of a hazard for the crystals to be accessible, he’s not strong enough to break one, or he doesn’t want to do it.”

“Or he might be mentally manipulated by Keratily into not being able to do it.” Jun added. “We’re probably in Keratily’s field no matter where we are in Rainbow Basin, so maybe Okeria can’t do anything about it while he’s in that field.”

“Good call. We’ll have to talk to him when we get back.” I agreed. Jun nodded in acknowledgement, then turned to Mortician.

“Do you have any theories? Anything at all?” She asked, which seemed to surprise Mortician.

They stuttered for a moment, then composed themselves and hummed in thought. “We… We suppose Okeria could have the means and the ability to destroy one of the crystals, yet unknown consequences stay his hand. Like a detonation that razes a good portion of Rainbow Basin to the ground.”

That was also a very good theory. And it didn’t necessarily have to be true; if Okeria didn’t know what would happen when one of Keratily’s crystals were destroyed, he wouldn’t want to risk the lives of everyone in Rainbow Basin. That could stay his hand, while also fitting nicely in his back pocket as an absolute last resort.

Archivist clapped its hands to draw our attention. “All good theories, but I must be the destroyer of focus and tell you that your time is dangerously close to running out. And I would recommend all of you leave at the same time, so you don’t risk a traveling exit for this hazard.”

“Traveling exit?” Jun wondered, then shook her head. “Nevermind, the name explains it.”

“Yes, it does.” Mortician vigorously agreed. “Though Okeria would have warned us if there was a chance we would be separated when we got into the hazard, right?”

I shrugged. “He’s got a lot on his mind. It could’ve slipped his mind, or he might just be being a dick for no reason.”

Mortician tilted their head to the side. “We thought we confirmed that Okeria was not being a dick?” They asked with a smile in their voice. Like an eleven year old repeating a swear they heard their parents say.

“Language.” Archivist chided.

“But… but we… but he…” Mortician argued, then sighed. “We understand.”

I saluted Archivist as I felt myself bleeding away from the Ossuary. “See you soon, Archivist.”

Archivist waved back. “Yes, yes. And in one piece, I would hope.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The darkness faded away to a dim light flickering in the wind, as if the entire world had been lit by a million candles. I waved away a veil of smoke and squinted into the distance, trying to get a read on what this new hazard was like.

Flat. It was very, very flat. I could see a single mountain rising up in the distance, small flames like dying embers dotting its side in the thousands. There didn’t seem to be anything at all between where we were standing and the mountain, but that also meant that its size could be terrifyingly misleading.

“That’s it?” Jun wondered aloud, crossing her arms and looking up to the sky. It was completely empty, just like the rest of the hazard. “I thought there’d be more. How are we supposed to ambush Scalovera’s hired mercenaries when there’s nothing to hide behind?”

“It does seem counterproductive.” Mortician agreed, already opening their interface to scout the hazard. Which I just realized they probably wouldn’t be able to stay in. “The rating of this hazard is eighteen, and it has accepted us as an extension of Sebastian instead of as ourselves. That’s very lucky!”

Luck very rarely had anything to do with it. Something about Mortician and I made the system think they were a part of me, and there would probably be some complications later on, but for now? I wasn’t about to turn down an unexpected gift. I opened my own interface and swiped over to my map, then attempted to get more information on the hazard.

//LONELY SLAUGHTERFIELD

//95% EXPLORATION ACHIEVED: HAZARD TRIAL DESCRIPTION UNLOCKED.

//REACH 100% EXPLORATION FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

//Every mile traveled closer to the mountain triggers a combat with increasing difficulty. Surviving a combat grants access to a safe zone with a non-replenishing amount of health, integrity, and battery restoring consumables. Within that safe zone is a hazard exit. Combats may be forfeited by a majority of those fighting voting for a forfeit, and in that case, all combatants will be forcefully ejected from the hazard.

//Note: difficulty escalates greatly on every fifth combat, adding a law to each future battle that cannot be broken. Law severity is based on how early it was added. Completing a combat grants a small reward, and completing every fifth combat grants a moderate reward. Completing twenty-five, one-hundred and twenty-five, or six-hundred and twenty-five combats grant much greater rewards.

It really did feel like a training hazard. I read over the description again, just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, but it seemed to be as simple as advertised. We fought every mile, got a new modifier put in place every five miles, and got a big reward on every exponent of five we cleared. All the way up to six-hundred and twenty-five, which I assumed was when we’d hit the mountain. That obviously wasn’t going to happen, since it would take multiple days just to run that distance, nevermind stopping every mile to fight.

I swiped to close the window, but instead found myself staring at another screen. One with three distances listed in descending order, along with a name beside each of them.

“Number three–Rainbow Basin Collective–two-hundred and ninety-five miles, thirty-one years ago.” I read, and images of Okeria and his friends all in armor flashed across my mind. “Number two–Great Conqueror’s Retinue–three-hundred and thirty miles, eight-hundred and nine years ago. And Number One–Matria Persephonia and Friends–four hundred and five miles. Three years ago.”

Jun whistled in appreciation. “Nia fought really far. And pretty recently, too. I wonder who those ‘friends’ were.”

“Inopsy, definitely, and maybe Okeria?” I guessed, then shrugged. “Keratily could’ve been a part of it, too. But that’s a really long time to fight for only four people.”

“They most likely had outside help we are not aware of.” Mortician cut in eagerly. “Persephonia could not have had only three allies on this world. Maybe there are others who are not even aware she has passed on.”

That wasn’t a reassuring thought. Endra could be masquerading as Nia and gathering her old friends against us. I shuddered at the thought. “Let’s hope it doesn’t go down that way.”

“There’s no point wondering about it now.” Jun agreed. She drew her gun and slid out the cylinder, pulling bullets from AD-INFINITUM to fill it as she started walking. “Let’s see what this hazard has to offer.”

I could agree with that sentiment. I summoned my weapon as a dagger and tapped it against my leg, then primed all my oil-based functions to activate with a single thought. “Mortician, get ready. We don’t know how the hazard will summon the combats, how long they’ll take to summon, or when the hazard starts counting our steps.”

“Right! Yes, of course!” Mortician summoned a book with a rocky cover and thin black oily pages, then turned to a page with golden scribbles and symbols. “We will support you in every way we can! Okeria was even kind enough to make us this book from our own materials!”

“...And how much did he charge you for it?” Jun reluctantly asked.

“Nothing!” Mortician happily divulged. “He said it was a good distraction, and as he was already working on everything else for us, he was happy to provide more help.”

“Huh. Be sure to tell him thanks when we get back.” I said with subdued disbelief. Okeria had been overwhelmingly generous with his precious materials ever since we got to Rainbow Basin. “So is the book a trinket or a weapon?”

“It is a weapon with multiple built-in functions. These functions radiate out from the book, which must be within a twenty-foot radius of us to work.” Mortician explained. “Until we gain the ability to create more useful treasures, our core is stuck with three slots that do very little for combat itself. This book will help until then!”

It was at that point I remembered I knew very little about Mortician’s core. They’d said they put the information on it in the Ossuary’s archives, but I’d never actually read up on it. I’d have to do that when we reached the first safe space.

“Well, what can the book do?” Jun asked, leaning over to get a better look at the symbols and almost-writing. “I can’t read anything on that page.”

Mortician raised the book so Jun could more easily see it. “We don’t know what they mean, either, just that they’re important to how the book functions. Okeria explained it as ‘circuitry to carry the functions’ effects’, but we weren’t aware that people could create weapons with functions.”

“You can, but you need a function to put into the weapon first. Usually you’d start with a trinket that has a function in it, then remake that trinket into a weapon or remove the function and put it into a weapon.” I explained. “That’s probably what Okeria did.”

“Oh. Then he is more generous than we thought.” Mortician said appreciatively. “Should we try to pay him for his services?”

Jun shook her head. “We can repay him by getting his friends and his city back.” She said gravely. “That’s why he’s being so generous. Because he’s helping himself while he’s helping us.”

“Hey, I’ll take it.” I chuckled. “Helping him helps us out, too, so we’re all kind of using each other. And I can’t see him betraying us when the threat of Endra’s so close we can taste it.”

“Neither can I.” Jun sighed. “Besides, he can’t do anything worse than what Keratily wanted to do to me. Or what Endra would do to us.”