With the Homeworlders gone and their business dealt with, Rory could return to focusing on improving everyone’s Sigils. Like before, it was hard, long work. If anything, with the recent advancements to their Sigils, it became even harder to raise their Sigils’ Tiers with the same amount of Mana.

Thankfully, the Mana he had received from the Homeworlders for the Weaving commission made sure they didn’t leave too big of a dent in their newly-replenished stores.

The sad thing was that the Mana fall had stopped by the time the Homeworlders had shown up. They were still busy collecting the tiny crystals they could find in every nook and cranny. The weird vacuum Rory had helped craft came in real handy.

Rory spent much of the rest of the day focusing on raising his and the others’ Sigils. Thanks to the workout and some rewards from the Sigil of Quests, he was soon able to take his Sigil of Weaving all the way to Teal VII. As much as the effort needed to raise his Sigil’s Tier was growing, the steady progress was uplifting too, which kept him going.

Besides, the others were progressing a little faster when he helped them with their Sigils. Just like Rory, they couldn’t wait until they could stand toe to toe against the Homeworlders. Dez, Viv, Miles, and all of the rest of them were desperate to get to Viridian, and possibly even further beyond as soon as they could.

They paused for lunch, took a break afterwards, then resumed in the afternoon, only to be stopped by the arrival of a Wraith. Rory was a little surprised it had decided to come then, though he wondered if it was because of its comrades killed by the Homeworlders.

“Hello there,” Rory greeted as he went to meet the creature at the gate. “What brings you here? Been a while since I heard from the Wraith Lord.”

“I bring urgent news,” the Wraith said.

“Of course.” Viv joined beside Rory, along with April and Dez. “Are you worried about the Homeworlders?”

“I bring a message from the Old One you call Truck.”

“What? An Old One?”

“Never mind that,” Rory said, suddenly excited. “What’s the message? Does he have everything ready?”

“You are to meet him at the location you first met him. He awaits you there, urgently, and expects you to join him as soon as possible.”

Rory waited for a few moments, expecting the Wraith to continue. But he didn’t. “Is that it?”

“That is the extent of the message I was given, yes.”

Rory sighed. “It will have to do, then.”

“I’ll get the jeep ready,” Viv said.

“Wait, what’s going on?” April asked.

She was looking between Viv, Rory, and the Wraith with confusion, trying to puzzle together everything she had just heard. Dez was eyeing them too, though his expression was more hooded.

Rory hadn’t found the time to explain everything he and Truck had discussed to the others. The Homeworlders had driven much of the conversation out of his mind. After they’d left, they had gotten busy with their Sigils, and lunch had been too sporadic to consider giving a big talk about the near future. But now was as good a time as any to tell them everything.

“I’m going to see if I can talk with the Invigilator,” he said.

April and Dez both perked up at that.

“You mean…” April’s voice lowered in volume with every word. “Alex?”

Rory nodded. “Hopefully. I have no idea what’s going on… out there, wherever and whatever space Invigilators occupy. But I want to make sure they’re alright. I’m also curious if they had a hand in sending these Misericords here, and if so, what their intent is.”

“Wasn’t their intent to stop the war?” Dez asked. “Looks like they’ve accomplished that, to an extent.”

Rory had to admit that he wasn’t wrong. Alex had joined the rebels because they had vehemently opposed the whole system of war between the Homeworlders and the Otherworlders that this entire apocalypse was about. The biggest weapons in that war, arguably the only real weapon, were Sigils.

Now, with the Misericords making Sigils entirely unnecessary, they had effectively stopped the war for the time being.

He found himself looking up into the sky. The sun was falling down on the other side, threatening to go down to bring on the onset of dusk. Was Alex somewhere beyond that, floating in space?

“Ready!” Viv called from behind.

She had driven the jeep to the gate, where she paused for Rory to get in. He made sure he had his Staff of Deadly Winter in his Inventory.

Before getting into the seat beside Viv, he rushed to the palace and activated a Quest that would hopefully grant him another extra Tier. There was no time to explain things to others, other than quickly mentioning his destination to the hall at large.

“We might need some backup in case we meet any of the Misericords on the road,” Viv said once Rory had returned.

“I’ll go with you,” Dez said. He turned to April. “You’ve got the palace under your watch, right?”

“Of course. Stay safe, you all. I’ll tell the others—actually, what do you want me to say?”

Rory considered for a moment. “Tell them the truth. We’ve got a chance to talk with the Invigilator directly, and we’re going to try to get to the bottom of the Misericord problem.”

April nodded.

“Can you get to the Wraith Lord?” Rory asked the Wraith, who seemed to be standing forlorn in one corner of the driveway.

“I am unsure what you mean,” he said. “How am I to reach the Wraith Lord?”

“I mean, do you know where he is? Can you take a message to him if I give one to you? He hasn’t been receiving my calls, but since you’re here, I’m assuming nothing bad has happened to him.”

“I can attempt to reach him in that sense, yes. What message did you wish me to convey?”

“Tell him that we need to talk about what’s going on. I just want an update on what he’s up to. We’re supposed to be partners, right? I might even have a deal or two.”

“I will take the message to him. Do you wish for me to repeat it verbatim?”

Rory grinned. “Feel free to quote exactly what I said.”

The Wraith nodded, and sensing that his business was done, immediately turned around to leave. Rory waved and called out a quick farewell, which the creature didn’t return. Maybe their Sigils of Learning hadn’t progressed to the level of letting them understand and perform farewells.

Though, it seemed they had greetings down. Sigils were strange.

They waved their goodbyes to April after Dez joined them in the back seat. Rory hoped no Misericords would attack either his party in the car or the palace in his absence. Hopefully, the Wraiths would provide adequate warning in case the latter came true.

The journey went smoother than Rory was expecting. His accursed anxiety claimed that it didn’t matter if no one else had met any Misericords since the monsters’ attack on the palace. They were going to be attacked. That was just how Rory’s luck tended to work.

Thankfully, it went untrue. They drove through the broken streets, taking turn after turn to find a road that the jeep could take, without ever meeting any Misericord.

There were other monsters on occasion, of course. Rory spotted a Hooktongue that saw them from a rooftop and came charging after them with ear-splitting screeches and all rocket-wings firing on full throttle. It didn’t last long. One, well-timed blast from Dez’s Chthonic Inferno downed the creature rather easily. They had advanced pretty well.

Other monsters occasionally came into view too. A swarm of Dreadraptors were chased away by Rory’s blizzard, a couple of Emberteeth ran after them but gave up as Viv accelerated away, and Dez even blew up a Rockback that was blocking their road.

In all honesty, Rory would have called the trip idyllic, even with the monsters they did meet. The only thing that stopped him was what awaited them at the journey’s end. A chance to meet his child, or a complete bust.

The worst part was that they wouldn’t know until they got there.

“It’s at the old gas station, right?” Viv asked.

Rory nodded. “I have no idea why he picked that spot.”

It brought back strange memories. That was where Rory had found the Sigil of Weaving, where he had met Truck and Miles, where he had faced his first monster. It wasn’t really nostalgic, not when it had happened less than a month ago. But he had to admit to himself that, after everything that had happened, it did feel like an age had passed.

They had come pretty far.

“There, I think I see it,” Dez said. He was leaning forward through the gap between the front seats. “That’s it, right?”

Rory nodded. The gas station was coming into view past the bend on the road. He had never approached it from this angle, so it looked a little unfamiliar to him, but he recognized the burnt-out husk as it came into view.

“I don’t see him anywhere,” Viv said. “Is he inside the store?”

Rory couldn’t say for sure. His heart was pounding, expecting the worst. He couldn’t get images of deadly traps and impending death. The Homeworlders really had messed up his expectations. Rory sighed. He supposed this was the effect of unaddressed trauma from their attack.

“We should be careful,” Dez said. “Let me go scout ahead.”

“No need,” Rory said. He pulled out his Ranger Oculars from the Inventory. “The fires cleared out most of the trees, so I can use these to scope it out.”

The sudden jump from his vicinity to the far distance always needed a second or two of adjustment, but Rory was happy to accommodate it.

For he could now see just how useful checking something out from a distance proved.

“It’s a trap,” Rory said, his heart sinking with the words. Strange the feelings only came on after he spoke, as though him saying it out loud had cemented it into reality.

Viv cursed. “What exactly do you see?”

“I think they’re rebels.”

Rory took some time to observe the gas station and figure out where exactly everything lay. He spotted a couple of dwarves in dark clothing hiding inside the ruins of the old store, with an elf peeking out from behind a gas pump. Farther in, Truck was being held in the shadows by a rebel elf.

“I see Stormvir there,” Rory reported. “He’s the one holding Truck hostage. There are several others around the whole place.”

“Why doesn’t he break out?” Viv asked. “He’s got the power to do so, right?”

“More than enough. I don’t know what the Otherworlders have done. Maybe it’s the same kind of thing the Homeworlders did to keep us at bay.”

“Removing Mana from the vicinity so you can’t use any of your Sigils?”

Rory nodded grimly. They’d be going in with their own packs, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. But ultimately, they needed to come up with a plan of action that would allow them to stop the rebels without too much fuss.

“You wonder how the Wraith got to deliver the message if the donkey was captured?” Viv asked.

Rory swallowed. He didn’t miss the implication that the Wraiths, and even the Wraith Lord, might be involved with the mess. “Truck could have gotten captured after sending the message. Maybe the rebels were specifically waiting until the messenger was off, and then set their trap.”

“I appreciate your optimism, dear.”

He snorted. “You could be right, for all I know. The Wraith Lord has been missing.”

“Are we going to go get the donkey out of there?” Dez asked. “What’s the plan?”

Rory took a deep breath. Then he told them his idea.