The underground city of Synkrasia was almost completely lifeless. The mortals who accompanied that young Ancient had long since left after receiving a messenger from the surface. The portal hub was active, however, and let out a parade of Warforged drones.

The metallic constructs marched towards the mineshaft, and though the Watcher expected them to strike at the rocks to bring out the ore, they did not.

Instead, they spaced themselves out in a strange uneven pattern and were tethered to each other with electric sparks. Even as the Watcher looked, the entirety of the mining shaft was covered by the drones and their lightning chains. Unfortunate.

This incarnation wasn’t too strong. None of the ones he brought to Rumiga were. The stronger the Chaos Lord, the harder the plane suppresses them. At the baron level, the suppression and negative pressure were just enough to achieve parity. Any stronger and even his prodigious knowledge and power couldn’t keep him inside for long.

Chaos formed into runescript lines around his body, containing his energies. It was different from a Protective Field, and was a solution he came up with after watching hundreds…thousands…of Sorcerers practice their craft.

At the baron level, he could barely use his techniques to fly. But he could fall slowly and gracefully. He leapt over the mineshaft and drifted downwards. Now that the Avos Zarek had been slain, nothing was keeping the Watcher from the planar core. Well, except for the Gemheart, but that one didn’t bar the way physically. He had an inkling that it would trouble him when he began the assimilation, but he would see how the path lay before deciding.

He could either proceed now or destroy the backup Gemheart. That one was incredibly annoying to get to, so if he could avoid it, he’d rather not. The unfortunate thing was that he might not have a choice. It was why he leveraged everything he had to assault the Watchtower. Now if only those three could keep the rest of the Imperial forces occupied. He couldn’t count on that though, which was why he was doing this now. The Imperials might think that he needed years to succeed in the actual assimilation, but maybe he could win the toss of the dice.

The drones suddenly expanded their electric tethers and formed a lightning net between the gaps, but it was already too late. The sparkling, crackling energy formed above him as he was already halfway down the shaft.

Splosh!

His boots slammed down on a puddle, and it was that more than anything else that alerted the Warforged.

Oops.

Watcher sighed as he waved a careless hand. The fabric of reality twisted as he exerted just a tiny bit more effort than his vessel could sustain. A crack opened and another him walked out of it. The incarnation walked past the first one, even as it crumbled to dust. In the meantime, the drones settled back into their dormant state, having witnessed nothing of consequence.

Power rushed into the Watcher as the slight consolidation between incarnations empowered this vessel. It was just a tad bit too much for equilibrium and he could feel his Chaos well draining. But that was fine. Each of his incarnations had a Chaos Well and were connected. He could share bits of power between them, and now, he shunted the excess away from this one. The air sparked with unrealised potential, and thankfully, the rustbuckets weren’t configured to notice the slight increase in ambient Chaos.

The pit was nearly a longstride deep, and there were hundreds of tunnel entrances dotting the sides. The normal path circled the sides like a corkscrew, but it ended a good twenty paces above the bottom. There was only one pathway open here, and it led deeper into the plane. One would think that the core would be at the exact centre of the plane, but Rumiga was oddly shaped. It was actually a bit north of the narrowest part, and more than two-thirds through the depths.

The Watcher followed the path, which wound around and around, built with potent defences. But those were not meant to be left without a guardian. The stone sentinels remained unmoving, the runescript wardings unpowered. And the Watcher found himself before a pair of silver gates seven paces tall and thirteen wide. The surface was filled with active runescript layers, and he knew that if he tried to bypass the door, he would never make it into the chambers. The core was slightly out of phase with the rest of the plane, quite like a human’s Animus core wasn’t exactly a physical thing. It meant that if he tried to dig at the stones, he would only find stones.

His fingers brushed against the surface and flinched away when a spark of hostile Animus retaliated for his temerity. If he had been mortal, then this might have been easier. Well, he probably wouldn’t even find this place.

The runescript formations were puzzles, and he needed to find the solutions. From the density and the interlocked mess, this would not be an easy or quick task.

The space around him was denser and harder to pierce. He couldn’t open a shortcut for the rest of his clones. With a thought, he summoned them to his side. He would need all of himself to succeed.

He moved to the left-hand door and floated towards the upper corner. The easiest puzzle was this one, and he drew a few symbols over the faulty ones.

“There,” he muttered, but when the runescript lines aligned to complete the puzzle, they fizzled out and reformed into a different one. “Tsk.” This would take just a bit longer than he thought.

Perhaps a few weeks? Who knows. But nothing would interrupt him while he did this, and it just gave his incarnations enough time to make their way here.

“Though perhaps the biggest puzzle is who made this thing…” he grumbled.

It didn’t really matter. There was a reason he chose this plane over many others. It wasn’t because of the contentious residents, it was the portal hub. It meant, that even once he assimilated the plane, he could still reach beyond his limits…

___________

Kato knelt next to his fiance and gently tapped her cheek. She remained insensate, however, no matter what he tried to do. She was barely breathing and he couldn’t calm his racing heart. If he hadn’t detected her breath by holding a wet finger under her nose, he might not have caught it. Her skin was cold to the touch, too, and Chaos Sight revealed that her respiration didn’t stir the ambient Chaos.

“Poison?” he muttered. “Or cursed? Locked down by an Animus technique?” He shook his head. No matter what, he had to take her away from this place. The silence was deafening, and when he sharpened his hearing, he could barely hear anyone’s heartbeat. They were still alive, but just barely. Probably to make transporting them easier.

His Knight-level Facet could extend a veil of invisibility beyond a few inches from his body, but not too far. If he carried her over his shoulders, she should be concealed well enough. He carefully scooped Caera into a princess carry then shifted her to settle across his shoulders. Her weight wasn’t a problem, though the awkwardness of carrying another person forced him to stoop slightly.

He crept out of the prison. The camp was still silent and the barbarian sentries were still at their posts. Their heads still remained fixed at the distance and it looked like they barely even moved.

Gritting his teeth, he covered himself in his invisibility and crept towards the palisade. With Caera secured over his shoulders, he still had one hand to climb. A five-pace high palisade that had looked so short when he entered suddenly looked a lot taller. Still, he could make it over with a bit of effort, and soon enough, he had a hand on the top of the makeshift wall.

The trouble started when Caera crossed the boundary. Suddenly, it was as if an alarm was called. There was still noise, but the sleeping barbarians all rushed out of their tents, heads sweeping the grounds. Even worse, she was suddenly covered in pale green light.

“Rotter!” he hissed as he jumped over the wall. His Facet technique couldn’t cover the light! The barbarians’ eyes zeroed in on his position and a dull roar of anger and triumph washed over him as he ran off towards the hills.

A horde of the rotters spilt out of the camp and thundered towards Kato. All he could do was keep running. He couldn’t even spare the time to glance back. He frantically tried to cover the light with his veil, but the flickering green flames resisted his technique.

The roaring grew louder and when he looked back, the horde was less than twenty paces away.

Whoosh!

Kato juked to the right, avoiding the throwing axes and javelins that flew towards him and Caera. He jumped to the left as another volley struck the earth. He lost a bit of his lead, and a part of him yelled to drop Caera and run. He stomped that voice to smithereens.

A few lunging steps later, he managed to cross the hilltop. But that didn’t mean much if he couldn’t hide!

The greenish flames lighting up her body weren’t warm, but they were tenacious. He…he had to face reality. It would neither of them any good if both of them got recaptured…

But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t just abandon her. He couldn’t try again. Who knew if they would even keep her alive if he dropped her now? No, he had to persevere!

Since his Facet wasn’t doing its job, he dropped the technique and shifted it to Boost. His speed rose by fifty percent and he began to gain a lead. Not that substantial as he had to zigzag to avoid getting hit by the projectiles.

Ahead, there was a small grove of trees. It wouldn’t give him much shelter, but it should give a bit of a respite. He barely made it.

But the grove wasn’t more than a couple of dozen paces across. He changed his angle and headed west. If he could reach one of the rivers…

He skidded to a halt when the lankier barbarians appeared in front of him. The brutes didn’t launch an attack but made threatening gestures with their weapons. A few moments later, the bulkier barbarians arrived behind him.

Surrounded.

Kato’s knuckles grew white as he gripped the handle of his Plasma Lancet. But ultimately, he knew it was futile. Those rotters managed to corner him and there was no way out aside from abandoning the girl.

No. No!

He screamed in frustration as his Plasma Lancet rose and fired at the barbarian in front of him. The purple Animus-coated plasma bolt slammed into the brute’s face. His fury strengthened the bolt so much that it melted the barbarian’s skin and muscles, exposing white bone in the process.

Even as the barbarian squealed in pain, Kato ran towards him. Two barbarians converged from the front, and he squeezed as much Animus as he could into his legs and jumped towards a tree. He kicked at the trunk and changed his trajectory.

Thunk! Thunk!

A flare of pain stabbed into his calf and the force of the blow made him spin in midair. His grip on Caera failed and the woman tumbled into the ground. Kato landed awkwardly as grabbed at the javelin lodged into his muscle and bone. Before he could so much as blink, one of the lanky barbarians flashed in front of him, axe held up high.

And with a merciless swing, slammed it towards Kato’s head.

Crunch!

Kato’s left shoulder crumpled under the blow, his dodge not enough to get him clear.

Thud.

A fist landed on his side and he felt something break. Then another blow landed on his jaw and he knew nothing more.