I swipe away the message before I finish reading it. Everything's just too… blood-boilingly infuriating. It reads like bad fanfiction mixed with a letter from the higher ups, but I can feel the intent behind it; a desire to turn everyone on us so he can go claim the final riches for himself. Because everyone has a heart of the heretic. And the quest just said to go after the heretics, so who wouldn't go after the only known heretics?

Us. Labeled by the horizonguard himself.

"We don't even know where the tombs are," Pearl says quietly. "Do you think the horizonguard already does?"

"There's no doubt. That's probably the reward for claiming all six districts around you."

Pearl grimaces at the prospect. "Then we just have to hope Clutter and Gil can get us there. What else can we do now?"

"Survive," I state with grim certainty. "Unless there are multiple tombs… which… hm. When we went under the city… the quest said the rewards we got were endgame. But if the quest is actually ending soon, then what the hell was it talking about?"

"Do you think that's a tomb?"

I grit my teeth and shake my head. "No way. A prison, definitely, but not a tomb. Maybe… maybe… the system's expediting things. Maybe the real main quest was supposed to end after every single district was claimed, and part of that would lead us to the basements."

It would make some level of sense. The heretics, the vision in the colourful liquid constructs, and most of all; the incident that ripped this place away from the world itself. Everything at the start pointed to us finding all of those things out. It was all censored out. I… need to check on the constructs we've saved. They'll lay everything bare.

Clacks of footsteps on the stairs joined by the light smack of a cane on the wall herald the arrival of everyone else. Unwavering stone-faced readiness in all of them, even Ward, sends a pang of regret down my spine. Three months of our lives. All for the quest to get expedited, and if we succeed, there won't be any rewards to go around. Everyone but Agathe knows this.

Everyone's already accepted it. Now, they all look to me for guidance. I scan the small crowd, missing two very key people, and clear my throat.

"The horizonguard's troops are stronger than we are. We don't even know how powerful his main force is, either. So we can't just fight them head-on." I reach back and tap the glass window with my knuckles. "Everyone out there isn't worth a single thought. They think we're going to stand and fight for the tower. Fight for our district. Because they think we're in it for the same reasons as they are, but we aren't."

I take a short breath, then put on a jagged smile. "Our main objectives are to stop this place from recombining with the world and to get out alive. So far we have no idea how to complete objective number one without screwing over objective number two. That's what we have to figure out before we start throwing ourselves in the horizonguard's way; can we get out of here without bringing the city back to the real world with us. Any questions?"

It's a rhetorical question. Because, truth is, we have so many more questions than answers. All we know is what the heretics are. But the role they play in the quest itself? Hell, anything more than the absolute least? It's all behind murky glass. I know it isn't an inspirational speech to end all speeches. That's all I have, though.

I motion at everyone but Llaliu. "Everyone go through the doors and meet up at the rollercoaster district. That one should still be relatively safe. Search it high and low for any changes since the announcement. Take everything that your inventories can carry from here, since there's no guarantee that we'll ever be coming back here."

Llaliu looks around as everyone else filters out. Except for Agathe, who slowly makes her way down with a few quiet murmurs of surprise at the vines on the stairs. Once my awareness feels everyone head their separate ways to fill their inventories, I focus my attention on her.

"Need something from me, boss?" She asks seriously, even though her choice of words doesn't sound like it.

I nod and summon the wreath-sphere. "Clutter's with Gil right now. Depending on how fast Gil can get them back to the horizonguard's district, we might find ourselves in an all-out war way sooner than we're expecting. Once we get there, I need you to search for a man named 'Well'; that's how the horizonguard found his entrances to this quest. If we're lucky… a little girl's dad might be there too."

Llaliu's obvious confusion at my words doesn't keep her from accepting the wreath-sphere. Truth is, I have no idea if what I just said will actually work. But if the horizonguard does have normal civilians with him–like Clamber's dad–then we have to be extra careful. They'll think this is just part of the quest. And even if they're tricked by the system into thinking we're the enemy, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing I'd murdered a bunch of completely innocent people.

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On the other hand, I think I'd sleep a hell of a lot better if the horizonguard didn't survive this.

The wreath-sphere hooks onto Lllaliu's pack without any trouble. She nods in understanding, even though she definitely doesn't fully understand, and turns to get ready. I briefly consider telling her what I'm thinking about, but I trust everyone here. They don't want to hurt random people any more than I do.

"Why Llaliu?" Pearl asks.

I shrug. "She kind of reminds me of Ursula. That's about it."

"Mm," Pearl hums. "Okay."

I half-expect her to say more, but it looks like that's the end of it. She doesn't look like she disapproves of my choice, but it also seems like she doesn't approve of me handing the burden off. Truth be told, it's something I'd put on the backburner for so long that it was almost hard to remember. If it wasn't for Agathe switching up the fabric on my arm then I probably wouldn't have remembered until it was too late.

It's a selfish decision. To put myself somewhere else instead of trying to find Clamber's dad and the mysterious Well first-hand. But everyone here isn't strong enough to fight the horizonguard. Hell, I'm probably just barely enough to stall him thanks to purification and relocation. Maybe Agathe will change things. Maybe the constructs will be stronger than I thought.

Maybe all my worries will be proven wrong.

All I can do is hope.

Crack.

A soft noise, like the ambient crackle of warming ice, scythes down my spine and tears my fears right out. I turn. One small dent in the glass stares back at me–connected to the tip of a shimmering white-gold spear. A figure clad in one of the space-hazmat suits stands on ripples of golden energy in midair, pulls the spear back, and drives it forward with murderous intent.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Each strike widens the crack. The ground trembles beneath my feet as explosions far more vicious than before echo out from everywhere at once. Tiny chunks of stone-like material rain down from above along with the last whispers of magic being destroyed by our security. Instantly I know the tower's not going to last.

Because something's changed. Somehow our absolute invulnerability has been stripped away by the main quest progress. I sneer at the spearman then spin on my heel to sprint down the stairs while the explosions increase in volume and vigor. If it wasn't for all the upgrades we put into this place, we'd already be trapped under layers of rubble.

"All this work… for nothing. We never even figured out what the library was actually supposed to be used for. How is this fair? How can the system do this? What's the point of having restrictions if they're this easy to bypass?"

I ignore Pearl's bitter murmurings and sprint to the bottom of the tower. Llaliu's standing right there, her face frozen in a perpetual sneer as she snaps from noise source to noise source. I smack her shoulder as I run by, which seems to snap her out of it.

"Sorry!" She apologizes as she joins my frantic rush. "Just… not expecting this."

"Then you're more idealistic than I am," I chuckle humourlessly. "Make sure everyone's safe. I'll turn every security thing up to max as soon as we're out of here."

She nods. "Leave everything behind?"

I return a grim nod of my own. When I break off for the workshop she keeps on for the meditation chamber. I throw open the door as our little bastion of safety crumbles around us, and inside… it's even worse. Sawyer's rushing around like a madman trying to put everything he can into his inventory. So far he's succeeded with everything that wasn't already in the room to begin with.

And there's half a damn wall missing. He frantically dodges attacks that fizzle out before they can hit anything vital, fluidly moving from one machine to another as he tries to take them.

"Sawyer!"

He spins to lock eyes with me. Understanding colours his face without the need for another word. He rushes to me without a moment's hesitation while the room crumbles around him, our protective magics seeping out of the gaping holes in the walls.

"Time to go," He sourly states. "I thought we'd… I mean… sorry, ma'am. I couldn't get everything."

I shake my head and slam the door shut behind him. Llaliu shouts something off in the distance, then an explosion from off in her direction rocks the entire foundation.

Sawyer tenses. He glances back towards the main tower for a moment, but doesn't look like he's going to retreat. Just that he's worried.

I bat his shoulder with the back of my hand. "Go get Ward and bring him to the rollercoaster district. We'll be right behind you."

All the tension leaves him with one massive sigh. "Thanks, ma'am."

"Don't thank me yet," I whisper as he runs off. "We're nowhere close to safe."

Another explosion that feels like emptiness expanding over and over detonates from the direction of the meditation chamber. I summon my coins and move in.

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