Kade: Hey, Jessie woke up having a bad pain day. We're going to take the bus so we can get her chair to the GC center. Don't worry about picking us up.

Ellen: No problem. I'll see you there. Ariette's Grimoire and Brendan's Hymnal, right?

Kade: Right, and anything you can find about Paragons, ranks beyond S, and alternative sources of Laws. And maybe Arjun's Script, if you can track down a copy.

Ellen: Got it. You're going to be busy, huh?

Kade: Yeah. See you soon.

I loaded Jessie's wheelchair into the back of the Phoenix transit bus, made sure she was as comfortable as she could be, and waved for the driver to go. He nodded, and the bus crept toward the Peoria Governing Council center.

"I'm going to be late," Jessie said quietly.

"Probably," I said. "That's okay. They knew what they were signing up for, and you're still a trainee, right?"

"Yeah, I guess, but I don't want to be late. I'll have to play catch-up all day, and it'll slow down digging into the archives."

I nodded. "That's okay, too. Do your job, and if you find the time, great. If not, that's fine, too."

Jessie went quiet, and her eyes closed. She looked like she was sleeping, but I knew what she was really doing. Her breathing was just a little too unnatural to be sleep breaths. She was pain-managing. Her condition hadn't worsened. She was just having a flare-up. At least, I hoped so.

"You have therapy and shots after work," I said.

"Yeah. Please be quiet. This is hard enough without interruptions."

"Sorry."

By the time I got Jessie situated behind the reception counter and hit the library, I was almost an hour late to meet Ellen. She was still there, though, surrounded by books and video footage. I sat down heavily in the thick wooden chair across from her. "Sorry. Sometimes she—"

"Struggles. I understand, and I think it's my fault. I pushed her pretty hard yesterday afternoon. We actually hit up three different shops before Eriqua's. I wanted her to have an experience. She got one, but I guess it's coming with a cost." Ellen looked apologetic.

"Don't blame yourself. I'd say I owe you, but…"

"No, you don't. If anything, I still owe you. It was a good time for me, too." Ellen cleared her throat and scowled, "Unlike trying to find the word 'Paragon' in this place. I've only found three instances in my search so far, and two of them are about the Light of Dawn and how he's a paragon among delvers in Phoenix. The last one's a throwaway reference to another S-Ranker. I almost think we're not going to find anything."

"Then we don't find anything."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "This is a needle in a haystack situation, and Jessie's operating off of hunches, not reality. I doubt she figured out the answer on a hunch. Let's focus our attention on what we know we can do first. How close are you to D-Rank?"

"One portal. Maybe two." Ellen shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I'm not in a huge rush, and I've got my last skill merged. It's just leveling skills now."

"Do you want to find some to run instead of this?"

"No. Absolutely not. I want to see what you've got as a D-Ranker." Ellen handed me a book. "Ariette's Grimoire. D-Rank spells. Now."

I sighed and opened the book. I'd been so excited about learning my new limits as a D-Ranker last night, but today, I couldn't help but feel a little…uninterested wasn't the right word. It was more preoccupied, or concerned with Ellen and Jessie. And with Jeff. I hadn't heard a word from him since we'd left him after the C-Rank portal we'd cleared. It wasn't like he'd vanished. He still showed as online and contactable in my phone. But he'd been busy with something, or I'd been busy with my somethings. Either way, we hadn't talked.

But Ellen was right. I had a lot to learn if I wanted to take advantage of my consolidated core and D-Rank strength. And I needed to get to work.

"Okay, I have Ariette's Zephyr from the Grimoire and Thunder Wave from the Hymnal. I don't think I want to replace either of those—the Zephyr is too good as a quick-cast option, and Thunder Wave's a really solid solo spell and finisher, especially if I can double it. But I need something heavier for close-range combat."

Ellen stood up and circled behind me. She put a hand on my shoulder and leaned over me, peering at the book. "What kind of casting speed are you thinking?"

I didn't shrug her off me, even though her hand felt warm through my T-shirt. "I'm looking for something relatively quick. A second. Two at the most. Ideally, it'd be something I could hold like a Zephyr. Wind or lightning. Single-target, heavy damage, all up front."

"You don't want to do damage over time? It's pretty efficient."

"I know. I helped you set up your build, remember. But I'm not worried about efficiency. I'm worried about raw output against C-Rank monsters and bosses. That's the striker side of my build, and it's gotta be able to perform."

"Okay. Let's get to it."

Over the next hour, Ellen and I rooted through both Ariette's Grimoire and Brendan's Hymnal for options, and eventually, we found three.

First was Ariette's Razor. It was, effectively, an evolution of Ariette's Zephyr. Instead of a tiny dart that expanded, it formed a thin, flat-tipped cutting blade in my off-hand, formed from pure wind. It'd give me a second threat up close—one that couldn't be parried by an enemy, since most of the wind would go around any attempt to block it. They'd need a shield or armor. And, even better, it could be thrown a lot like a Zephyr to get rid of it quickly if I needed to switch forms.

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The second spell was from Brendan's Hymnal. Storm Chant. It was different in that, while it was still inscribed onto the outside of my core, I didn't cast it with my hands. Instead, it was a verbal spell; as long as I kept the chant going, it'd increase my attacks' damage whenever I landed a hit. It acted similarly to a Script, but the effect was significantly more powerful than anything I'd picked up from Arjun's book.

And third was Slicing Bolt. It was a Grimoire spell, but used a mixture of both wind and lightning magic to form a single, horizontal wave of energy that surged toward an enemy at range. It was, in many respects, a straight upgrade to my Zephyrs and Thunder Wave—large amounts of damage at whatever it hit. But that was also a weakness. I already had both quick ranged spells and heavy burst damage covered.

In the end, I chose Ariette's Razor and Slicing Bolt.

My core was almost completely full by the time I'd finished. I had just enough space for a single spell the size of Ariette's Zephyr, but I wanted to save it in case I found a weakness in my spellcasting suite.

Zephyr and Slicing Bolt gave me a lot of pressure at range at the cost of Mana inefficiency, while the addition of Ariette's Razor promised even more pressure on duelist-style monsters. And, even though it was an E-Rank spell, Thunder Wave offered the most raw power in my kit. It was situational, but I had my offense covered.

With all that done, I cracked Tonya's Binding open and found a second Binding. Unlike the lightning trap, this one was a simple wall of air that triggered on proximity. It reminded me a lot of the slow Binding I'd used in my support days, but less flexible; it only shoved my enemies away from me. But it was still situationally useful, and I needed another defensive option.

Finally, I looked up. Ellen was surrounded by her own books, but she'd long since stopped studying. When she realized I was done, she shut the romance novel she was reading with a clacking sound.

"Are you finally finished?" she asked, her face a little red.

I nodded. "Yep. Want to spar?"

"Not until we've worked out. I need you to burn off some of that D-Rank energy."

"Understood." I laughed. I was looking forward to a fight, but if she wanted to hit the gym first, that was fine with me.

I finished my run, breathing hard. Six minutes, twenty-three seconds for a two-mile run. I'd cleaned over six-fifty, set personal—and unawakened world—records for bench press, curls, and squats, and blown Ellen out of the water at everything we did.

She finished in just under eight minutes, doubled over, and pretended to vomit. "Kade, this isn't as fun as it used to be," she complained.

"Sorry. A couple more portals, right?" I offered her a hand, and she took it, then leaned on my shoulder, breathing heavily.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's see what you can do now."

We were halfway to the boss core-powered sparring rooms when both of our phones went off. I looked at Ellen. "I know only the deeply unserious delvers play on their phones during a workout, but—"

"Oh, shut up and read it."

Jeff: I'm sorry to spring this on you two by text, but I've been trying to find the right time to bring it up for two days, and I can't wait any longer. You heard that the GC's putting together a relief column to Carlsbad Fortress. I need to be in that column. You need to be in it, too, but you have to get to C-Rank.

Jeff: Can we talk about this? Thirty minutes, my place?

I looked at Ellen. She was furiously typing, and I already knew what her answer was going to be. "You just don't want to fight me," I quipped.

She stared at me, eyes hooded. "Right now, Kade Noelstra, I want nothing more than to kick your butt for that joke." Then she sent her message.

Ellen: We're on our way. Address?

I nodded and headed for the men's locker room. It sucked not getting to test my abilities, but I had a feeling I knew why Jeff wanted to be in the relief convoy. And if I was right, it was going to be an opportunity to get my butt—and Ellen's—to C-Rank in record time.

As the portal surge's tide ebbed and the Roadrunners got their territory under control, Carter Richards had gone underground.

It had been the perfect opportunity. His ad-hoc guild team had gotten separated in the D-Rank portal he'd been in, and he'd hit the exit before any of them had made it back but after the boss had died. There hadn't been a GC rep or anyone from the Roadrunners outside of it. The street had been empty.

He'd literally gone underground, hiding in a storm drain next to an abandoned golf course. And he'd stayed there for as long as he could stand it—hopefully, for long enough for the Roadrunners to assume he'd died.

Carter hadn't had any other moves.

If he kept working for Deborah Callahan, he'd only get drawn further into whatever she was doing, and she'd already put him in the crosshairs of an up-and-coming delver with more than enough power to beat him. Carter had realized that Deborah only wanted to use him, then spit him out when he no longer had value. She only cared about one person—not Terri, Lizzie, or even Carter.

But he couldn't leave. She was paying for Terri and Lizzie's recoveries, and it was Carter's fault they'd gotten hurt. He couldn't stop working for Deborah until they'd recovered.

And he couldn't tell Angelo Lawrence. That should have been his best option, but it wasn't realistic in any way.

The Light of Dawn simply didn't meet with D-Rankers on short notice. He couldn't even imagine getting a one-on-one, private meeting with the S-Ranked guild leader, much less without Deborah knowing about it. Even if he could, he didn't have any evidence of Deborah's scheming. It'd be her word against his, and she was the Light of Dawn's tank when he went delving. Carter had no chance of convincing him to do something.

So, that left faking his death. If he died, Deborah wouldn't feel like he'd betrayed her. She was an egotistical maniac, but Carter thought there was a pretty good chance she'd take care of Terri and Lizzie. She took care of her people unless she had a reason not to or it was time to use them up, and as far as Carter could tell, both of them were still her people—even if they had injuries that were keeping them out of the action. And if he was dead, Deborah wouldn't look for him.

He'd stayed in his storm drain for two days. He'd have stayed longer, but he ran out of water on the second day. He headed southwest, toward Peoria. It was dangerously close to both the Roadrunners and to Kade Noelstra, the delver who'd threatened his life after wiping out his hit squad. But it was also the section of Phoenix he knew the best, and he had the best chance of finding a new identity there.

That identity was based entirely on a lie, on the fact that he'd only registered with the Governing Council one time—when he'd awakened—and that he'd done a couple of incredibly stupid things. But there was no going back. Not to the Roadrunners. Not until Deborah wasn't around anymore.

Carter walked up to the GC rep at the Peoria training center. She sat, just like all the others, but unlike them, she sat in a wheelchair. She was also young. Probably the youngest rep he'd ever seen—though he'd done almost all of his training at the Roadrunners' guild hall before, so his experience was pretty minimal. Her face was screwed up with pain, but she took a deep breath as he approached, closed her eyes, and flattened her expression. There was something familiar about her. Carter couldn't place it, though.

"What can the Governing Council do for you?" she asked.

He breathed deeply, then launched into his carefully-rehearsed lie. "Hi. I'm not from around here, and I'm hoping to get registered with the GC so I can start finding teams. My name's Caleb Richter, and I'm an archer."

"Oh yeah? Well, let's get you in the database. Nice scar, by the way," the GC rep said. "Get it delving?"

"Yeah. Hobgoblins. It'll heal over time, but we didn't have a healer, so the nose is messed up, and the eye's blurry for now," Carter said. "I got sucked into a portal team south of the city, between Tucson and the Loop 303 wall."

"That's rough. Okay, Caleb, pull up your status and we'll get you registered," the GC rep said. As she pulled up her tablet, Carter caught a flash of her nametag. Jessica Gerald, GC Rep-In-Training. He'd never heard of the Geralds. Or had he? Something there rang a bell. He'd have to check in on it later.

"Thanks, Jessica."

"Please, it's just Jessie or Rep Gerald." She fiddled with her tablet. "A three-skill Unique merge? What happened?"

Carter waited until she handed him his new delving card. "I had to make some hard choices," he said, telling the truth for the first time. Then he headed for the door.

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