"What are you doing here?" Lexie didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified to see Naem. As always, she felt a little bit of both.

"Visiting you," he said, and he picked her off the ground by the back of her shirt like she was a puppy. He then rested her against his hip like she was a child, and Lexie watched the darkness that had surrounded her feet, hiss and pulse. Lexie felt a surge of that heart-pounding fear until Naem did his fear-suppressing mojo thing, and it calmed her down.

"Better?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Where have you been?"

"Here and there." He held up his hand, and some of the black sludge receded, allowing them a path forward. The path currently led to nowhere, but he seemed to want to take a stroll. As they walked through it, Lexie thought she could sense the presence of bodies or creatures hidden by the darkness. It was a horrifying thought. She wondered if this was still part of her dream, or if Naem had made it look more like the Eldritch world.

Perhaps this was home to him.

Lexie realized then that Naem didn't have a scent. Even this close, she couldn't physically smell him or tell you anything distinguishable about his fragrance. Did Eldritch simply not have one? Was it because they were in a dream, or because he had his human mask on?

Speaking of which, why was he wearing his human mask? They weren't on Earth, so he didn't need to hide. Did he do it for her benefit, so she wouldn't be so scared? Maybe.

Lexie briefly wondered what he would look like in full Eldritch ode.

Probably more terrifying than that Eye. She assumed Eldritch beings had to have a scary form, correct? It might be that the more powerful they were, the scarier. Or was that simply a stereotype?

She realized that even now, she didn't have a full grasp of what being Eldritch meant.

"What does it mean to be Eldritch?" Lexie asked, her voice sounding vast in the void that surrounded them. The darkness was constantly moving, retreating from Naem as though acknowledging his supremacy.

"Why do you ask?

She took a deep breath, stared at the gorge in the distance, and admitted, "Because I realized that I'm terrified of being Eldritch, and I don't even know what that means."

Naem was silent as he considered the question. He was silent for so long that Lexie wondered if he would answer the question or if he was waiting for her to move on from it. Perhaps this was one of the things he couldn't talk to her about. He couldn't lie to her, but that didn't mean he was obligated to tell her what she wanted to know either.

"Am I allowed to ask?" she ventured.

"The question is permissible here," he said. "It is simply too difficult to give a satisfactory answer for your narrow human mind to grasp."

"Hey." Lexie felt insulted, and Naem gave a huff that sounded like amusement.

"Your father asked a similar question when we first became acquainted. I gave him a different answer than what I want to give you." He cocked his head thoughtfully. "There are things I can say, but certain things I can not tell you, which are upper-level Eldritch business. I'm trying to sort the information I have into both aisles and then arrange what I can tell you into a coherent sentence."

Oh. In that case, she understood his reluctance.

"Ok, just tell me this," she said. "I think that my Eldritch essence is spreading. Sometimes, especially when I'm attacked, I can hear it speaking to me, telling me to do terrible things to anyone who has wronged me. Or even just sometimes anyone who happens to be in the vicinity." She ducked her head, ashamed to admit all these things even to a creature most regarded as the embodiment of evil. "I think my Eldritch side that gets triggered by pain and anger, or when I feel threatened. That would explain why I almost always got the intent for my cards during a spar or after a spar, when I think about what I could have done differently to win. It also explains why I spazzed out on Diana last time." She exhaled. "So…am I supposed to learn to control that, to stop being afraid of stuff and stop getting angry? Should I live like a monk, and do breathing exercises all day? Because if I keep getting mad and afraid, then it will feed into the Eldritch side of me, and it will keep growing, and I'll be even more afraid, and it will turn into a vicious cycle until I'm just a big, ugly thing that haunts people. No offense."

Naem didn't say anything to do that. She was worried that she had offended him, but he didn't seem offended. If anything, he seemed amused and thoughtful.

"Is there a way to stop the essence from growing?" she ventured. "Dad said the two of you were looking into it."

"Do you believe there is a cure for madness?" Naem asked. "Or does it simply take another form?"

The question was so unexpected that it gave her a start.

"What?"

"Humans spend most of their lives trying to fight and overcome their own madness," he said. "The loss of control of their universe terrifies them. The lack of understanding, the mystery…they spend their entire lives trying to figure out exactly what makes them human and creating rules that govern that instead of just letting their madness be."

"Yeah," Lexie answered. "Why would they let it be?"

"Why not?"

"Because madness feeds destruction," she said. "If you can't manage your temper, you have anger issues. You start lashing out at people and hurting them. If you're crazy, you wreck things, and can even wreck yourself."

"And the solution to that is control." It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Well, yeah," Lexie said. "Of course, too much control is a bad thing, too, because then you just become like a robot or a zombie. Actually, I'm not sure if zombies are a result of a lack of control or too much control. Anyway, what you really need is balance, somewhere between no control at all and too much control."

"Interesting," Naem said, and their conversation reminded Lexie of something Naem had told her father a very long time ago, on that first night she'd seen them talking.

He'd told Aiden something about how madness was its own type of superpower.

"To answer your question," he said now. "It's not as clear-cut as whether or not you would become more Eldritch if you keep feeling those emotions. The very nature of what it means to be Eldritch makes it difficult to predict its growth. Very little about how it grows is actually in our hands."

"You're saying it might grow anyway?" The very thought terrified her.

"We're not sure why it grew in the first place, and we still haven't found a way to limit that growth without destabilizing both sides of your soul. I tried to explain to your father that even preventing you from using those cards might not be enough to stop the growth, but he insisted on trying anyway. The goal here should not be to prevent the growth but to retain some of your personhood and agency over the situation."

"How do I do that?"

"First of all, to control it, you must understand it. I cannot explain to you what it means to be an Eldritch. No one truly can because it depends on you. Every Eldritch creature has a core, and from that core, their natures emerge. You're likely right in that your Eldritch core holds essences of rage and fear, but there's likely more to it than that, and since I do not feel either of those emotions, you did not get that from me. It is simply what your core has formed individually using my essence to create a unique signature. Therefore, I cannot tell you what it means for you to be Eldritch. Only you can experience what that means, and I can simply guide you."

"How?"

"First of all, you must interact with different Eldritch forms. Parts of them will resonate with you, and parts of them won't. You will likely never fully understand another Eldritch being, since your eldritch essence is such a small portion of your being compared to theirs. You're also extremely young for an Eldritch and have not lived most of your life as an Eldritch. However, the more you understand them, the more you understand yourself, and the more you understand yourself, the better of a grasp you have on your Eldrich growth and the more powerful you can become." He said. "But you will also become a mystery to other full humans. It is part of the reason why your father will never fully understand me, and he will never fully understand you either."

Lexie stared at him because he'd just given her a lot to unpack. It was such a confusing tangle of information. She decided to start at the top.

"So I have to interact with other Eldritch forms?"

"Yes."

"Isn't that…dangerous?"

"Yes," he answered plainly, and Lexie choked on her breath. "Since you will probably be weaker or less knowledgeable than several Eldritch forms you interact with, they will most likely try to absorb you, kill you, or enslave you. But.." He cocked his head. "That's why I'm here."

"Good to know," she inhaled, swallowing her apprehension. "So when do we start?"

"We start with a soul contract." He stopped and put her back down on her feet. "It will take time to prepare one, and be in touch soon."

"Wait, one more thing," she said before he could leave her. "My Uncle Max. He got trapped in a dungeon that disappeared, and my dad said the two of you were working together so you could enter The Other and find my mom."

"Yes, but Aiden is nowhere near ready for that. Going into The Other isn't as simple as one might think. He would need to be powerful enough to defeat any creature he encounters there or else…"

"Or else what..."

"Or else it would kill him or snatch his soul. His body would return, but it would be something else within."

"Oh God." Lexie's breath ratcheted. This whole time, she'd been hoping that Aiden had told Max about The Other so that he could find his way there and stay safe. Now it seemed even that wasn't safe enough.

"So you're saying…even if my Uncle finds the Other, there's a chance he might be killed by creatures there."

"Killed. Or enslaved. Or a variety of other things."

A wave of devastation crashed on Lexie. She blinked back tears that filled her eyes and ignored the twisting pressure in her chest.

No. She wouldn't accept it. She wouldn't give up.

Lexie took deep breaths. Her father hadn't told her that little factoid about The Other. Probably to save her from this very reaction.

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"I must go now," Naem said. "And so must you. Someone is coming."

"What?"

Before she could say anything else, Naem disappeared. In a dizzying shift, Lexie was suddenly staring up at the ceiling between Xena's face and that of a man whom Lexie didn't know.

Lexie blinked at them, noting that Xena's eyes were panicked and quickly filling with relief as she laid a hand on her chest.

"Jeez, you terrified me," Xena said, collapsing onto the bed beside Lexie. "You were screaming your head off. I could hear you all the way from the forest."

"You could?" Lexie did indeed find her throat to be hoarse and cleared it. She sat up and flushed, more than a little embarrassed. She didn't know she'd been screaming. Why had she been screaming again?

Was it during her nightmare, or had she been screaming while talking to Naem, too? Had she been scared then?

She couldn't remember. With Naem, it was hard to say. The fear had probably been there, but there was also a familiarity with it, because of how much time they'd begun to spend together. A familiar fear. Strange concept.

"Sorry," she said finally.

"It's okay." Xena's eyes were sympathetic. "Were you having a nightmare?"

"Something like that." She finally turned her attention to the other man in the room, who looked to be somewhere in his early twenties. He was dark-skinned, although lighter than Xena. His skin color was more of a warm caramel than a tawny brown. He wasn't in the uniform robes either; rather, he was wearing a white wifebeater and sweats. He had a constellation of earrings decorating the side of his ear and rings around each of his fingers, and his expression looked somewhere between annoyed and bored.

"Lexie, this is Lionel," Xena introduced. "My kind of cousin who is also my trainer."

"Hey," Lexie said.

"Hey," Lionel said, as he gave Xena a look. Xena gave him a look back, and the two seemed to be communicating without words, through just their expressions.

"It's rude to talk about me when I'm right here," Lexie joked, and Xena gave her a chagrined look.

"Sorry. Lionel's just annoyed that you're here because he told me I wasn't allowed to have sleepovers even though it's my tower."

"No," the man said, "Lionel is irritated because you're flagrantly disobeying my warnings about the dangers involved in having someone here while we train." He turned to Lexie. "But that's not your fault, and I'm being rude. My apologies."

"No, it's fine," Lexie said. "I can go back to my room if you want."

"No," he said. "Xena told me you're facing a little trouble in your room."

"Something like that," Lexie said.

Lionel nodded. "You can stay for a few days. I can speak to the authorities if you want, but I will warn you it won't look good on you when it comes to evaluations."

"No, it's fine. I can handle it." For whatever reason, she was determined to handle it on her own. Lionel didn't respond to that, but he looked at her longer than normal before he looked away.

"I need to use the bathroom," Lexie announced as she got out of bed. She groaned as her muscles cramped, her system-healing working too slowly for her liking. She shuffled toward the back of the room but was suddenly stopped when Lionel grabbed her shoulder, leaned in, and took a big whiff.

"What the hell?" Xena looked and sounded horrified. "Did you just smell her, you creep? Gross."

"Sorry," he said, coughing awkwardly. "Thought I smelled something."

Lexie gave him a perplexed but also embarrassed look. "Yeah, that's me. I ran twenty miles before I got here."

"And didn't shower?" Xena asked. "Grosser."

"No, that's not it." Lionel shook his head, still frowning. "Forget it, it's nothing. I'm probably just being sensitive. Sorry about that."

"Yeah, it's fine," Lexie said as Xena made gagging sounds at Lionel.

"Why would you run twenty miles?" Xena then asked Lexie confused.

"Because Torin Firebringer is my student mentor."

Xena's eyes widened. "Oh."

"Yeah."

She came closer and laid a hand on Lexie's shoulder, her eyes glowing with sympathy as if Lexie had just confessed to having a fatal disease. "I'm so sorry, my friend. You are now the definition of dead meat."

***

Xena's warning was valid.

Torin had to be certifiably crazy because the kind of running and weightlifting regimen he had her doing was something only a crazy person would suggest. When she told him this, he didn't let up and only responded with, "If you have the energy to complain, then you have the energy to continue."

Yeah. Insane.

System healing helped a lot, but she still had aches the day after her training, and she had to do it all over again. She was learning to live with the aches and taking advantage of the on-campus sauna and massage room, which was one of the niceties of campus.

The other good thing was that she only had two classes in total that first week. She had general combat once a month, long-range once every two months. The rest of the classes varied, and herbology was pretty much whenever she wanted. It left her a lot of free time to pursue her private research and hang out with her friends.

Lexie also talked to her dad a lot. She ended up telling him about her meeting with Naem and the fact that she was going to begin training with him because she felt like her Eldritch essence was spreading anyway.

He took it much better than she thought he would.

"Naem warned me that might happen," he said. "But I was hoping I would find a way to stop it before it could."

"Me too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to get it to spread even more, but Naem says the only way to control it is to understand it. And that's what I'm trying to do."

Aiden sighed. He looked very conflicted but nodded. "I'll keep looking on my end, see what I can find. But if you are going to sign a soul contract with Naem, remember to keep it simple."

"What do you mean?"

"Shorter is better. Only keep it to the essentials of what he needs to train you. Ensure you understand every single word and interpretation of the contract. It's better to have all the terms listed down rather than written in longer prose, to avoid context and comprehension issues. Also, make sure certain allowances are in there: void all implied consent according to Eldritch culture, and void everything agreed to but not in this contract. Ask him to use non-essential soul components first."

"Okay, got it," Lexie said. "You don't think he's going to try and trick me, is he?"

"No, but you never know with the Eldritch. Better safe than sorry. You should be fine as long as you stick to those common rules."

"Understood," she said. " Speaking of which, how is your investigation going?

Aiden sighed. "It's going. I'm not sure if we have too much information at this point or not enough. There are just so many facets to this, and so many unlikely things happening all at once."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, starting with all the stores around the dungeon site in Hartville, all being closed for valid reasons. None of the owners of the stores have any ties to criminals, so it's hard to say they all coordinated that. Then there's the fact that the Heroes who should have been on duty couldn't make it that day, citing different reasons. The worst part bout it all is that we just keep following leads that go nowhere but a dead end. At points, it feels like we're running in circles and being led around. It's been a nightmare, to be honest."

"I'm sorry. Sounds like it sucks," Lexie said, but the thought of running in circles also reminded Lexie of the dream she'd had before Naem's arrival. "Speaking of which, there's something I wanna ask you. Was I ever, at any point, attacked by anyone? Like when I was younger, did I have to be saved from a bad guy?"

Aiden frowned. "No, not that I know of. Why?"

"I think I'm getting my memories back, and I keep having this dream about someone being after me. He was chasing me around our old house, and I think he wanted to kill me."

Aiden's face paled. "What?"

"Yeah. Another thing, I've actually met this guy in real life before. I was in Old Moulding one day, with a friend–"

"What were you doing in Old Moulding, Lexie Beth?"

Lexie winced and glared. "You promised never to call me that again. Just listen, Dad. I was there with a friend, and I saw him, the guy who was chasing me in my dream. He knew my name and everything. I had no clue who he was, but I was terrified of him."

Aiden's face showed him going through a series of emotions, from worry to fear to anger and determination. "Describe him."

"It's kind of hard to. He looks average except that he has really piercing blue eyes. Messy hair. Dresses like a pirate sometimes."

"I'll get a sketch artist and you'll describe him as best as you can. Then I'll find him and figure out what he did to you to make you so scared."

Lexie smiled, feeling relieved. "Thanks, Dad."

"Of course. Now, about you going to Old Moulding without telling me..."

"Dad..." Lexie groaned, and he lectured her about it for nearly another hour while her father peppered her with more questions about this guy.

After she eventually hung up, she went to get started on her research.

Victoire had given her a private lab to work in, and it was a study room with state-of-the-art card-crafting equipment and blank cards that had been set up just for her. There were also books everywhere, hardcovers, and all about card crafting. They let her know she could order more and get anything she wanted pertaining to her research.

Yeah, that part certainly excited her, and it made nearly getting drowned on the first night almost worth it.

She worked alone, had an access key to the room to ensure her privacy, and only had to report her development to her staff mentor at the end of each month. Apart from her training, her random classes here and there, and of course, social obligations, she was free to craft as much as she wanted.

Her first goal was to make a trap card that would keep pests out of her room. She wasn't using Eldritch intent for this, determined to do things the right way and work with the system instead of against it. She tried to read more Fables to encourage intent from that aspect, but got nothing. It was days of reading and research, and while she had a few ideas for how the card could look, she wasn't getting much insight in terms of intent.

God, it was so irritating attempting to think like a Fae. She'd forgotten how convoluted the culture could be. Lexie simply had no patience for it, and no whimsy inside her. She was entirely too practical.

But she wasn't going to give up. She didn't want the Eldritch essence to spread any more than it had to, at least until she learned to control it, and she also didn't want that witch Rufina to get another one over on her. She would be ready next time she showed up. She might be a target, but she wouldn't be a sitting duck.

That day, she worked for so long that she almost missed dinner and had to be dragged to eat by Xena, Dewie, and Jace. After dinner, she went back to her lab to study some more. She did for the next few days, too. As the obsession with finding the trap card's intent took over, she could almost hear Naem's words in the back of her mind.

Do you believe there's a cure for madness, or does it simply take another form?

***

Miles away, outside a busy club, stood a man who hated everything about being there.

Just one minute after he arrived, someone stumbled in front of Vulcan and puked on his shoes.

"Woah, what the fuck?" Vulcan jumped out of the way, but it was too late. His vintage boots were now smeared with alcohol and chunks of steak. "Are you serious with this?" he yelled. "Have you no respect? What is wrong with you people?"

The jerk didn't even have the decency to apologize. He responded to Vulcan's disgusted glare with a loopy grin and wandered away aimlessly.

Oh, how Vulcan wanted to kill him, but he didn't. He typically tried very hard not to kill people without a clear plan, and without weighing the effects of those choices beforehand. That was the only way he managed to stay under the radar.

So he simply shook his head and grabbed a discarded water bottle to wash off the vomit.

"I swear some people have no home training," he grumbled and tutted. "No decency and no respect for others."

After he was done getting the leather clean, he sighed to the sky. That vomit incident must have happened in one of his playthroughs, and he'd simply forgotten.

That was the problem with doing too many playthroughs: too many things to predict, and way too much information for the human mind to remember. He tried to hold onto only the vital knowledge needed for his mission, but truly he wanted to recall everything.

If only I had a bigger brain.

Neon lights bounced around the building, and he could hear the thumping inside. Annoying club music. Why did people like this?

Was he ever one of them? Did he ever go to clubs and jump around, waving his hands to their awful drum beats?

Maybe, but truthfully, he couldn't remember.

He checked his watch. Any moment now...

The person he was waiting for should be out in five, four, three, two...

The boisterous laughter announced the presence of the leader of GLITCH as he stepped out of the busy club with his arm swinging around a pretty lady. He was Horatio Kramer, also known as The Big Bad Bastard, sometimes The Big Beautiful Bastard, but mostly just The Bastard for short. His face was flushed, and he was very drunk, high off the celebration. The entire villain alliance was celebrating yet another resounding victory against the [Heroes], and most of that success was attributed to The Bastard.

Of course, most people didn't know that all that success was actually because of Vulcan. But he liked to keep it that way. Moving under the radar as a secret weapon suited him.

"B," Vulcan called, and The Bastard turned his way. A smile spread across his rosy cheeks.

"Well, if it isn't my elite employee." He laughed. "Come to join the festivities?"

"Actually, I've come to tell you that I'll be taking a leave of absence for some time."

That pierced through his buzz enough for the big guy to frown. "Really? For how long?"

"Not sure. As long as it takes." He shrugged. "I need the break to take care of some personal business."

"What personal business? I thought we were your personal business."

"Yeah. It gets more personal than that."

The Bastard bit his lip, appearing uncertain. "Alright, but I hope you're not gone too long. You're the only reason why we keep winning, you know that."

"Yes, but remember to keep that quiet." Vulcan gave a pointed look at the woman, who was probably too drunk to remember this conversation. She smiled, and he winked.

"Anyway, just letting you know," he said and saluted on his way out. Vulcan already knew the result of this conversation and knew that The Bastard would grant him the leave.

Like with Max Devereaux's assassination, he'd played this scenario two years out, and he knew the outcome, just like he knew that Max would die in that dungeon.

He'd accounted for everything, for the Black Boxes, for Max's brother and the rest of his crew. He'd even planned for the possible interference from Lexie Sparrowfoot, who unfortunately shared a close relationship with the man. Vulcan had ensured that in all his playthroughs, Lexie wouldn't pose a problem.

Of course, even with that, there was only a fifty percent chance that his prediction with her would be accurate. And if it wasn't, it would make a real mess of things.

It was frustrating living with doubt, so he needed to make sure that he dealt with that little problem himself. Hence why he was taking the break.

It was a shame the little girl was so hard to kill.

But it wouldn't keep him from trying.

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