The black eyepatch sat in Lexie's palm, freezing her brain for a hot second.

Torin's intense gaze scorched the side of her face, but she didn't look at him. Not yet. She had to process this first, understand the implications of what she held in her hand. Her brain was slow on the uptake, bogged down by everything else she'd already been dealing with.

It had been a long day.

A snort flew out of her mouth as she stroked a finger over the leather.

She finally met Torin's frown.

"Sorry," she said, chuckling. "It's just that today has been an extremely weird day. And that's saying something."

Torin nodded, although it was clear he had no clue what she was talking about. Maybe he thought she was only referring to the attack, which was probably less weird to him, considering they apparently suffered something like that multiple times a year.

Lexie examined the eye patch again, focusing on the bloodstain and the small initials MEM engraved in the corner.

"Where exactly did you find it?" she asked.

"I told you. In the dungeon, near the core."

"I don't understand. My uncle disappeared in a level 6 dungeon. The dungeon you went into was a level 4." She spoke in a low tone, more to herself than to him. "So how was this there?"

"I don't know," he said. "When I found it, that bloodstain on it was pretty fresh. So fresh that we thought it belonged to someone on our team who had gotten hurt. But no one claimed ownership for it, and then I saw the initials and figured that…" He shook his head. "Maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe someone else has those initials. I mean, I probably wouldn't have even thought about it had it not been for you."

Lexie tuned him out somewhere in the middle of his statement, opening up her weapons inventory in her SI. She immediately withdrew the pink gun lighter from it and flipped it over, checking the initials that Max put on all his weapons in tiny print.

MEM.

It was the same handwriting as the one on the eyepatch.

But what did this mean? How was Max's eyepatch in a Level 4 dungeon with fresh blood on it? Was it his blood? Did it mean…did the dungeon he disappeared in somehow reappear with a new level? Was he trapped there with a monster with no hope of escape?

Or was he still there, surviving, waiting for someone to rescue him?

"We have to tell someone," Lexie said.

"I already told my mom," he said. "The dungeon has been cleared and neutralized, but they're arranging a search party to poke around to see if there was something that was missed."

Lexie nodded blithely. "How long until the dungeon resolves?"

"A week," he says.

So little time. "Okay."

"If he's still in there, we'll find him."

Lexie doubted they could. Because if Uncle Max had survived in the dungeon for so long, the only way he could have done so was by entering the Other, like Aiden spoke about.

Or he might be in one of Tate's secret levels, although Lexie didn't know how he'd found his way there.

But the fresh blood, that alone gave her hope that her uncle knew what he was doing, that he was alive.

Lexie took a deep breath, suddenly invigorated. She was filled with new wind, an unwavering zeal, for what felt like the first time in forever, inhaling and steeling her determination.

She was going to find Uncle Max.

She didn't know how yet, but she knew she was going to. The eyepatch was all the evidence she needed. This had to be some kind of sign, maybe the narrative playing in her favor.

"Thank you for telling me," she told Torin.

"I thought you should know." He stood. "See you at dinner."

"See you."

The second he left, Lexie got on the phone with her father. She requested a video call, and the moment he answered, she asked, "Is Tate there?"

"Yes. You want me to include him in this call?"

She thought about it and said, "Yes."

Her father switched the call to a holographic video call that showed him and Tate in the infirmary. Lexie imagined she'd appeared as a hologram to them, too.

"What is it?"

"Torin found Uncle Max's eyepatch in his dungeon," she said instantly.

Aiden's mouth fell open. "I'm sorry?"

"He brought it to me, just now." Lexie held it up so he could see it. "It has his initials on it and everything. It even has the crease from where he flips it over. And even more than that, it had blood on it, and Torin told me it was fresh when they found it."

Aiden glanced at Tate like he would have an answer for him, but Tate looked back just as confused as Aiden was.

"So what does that mean?' she asked. "Uncle Max disappeared in a Level 6 dungeon that acted like a Level 7, but this was a Level 4. Is the dungeon lying, or is it a different dungeon? How did Uncle Max get there? Tate, do you think that he found the secret levels of the dungeon, and that's how he stayed alive?"

"Secret levels?" Aiden asked.

Lexie met Tate's gaze. "Can I tell him about those?"

Tate shook his head. "It's not ISTS knowledge, but I can't tell for sure what might happen if he knows."

Lexie made a sound of frustration.

"It's alright, Lexie," Aiden said. "Just tell me. I'll forget once this is all over."

Lexie bit her lip, then admitted. "There are secret levels in dungeons."

"Secret levels?"

"Yes. They offer puzzles you can solve to get treasure. I don't know much about it, but Tate does."

"Oh," Aiden said, glancing at Tate again in a new light.

"Or Max could be in the Other," Lexie deduced.

"The Other?" Tate asked.

"Yes. It's the place....anyway, my dad knows more about it than I do. You can ask him later. Dad, could Max have found the Other?"

"I don't know. It's highly unlikely."

"Then how else could he have made it there? I mean, maybe he did find the Other. Maybe he got lucky. It might be a sign that Max might be waiting for us, and the narrative might want us to find him."

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Don't think like that, Lexie," Tate said instantly, command in his tone. "Do not, I repeat, do not fall into the trap of thinking there's an overarching destiny at play here that wants you to win, or that there's a predetermined story with a happy ending for you. That's the mistake so many Chosen make, and it kills them. The narrative is not on your side. It does not necessarily want you to win, and it's not playing things out so they go in your favor. It does not give a damn about you, and no one knows what its true objective is. There have been people with higher fate points than you have who have had it drop drastically and died as a result. Though it's rare, some Chosen have perished even while at the highest fate points. Don't be overly reliant on your fate points as a metric of success."

"But–"

"Don't be overly reliant on your fate points. Lexie, I cannot stress this enough. I don't know what's going on with your uncle, but you have to be very careful. Remember, even if you're centered by the narrative, you are not guaranteed a win, and at the end of the day, there is no predeterminism at play. There is no defined storyline crafted for you. Only your actions determine your destiny here, so don't be stupid."

Leixe exhaled. "Alright. Good to know. But Torin already told Stella, and they're arranging a search party. I want to be involved."

"No," Aiden said.

"But Dad…"

"Lexie, we'll talk about this later."

Lexie already knew what that meant. It would still be a 'no'.

"I'm going to take Tate home and give him some dinner. Then I'll call you back, alright?"

"Okay." Lexie felt a little deflated. She was hoping her father would be more excited about this discovery than he was, but maybe he was just trying to temper that excitement. Maybe he didn't want to get his hopes up in case they were wrong.

Her father wasn't typically the hopeful type. He would need more evidence that Max was really alive.

Lexie was the type to require more evidence, too, but today, for some reason, she was exceedingly optimistic.

No matter what Tate said, this had to mean something. It had to.

She went down to dinner in the next fifteen minutes. Stella wasn't there yet, but Mane was, and everyone was in a celebratory mood. Mane had Tamsin in his lap, who was loudly explaining all the fights she'd watched. It was all communicated in one extremely long run-on sentence, connected by a series of 'and then'. Lexie contributed here and there, even though she wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on.

Instead, she was thinking, plotting, and planning.

She needed to go and save her Uncle Max with her dad. If Stella's team didn't find him, Lexie and Aiden were pretty much his only hope. Her dad currently had his mind powers and force fields, which he could pretty much turn into any weapon he wanted. Lexie had her fire card, which she could scale up with her Eldritch mana, and all she needed to do now was learn to control it. The void card was still pending, but she had that soul card that could do… something at least. She wasn't sure. Maybe she needed to practice it. She would ask Naem to do so tonight.

Anyway, she had to grow her power base before the week was over. A void card would be excellent right about now.

Seize the End.

"Torin," Lexie spoke up suddenly, accidentally cutting Mane off in the middle of his sentence. She blushed when she noticed that everyone was staring at her. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

"No, it's fine," Mane said graciously. "What did you want to ask Torin?"

"Just wanted to ask if he's friends with Zakhar Shadowbane," Lexie said. "Because I noticed the two of them spar a lot."

Torin swallowed a mouthful of his peas as he said, "I wouldn't call us friends. But we do spar. His powers are a good counter for mine, and he helps me push myself to the limit."

"Are you guys going to be sparring anytime soon? As in, before we go back to school?" School resumed in two and a half weeks, near the beginning of the year.

Torin shook his head, much to Lexie's dismay.

She didn't do a very good job of hiding that dismay, because Torin took notice and asked, "Do you…want us to?"

"Um..." She thought of how to explain it without telling the whole truth, aware that she was being watched by Theo and Mane. "I just wanted to ask him something, and I figured it would be easier to ask him if you were there."

"Why would Torin being there make it easier?" Theo asked.

"Because Zakhar might not talk to me otherwise. I don't think he likes me very much."

"That is true," Torin said. "Don't take offense. He doesn't like many people very much."

"Right. He doesn't need to like me; I just wanted to talk to him." Or possibly watch him and Torin spar, reading his pathway while they were at it."

"I can arrange something," Torin said, scooping more peas.

"We can invite him over for Ansing," Mane said.

That shocked Theo. "Really?"

"Of course."

"Are you sure Mom would be down for that?"

"Down for what?" Stella zapped into being at the tail end of the sentence, cradling a teleportation orb in her hand.

"Mommy!" Tamsin and Thor announced, as Thor jumped to stand on his seat, reaching for her.

She strolled over to Torin first, giving him a tight hug and a kiss on the head.

"Welcome back, Tory."

"Hey, Mom," he said.

"How was your first delve?"

"Okay. Can you pass the salt?" The latter was directed at Theo, who rolled his eyes.

"Dude, would it kill you to show a little emotion sometimes?"

Torin ignored him, and Stella laughed, moving to her second son and hugging him. Then she picked up the twins in both hands, smacking their cheeks with kisses until they laughed.

Then she finally kissed her husband.

After, she asked the question again, "What would I not be down for?"

"We're inviting Shadowsbane and his son to Ansing," Mane said. "Lexie wants to meet Zakhar."

"Oh no." Lexie held up her hand. "We don't have to do that." They'd already done so much for her and had accommodated her in so many ways that she didn't want to be even more of a burden.

"I don't think it should be a problem," Mane said. "I mean, it would probably be better for everyone if we were closer. I think it might be time to put old grudges away."

"Thatcher won't like it, though," Theo said.

"Well, your great-grandmother won't be attending this anniversary dinner anyway."

Stella brushed her chin and sighed. "We'll think about it. Lexie, how are you feeling?"

"A little tired, but good."

"And your friend?

Lexie didn't want to bring down the mood by getting into Tate's business, and she also didn't think Tate would appreciate her sharing his health prognosis without his permission, though Saint John just might tell Stella anyway. "He'll be fine."

"I'm glad."

"Thank you," Lexie told her sincerely. "For everything. And all the help today."

"Of course," Stella said. "Glad I could help."

The conversation went back to small talk between the family, and Lexie sat there with her thoughts.

Stella was only at the dinner for twenty minutes before she got called out, and she gave everyone, including Lexie, a tight hug before she left.

Lexie went up to her room, and Theo followed her, reaching out to ruffle her hair halfway up the stairs.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"It can be tough hanging with the Firebringers," he said. "Things like that tend to happen to us all the time."

"Yeah, I heard," Lexie said. "I'm good though."

"That's cause you're tough, and only getting tougher."

"Are we still on for training tomorrow?"

"Yeah. If you want."

"I want," she said firmly.

He gave a slight pause before he said, "Okay. We're on."

***

"You are right about the two possibilities for what might have happened to your uncle," Naem told her later as he led her into the cave of the beast once more for another episode of self-torture "He could have found the way to the Other, as your father said, and managed to navigate through it to get to another dungeon."

"How likely is that?"

"Extremely unlikely," he said. "The other option is that your uncle found the heart of the dungeon, the secret level, as you call it. This is even more unlikely. It is something unknown to humans, which is why it's strange that you knew about it."

"My friend told me."

"I see. Then he must have an Eldritch working with him."

Though she wouldn't put it past him, Tate may simply know about it from having played the game.

"There's another option you may not have considered," Naem said.

"And what is that?"

"Perhaps, someone planted your uncle's eyepatch there, intending for it to be found."

"Why would anyone do that?"

"To encourage you to visit the dungeon so you can be trapped within."

"Who would…" And then Lexie remembered. Vulcan. Of course. He might have placed the trap there specifically to capture her.

But how? How did he get her uncle's eyepatch? Was it fake? It looked so real, and Uncle Max only had one.

Had he been there when Uncle Max entered the dungeon?

Or had he been in the dungeon with him?

She had to find out.

"I want to try out the card I made, the soul card," Lexie told Naem.

"No," he said

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous at your current power level, and you don't have enough control over your Eldritch and your soul."

"So teach me. Maybe if you teach me more necromancy–"

"That won't happen," Naem said. "But perhaps if you pass today's session with Ganor, I'll consider it."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.