The vault was empty, and we were loaded up with carefully-wrapped magic items. Zoey was poring over some documents she'd found that looked like they were related to whatever Greg had been doing yesterday, Tony was turning his new light saber on and off, and Errod was making one final pass through the boxes of rejected stuff; there were clothes and things from Fantasyland that didn't seem to be magic or have any particular value, but which Greg had held on to.

Most interestingly, Katrin was standing there with her eyes closed, frowning. "There's too much mana," she said, "and we haven't found any sizeable mana batteries. There's one here, somewhere. I just... can't find it."

The obvious answer would be the big fuck-off metal door at the back of the room, which we still hadn't opened. "It has to be in the sub-vault, along with - presumably - the Heart of Brinkmar. Bill said it was important to leave that door shut, and... I'm inclined to trust him on that one. I'm a little worried we'll need the Heart of Brinkmar later, but this has gone so well that I don't want to fuck things up at the last second."

Katrin sighed. "Agreed. We should leave, and stash all of this in your storage in Biltagiretzae. But I really wish we could deprive Greg of any extra mana."

Everyone started to head towards the exit. Zoey tucked the papers she'd been looking at into her bag, but gave us what little she'd figured out. "I think he was trying to do something with the spirits people on Earth have, and I think me being connected to all of them fucked it up. I'm just not sure what exactly he was doing."

I froze. "Oh, that's what's missing. Greg needs a workshop. He'd said that he made the memory-fucker device, and he's doing whatever spells and rituals with the spirits, and... where is he doing that shit? This is his main place for everything. He's here all the time, from what I saw, and it's got all the wards and shit. Could there be another room in here somewhere, maybe accessed from another storage unit, that has his workshop or office or whatever?"

Katrin walked past some shelves to get to the wall, and began slowly moving along as she felt at the concrete. "It might not be somewhere else," she said, "it might be a secret door in this room. It would explain some of the mana I'm feeling - I don't think it's coming through the big metal door, that's very strongly sealed. I hadn't originally expected him to bother with a secret door, but it seems like Bill has some amount of access to this place and the two don't always get along so... it's possible he was hiding it from Bill, specifically."

That was at least plausible. I picked a different wall and started walking along it with threadsight up, not sure what I was even looking for, and after a moment I found it. The thin threads coming off of Zoey kept attaching and detaching from something on the other side of the wall I was looking at. There were... people? If not people, then just loose spirits which would be a little stranger but certainly possible if he'd been experimenting with them.

The concrete between two sections of shelves felt different, somehow. Like it was less solid, maybe a little thinner or with a barely perceptible amount of give. I looked closer at the shelves, and sure enough they were hiding a seam. This was a secret door. "Holy shit, good call Katrin. It's over here."

I stepped back to let her look. I didn't see any wards, probably they were on the other side of the door, but sometimes Katrin could feel the mana going through them and sense something about wards that was helpful. She put a hand on the wall, and frowned. "There's... something very active here. Passively powered wards feel different, this has one section that's actively drawing mana from nearby to do something."

"It's an alarm," Greg said from behind us, "triggered by proximity so I'll know if anyone is snooping around."

Errod had his sword out, Katrin's hands were glowing with energy, and I had pulled a gun. I didn't see Zoey, Matlyn, or Tony which meant they'd all taken cover. Greg seemed unconcerned, and took a few steps into the room as he continued talking. "The outer door should have had the same protection, but I suspect it's been tampered with. A shame, I was having a nice meal. William makes quite the Thanksgiving feast, I'm sure you'll recall."

We'd had one Thanksgiving together, though I barely remembered it. Greg had, in fact, been there and it had been one hell of a spread. "Greg! Good to see you. I guess we can have this conversation in person now. I'll make you a deal. We're taking all your shit, but leaving the big vault door alone and letting you live. In return, you're going to swear an oath to stop using magic, and to not harm anyone else for as long as you live."

He grinned, nicotine-colored teeth seeming strangely large. "Ah, a shakedown. Well, girl, you've certainly grown up these past few years. I would have expected you to just rant about eating my liver or stabbing my eyes out and pissing in the sockets. I expect you know I won't actually agree to that ridiculous offer, however, so let me suggest another way this can go. You pick two of the six people in your little group to live, and I let them go. They'll have to leave all magic items behind, of course. That means only four of you will die here, which I think we can all agree is quite generous."

"You seem pretty confident in yourself, Greg, but I've seen you bloodied more than once. Hell, I saw someone take your hands off."

He snorted. "Family drama is the worst, isn't it? Reminds me of the time my mother made me murder my brother, what a mess that whole thing was. But you may notice that I'm alive and well, and have both my hands. I can be injured, temporarily, but I assure you that you cannot kill me. I don't know what all you remember, girl, but we had a conversation once where you promised to leave me horribly maimed since you couldn't kill me. That will not work either. I have contingencies. The best you could hope for is a very brief reprise before I return and burn your spine out of your body."

"Cool," I said, "that sounds fine to me. It probably won't take more than a few seconds to grow your tiny shriveled dick back, but if I take a leg along with it I bet I'll have time to break into that other room and smash everything inside. By the time you get back to kill me, whatever it is you want to stay contained behind that heavy door is going to either be loose or broken - whichever one I think is going to upset you more. Also, you're already admitting there's a scenario where I beat your ass so badly that you have to run away, but then you're suggesting that round two would for sure go in your favor. Seems like a bad bet, Greg."

He looked pissed. Good.

"Or," I continued, "you can make a deal with us. Take an oath. That vault can stay sealed shut and safe, you can keep all your limbs, and we won't have any more reasons to want to hurt you. I have that orb thingy that makes oaths, and I know how to use it. We could be done in five minutes, and you could go finish your Thanksgiving dinner."

Greg narrowed his eyes and just glared at me for a moment, and then sighed and threw up his hands. "Oh, fine. I'll take the stupid oath. My only requirement is that you have to die. Just you. Even if you think you can win in a fight with me, I'll make sure to kill as many of your friends as possible. I'll start with the weakest ones, I can probably kill two or three at once as an opening salvo. Then, as the fight wears on, I'm sure I'll be able to get another couple with various tricks. In the end, either I'll kill every single last one of you or you'll defeat me - temporarily since you can't kill me - and be surrounded by the corpses of your friends. This is a much more generous offer, I think you'll agree."

He wasn't entirely wrong. The math was good, he'd almost certainly be able to kill a few of us if that was what he prioritized. I'd seen a little of what he could do, and he had a lot of power behind him. But... I was a little too selfish. "I'll consider that," I lied, "but you have to tell me why. I don't believe it's just spite"

Greg chuckled. "Oh, quite a lot of it is spite, girl. But the fact is, it's to save all of us. Every moment you're alive brings both worlds closer to destruction."

"Oh, bullshit!" I yelled. "I even saved the whole world after it was destroyed. I'll do it again. Everyone has been pretty fucking clear that the way the world ends is by me doing nothing, not by me being around."

"I wondered what happened at the Grand Alignment," Greg said, "but I'm not surprised that you were involved. It would have been better if you'd left things as they were, girl. If that world is determined to die, you could have at least saved Earth."

"Once again," I said, "that sounds like bullshit. You're going to have to explain things in a little more detail if you want us to believe you."

He sighed, and rolled his eyes like this was a ridiculous request. "Stupid children, completely unaware of what they're doing. Fate certainly does prefer its pawns to be young and clueless."

"I'm no fan of fate myself," I said, "but you seem to be the one who's cool with killing kids."

"Of course you're no fan of fate," Greg said, "that's one of the requirements I added. The Clockmaker tried to stop what was coming, and despite my disdain for him I've made use of his methods. Let me guess some things about you. You are a child of two worlds. You've declared yourself an enemy of fate. You have a strained relationship with a mother figure, some sort of betrayal or attack, but it wasn't your biological mother. When you were young, you nearly died by falling from a great height. You've also nearly died from being stabbed. You have a sibling that died tragically. One that isn't a true prerequisite but which will keep trying to happen until it succeeds... you're fated to be beheaded, and have your head put in a jar. You may have already noticed this coming close to being fulfilled, it's quite persistent."

He wasn't wrong. Way back when Hugh and I had been attacked on the road, Telen had declared I "wasn't worth wasting a jar on", and then beheaded a guy and taken the head with him the next time I ran into him. He also had said something about wanting Connie's head in one piece. Then the Behemoth said he was going to stick my head in a jar, but had lost it and so settled for interrogating me. The other stuff sounded right too, as long as you counted another version of myself as a sibling - it seemed like the kind of loophole fate stuff might take advantage of.

"There are more," Greg said, "but quite a few are extremely minor. Every added condition narrows the field for who can be the host of this terrible fate, but I suspect at this point you meet all of them - or all the required ones. Some, like the beheading, are worded poorly and can be satisfied just by being... under threat... of it being fulfilled. Though if I were you, I'd avoid the prime plane should you succeed in taking over custody of our little prisoner."

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I started to say something, but Greg held up a hand. "No, no. You're actually right about this one, girl. Better that you know the truth. Shut your mouth and let me continue. The Clockmaker, that arrogant prick, thought he could control fate. Trap it. Bind it to his will. Many have used fate in small ways, drawn its attention to various goals, but that magic is fallible; fate can ignore it, or the caster can make impossible demands such that nothing happens. Fate yourself to become the most powerful man in the world all you want, it's not likely to pan out for you. Fate will make a token effort, and then you'll die and the fate will unravel.

"But the Clockmaker found a way to do something much more powerful. He captured fate - one of several, that is - and set it to work. He built a machine that would look to the future, find a possible world where his Empire was safe and secure forever, and make that into the only allowable outcome. He would use a divine artifact to pull someone from that future and tie the future to the present, put the weight of destiny on them so that the universe must spend extra effort ensuring that loop would be closed. Fate deals with temporal anomalies as well, you see, and so by pulling this person out of time it created extra pressure.

"Instead, the machine broke. I don't know exactly what went wrong, but somehow it birthed a spirit of madness with all the power of fate. I've spoken to it, briefly, and it's intelligent enough to lie. It still wants an empire without end, and since the Clockmaker stopped it and locked it away, it has to use someone else to bring that dream to fruition. I believe it created multiple fates to that purpose, but there is one primary source - and it's extremely powerful.

"The person that bears this burden must be willing to resist fate at every turn. To forego anything that might somehow increase the chances that this monstrosity will be freed and remake the world in its image. You, child, are not the right sort of person to accomplish this. You have too little self-control. You are impulsive, reactive. You will flail and lash out and end up only causing the end you seek to prevent. I cannot trust you with this and, thanks to you re-appearing here and coming so close to ruining everything, I can't trust that you'll stay away even now that you know the truth.

"We have a motto, at Coelestis. A toast, you might say. To the death of fate, may we strangle her with her own chains. That is my goal, above all other things. I will see this creature destroyed. I believe that it cannot survive past the Grand Alignment, that the gods will re-write reality to destroy and remake fate if needed when that day comes to a close. But this twisted fate knows that as well, and will do anything it needs to stop that from happening. Maybe it will be able to flee to Earth, I don't know if that would keep it safe. More likely, it will create or obtain a powerful host so that as some powers are lost, others take their place. Maybe it will somehow keep the Grand Alignment from ever happening.

"The only answer is to keep it contained, and wait. Your death will serve to keep the world - both worlds - safe, and being selfish and staying alive will risk everything and still result in your doom. This entity will chew you up and spit you out, girl. It doesn't care for you, or anyone. Die now, or die later and take everyone and everything else with you."

Okay... some of that fit with what I already knew. "If you have this thing contained, why not just destroy it?"

Greg sighed. "The Clockmaker, in his paranoia, sought to make himself immortal. He used this bound fate to ensure none could kill him. The bound fate intertwined itself with him, such that now only one can kill the other. The Clockmaker is the only person that can end what he created, and his creation is the only thing that can kill him. I... crafted my own, weaker version to protect myself, while researching to find a way to end all this."

Katrin finally jumped in. "Are you saying the Clockmaker is still alive?"

He smiled. "There are worse things than death. As soon as he crippled and sealed this fate away, he ensured his own doom. No, the Clockmaker cannot help us, nor would I trust him to regardless - this is all his fault to begin with, and his inherited lust for control and domination that puts us all in danger. The Clockmaker is dead, for all intents and purposes. This being of fate is immortal, unless the gods deal with it directly. And if they don't... well, then we just keep it trapped forever."

"Well, bad news. The Grand Alignment is now... out of alignment. The world is going to end over there, and I have reason to believe I'm going to need to be there to fix it."

Greg shrugged. "That's no concern of mine. It will hamper my use of magic, true, but I've already begun experiments with forms of magic that will survive such an event. The population of that world is trivial when compared to Earth, and frankly I have no love for it. I only ever visited Brinkmar, and it's not like anyone expects me to protect that place anymore. It's been a very long time since anyone referred to me as a savior, I'm sure."

Errod stepped forward. "What did you say?"

His face had been getting pretty dark as he listened to Greg write off his entire world, but at the word 'savior' a lot of that anger was replaced with shock. Greg turned, already making a dismissive gesture. "Shut up, boy, I'm talking to... where did you get that?" It was Greg's turn to have a change of expression, as he looked at Errod in what I could only describe as horror. No, not at Errod. At the sword. "I thought I left that somewhere safe," Greg said, "but it seems to have followed me. Well. Nothing to do about it, then. I surrender, and will swear any oath you desire. All I ask, is that you, boy, kumquat."

I didn't have time to wonder why he'd said 'kumquat' before the gunfire started. Belatedly I realized it had been a code word, for someone I hadn't seen off in the doorway. Bullets slammed into Errod but the first three were halted by his shield brooch and in the split second it took to expend those charges he was already moving, throwing himself behind a shelf. I was firing too, but I hadn't put any practice in and I flat-out missed Greg with half of my shots, the others similarly hitting a shield. Lightning lashed out from Katrin, but it grounded itself right before hitting Greg and he attacked back at her with some sort of rippling energy that she had trouble blocking.

I kept firing, my aim rapidly improving, and while every shot was blocked I was sure it was taking some of his energy at least. Katrin seemed to be using most of her energy shielding Errod, who was the primary target of both Greg and whoever was shooting from the entrance, and she hadn't been able to beat Greg even when she was focused on him. Things had certainly looked better. I re-positioned and pointed the gun at Greg again, but after one shot I decided to switch and try one of my knives.

The enchantment triggered when it hit his shield and it zipped through, which mean his shields were reactive - they were popping into existence only when an attack was incoming. Unfortunately, when the knife hit him it became clear that his shitty old jacket was magically reinforced; the blade failed to penetrate, getting only a grunt out of him. At best, I'd given him a bruise. Still, if the shields only triggered on a weapon's initial approach maybe I could shoot him if I could just get the gun close enough.

As soon as I took a single step towards him that plan was ruined; a wave of concussive force threw me backwards into a shelf, and even with Hugh's "advanced falling" training I ended up in a heap thanks to one arm getting tangled in the shelf's supports. Plan B, then. I ducked around the shelves and circled the room, barely dodging a blast of crackling red energy that shot between the shelves just as I stepped into view, and made my way back towards the entrance. I was going to kill whatever motherfucker was shooting at us.

I got to the wall by the entrance and flattened myself against it, but knew I'd need to come around the corner and go at him head-on if I wanted a shot at him. My coat would stop most bullets, or at least turn them into blunt impacts and distribute the force somewhat, but I didn't have a helmet or anything. Just as I was about to go for it, I heard footsteps and the shooter rushed into the room, right past me. I recognized him immediately as the agent we'd seen in New York, not that changed anything. I raised my gun, prepared to shoot him from behind, but he was already lifting a strange device that looked like a metal femur. My gun went off twice before it started just clicking, and the man went down in a heap.

But the damage was done.

As in New York, he'd somehow neutralized Katrin's mana. Her shields failed, her attacks faltered, and Greg struck. Katrin was blasted backwards, slamming into a shelf so hard that the steel frame folded. Next it was Errod's turn, but as Greg went to point at him a vine wrapped around his legs and he screamed. I recognized the plant as the one Matlyn had found in stasis here in the vault, but it was already massively larger; she'd clearly been growing it since the moment the fight started. It was digging into Greg, and I could smell burning flesh and some terrible chemical odor from whatever acid it was producing.

I rushed to help Katrin, firing a few bullets at Greg just to keep him distracted. Unfortunately his shields popped up as normal, and he didn't even turn to look at me. Instead, he gestured and I heard Matlyn scream out in pain. Fuck. I pulled Katrin out of the wreckage of the shelf and away from Greg's direct line of sight, but as I did I got a look at Errod; he was down, blood dripping from both ears. This was going very, very badly. I watched through a narrow gap between shelves as Greg sliced the vines from his legs and began to walk closer to us.

"The problem with sending children to do an adult's job," he said, "is that they're just so fucking fragile. Do you see why you should have taken my offer, Calliope? Now all of your friends are going to... wait. No! No!"

He'd turned, and was running to the back of the room. I ran as well, desperate to see what he was so upset by, and saw that Tony had used the energy blade I'd given him to carve right through the alchemical metal of the door at the back. As the note had warned, the damage was catastrophic and Tony had clearly taken some injuries from flying bits of metal. But now he stood next to a sphere of crystal and brass that I knew had to be the Heart of Brinkmar. And he had the blade poised over it, ready to strike.

A cord or red energy lashed out and wrapped around Tony, yanking him from the smaller room; it was the same spell I'd seen Katrin use a few times, but wielded with much more skill. As he flew through the air the energy blade clipped the side of the sphere, and a fountain of energy burst out as the sphere cracked. Greg ignored Tony, rushing past his prone form to reach the sphere and begin casting spells into it. "No, no, no!" He yelled.

I made an executive decision and began gathering people. Zoey was in the best shape, with only minor injuries, but she was busy bawling over Matlyn's inert and bloody form. I wasn't sure if she was dead or just close. Katrin had managed to stand and was healing Errod, so I helped Zoey drag Matlyn over. "Just do the minimum to keep them alive," I said, "we're getting the fuck out of here. Now."

I ran out of the vault and concentrated, forcing all of my mana through the planar lodestone as I pulled the stairwell door open. Something resisted, but I wasn't in the mood to let some shitty wards stop me. I pushed harder, remembering when I'd forced my way past the wards into Haminshast, and felt the wards straining. I pushed harder, making sure my bracer was also set to Nusos, and right as I was thinking it was never going to work something snapped and there was a thunderous sound that rendered me temporarily deaf.

The stairwell had exploded, leaving just the door fame standing there unsupported. But I could see through it into Nusos. Cracks were running all along the walls, and I wasn't sure how long the portal would stay open. I called to the others, then when that didn't work I ran to them and helped them all get up and moving. Matlyn was, apparently, alive... but her injuries weren't anything Katrin's shitty healing spell could work with. They were moving slowly, stumbling over each other and dropping the still disoriented Errod, so I decided to buy them a moment.

"Hey Greg," I called, "do you see why you should have taken my offer? Now your precious Heart of Brinkmar is all busted up, and -"

"There's no such thing!" Greg yelled, voice a mixture of rage and frustration. "That stupid bitch fucked everything up with her book, drawing attention from people who wanted a power that wasn't even real! It's a fucking anchor, to prevent the fate from switching to a new host and escaping! Its main form trapped in a vault on Brinkmar, its tether held here so William can keep it away from a world full of magic. Two points of safety, and you're out to ruin both!" He was still doing something to the sphere, magic visible as undulating waves of different colors as he wove some effect around the cracked artifact. Sweat tinged with blood was running down his head as he stared directly at the cracked area. "What were you doing in Brinkmar, girl? Did you open the vaults?"

I glanced behind me, and saw the last of them reach the exit. Time to go. I ran to my friends, grabbing two bags of magic items that had been left behind, and we all piled through the gateway into Nusos. I turned, and reached out with my mind to unravel the connection so it would snap back from Earth and prevent anyone from following. My ears were ringing from the gunshots, and everyone was injured. "So," I said, "all things considered I feel like that went really well."

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