The Administrator's body was moved to another room and covered. Enathar put a preservation spell on the sheet—both to preserve the woman's body and to keep it from spreading disease and odors in the limited space of the tower. They would hold a proper funeral for her when the crisis was stabilized.

Enathar returned to the System control room. The System technicians, five men and one woman, as well as Cremble, his daughter, and Hinesh were waiting patiently for him to return—or perhaps they simply couldn't bring themselves to speak in the grim atmosphere.

At some point while Enathar was out of the room, the others had decided to turn on their name tags. Enathar did so as well, though he was fairly sure everyone in the room knew who he was.

Enathar sat down. "The first thing we need is a new Administrator. The System can't function without one, correct?"

A technician by the name of Joll frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The process isn't common knowledge," Cremble told him. Then, turning to Enathar, he said, "The System does need an Administrator to operate, yes. Without one, it will go into hibernation until another can be found. That is why there is a failsafe. When a new Administrator is inducted, they choose a second—a Lerian who will become the Administrator in the event of their death. I was Ronari's second. I have appointed Joll as mine."

Enathar frowned. "Forgive me for saying this, but isn't he a bit young?"

Though the man was only a few years older than Enathar, he was more advanced in his progression. Judging from the muscular wings growing out of his back and the tail that kept twitching uncomfortably in his seat, Joll had just passed the third plateau.

Enathar had wings, but he had a few years still before he would get a tail; a fact that he was not particularly upset about.

"Everyone here has been trained to be the Administrator," the woman, Huki, said indignantly. "Ronari was the top of our class, so she was placed first, but we all would have served our turn eventually."

Enathar nodded. "Forgive me, I meant no offense."

"And none should have been taken," Cremble said, admonishment in his tone. "Your temper is one of the reasons you were not picked for first task, Huki. You would do well to remember that."

Huki bowed her head in acknowledgment.

"I'm glad to hear that there is a protocol in place for this," Enathar said. "Then the next thing we need to do is figure out what Ronari did in her final moments."

Enathar glanced at the black crystal that separated the tower from the outside world.

"I can tell you that much," Cremble said. "One of the perks of being Administrator is that I have access to the System change log. Ronari did two things. First, she erected a barrier around the peninsula. Her reasoning is not entirely clear, but I suspect she was attempting to protect us from the larger monsters that may be present in further regions of the planet.

"Her second act was to surround the System Tower with a thick layer of crystal."

"Crystal…" Hinesh said. "Ronari mentioned it before…"

He trailed off, unable or unwilling to mention the woman's death.

"Yes," Cremble agreed. "Even in her muddled state, she was able to hint at her intentions. The crystal now encasing the tower doesn't yet have a name. We don't know its origin, nor the full range of its effects, but it has proved efficient in scrubbing Miasma from the air. It does so by absorbing the Miasma and leaving the Essence untouched.

"We had hoped to harness its power to minimize the effects of boundary cracks, but the crystal was too unstable. The trapped Miasma remained close to the surface, burning any Lerian that tried to touch it. Additionally, if Essence magic is used in close proximity to an unstable vein of Miasmic crystal, or if too much force is enacted upon the crystal, it has a tendency to… explode…"

Enathar opened his mouth to ask if they were in danger, but Cremble shook his head before he could get the first word out.

"The crystal is safe enough in its natural state, provided no one tries to touch it," he assured them. "It will draw Miasma from the inside and out, making the tower safer for all of us. What Ronari did was a good thing."

"And the barrier?" Enathar asked. "Will it protect the peninsula?"

"It's hard to say," Cremble said, looking worried. "It requires an enormous amount of energy—so much so that I wonder if it isn't doing more harm than good."

"Then why don't you just take it down?" Hinesh asked. "We have enough troubles without adding more unknown variables."

"I would advise against it," Cremble said. "Unless it was absolutely necessary to maintain System function, that shield may be helping, or Ronari may have had a different intention for creating it."

"We can't keep something potentially detrimental just because it may be useful," Enathar said. "Drop the shield. We can worry about larger monsters later."

Cremble hesitated, but he agreed. He wasn't beholden to Enathar in the same way the people of Ellis were—the System was an independent entity—but the fact that the tower was on Ellis' lands meant that Enathar did have some say over how the System was run.

Cremble closed his eyes.

"Wait," Silka said sharply.

Everyone turned to the nearly forgotten child. She was sitting next to her father, her shoulders barely visible above the table. She had a serious look on her face.

"Is something wrong, child?" Cremble asked in a gentle voice.

"Only that you fools are trying to remove our single greatest asset without any consideration for the reason of its existence!" she snapped. "This barrier may serve a greater purpose beyond the basic function of shielding us from whatever is out there."

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Enathar was taken aback. She had the vocabulary and cadence of a Lerian well into their prime. Is she really a child?

Silka turned to face him. "The answer to that question depends on your definition of a child."

"You can read minds?" Enathar asked.

"When the thoughts are about me," Silka confirmed. "It's a fickle power, but one that has helped me out of danger more times than I can count."

Enathar nodded. "Then perhaps you can clarify for me what you mean. Are you a child or are you not?"

Silka watched him thoughtfully for a moment. "I suppose there is no rule against me telling you, but I usually keep details of my life fairly close to my chest."

"Silka, you don't have to—" Cremble began.

Silka shook her head. "I need to have a say in this discussion, and that will only happen if King Enathar understands who I am."

Enathar dug his nails into his leg. He didn't like the use of the title that he had not yet officially taken from his father. It felt like all he had to do to pretend like nothing was wrong was to keep referring to himself as the crown prince.

Silka was oblivious to his discomfort, moving along with her story as if nothing was amiss.

"Are you aware of the concept of reincarnation?" she asked.

Enathar nodded. It was not a popular concept. Many believed that after one died, their souls were taken to the afterlife to be with the goddess for eternity. Some thought that their souls would be converted into Essence and used to bolster Ember and her people.

Enathar privately held the belief that there was nothing after death, but for the sake of unity, he kept his statements on the subject vague when speaking in public. If he were to come right out and say what he believed, he would likely affect the entire country to change to his way of thinking, and he didn't want that.

"I know it is an unpopular belief," Silka said. "But I know it to be true. In my first life—or perhaps it is only the first life that I remember—I died young. I was mauled by a creature in the woods while attempting to save another child. We both died that day, but the goddess took pity on me and allowed us to be reincarnated together with our memories still intact. As time passed, my friend lost her memories of our old lives, but we had reestablished memories from our new ones, so we were able to live happily together until dying of old age.

"But the goddess craves balance and even a gift freely given must somehow be repaid. I am her servant. I never lost my memories, not from my first life or my seventy-fifth. Every time I die, the goddess moves me to where I am needed. Sometimes that is a Lerian poised to stop a political conflict, sometimes it is a Cani set to help rid a village of disease-ridden pests. I have seen nations rise and fall and every time I go where I am bid and repay my debt for the gift that the goddess gave me.

"The gift of prophecy extended my sentence, but it was necessary for the goddess to speak to me. The strength of the gift varies from life to life, adjusted for the needs of the mission. It has been… difficult in this life."

Cremble smoothed a lock of hair out of his daughter's face, obviously already aware of the contents of her tale.

Silka took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. "It isn't a coincidence that I was reincarnated as the daughter of the System's original designer and Administrator. I have learned much about its functions and I was in the right place at the right time when this crisis began. I am here to serve as your adviser and to lead us out of this tragedy with as many lives saved as possible.

"Take heart, young king, the goddess has not abandoned you, nor the people of Ember."

Joll shook his head. "I beg your pardon, Master Cremble, but you really expect us to believe that?"

"Do you really think a child of twenty-three years old would be able to do the things I have done?" the girl asked. "Tell me, were you able to access your Essence pool before the first plateau? I am flattered by your confidence in my level of intelligence, but I assure you, experience is a far greater teacher."

The technician backed down. How could one argue with that? Skepticism was one thing, but Enathar had watched the girl place an energy shield around a tower several hundred stories tall. Frankly, the reincarnation story was more believable than the idea that Silka was some child prodigy.

"So, how do you wish to advise me?" Enathar asked, adjusting his tone to acknowledge her true age. "You tell us not to lower the shield that is eating away at our energy reserves. What logic would you employ to dissuade me otherwise?"

"The shield—unknown as it may be—is a barrier between us and the rest of Ember. If there are monsters out there, it is protecting us from their attack, essentially lowering the number of adversaries we have to deal with. If there aren't monsters out there, it may be protecting us from an even larger Miasma surge than the one we just witnessed. Either way, removing it would be like taking the stopper out of a bottle and taking a drink before first smelling it to see what is inside. We need more time to study the barrier and ascertain what it is designed to do before we remove it—against the previous administrator's wishes, I might add."

"All of that is conjecture," a technician by the name of Madin said. "I could just as easily say the barrier might be made out of cheese."

"Which is why I said we should study it," Silka said. "To remove it without forethought is foolish and dangerous."

"You're right," Enathar agreed. "But what would you have us do instead? The System is the only thing standing between us and the Miasma outside. It has to be our top priority."

"I have seen how this ends," Silka said. "And the shield must stay if we are to survive."

Enathar leaned forward, a glimmer of hope sparking at Silka's words. "Then tell us what you saw. How will this end if not the destruction of our world and the extinction of the Lerian race?"

Silka pursed her lips, looking her physical age for a moment. The fear and uncertainty, not to mention the overwhelm; she was not as confident as she pretended to be.

"I can't," she said finally. "My visions aren't that clear, nor are they very specific. I see flashes of scenes, locations I have never been. Worlds that don't even know we exist."

"There are more?" Huki asked. "Besides Ashen and Ember?"

Enathar wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer. Trying to create peace between two species was hard enough, what would he do if there were three? Four? Even more?

"Thousands," Silka said, making Enathar's heart skip a beat. "Millions. There are more races than can be counted, and I haven't seen them all." Her eyes grew distant as she was caught up in some sort of vision.

"Silka," Cremble whispered gently. "We don't have time for you to retreat."

Silka didn't respond. Her eyes turned milky white as her expression darkened.

"The Corvi," she whispered, her voice pained. "The Corvi did this."

Enathar gripped his arm rests. "What do you mean?"

"A Corvi stands in a lab. His hands furiously scribbling on the ground. He whispers in a language I have never heard, defiling the ancient runes with his own creation. He lost control."

She gasped, closing her eyes and curling in on herself.

"Are you all right?" Cremble asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Silka slowly uncurled, opening her eyes. They had returned to her usual green color, but the horror from her vision remained.

"We should never have trusted them," she said. "They used the treaty to gain access to Ember. They wanted to destroy us."

"This has an effect on Ashen too," Hinesh pointed out. "The two worlds are interconnected. Chaos here means chaos there."

"Maybe they didn't think that far ahead," Joll said, his voice hard.

"Yolan was here helping us clean up a spawn when the emergency happened," Enathar said, trying to remind them why they were becoming allies. "He—"

"Left," Silka said. "He went back to Ashen to see if his people were all right, didn't he? If not, he would be part of this meeting."

Enathar pressed his lips together. He didn't agree with any of what they were saying. If the Corvi wished to harm Ember, there were far easier ways to do so without endangering Ashen. It didn't make any sense.

"It doesn't matter," Enathar said. "Knowing who might have caused this mess doesn't help us fix it. We need to focus on what's important, not who's at fault."

Silka nodded. "My apologies. I… can't always control it."

"You say that there are other worlds—other people—who help us? How do we find them to ask for their help?" Enathar asked. "Surely, they don't just come to our aid without a request."

"We will seek them out," Silka said. "My father and I, that is. The rest of you will sleep."

"Sleep?" Enathar furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Essence sleep," Silka clarified. "The effects of the cataclysm will be felt for generations to come. The only way to overcome it is to outlast it. This is the only way we survive."

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