The ball of energy dissipated as Din shrank back to her normal size—this time with considerably less crackling. She stared at Harry with a m

The ball of energy dissipated as Din shrank back to her normal size—this time with considerably less crackling. She stared at Harry with a mixture of suspicion and confusion as her feathers grew back and her beak returned to her face. She didn't speak until all of her features had fully settled.

"You didn't know?" she asked in a tone that said she still didn't quite believe him.

"Was I supposed to guess that?" Harry asked incredulously. "I only learned about the Corvi three days ago—in the same story from which I learned about their supposed extinction, I might add. You're putting a lot of faith in my powers of perception."

"No, but I thought…"

Din took a step forward, and Harry took a step back, pausing as he felt the slight buzz of her barriers behind him.

"You thought what?" Harry asked, keeping his shield raised. "That I'd sniffed out your lies? Nope. I mind my own business, so can you stop trying to kill me now?"

"I wasn't trying to kill you," Din said flatly.

Harry scoffed. "Was that supposed to be playful?"

"No," Din snapped, her confusion dissolving into irritation. "I was trying to force you to use magic. That should have been proof that—ugh! If you're not a Corvi then what are you?!"

"A human," Harry snapped, lowering his shield enough to glare at her. "As I've been saying this whole damn time. What on God's green Earth gave you the idea that I was a Corvi?!"

"You used magic," Din said.

Harry dropped his shield completely, fairly confident at this point that she wasn't going to roast him alive. "So? The System is what makes that possible. That has nothing to do with me."

"Inside my magic-blocking barrier," Din said.

This made Harry pause. The barrier was made to block magic? Not monsters? Or was it both? He was too tired for all of this. The thought made him yawn and he finally decided he'd rather be fried than keep holding his damn shield. He put the item away, stomping back to where he'd dropped his bowl.

"I've had no sleep, no alcohol and I've been stomping around the forest for hours with a mad woman, it seems," he snapped, putting the bowl in his Inventory and pulling out a loaf of bread that was slightly softer than a jawbreaker. "I'm too tired for riddles. If you want answers, try explaining your questions first so I know what the hell is going on."

Din plopped onto the ground, begrudgingly holding out another bowl of soup. Harry accepted the steaming hot liquid as a peace offering and set about making his hardtack edible.

"I don't know where to begin…" Din said, pulling out another bowl of soup for herself.

"Start with why you thought I was a Corvi," Harry said. "We can go from there."

* * *

Britt braced herself for pain as she stepped through the boundary crack. Her skin burned as if pricked by a thousand red-hot needles and a headache blossomed over her left eyebrow. She felt like she was being squeezed through a piece of cloth, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth.

It was mild compared to the agony she felt when she was first brought to Ember…

The late autumn air chilled Brittsha's skin as she turned the page of her novel. The forest was empty—eerily so—the only sound coming from the steady scraping of Lav's knife against the block of wood. She wasn't sure what talisman he was making but judging by the fact that he had been carving nonstop for days, it was probably just an extra mage light to bolster his stores.

The entrance to the cave sat behind Brittsha, practically burning a hole in her back. She had peeked in the first day, just to assure herself that the crack was there, but she didn't dare get close to it. The white crystal burned when touched, filled to the brim with Essence. She had never seen anything like it, and she would have been perfectly happy going her whole life without having done so.

Their little camp was basic. A campfire, three tents and a small latrine dug a little ways into the woods. They hadn't even bothered with wards, seeing as there was nothing in the woods to attack them. Brittsha should have been comforted by this fact, but it only served as a reminder for why they were there.

She turned another page, barely reading the words. It was the tenth time she had read it. At this point, she was just giving her hands something to do that was unlikely to result in blisters. If she had known that it would take this long, she would have brought more books.

When she had taken this assignment right out of the Academy, she knew it would be dangerous, probably painful and that she might never see her family again. What she didn't know was that it was going to be so boring!

Brittsha slammed the book shut, returning it to her Inventory with the interface that she was still getting used to. The System integration hadn't been mentioned when she was offered a spot on the mission to investigate the anomaly. She supposed it wouldn't have changed anything; she wasn't really here by choice.

Lav looked up from his work. "If you're that bored, I'm up for some sparring." He put the small wooden talisman and his knife aside. "Or you could do something useful and fill your Inventory while you still can. We don't even know if we'll be able to use magic on the other side."

"I've got too many talismans as it is," Brittsha said. "I didn't do anything but make talismans for the first week. Some of my pieces are so obscure I don't even know how to use them."

"I'm sure you'll find a way," Lav said unconcernedly. "No on knows what we're up against, and when you've been in the guard long enough, you'll start to realize that any preparation will eventually come in handy. You can never have too many talismans."

Brittsha's frown deepened, not at all comforted by the words. She would rather this be an easy mission: in and out. The less she had to do, the better.

"It's natural to be nervous," Vira said, coming over to sit with them. She had been on lookout, a mere formality at this point. "This is your first assignment, isn't it? What got you saddled with this one? Don't tell me you volunteered."

Who in their right mind would volunteer for this mission?

"I have a high natural Essence resistance," Brittsha said, the words leaving a bad taste in her mouth. She had always known that fact would be her ticket to Ember, but this wasn't how she imagined it going down. After a bit of thought, she added, "And no sense of self-preservation, I suppose."

Lav smiled ruefully. "If any of us had that, we'd have picked a more sensible profession."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Brittsha needed a topic change before she let way too much of her true feelings show. "It's been two weeks!" she complained. "Something should have happened by now! Are we sure we picked the right crack?"

"Positive," Vira said. "The disappearances all follow the same pattern: starting at the anomaly and rippling outward over the course of twenty-four hours. This is the closest crack to the anomaly. We'll be pulled in first."

Brittsha glanced over at the giant bubble that had haunted her nightmares for the better part of a week. It blocked the horizon from view, stretching as far as the eye could see in either direction. Six months had passed since it appeared over the peninsula. No one knew whether it was an attack or an accident; some even speculated that they were already at war.

Brittsha thought it might be both, but she couldn't even guess at what was going on inside. The few tidbits they had heard before the bubble went dark were about a giant wave of Essence ravaging the countryside, killing plants, animals and Corvi alike. Nothing could survive that…

Brittsha pushed the thoughts away. There was nothing they could do for the victims. The bubble saved Ashen from destruction; their objective now was to determine why people were disappearing and how to stop it.

Over a hundred thousand Corvi vanished in the last event, perhaps significantly more. It was too widespread to get a reliable count. Panic was starting to rise among the general population. If they didn't figure it out soon, things would get even worse.

"Don't look so glum," Lav said, a forced smile stretching across his lips. "Aren't you curious what it's like on Ember?"

Brittsha shook her head. "This wasn't how I imagined seeing it for the first time."

Just six months ago, she had been a student of the Academy, poised to join the Royal Guard of Lorali. She thought her first mission to Ember would be as part of a delegation, not as a spy.

Vira shot her a look of pity. "It probably won't be as bad as you imagine. There were many scientists among the first few waves of disappearances. They may have already figured out the problem, and we'll be going through as bodyguards and extra hands. A few month's vacation and we'll be back to Lorali's capital before you know it."

"For all you know, we could be vaporized on the way through," Brittsha countered.

"Not likely," Lav said, taking her statement seriously. "All research—hasty as it may have been—pointed to this being a temporary excitation of the nearby boundary cracks caused by energy pulses from the anomaly. All cracks in the area, dormant or otherwise, are temporarily transformed into super-attractors, sucking in any living creature within a certain radius."

Which was why there were no animals in the forest…

"Why not just section off the area?" Brittsha asked. "Study it between events or from a safe distance?"

Vira frowned. "Weren't you given an information packet regarding the mission?"

Brittsha grimaced. "I read most of it… I might have skimmed a few sections."

She had read it cover to cover. She didn't understand a word of it. Most of it was written in scientific terms and the few parts that were legible were as dry as hardtack.

Vira clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "They should never have sent someone so young on this mission."

Brittsha went to object, but Vira held up her hand.

"I am not questioning your abilities, Brittsha, I am questioning the wisdom of the higher ups. No offense was meant," she assured her. "To answer your question: the radius of the anomaly is growing. In the first event, only a handful of people vanished. With each subsequent event, more people are pulled through. Eventually, there won't be anywhere else for us to run."

The comment was followed by heavy silence. Brittsha didn't know what to say. She knew the situation was bad, but this…?

She stood, brushing her hair out of her face. "I'll take watch. I need to walk a bit."

She hurried off before the others could object.

"Be back in time for dinner," Lav shouted after her, worry evident in his tone. "I'm breaking out the good stuff."

Brittsha waved her hand in half-hearted agreement.

The silence in the forest was suffocating. She shivered, drawing her cloak tighter around her shoulders. She wanted to scream, if only to fill the void left by the missing creatures.

I should have said no, she thought. Should have declined the offer and gone back home with my tail between my legs.

But it hadn't really been an offer in the first place. The recruiter made it clear; accept the position or quit the Academy. She would be cut off; her future, her dreams, her livelihood, gone in an instant.

But dying wasn't going to help her future, either. When she first joined, she assumed that they wouldn't send a student off on a suicide mission. She thought she would be paired with mentors that would guide her through it. She thought she would be equipped with the things she needed to survive and come back as a more experienced agent of the crown.

This wasn't a learning mission, this was life or death.

Brittsha stopped walking, a tear running down her face. Vira was right. She was too young for this; too new; too inexperienced.

She wanted to go home.

Brittsha turned to face the anomaly, dread filling her at the sight. It was massive; impenetrable. No one had been able to force their way in, and no one had yet come out.

She wasn't going to come out either…

Brittsha took a step backwards. Then another. Backing away from the uncertainty and fear and before she knew it, she was running.

Wind whipped her hair around her face as she sprinted as fast as she could go. She didn't have a destination in mind; she just had to get as far away from the anomaly as she could. She looked back over her shoulder. It still towered over her, promising pain and fear and death.

Not looking where she was going, Brittsha ran face-first into something solid, bouncing off and falling onto her backside on the cold forest floor.

She looked up, horrified to find Lav standing above her.

"You're abandoning the mission?" he asked, his voice level and unreadable.

Brittsha looked away, not responding to the inherent accusation. A coward, a deserter, that's what she was.

"Not without dinner." Lav tossed a bundle of cloth to Brittsha, and she caught it on reflex.

She frowned down at the bread and cheese. "You're… letting me go?"

Lav shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. "I may not be as vocal as Vira, but even I can see how ridiculous this is." He helped her to her feet, patting her on the shoulder. His voice was serious, but warm. "You understand what this means, don't you?"

"What this means?" Brittsha asked, clutching the food to her chest like a lifeline.

"You can't go back to the Academy," Lav said. "Or your family. You'll be on the run for the rest of your life. If you're discovered you'll be branded a traitor and punished as such."

Tears welled in Brittsha's eyes. "I could… I could explain… Maybe they'll understand. Like you and Vira understood…"

Lav squeezed her shoulder, shaking his head. "They won't. If you leave now, there is no going back. If we return, Vira and I will say that you died in the line of duty. You will get an honorable death, and your family will be well taken care of."

The significance of his words were not lost on Brittsha. If she was branded as a traitor, her family would share her fate. Thus was the law in Lorali.

Brittsha shook her head. "There has to be a way I can survive this without losing everything."

Lav sighed. "That's rarely how life works. The only way back home is to follow me back to camp and never speak of this again."

Brittsha closed her eyes, stealing herself against the moment of weakness that made her want to refuse; to run as far as she could and leave her mother and sister to their fate. She couldn't do that to her family. She couldn't abandon her duty, however distasteful and terrifying it might be.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "It won't happen again."

Lav's expression held regret and disapproval—for Brittsha or for their superiors, she wasn't certain—but he didn't argue with her choice. They walked back to camp in silence.

Vira was waiting for them, her expression mirroring Lav's. Clearly, she knew what had just gone down in the woods, but she didn't say anything. She just handed Brittsha a bowl of soup with an encouraging pat on her shoulder.

Brittsha didn't even get to try it. The air grew hot, burning her skin as if she'd been set on fire. Brittsha dropped the bowl, crying out in pain. Lav and Vira cried out as well, but their voices were drowned out by a sudden wind that rushed around them, slicing through Brittsha's skin like tiny knives. Pressure built in her head until she thought it would explode.

She curled into a fetal position, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't move; she could barely breathe. She lost track of her surroundings.

At some point, Lav and Vira must have stopped screaming, but Brittsha wasn't sure when. It wasn't until the pain finally subsided that she realized she was alone. She stayed in the fetal position for a full hour, unable to force herself to uncurl and take stock of her situation.

Eventually, a small blue screen forced its way into her consciousness.

Welcome to the System!

A previous profile exists for the Player Brittsha Braya.

Reinitializing under the current System…

Species: Corvi.

Special subroutine activated…

The claws of the System's power dug into her, forcing her to shift, pushing itself into every corner of her body. Brittsha tried to fight it, but she was powerless as the System molded her into a species she had never seen before.

Updated species: Corvi (Morph: Human)

The following is a message from the benefactor. Please follow its instructions and prepare for integration.

Greetings traveler.

I'm sure you're confused. First, I'd like to apologize for bringing you here. It is an unintentional consequence of my meddling that I have yet been unable to rectify. Rest assured, I am attempting to fix the issue. In the meantime, there are a few things you need to know about the current state of Ember…

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.