Chapter 52.1: Sleepless Night
Penny stared into the inky black of the night sky: past the starlit earth and foliage, past the jagged treeline of the Brisban horizon, and even past the stars, if that were possible. The moon had long since set, and she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep, glaring fruitlessly at the roof of a Vigil tent for hours before finally grabbing her knapsack and slipping silently outside.
Chapter 51.5: Success?
How Penny could think Jinkke didn’t grasp the situation as well as she did, Jinkke had no idea. None of this was transdimensional matter distribution.
Chapter 51.1: One Last Hurdle
Every step through the winding halls of the complex pushed Penny’s patience—with herself—one step closer to shutdown. As they jogged, Jinkke swore up and down that she remembered the way in and out of the claustrophobic labyrinth, something her brother had previously taken care of. He’d managed to see them through it seemingly without problem, with a confidence that was new to him but endearing. But he couldn’t help them now, or ever again.
Chapter 50.3: For a Friend
Chapter 50.2: The Truth Always Finds You
“Human.”
Penny vaguely heard the rough demand. She had the feeling it was directed at her, but nothing at all was clear.
Chapter 48.2: Air and Fire
Ventyr fell to a knee and gasped, his body seizing as another of the asura struck him from behind with some sort of electrical weapon. His hands uncontrollably clutched at his staff, and his body curled in on itself until the current shut off. The asura pulled back a step and waited, eyes wide at what he’d done. He must not have been a fighter.
Chapter 48.1: Circling the Wagons
Chapter 47.2: Something Like a Plan
Through the tinted glass of the cylinder, Penny watched Minkus go. The leather-cased device on his back piped a thin stream of exhaust into the air as he beelined toward the Vigilman rising from the ground. Of course, that was also a beeline toward the golem that stood between them.
Chapter 47.1: The Gang Back Together
Minkus panted as he dashed down the final corridor. He could feel his rejuvenation returning, but he’d pushed himself to active exhaustion after putting so much effort into healing Yissa. His thighs burned, and his lungs couldn’t get air fast enough to keep up. It had been some time since he’d channeled this much focused magic continuously.
Chapter 46.4: Ventyr’s War
After a few turns, Ventyr was all but lost; the way out was longer than he recalled and far more twisted than he’d recognized under the blindfold his captors had used. With each corner Minkus bounded around, Ventyr could all but feel the promise of an imminent exit, but each one was a lie. The halls and doorways continued, one after the next after the next, and though his elemental training insisted that Ventyr temper his deepening impatience, he didn’t. The whirlwind of fire and air storming through him felt too good, too rare. Most importantly it felt too powerful. Alongside Minkus’ rejuvenating magic, that swelling storm inside was the only thing keeping Ventyr’s battered body moving.
Chapter 46.3: Moving Target
Still backing away, Ventyr kept his attention on the golem, staff raised in ready defense. Fjornsson needed time to recover himself, but Ventyr had to reach the jade—he had to. He shot glances toward the landing at the north end of the room, the handful of fighters actively engaged behind him, Crusader Yult, and then back to the golem just on the other side of the wide doorway. Earlier, it had been unable to pass through it, being too tall. Ventyr would have to take advantage of that, even if those projectile arms complicated the matter.
Chapter 46.2: The Search
Ventyr leapt aside as the golem took another sluggish swing at him. Fat, stone fingers gripped shut around empty air, scooping up nothing several feet shy of the sylvari’s wind-aided movement. He spun, looking back at the mechanical monster. It had no eyes, per se, but the glowing slits that represented them seemed to meet his knowingly.
Chapter 46.1: The Value of Field Testing
Chapter 44.1: Adapting the Plan
“But why did you open them all to begin with?” Ventyr asked, scanning the room. “Simply opening my chamber and Scholar Yissa’s would have been enough.”
Chapter 43.3: The Human
Christoff ran across the courtyard as quickly as he could with that sandbag of an asura slung over his shoulder. Vadd wasn’t big per se, but his uneven, flopping weight had been threatening to pull the man over from the very moment he’d left the testing chamber.
Chapter 43.2: Alarming Mistakes
Before long Jinkke and Penny reconvened with the two soldiers, who appeared to have been long since roused by the screaming alarm and were fully prepared for the next step, geared and ready to move. Fjornsson spotted them first, calling their incoming position to Jindel as he hoisted his big broadsword into the scabbard over his shoulder. At his hip was the asuran warhammer they’d gotten from the Vigil captain, a tool that looked a great deal smaller when hanging from a norn’s belt.
Chapter 43.1: Penny Turns
The air had stilled and the trees quieted. Despite the shade, a stagnant warmth settled between the mimosas and other broad-leafed trees that composed the thicket, only adding to the claustrophobia that brewed in Penny’s gut. It was a different feeling than the serpentine knot that sat anxiously alongside it—gods, the two had become fast, stomach-turning friends.
Chapter 42.5: Whose Mercy
Falling to a knee and sucking air back into his lungs, Minkus suddenly heard and understood what the man had said. He spun to face the room, rubbing at his scorched chest. Whatever that prod had been designed to subdue, it wasn’t an asura. The shock from it had burned a ragged hole straight through the stolen uniform. If it hadn’t been for Minkus’ magic, first absorbing part of the blast and now streaming into him to heal the burn, he knew he wouldn’t be on his feet, if even conscious.