Hiral stumbled as he felt the ground beneath his feet, his Dex failing him as an absolute emptiness filled his chest. Knees splashing in the muck, sight, sound, and the falling rain on his shoulders slowly resolved, though they couldn’t pierce the hollowness. Couldn’t slow his rapidly beating heart, or fill his gasping lungs.

  Just being there, Touch of Genesis activated in the back of his head, confirming they’d succeeded. He was back on Genesis. More than that, he could feel how free it was. Now that he knew what to look for—the signs of a dungeon surrounding the world—it was like stepping out of a dark room after years of not even realizing there was a door.

  Genesis was back where and when it needed to be. Free of the Raze that’d trapped it.

  They’d really done it. And it had cost them.

  Right. Left. You…

  “Seeyela!” Seena’s voice distantly said, and Hiral squeezed his eyes closed, the rain running down his face from the torrential downpour. “Say something, Seeyela.”

  “Give me space, girlie,” Laseen said. “Let me look at her.”

  Eyes closed, Hiral listened. He knew he should get up. Should go over and make sure Seeyela was okay. But, he couldn’t move. His doubles—his best friends—were gone. In that last instant, in that second before the blinding light consumed everything, he’d seen it.

  He’d seen them give themselves to the Urn of Ur’Thul. He’d seen it consume them, soul and all, as the fuel for what Hiral had tasked it with doing.

  They sacrificed themselves to save him. Again. Except, this time, he couldn’t just resummon them.

  Or… could he?

  Even with his eyes closed, Hiral pulled up his status window, attention immediately going to Foundational Split.

  Unavailable.

  He’d seen that word most of his life when he’d looked at his status window. All those years as the Everfail, while he wished he could use his tattoos. In all that time, the word had never hurt quite so much.

  One of his hands joined his knees on the ground, the other one clenching at his chest, as he doubled over. Losing Yully, Dole, and Ilrolik had been hard. This… this… this was impossible. They were part of him. More than that.

  When they’d figured out they had souls, Hiral had worried about them leaving. It was scary, but at least they still would’ve been around. Now? Gone? Forever?

  “Hiral?” Nivian said quietly, at the same time a hand came down gently on his back. “Are you okay?”

  “I…” Hiral started, voice cracking. “No. They’re…”

  “Were you hurt? Do you need Wule?”

  “No,” Hiral forced out. “It’s… Left and Right.”

  The hand on his back shifted a little, like Nivian was looking for the pair.

  “I don’t see them…” Nivian said slowly, before his hand tensed on Hiral’s back. “What happened?”

  “The Urn,” Hiral said, choking back his emotions. “The Urn had a price for what I asked it to do.”

  “A soul.”

  “Or two halves of the one,” Hiral repeated Right’s words.

  “They didn’t…”

  “They did,” Hiral said, though he couldn’t keep his voice from faltering. “So I wouldn’t have to. They saved me, from me, again.”

  “Can you…?”

  “I can’t,” Hiral said, his whole body shuddering.

  “Foundational Split is gone?”

  “It’s still there, but it’s unavailable,” Hiral said. “Just like my tattoos were all my life.”

  “Is that all?” Nivian said.

  “Is that all?!” Hiral’s eyes finally snapped open as he turned his head to look at the Death Knight. Calm, blue-fire eyes stared back at him. “How can you ask that? They’re gone, and I can’t activate the ability to bring them back again.”

  “Are you sure?” Nivian said. “Did you try?”

  “It’s unavailable!” Hiral shouted, and he saw the people beyond the tank startle. Almost everybody else—everybody who’d survived and could stand—was gathered around Seeyela.

  “Hiral,” Nivian said, voice soft and solid as always. “Did you try?”

  “I…” Hiral started, eyes going to the man kneeling in the mud beside him, the rain pouring down on them. The man clearly not panicking like Hiral was. “What?”

  “I don’t care if the ability says it’s unavailable or not,” Nivian said. “I asked if you tried. From what I understand, you created Left and Right because you needed them. It sounds to me you still need them. So, have you tried? Really tried.”

  “No,” Hiral said quietly.

  “Then what are you waiting for? You’re not the type to give up easily.”

  “Thank you, Nivian,” Hiral said, something in his chest unclenching, and his mind ordering itself. He’d been spiralling. Spiralling bad. Stopped thinking. The theory was Foundational Split was a PIMP-given name, not an ability. He’d done it himself with Separation, even if he didn’t know how he’d done that.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Nivian said.

  “Just give me a second,” Hiral said, diving into his own PIM universe. Like usual, his abilities had ordered themselves to look like his Rune of Eclipse, with his soul at the central point. Next to that, probably the closest ability to his soul, was Foundational Split.

  And it was a mess, to say the least.

  The runic equations were dangling, like something had been ripped out of them, leaving what remained as torn wreckage. Even those that were left had their syntax irreparably damaged. It was as much a broken ability as Hiral could possibly imagine.

  Whatever the Urn of Ur’Thul had done, it wasn’t a half-measure. Foundational Split could never be what it was. There simply wasn’t enough of it left to remake it.

  Did you try? Nivian’s words echoed in Hiral’s head, and his gaze moved from the broken ability to his own soul, glowing like a sun hidden behind an eclipse.

  If he couldn’t remake it, he’d just have to build a new one.

  Ur had said Left’s and Right’s souls were part of Hiral’s. A safe place they could always return. That had to mean, every time they came back to him, they left a piece of themselves there. Like a memory. An… echo.

  He just needed to find those echoes, and give them a shape. Two shapes, technically.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Looking at the energy within his soul, and thanks to Enduring Mind+, that task didn’t come without extreme risk. When he’d separated part of his soul in E-Rank, the possible fallout would’ve been bad, but limited.

  At S-Rank? It would be bad. City-erasing bad. He couldn’t do it with his other friends so close.

  “How’s Seeyela?” he asked Nivian. “And the Raze? The Urn of Ur’Thul?”

  “She’s awake and lucid,” Nivian said. “Laseen and Wule are taking good care of her. No lasting damage. No sign of the Raze either. As for the Urn, Seeyela said something about it getting ripped out of her hands just before she came through this end of the time-tunnel. More pressing, now, Yanily says there are some Enemies on their way here. We’ll take care of them when they get closer. You don’t need to worry about…”

  “I’ll handle them,” Hiral said, cursing the loss of the Urn. If it was lost inside of GG, it could be anywhere now. Anywhen. There’d been a slim chance he could’ve taken Right and Left back out of there, but that hope was dashed. No, he’d have to stick with his current plan. “What I need to do, it’s dangerous. I can’t do it with the rest of you close. If it doesn’t work…”

  “It will,” Nivian said. “It’s you. That means it will work.”

  “I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Hiral said. “But I still won’t do it here.”

  “Nivian, everything okay over there?” Seena said, and Hiral looked past the tank to the party leader.

  As soon as he met her eyes, she saw something on his face. Something about what felt like a hole in his chest where his friends should be. There, like that, she understood without words what had happened. On her shoulder, Li’l Ur shook his tiny head in disbelief, and he reached up to put his hand against his Mistress’s head in support.

  “I’ll fix it,” Hiral mouthed. He couldn’t bring himself to say anymore about it. Then, he pushed himself up to his feet, though Nivian stayed close in case he needed support.

  “The Enemy?” Nivian said.

  “Like I said,” Hiral said, voice growing stronger as he pushed down the emptiness. Part of him wanted to get angry. At himself. At the Raze and Enemy. At the Urn. It would make it easier if he had the rage to burn his emotions like fuel.

  Except, it wouldn’t help. Anger wasn’t the solution, though he was going to take care of the Enemy in a way they wouldn’t enjoy.

  “I’ll handle them,” Hiral continued, taking a breath. “Can you make sure everybody else is okay? And, ready to go soon. We’ll have a lot to do.”

  “We’ll be ready when the three of you return,” Nivian said.

  Hiral gave the tank a nod of thanks, glanced in Seena’s direction one more time, then shot up into the sky on a burst of Rejection. Across his body, his black Seeker’s Regalia exploded into white energy as his pseudo-aspect took hold, while his runes bled together to form the Rune of Eclipse. The falling rain did nothing to slow his ascent, and he didn’t even bother using a shield of Rejection to block it.

  Something about the cold rain on his face grounded him, and he needed that right now.

  Up, up, and up, Hiral went, until he floated just below the thick clouds. So close, he could almost reach out and touch the lowest level of mist, he finally stopped there. Overhead, lightning pulsed through the clouds, the rain growing ever-heavier as the Enemies approached. Distant thunder boomed, sending vibrations directly through Hiral’s chest.

  Here, miles away from his friends, it should be safe to do what he needed. To carve the pieces of his soul off that were Left and Right. From there, though he couldn’t rebuild the Foundational Split ability to be what it had been before, he had another idea that should work. Probably. It could also make him explode.

  Hiral took a deep breath and let it back out. For them, the risk was worth it.

  First, he needed to do something about the Enemy. With the way the storm was quickly building, it wasn’t small creatures coming in his direction. Ol’ Stumpy itself may be on the way as well. The S-Rank squid. As much as Hiral wouldn’t mind throwing down with the beast, it would just take too long. Instead, it was time he did something to let the squids know Genesis wasn’t their playground anymore.

  With a thump of solar energy, Hundred Handed burst from his back, the hands already working to scar runic equations into the air. What he had in mind, it was too complicated to rely on his clones to build. It would just take a moment or two, and he needed to…

  “Doing something fun up here?” Yanily asked, swooping up on Thunderclaws’ back.

  “Making a present for the squids,” Hiral said. “Then I’m bringing Left and Right back. No matter what.”

  “They’re the ones who got us home, huh?” Yanily said, tilting his head back so the rain came down directly on his face. “Wondered where they were. Should’ve known.”

  “Yeah,” Hiral said, forcing himself not to dwell on it while his hands carved out more equations. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake with this.

  “I’ll give Right one of my luxury pastries in thanks when I see him next time,” Yanily said. The words, and the tone of the man’s voice, showed no signs of doubting Hiral’s success.

  “He’ll like that,” Hiral said.

  “He better,” Yanily said. “I’ve only got two left. Need any help?”

  “Being up here with me while I do this is dangerous, Yan,” Hiral said. “You should probably go back down with the others.”

  “Not happening,” Seena said, rising up beside the pair, standing on the back of her phoenix Reflection mount. “We owe them, and we want to be here to welcome them back.”

  “Thank you,” Hiral said. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you. Seeyela?”

  “Fine,” Seena said. “Soaking up the attention. Still a little drained, though, otherwise she’d already be back on Fallen Reach with Favela.”

  “It’s good to be home,” Yanily said. “And, yes, I’m sure we’re back. I can feel Heaven’s Punishment watching. But, more important stuff first. We have some guests we need to kick out. What’s this present you’re making for the squids? Does it involve stabbing them?”

  “And, how can we help?” Seena said. “After the battle with the Raze, I don’t know how much I have left, but I’ll find a way for some fried squid.”

  “Mistress,” Li’l Ur said. “You mustn’t strain your channels more. You barely avoided permanent damage.”

  “It’s okay, Ur,” Hiral said to the lich. The little guy didn’t look much better than anybody else, and that was saying something for a skeleton to appear exhausted. “I could use help from the two of you, but this isn’t going to be a fight.”

  “I’d say I was disappointed,” Yanily said. “Except, that last one took a lot out of me and Tempest Roar. We could both sleep for a week. So, back to my question—ugh, I know how Seeyela feels now—what do you need from us?”

  “You being here is enough,” Hiral said.

  “Sappy much?” Seena said.

  Hiral forced himself to half-smile—it was the best he could do—then shared an ability window with them in explanation.

  Empower+: The strength of your allies is your own. Borrow an energy type from one of your allies to infuse into your own attacks or abilities to inflict bonus damage.

  Note: Damage and duration of Empower+ based on Atn.

  Note (2): Energy types borrowed through Empower+ have a chance to ignore resistances. This effect can be increased further.

  “I was going to try it with my own all-typed energy,” Hiral said to Seena. “Having you here, well, that gives me a better option.”

  “Sounds like fried squid is back on the menu,” Yanily said.

  “Could use your help too, Yan,” Hiral said. “Can you use whatever it is you do to sense the squids’ dirty storms? If I can narrow that down…”

  “Sure,” Yanily said, closing his eyes. A second later, something rippled through the air around the spearman. It wasn’t as defined as an ability, but reminded Hiral more of his own sensory domain.

  Not a PIMP-given ability, then. No surprise there.

  Studying the feeling for several seconds, it was clear Hiral wouldn’t be able to exactly replicate it himself. He couldn’t just willy-nilly copy abilities from others, and since it wasn’t being used directly on him, Is This How You Do It? wasn’t going to trigger.

  On the other hand, if he used Yanily as a kind of remote sensor and…

  Yeah, that could work.

  “Keep doing that, Yan,” Hiral said, three of his spectral arms scratching out runic equations around the Grower, while another one connected those with the structure he’d already been working on. A fifth arm reached up higher to add a column of runes directly to the heavy storm cloud, and then a pulse of solar energy finalized the product. “Done.”

  “Good timing,” Yan said without opening his eyes. “The squids are getting close. Definitely A-Ranks in there… and, from the strength of the storms, there are a few S-Ranks slowly heading in his direction.”

  “Will this bring Right and Left back?” Seena said, eyes on the runic equations hanging in the air.

  “No,” Hiral said. “This is just to deal with the Enemy, so I’m not interrupted.”

  “Then let’s get it over with,” Seena said, reaching down to take one of his hands in hers. “I miss those guys already.”

  “Me too,” Hiral said, and lifted his free hand up in front of himself. Thumb against his middle-finger, he took the same pose as if he was going to use his Rune of Sound. A deep breath to center himself, and his senses connected with the powerful runic equations that would temporarily change the rules of Genesis.

  On a global scale.

  Runes of Separation, Breaking, Expansion, Dreaming, Energy, Connection, Piercing, Impact, and Increase dominated the circles, but they certainly weren’t all. Much like he’d done before, he introduced—and used—runes he’d never been familiar with before. It had all come so second-nature to him, and he felt like he was only scratching the surface.

  Exploring what else he could do was one more thing he’d add to the list, after he finished a few higher priorities. Like the one right in front of him.

  The squids had been on the planet for thousands of years—tens of thousands—and it was time they were gone. They weren’t welcome there anymore. Fighting them individually would be good experience, but it would take too long. There’d be too much risk for other parties. Hiral wanted his world back now. So, he’d take it back, by taking away the one thing the squids seemed to need more than anything else.

  “You’ll like this,” Hiral said to Seena as he snapped his fingers.

  As he set fire to the rain.

  Nivian, ??

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