“So… so someone at Crossroads was really responsible for all that? Do they know what they’re doing? Is it a whole group or just a couple of them? What are the Reapers going to do? Wait, what are the Reapers going to do about us? Are they mad about our place basically being in their backyard? What about the Reapers who were taken by Lotan? Are the other Reapers going to do something about them? Is there any–”


    Giggling despite herself, Denny held up both hands in front of the boy who was blurting out all those questions so quickly. “One at a time, Theodore, one at a time.”


    Dakota, standing nearby, giggled as well while giving a quick nod of agreement. “Yeah, we can only answer so quickly if you wanna understand any of it, you know?” Even as she said that, the girl was already grimacing self-consciously. “I mean, sorry, I don’t even need to be involved in this if you don’t want. I can just go wait over there until Jones comes back so she can take me to see the Solemn Ones again.”


    Before responding, Denny gave a quick glance around to take in the small group standing near the ring toss game here in the Carnival-space. Besides the three of them, there was also the hooded Belfry, a nonbinary Aspect connected to everything commonly associated with vampires, and Rocky, a female Aspect who liked to wear very bright colors (in this case, a neon green shirt and bright orange cargo pants to go with her very blue hair) and possessed vibration and sound-based powers. At least, those not used by Bang-bang. They had a little bit of overlap there, though Bang-bang focused more on charged-effects and making objects give off sounds. Or even just recording things. Rocky, on the other hand, made immediate (and very loud) sound blasts. She was a lot of things, but subtle wasn’t one of them. Nor was she all that tactful.


    That point was proven even more now as she immediately blurted, “Don’t be dumb, of course we want you to be here.” Only once she saw the way Denny and Belfry were looking at her did she stop and reexamine what she had just said. “Err, sorry, I really wasn’t trying to call you dumb. That’s not what I meant. Just, it’d be dumb for us to not want you around, so thinking we wouldn’t is–I mean…” The loudly-dressed girl fell silent, frowning to herself as she tried to think of how to explain herself.


    Belfry took pity on her. “The point is that we do want you here, Dakota.” As always, their voice was silky-smooth in a way that made Denny jealous. Belfry had a deep, rich voice that was hard to pin down as masculine or feminine. Just like their physical form, really. “Whether you’re waiting to see the Solemn Ones or not, you are certainly welcome with us any time you’d like to visit. And if you don’t visit, we’ll have to come find you.” That last bit was accompanied by a teasing display of sharp teeth.


    Clearly neither offended nor worried, Dakota raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying you’ll eat me?”


    Belfry, in turn, grinned with those same teeth. “Not at all, it’s steak I like. Steak and hamburgers and all sorts of meat. Feisty and I both, actually. Most of the others don’t enjoy it as much. But when we’re on the outside, we eat a lot of it. And we would both be in control a lot if we had to take turns tracking you down. Which–hmm, come to think of it, perhaps you should give us a reason to search for you.”


    Coughing, Denny quickly spoke up. “You know very well that you can Front for a hamburger anytime you want.” To Dakota, she added, “They’re just teasing you. And probably trying to see if they can con you into bringing them a steak next time you pop in.”


    “It was worth a shot,” Belfry noted in a tone that made it clear they were not the least bit abashed. Their silky voice sobered then. “But to the original point, Theodore, it would be best to focus on a single line of inquiry at a time.”


    Rocky’s head bobbed quickly. “Yeah, dude. Unless you want all our answers to sound like–” And then she made what sounded like ten minutes worth of conversation that was all squished up into a ten second long burst. Absolutely none of it was decipherable. Denny thought she might’ve picked out a familiar name here or there, but even that was a bit iffy.


    The boy squirmed a bit on his feet, subconsciously playing with one of the rings from the nearby game between his fingers. “Okay, um, well, Crossroads did it?”


    “Apparently,” Denny confirmed. She explained what Jones had told them about tracing the spell’s origin. “I guess it wasn’t even the full thing. Whoever was responsible for it was just testing different combinations of spells. Whatever they’re actually trying to do is gonna be a lot bigger. They’re using some sort of ancient magic. It’s–umm–not exactly the same way the Reapers make their Archives, but kinda in the same neighborhood? They’re connected anyway. So when the Crossroads people were testing the magic, they accidentally poked a hole into those Archives. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to pull those Reapers and the others out into Earthspace so the thing under the ocean could notice and, um, reach out itself to grab them. Now they’ve fixed the holes and reinforced the Archives against that sort of thing.”


    “It wasn’t reinforced already?” Theodore sounded understandably surprised. “But the Reapers are… um, you know, so much stronger than Heretics. How could Crossroads accidentally poke holes into the side of their personal pocket realities?”


    “They could only have done it accidentally, apparently,” Dakota put in. “From what Jones said, it wasn’t one single spell. It was a combination of several spells put together in an unexpected way. Old spells that no one’s used in a long time.”


    Rocky gave a quick double-take at that. “Hang on, what about us? What about our space? If those Crossroads jerks do more with that magic, will it hurt the Carnival? I don’t wanna be sucked out and eaten by a giant sea monster!” She immediately started looking around as though expecting to see holes already appearing in the sky above them.


    Denny shook her head. “Don’t worry, Jones is going to help with that. She’ll make sure we’re safe from any of their poking. And it takes a long time to build up that sort of spell anyway, so it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. It’ll all be under control. She promised. So, if we do end up getting taken by a big sea monster, we can all yell at her.” She paused before offering a faint smile. “Or maybe just politely ask her to please save us.”


    “What about us?” Theodore tentatively asked. “I mean, what are the Reapers going to do about our home being so close to them? I think I remember something about them reacting really badly whenever anyone tries to poke their noses into their Archives. Like, blow up a whole solar system badly. And now we’re just sitting here with a back door right into them. They won’t like that very much, right? Are… are we in trouble? Err, more than usual.”


    “They’re putting a lock on it,” Denny informed him, feeling a rush of affection for the boy. He may have looked like the person who was responsible for her own horrific death, but the appearance was where the similarities stopped. Theodore was the innocent part of Ammon, the part that had existed before Fossor changed him. He was the person that boy should have been.


    “It’s some sort of special lock that only a full Reaper can get through,” she continued. “We can still visit them now and then, but Jones will have to take us through. Or, um, one of the other Reapers I guess.” Her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. “But I hope it’s Jones.” The others agreed, and they all snickered together.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    While the others talked a bit more about what had happened, Denny turned to look around. The missing Aspects were back here in the Carnival where they belonged, everyone gathered in little groups here or there. Some to talk, others just to play. Letters was the one on the outside right now, giving a report to the Fusion School leadership about what happened. She was good at that sort of thing. Better than Denny was, anyway. And she liked it more.


    In that moment, as she watched Tick and Talk giving a very animated retelling of the events that had taken place back here at the Carnival for Tucker and Tailor (they had a lot of T names around here), Denny felt a sort of… knocking. That was the best description for it. She felt the idea of someone knocking at the very edge of her consciousness. That was followed by a bit of familiarity, of friendship, and of pizza.


    “Jones,” she announced aloud. “She’s here. Err, right outside. She wants to know if she can come in.” After a brief pause, she admitted, “Uh, not exactly sure how I know that. But, err, come in!” She raised her voice at the end, turning in a circle to look around while feeling just a little silly to be addressing someone she couldn’t see or hear.


    Sure enough, a door appeared nearby, attached to nothing. It was pushed open, revealing what looked like a video game arcade on the other side. Jones stepped through, followed by Casey. Both of them were carrying several boxes of pizza. The smell immediately began to waft across the carnival grounds, attracting even more attention. When Jones waved for the other Aspects to come join them, they soon did just that. The pizza was passed around and soon everyone had their share.


    As Casey stepped away to talk to Crystal and Bucket, Dakota and Denny focused on Jones. “What about Aureus,” the plant-manipulator tentatively asked. They hadn’t seen what happened with the Seosten girl, aside from the fact that she hadn’t immediately teleported away.


    “She let them take her back up to their base in the sun!” The answer came from Casey, called back over her shoulder in between bites of pizza. “Something about how if someone is doing something that endangers the Reapers, she’s going to be part of  disintegrating them. Honestly, I think she just wants to see what other amazing things she can be a part of if she sticks around long enough. Or maybe she just wants to spy for that one nasty piece of–” Her eyes shifted to look at Jones briefly before finishing with a simple, “–Shredder. That one nasty Shredder. Wait, you don’t think she’s actually the one responsible for this whole thing, do you? Denny said she can possess people still, maybe she’s umm, pushing this?”


    “The one known as Kushiel is definitely a Shredder,” Jones agreed. “And no, the Solemn Ones are confident the magic came from a human. A Crossroads Heretic, and not one possessed by a Seosten, ghost or otherwise. The magic they use tastes different.”


    Feeling a lump in her throat, Denny asked, “So are the Reapers going to attack Crossroads? You know, for basically throwing a bunch of them into Lotan’s hands and probably getting them killed, even if it was an accident. Like–like Theodore said earlier, the Reapers blew up a Solar System the last time someone messed with their Archives.”


    Jones shook her head, offering a reassuring smile. “Hey, don’t worry, I like way too many things in this solar system to let that happen. This is where all the fun stuff is.” Her expression and voice sobered immediately as she put one hand on Denny’s shoulder while the other found its way to Theodore’s. “I talked to them. And they’re going to give us time to handle this. They already reinforced the other Archives against any more of that magic anyway, and I’ll help you do the same to this place. I told the Solemn Ones I was already helping these people out with a couple other things, so I’d stick around to make sure this gets handled promptly. Well, you know, promptly by Reaper standards. We are a long-lived species.” She smiled a bit to herself before clarifying, “One month. We have one month to make sure this never happens again.”


    That lump was back, and worse this time. “One month to… to what, tell Crossroads to get their people under control before the Reapers lash out? Can’t they just… uh, do that and call it good? The Crossroads people wouldn’t just ignore that. Besides, some of the people in charge are like, you know, their friends or whatever. They’d listen.”


    “And they’ll probably investigate, yes,” Jones agreed. “But will the loyalists see it as a real warning, or a trick? Will the person or people responsible admit to it and stop, or doubledown? We don’t even know exactly what they were trying to do. And… there’s another issue anyway.”


    “Lotan?” Dakota guessed. “He’s more active now. He took those Reapers. Does… does he still have them?”


    “No,” came the flat response. “He devoured them. Which means he’s going to be stronger, more active. He’ll send out more of his minions and try harder to get free. There’s gonna be a lot more fighting, and… they’ll have to stop him. Either find a way to kill him, or at least beat him back down into his cage. It won’t be easy. It won’t be–” She stopped, seeming to realize where she was before immediately shifting her thoughtful frown into a smile. “But hey, don’t worry about it. They’ll handle it. I’ll make sure. But right now, who’s ready for another trip into the Prime Archives?” She paused for a long moment before grimacing. “I meant that to sound more enticing, but I suppose it’s probably still a bit intimidating. I promise, we won’t end up back in the ocean about to be eaten by a giant sea monster.” Another hesitation, then, “I ninety-eight point six percent promise.”


    “I’m ready,” Dakota immediately put in, her voice only faltering a little bit. She stood up a bit straighter, eyes darting over to find Denny’s before adding a little more quietly, “I want to know what the Solemn Ones were going to tell me. And I want to hear what they know about my dreams. It sounded important.”


    “I think it is,” Jones agreed before grumbling a little. “But they won’t tell me until we’re there with them. For some reason they think I’ll blab about it to you ahead of time. Which I absolutely would, to be clear, but they’re still jerks for not giving me the chance to.”


    “I’ll go with you.” That came from Theodore and Denny both, a sentiment echoed by several of the other Aspects immediately after.


    “Maybe we should keep this excursion small,” Jones pointed out a bit gently. “Just a few people, so the Solemns don’t get anxious about things. They’re a bit on edge anyway.”


    In the end, they settled on Jones and Dakota being accompanied by Casey, Denny, and Theodore. The others would stick around in case Letters needed any more help while continuing to be thoroughly questioned by the Fusion people. Walker was left with full permission to simply transport them away from the place entirely if the questioning went on too long or grew too intense.


    Meanwhile, Jones led her little group through another portal and into the Solemn Ones’ chamber again. They were still there, attached to their crystal pillars just as they had been before. All looked toward Dakota, while the girl herself stood frozen under their stares.


    Denny stepped up behind her friend, putting one hand on her shoulder. Theodore did the same to her other shoulder, while Casey stepped directly beside the girl and took her hand. All of them remained silent, giving Dakota herself a chance to speak.


    “I… I’m here,” she finally announced. Denny could feel the girl trembling a little under her grip, but she kept it together for the most part. “You said you wanted to tell me something about those dreams I’ve been having, the ones where I’m a thane trying to serve my king and we’re about to fight a dragon.”


    There was a brief moment of silence. Except it apparently wasn’t actually silence for all of them, because Jones eventually spoke up. “They said it’s because of your connection to Kwur. And his connection to Ehn. That’s whose eyes you’re seeing through, the man who would one day become Ehn, before he was… bonded, before he became a Dragon-Heretic. Kwur has a connection to him and you have a connection to Kwur.”


    “But I don’t want to have a connection to Kwur,” Dakota protested weakly. “Can… can he see through my eyes too?”


    Jones shook her head. “They don’t believe so. It’s not like you have a current, ongoing link with him. It’s more like he dumped some memories in your head. You’re getting some of Ehn’s memories. But that’s not the important part here, believe it or not. The important part is that the… the Solemn Ones say that they’ve encountered that dragon before. The dragon in your borrowed memories. He told them something… vital. Whatever he’s doing, whatever his purpose, it has something to do with preventing the end of this universe. And he was only able to get started along that path because he was freed from… from some great imprisonment by the one who sees him through the eyes of his unknowing acolyte, at the moment of that man’s rebirth. According to the dragon, the one who sees him then will travel with her friends and free his younger self to set him on this path.”


    Denny played that through in her head. “Wait, you mean… the unknowing acolyte is Ehn, and Dakota’s the one seeing through his eyes at the moment of his–I guess his ‘birth’ as a Dragon Heretic? So… so you’re saying…”


    Casey finished for her. “She’s saying that we’re going on a quest.


    “We get to rescue a dragon!”