"Don't," Eth said, grabbing Aida's arm as she tensed and began to thrum up her strings. "It'll be okay."

  For maybe the first time ever, Aida heeded Eth, reining herself in before she did something dumb and kicked off a four-way battle.

  Jaxe smirked, clearly enjoying not only everyone's attention, but Aida's internal struggle.

  "What's wrong, Aida? I thought you'd-"

  With a scream of anguished rage, Rega's Seneschal rushed forward and buried a knife hilt-deep into the side of Jaxe's neck. The albino Dynast managed to swing his blade and cut the Seneschal in half with a single-armed swing before he collapsed, gurgling into the trampled mud of the Tangle. For a shocked moment, everyone stood staring as both bled out. Dead Fallon stood there, oblivious.

  Aida numbly walked over to him... or it. She slowly, gingerly touched his face. She knew he was dead and gone, but the shock of seeing him standing there again overrode logic. The spongy feel of his skin, his rotter reek, and the way his glazed eyes stared off at nothing snapped her back. She fought the desire to sob with a surge of anger.

  "Get him out of here," she said to no one in particular.

  While Aida seethed, struggling to avoid an emotional breakdown here in front of the most powerful beings in The Book, Aliasara had led her back to her people, and Stiller had led Fallon out of sight by the time she'd pulled herself out of it. By the time she came to her senses, everyone was arguing. Sava and Wake were shouting insults at each other, Hassani was quietly and earnestly trying to convince Inro of something, while some Ancient Dynast Aida didn't know was apparently trying to bribe Maxem to get the Keen army on their side. Maxem actually sat down, leaning against the legs of a grim-looking Keen and seeming to only half-listen to the increasingly-agitated Dynast railing at her.

  Aida was suddenly tired of it all. As she sagged down, she bumped her purse and remembered the Earth 'nail.

  "Fuck it," she said, accidentally boosting the words with her strings loud enough that everyone went silent.

  "I don't think an orgy will solve anything now," Wake said, mouth quirking with a hint of amusement.

  "I don't mean an orgy. I mean, the Book is boned now, right?" When they stared at her blankly, she rephrased. "It's doomed. The gods are dead, the Aj thing is out killing people and whatever gods are still alive, demon monsters are wiping out whatever's left and no one seems to even want to try to stop them except for Ink and they sound like they're setting in for a last-stand sort of situation. Why don't we just all go to the verse I came from? None of that stuff there and maybe can't. Fallon was saying something about 'nothing working there' a bunch when he came to get me."

  She'd only been here for a span of months, but it felt like a decade.

  "How do we know your barbaric verse is not just overrun with demons and the Aj isn't there killing your gods?" Inro said, sizing her up as he spoke.

  "Us barbaric? I guess in some ways. And we don't have any gods or demons. Well, not any gods like that one anyway." She pointed to the Draggin', still laboriously hauling its mountain-sized body across the Tangle. "And I don't know if demons can come through, but I don't think they'd do great against machine guns and F16s."

  "We're not going anywhere until Ebon's murder is avenged and Rega turns rule over to me so we can combat the Aj," Inro said, crossing his muscular arms. The maimed man and woman with him leaned in to talk into his ears, which led to him arguing softly but strongly with them in some other language.

  "I was promised The Book until the end of time," Rega said, her head moving in a tiny shake. "I haven't worked towards this for centuries to turn it over to anyone now. If the Mother wants to abandon her verse, take her menial children, and run away, she won't be missed. But I will be the Empress of Everything, First and Last."

  "Sava and our people," Maxem said, not even standing. "Directory didn't give me authority to negotiate so it's not negotiable."

  After a long pause, Aida sighed. "Diplomacy fail. So everyone really want half of everyone here to die trying to get what you want?"

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  She took the jaw-clenched, tense silence as affirmation. "This is-"

  The Terrle skull a ways behind them suddenly lurched and crumbled to a chorus of screams, a cacophony of bony crunches and crashes, and a cloud of swirling bone dust that enveloped everyone. Aida's people ran off that direction to help anyone who was hurt, but they pulled back as a figure made of darkness strode out of the settling dust.

  In the nursing home, Aida'd watched a news story about a substance called Vantablack which absorbed all light to the point where discerning distance or shape became difficulty. She'd seen the Aj from a distance once before, but this time, up close the thing's glowing white eyes, gender-less anthropomorphic shape, and the shaped darkness of its form shot goosebumps up and down her arms.

  Inro roared, twisted and yanked the stone rod he carried apart, and charged towards the thing, suddenly carrying a blade made of shadow. Hassani shouted at him to halt, but he seemed beyond hearing or reason. His clay-smeared followers surged forward in his wake and their sudden movement startled the Legionaries nearby. Suddenly they were clashing on the fringes as Rega's cluster of string-armed Dynasts blasted handfuls of them away as they retreated towards the Legion camps.

  Maxem and her tank-knights hustled off faster than Aida'd ever seen her move back towards the Directory base. Eth clung to Aida, shaking. "I don't want to die."

  Aida peeled her off, annoyed. "Then don't do the thing that gets you killed."

  "I have to. If I don't, everything Imminent have done across all time will be for naught."

  Inro reached Aj and swung, but Aj suddenly moved with a sideways leap fast enough to swirl a vortex of dust behind it. The woman with Inro hurled a clay-coated stone from a sling at its head, but it slapped the stone aside, spinning it off into a cluster of Aida's people where it detonated like a grenade. Hassani ran right behind Inro, drawing the huge blade she carried that seemed to be crafted or carved from faintly-luminescent white ice. Something about the way she moved made her look like the Aj - everything too perfect, too fast, too smooth.

  A stray squad of Legionnaires ran towards Aida, Eth, and Ghillie shouting "Rega" as a battle cry. As Ghillie's needles appeared from her suit, Aida stepped in front of her. Out of spite, she sent them hurling away with a string-boosted shout back of "NOPE!"

  Feeling strangely detached at the sudden explosion of violence, Aida wandered towards the fight against the Aj numbly, wondering if the Thorn was destroyed. Apparently, yet another Thorn existed elsewhere since no one had seen Inro and his people show up too, but it would be quite the exodus to get her people there while a multi-sided war apparently just broke out.

  The Aj seemed to generally be defending itself, completely destroying any of Inro's warriors who drew close enough to attack it with a punch or kick that hit them like a Mack truck; the force of the blows severing limbs, pulping torsos, and hurling them dozens of feet in spite of whatever protective properties the paint seemed to render against the blows of Legionnaires. One such flying torso crashed into Inro, tumbling him back into a crowd of his warriors.

  When Aida was close enough to see clearly through the dust but hopefully far enough away to avoid catching a hurling body to the face, she noticed Eth and Parathas walking towards Aj, Parathas talking quickly and Eth trembling violently. She couldn't tell if the hand Parathas wrapped around her shoulders was for moral support, dragging her, holding her up, or some combination of the three.

  The Aj suddenly stopped as Parathas stepped back and Eth stepped forward. Hassani's graceful sprint dodged swatted grenade-rocks and hurling bodies. She skidded into blade-reach of the Aj at the same moment Eth arrived within touching distance of it.

  Its words sounded inside Aida's head, bones, who knew what all. It spoke with no mouth, perhaps not even words, but Aida understood it completely as it looked at Eth.

  You are a one

  woven through with time-stuff

  threaded back

  to the beginning

  of the end.

  "Yes," Eth said, her voice barely audible and seemingly puny compared to Aj's 'words.'

  If the Chronosite

  is to be bound

  and your kind

  to become possible

  Aj must interlace

  and interface with-

  "I know," Eth said.

  Aida grinned involuntarily as the frail-looking teenager cut off a god-demon-angel mid-sentence. She startled to see Ghillie standing at Eth's side, nodding to her reassuringly. As chaos and battle amplified about them, Aj casually slaughtering any warrior who came close and flicking grenade-stones away as casually as if waving off flies, Hassani held her blade out to Eth. Eth took it, pressing her hand against its blade as Aj walked forward and touched the other end.

  Eth screamed, vibrated, glowed, and, just when it seemed she might explode or fire off like a rocket or who knew what, she toppled over into Ghillie's arms. Hassani snatched up the blade as Aj turned and began to walk back the way it came past the wrecked Terrtle skull. Ghillie pressed her forehead against Eth's.

  "Eth, no!" Aida shouted, rushing to Hassani's side. She knelt in the mud beside Ghillie, staring down in horror at the smoke curling from Eth's empty eye sockets.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. Yet another party joins... the party.

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a traveling musician. Died of the Wretch Plague in Heaven's Tread.

  Aida: MC. Mother of Exiles. "Ender of Verses?" "Savior of Dynasties?"

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Alerestro: a handsome, multi-talented man from Azure. Partner of Viviana. Accidentally killed by Jaxe in the One-Eighth.

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Anticores: a pair of Sect representatives, off-putting and strange

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Asta: Tertius Dynast of Silk. Assassinated by the Rags.

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Baka: Dynast of Ziggurat. Huge, massively strong. Tertius. Killed by Cairin in Ziggurat.

  Balmos: Venger working for Ghulen. Killed be Deia in Stacks.

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye. His face gifted to Aida by Ocyl.

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida. Killed by Jaxe in Jadeye

  Cairin: Arca's sister, slinger

  Cleft Hand: malcontent in the One-Eighth, maimed hand due to Ryk. Impaled on a broken spear by Wretches in the One-Eighth.

  Das: Rega's Immanent. Died becoming an Imminent at Eth's hand in Terminus.

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon. Died fighting Ghulen's thugs on Stacks.

  Dels: Dynast of Azure

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eonora: a Legion officer in Ziggurat who defected with the Rogue Legions Mother's Militant

  Eth: a young Imminent

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Ghulen: Rega's "pet monster", an Inviolate. Eaten by a demon in Stacks.

  Goboro: a fat, amiable scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Godge and Ardina: Primary Small Masters in Berujat

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal. Died killing the Inviolate Rasofi in Jadeye

  Fatma: weakest Small Master of Berujat

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  Festrin: Seneschal of Monopollis, father of Fallon

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida. Died burning a Wicker Way in Jadeye.

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction

  Hue: Vibrant accompanying Simon

  Huspara: minor bureaucrat in Libriam

  Ijran: Multi-minded wiz, Small Master of Berujat

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young" (Secounds), wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino). Ancient. Blasted by Aida on Stacks.

  Johine: crude slave. Killed by Ghulen in Stacks.

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian.

  Maxem: High Parser from Ink, ambassador to Jadeye

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  "Professor, The": leader of Aida's Wretches, impaled on a tree in the One-Eighth

  Rasofi: Inviolate killed by Fallon in Jadeye

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic". Paranoid, Fractious Fraction. Tertius. Died to a mob of menials in Jadeye.

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast of Monopolis. Septemius

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate. Hung by a looting mob in Heaven's Tread.

  Ruja: Dynast of Berujat. Killed by Cairin and company in Ziggurat.

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe. Died of Wretch Plague.

  Ryk: "the most beautiful man Aida had ever seen", a Paragon

  Sadar: odd boy traveling with Semon, a Twine. Killed by Kass in Libriam.

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Savalius: Grand Quartermaster of the Legions. Killed by Baka in Ziggurat.

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother. Killed by Ghulen in Libriam.

  Sephily: diminutive Arborist from Groves

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate. Rendered mute by psychological or head-trauma

  Strygen: a dusa traveling with Semon. Killed by Kass and Balmos in Libriam.

  Taesal: one of Rega's other Inviolates, axe scar to face

  Three Bracelets Left: "Leader" of the Mune collective

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Tyrs: many-pierced Secundus Dynast of Forge. Fed into one of his own forges by the Rags.

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  Vanyen: A crippled young woman who created the Cult of the Mother. Martyred Prophet of the Mother. Murdered by Semon Dynastic Assassins.

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Viviana: gorgeous, multi-talented ex-slave from Berujat. Partner of Alerestro. Killed by the Vale Legion in Berujat

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die. Quintus. Isolate.

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  36th Dynasty: A Dynasty the Anticores have met?.

  100th Dynasty: The Dynasty ruling the Book.

  Adventures of Bubo, The: popular kids story

  All, The: All the verses, even those beyond The Book.

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number", "own Ziggurat" and "run the great bank that is Monopolis"

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails. Burned to the ground by the Rags.

  Anticore: Sect creature which "wears convincing human skins" with "swarming insects... beneath the skin"

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves

  Arcers: a type of mancer able to summon blades of energy

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Autumn: verse rich in gold?

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Azure: An oceanic verse with blue beaches ruled by

  Berujat: "fleshmarkets"; primary seat of slave trade and home of most Lineage Masters, owned by Fraction.

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Black Court Tribunal: localized Black Court authority?

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "The Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Bubo's Tale: Story of an ancient dyast who explored a mythical land called "Christendom" with his rats

  Calms: periods when ever-blowing winds die down in Berujat

  Canyon of Cages: cliff where slaves are held in Berujat

  Cave Dwellers: tribes that live in the underground in Origin, keep others out until "the Return"

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Inoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease, "Mudra of Cleansing"

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears who track and tell time religiously

  Commu: chewed drug/herb?

  ConMach: convoy? courier? "ConMach drains the very life from the Directory's verses". Supply "ConMach machines"

  Construct: some great machine draining reality via black holes to create the All.

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins? "harder than currence"? "Solid current forms currence." Currence melts to watter.

  Currency: money, gold coins once held currence inside to give value, now debased

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"? "Solid current forms currence."

  Directory: "the Directory to Ink is like the Dynasty to the Book", dominating rulers of Ink

  Donative, The: Black Court taxes, taken by Legion if not offered. Don't pay, no Partaking every century.

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynast's Tower: a massive tower at the peak of Ziggurat.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebon Saga: the tale of Ebon's foundation of The Book and Dynasty

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  "Emperor of Everything": popular kids story about Inro turning down becoming emperor, then crushing those who elevated a different Dynast

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Forge: verse ruled by Tyrs with much metalworking

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction"/"The Renewal": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other", "entice every freemancer and Lineage Master" ... "to Berujat". For those with "verses deficient in maor ways."

  Gates, The: Inter-verse travel method created by Ebon. Opened with Limn

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  God-touched: those who have physically touched a god (and lived)

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Green People: A tribe of jungle dwellers from Origin

  Groves: a forest verse, home to Arborists

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Imminent: seers advising Dynasts and shaping course of The Book

  Imminent Prophecy: something about a barbarian Dynast, Ender of Verses and/or Savior of Dynasties?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  Ink: home verses of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People". Drained of color and drained.

  Innoculist: doctors who teach chants "brought from Logos" to cure disease

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption" with "unlimited, undisclosed, and untraceable budgets"

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence", "cheat the Donative, stockpil[e] currence and watter" "hire Keen mercenaries" "raise own private Legions in secret"

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jar: Name of a "gold" coin now made of brass. Once held currence within.

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin. Destroyed by Aida.

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Gates: previous travel method before Thorns and the Kiss, opened by painting Limn on an arch in one verse and another in Terminus

  Green People: tribes that live in the jungles of Origin

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it. "Tank knights"

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast, most desperately trying to reach 100 so they can Partake

  Kiss, The: disease that wiped out "hundreds of verses", also name for the time period when Aj became active last and destroyed 100s of verses before halting in Sunset

  Lambent ram: animal whose wool glows?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: a line of mancers taught by a Master

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Lizard Hunters: Arca's people, walkers of the wastes of Origin

  Logos: "the thought realm"

  Machine Curse: something that stops machines from working between verses?

  Mancers: "no mancers arc (could) affect it", people with abilities beyond human normal, usually trained/implanted by a Master.

  Master's Markets: primary slave market in the Book in Berujat

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: "the Outsiders". "exist only to destroy the Book" with their "demonic and monstrous children" from "the Hells beyond". The same race as the Ascen but objectors to the creation of the All.

  Monopolis: the "City of Currency", bank verse ruled by Rega

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mother's Faith: the relgion based on Aida created by Semon

  Mother's Militant: Formerly the Rogue Legions led by Eonora, now pledged to protect the people of the Book

  Mune: a utopist collective from Dost who mask their identities and share everything communally

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One Tribe, The: Arca's new tribe incorporating the Libwe and whomever else is conquered or enticed to join.

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Origin: the First Verse, from which Ebon originated, containing the "Cities Below". The "first page of The Book"

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty. Alternately, albinism

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: Lineage whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen/Blind Priests: priests praising the Ascen and back the Black Court

  Rags: derogatory name for alliance of Isolates and Fractious Fraction. Call themselves "Resistance Against the Grevious Ancient Coup."

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time four-hundred years ago when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Shale: a verse famous for its expensive stone

  Shore Striders: tribes that live along the oceans of Caves

  Shackle Pens: slave pens near Master's Market in Berujat?

  Shrineway: religious section of Jadeye "brailled prayers along the walls ... [and] cobblestones"

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Silk: verse owned by Asta where all of verse's silk originates

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago when "half the legions rose up". Put down by Baka

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing". Overrun by demons.

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Stone Walkers: tribes that live in the cold of Origin

  Subterrane, The: inter-verse travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons" holds mad Dynasts, monsters and demons... vaults of dangerous relics.

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Swirl: A verse. "The pleasure barges of Swirl"

  Syphon: machine ConMach uses to "drain the very life" and color from a verse to "fuel... machinery"

  Tangle, The: the jungles of the One-Eighth

  Terminus: the verse from which the Gates all opened, hub of the Book before The Kiss and now mostly abandoned.

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries. The 2√3 Dynasty.

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Tribunal: group of three Dynasts coming together to make ruling or pass judgment

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Vale Walkers: discoverers of verses

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid. "Currence melts to watter. Watter's current dissipates over time, leaving water."

  Weeping Falls: Jadeye Iris flowing with waterfalls

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  Wiz of Berujat: multi-minded, capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wretch Plague/Dynast's Plague: the flu. A horrific disease spread by Wretches.

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between. A giant Ziggurat