The moment the trolley slid back into the linehouse, Hassani launched through the door. Avani's eyes lit up as she saw her as whatever drug Ghulen had used on her finally wore off. Sobbing and laughing in equal measure, Hassani hugged her tight, lifted her up, and spun around and around, all the world gone except for her and the warmth of her little girl pressed up against her.

  "Amma, why'd you go 'way so long?" Avani said, leaning back and then frowning at Hassani's face. Her little fingers ran across the innumerable scars now tracing Hassani's visage in the aftermath of the destruction she'd wrought when using the Aze blade. "What'd they do to your face?"

  "Nothing that matters now," Hassani said, pressing Avani tight against her again. She finally looked over the girl's shoulder to the figure leaning against the opening to the trolley's front platform. "Thank you, whoever you... by the Ascen!"

  The figure moved forward into the light. A ghost from what felt like another lifetime.

  "Denault? You're alive?"

  "Barely. Could say the same for you." Denault moved with a pronounced limp as he moved closer. The months had ravaged his face with the force of decades and his eyes had shrunk to baggy hollows.

  "But, that night on the balcony." She bit her lip recalling that night, a flood of guilt, anger, regret, and shame pouring into her. "You..."

  "Fell. Into a heap of sail laying on the docks. Saved my life, but not my leg." Denault gestured down to his left foot, now canted inward at a harsh angle.

  Avani tired of playing with Hassani's hair and twisted in her arms. "Adda!"

  After all this time, Hassani didn't want to let go, but she forced herself to set the girl down and relax her grip.

  Denault dropped down to the Avani's height and wrapped their daughter in a giant hug, suddenly wracked with sobs of his own. "I never thought I'd see you again, my little Avani."

  "Adda's bein' silly," Avani said, giggling as she pulled away. "'Course we wou'd see each ot'er 'gain. We're a fam'y!"

  Hassani walked closer slowly, warily. Memories jagged at her: the weight of Denault's final words those months ago. The remembered throb of her elbows and fists crashing into his body. The nightmare that had become her waking experience ever since. All of them stretched a yawning gulf between her and her husband she had no idea how to bridge. By the haunted, wary look in Denault's eye, he didn't know how to any better than she.

  Avani knew. Holding one of Denault's hands, she turned and grabbed one of Hassani's. "See? Fam'y 'gain."

  Hassani's eyes watered, everything smearing into a blur.

  "Could you ever find a way to forgive me, Hassani?" Denault whispered, his voice tentative. "I cursed the Wretches who rescued me and nursed me back to life. But in time, it was the hope of finding your forgiveness I lived for."

  "There's nothing to forgive," Hassani said, voice cracking as she wiped at her eyes. Tears streamed down Denault's face, unashamed. "I'm so sorry."

  They closed into an embrace far warmer than any Hassani could remember, their little girl hugging their legs and grinning up at them. A weight heavier than the trolley seemed to fall from Hassani's shoulders as they stood there in the deserted linehouse. For that long, beautiful moment, the exact 'where' they stood didn't matter. Hassani was home.

  Then a literal weight much, much heavier than the trolley crashed somewhere above them. Dust billowed and pebbles rained down the linehouse stairs.

  Avani looked up at them. "Wha' was that?"

  "I don't know but we'll go find out," Hassani said, walking cautiously towards the stairs, still holding on to Avani's hand who, in turn, held on to Denault's.

  After a few twists and turns, they came up a ramp to the surface where Jax's crystal gardens sprawled. Every other time Hassani had been there, the place swarmed with Verser lords and ladies, bureacrats, and courtiers. Once politics and gossip filled the heart of the stack. Now only the occasional scrape, the burble of the streams, or the pop of raining stone broke the silence.

  The inner dome lay scattered across the garden's ruins. A huge crack running up the side of the outer dome cracked and popped even as they looked. The only other living things present searched the rubble despondently.

  "Ferals? If they're looking like that..." Denault began.

  "Then Jaxe is dead." Hassani finished. A spray of white quartz showered from the dome overhead. "And if we stay much longer, so will we be."

  "I've been working the Trolleys and stashing food in our apartment," Denault said, pulling them back down. "We can stop there and-"

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Avani bumped into the suddenly-motionless Denault. Hassani almost bumped into them as she too turned to go. "What is it-"

  "Shhh," Denault hissed, staring down to the shadows at the base of the ramp.

  "I don't..." Hassani trailed off as her eyes made out the wrongness of the shape lurking at the edge of the darkness. Too many limbs. Too little form. No head. No eyes. Proportions wrong. A child's crude shaping of a human made from black clay then expanded to half the size of their apartment.

  "What is it mommy?" Avani said, her voice quavering on the shrill edge of hysterics.

  "Close your eyes, Avani," Hassani said, her hand inching agonizingly towards the handle of the Aze Blade. "Amma's going to make the monster go away.

  "Demon," Denault whispered, still not daring to move enough to look away.

  "No, Monster," Hassani said.

  Another series of cracks and pops from above rained more dust and crystalline chunks from the ceiling. The temptation to duck nearly overwhelmed her, but concern that the twitching, malformed creature might spring towards them at the first sign of movement kept her still.

  "What's the difference?" Denault said hoarsely.

  Screams echoed from somewhere deeper in the stack's tunnels.

  "This can be killed. Many demons can't."

  Hassani had once observed a captive demon through a tiny slit in the ceiling of the Iron Prison of Sunset. Though she had only been able to see the faintest hints of its outline in the darkness, the thing had radiated power, menace, hunger. However ugly, this thing mostly radiated a slowly oozing puddle of slime.

  "When I start moving, stay behind me and stay close. I'm going to destroy it, then we're going to head to the apartment," Hassani said, her hand closing on the Aze Blade's hilt. "Stay right behind me as we'll likely run into more of these things on the way. Where there's one, there's always more."

  She shook her hand until Avani let go, still staring wide-eyed at the lurking horror. Hassani drew her weapon slowly, expecting the thing to lurch up the ramp towards them at any moment. The screams from deeper in the stack rang out again. Closer this time.

  A trickle of watter ran down the blade as she held it before her. Dripped onto her knuckles.

  She moves on instinct, sprints down the ramp. The monster unfurls itself. Long barbs extrud from the ends of its five limbs. They reach for her in slow-motion. She severs two limb-tips with a single slash, lifts one of her legs to avoid one jabbing at her foot. Drives the blade into its the center of mass.

  It does not respond as most living things would: no pain reflex. No self-preservation instinct. In spite of the Aze Blade's workings, a barb tangles in her hair as she narrowly twists away from it. A few more hacking swipes render the monster into filthy chunks. They spasm, curl, writhe, and dissolve into dark threads of matter. Ten thousand ebony worms writhing in a heap.

  Avani is screaming. Has been the whole time.

  Denault vomits.

  Hassani moves into the tunnel. The Aze Blade's faint white glow lights their way.

  Corridors all empty. Here and there bloody smears amid dark, oozing stains give evidence of recent violence.

  Something falls from the domed ceiling of an intersection. Hassani curses. Shouts a warning to Denault and Avani. She tumbles back as an undulating web of hooked flesh flops to the stone floor in front of her. It rears up and undulates forward, a hundred yellow eyes gleaming.

  A dozen retreating slashes cut it to thick ribbons of flesh. One wraps around her leg, barbs hooking in deep. She snarls, falls backwards, and slices a it away with a single precise cut. It patters to the floor in sinewy threads. A dozen bloody barbs remain hooked into her skin and meat.

  Swinging and stumbling back, she fends the rest of it off until the last bits fall inert.

  Limping, she pushes on gritting her teeth against the tugging pain; the barbs jangle with each step. Bodies litter the hall outside their apartment. Mercs. Johine, his throat a messy ruin. Inside, more. Deia, so small and fragile-looking in death.

  She sweeps the apartment. Empty. Returns to see Avani huddled against Denault, her eyes wide with horror, his look grim.

  No more threat. She tries to sheath the Aze Blade.

  Can't. Won't. She's done being powerless. This is power.

  Denault reaches for her as she brushes past. Calls to her. More monsters to kill. Her family to protect. Won't stop until no demons left in the stack. Her home. Polluted, tainted, invaded. A bump against the wall leaves her gasping and clutching her leg.

  The pain cuts through the rush of the Aze Blade's power.

  She hears Avani's forlorn cry. "Amma, don' leave us 'gain!"

  With all the will she can muster, she sheathes the sword.

  The world thundered back. Crashing booms she'd somehow ignored thundered from above. Walls shook and dust rained. Avani cried. Hassani's leg throbbed.

  "What were you doing?" Denault shouted as she staggered back to them.

  "Doesn't matter," she said, stepping inside and hefting the too-light body of her master onto her shoulders. "We have to get out of here."

  "She's dead. Where does she need to go?"

  "I'm taking her home."

  Hassani stepped to move past him, but he blocked her way. "There's no home when you're dead."

  "This isn't a discussion, Denault."

  "Fine. Your way as always. At least let me carry Deia since you're hurt," Denault said, reaching.

  "I have to do it," Hassani snapped. Tears ran down her cheeks. "She was my master."

  "Gread idea. And who will protect us if more of those things come?" Denault shot back, gesturing at his belt. "I don't even have the decorative sword I'm pathetic with."

  After a long pause, she numbly let him take Deia's body then turned to the door. After glancing into the hallway's darkness, she paused to snatch the lambent lamp from its nook in the honeycombed wall of the apartment.

  After rubbing the filaments together to get their glow started, she carefully knelt down to Avani and extended it to her. "I have something really important for you to do, Avani. Amma needs her hands free in case more monsters come and Adda is carrying Amma's master."

  "Are they sleeping?" Avani said, taking the lamp seriously and glancing over at Denault as he slung Deia's body over his shoulders.

  "No, Avani. She's passed. We can talk about it more later; we need to hurry."

  Avani nodded and held onto the lamp with both hands as they moved out into the hallway.

  For a while, Hassani wasn't sure where she was going, just veering the general direction of down at every stairwell they came across.

  "We have a small messenger vessel remaining at dock down below," Denault panted, shrugging to redistribute Deia's weight. Avani clung to his dirty, torn robe. "It should function to get us away."

  Hassani nodded and they continued down. Her sandal rapidly became slippery with blood from the hooks in her calf. Denault's own limp became more pronounced. Avani began to trip and stumble on the stairs, her whimpers growing louder with every flight they descended.

  Next chapter: Same chapter; wrinkles in the plan to take Deia home.

  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.

  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

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  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