“Hey, Daze?” Uriel said over the mental chat, “I got Camilla out here saying she needs to talk to Phoenix right away.”

  “Camilla, just take your time to explain. There’s no rush,” Saiya said, trying to calm the visibly upset woman. Uriel frowned when no response came back from the others and he glanced at the door behind him as he contemplated going in after them.

  “She’s been like this since she arrived at the Estate looking for you all,” Padma tried to explain to them, “Her tracking took us to that cafe down the street. I’m just glad I saw you both standing out here.”

  Uriel noticed when Padma put a hand on Camilla’s shoulder, causing the shy woman to flinch, and he found himself snapping in the researcher’s defense, “Don’t touch her!”

  The runeforged was the next to flinch as she raised her hands defensively and took a step back. Padma stared at him with wide eyes, and he ended up saying in a much angrier tone than he had wanted, “She obviously doesn’t like people touching her.”

  “But why—”

  “Why is none of our business,” he interrupted, recalling his own time recovering from flinching in much the same way, “There are many reasons why, and none of them should matter when it comes to whether you touch people against their wishes.”

  It had taken him years to stop reacting to every sudden touch as though it was an attack. His months of torture and fighting for his life in the Rings had made him correlate any physical contact as a threat, and only his meetings with Jacob and getting closer to Dazien had helped him suppress the reaction.

  He doubted that was Camilla’s reasoning, but the principle was the same in his mind.

  “I’m sorry,” the younger woman replied softly, “I didn’t mean to make either of you uncomfortable.”

  Uriel felt his cheeks heat at the reminder of their previous talk about touching. He hadn’t meant to make that connection; he just didn’t want to see Camilla forced to deal with things he had struggled with as well.

  He softened his stance as Saiya slipped a hand in his, her aura washing over all of them in an attempt to diffuse the situation. He glanced down at the smaller voxen as she said, “Why don’t we just—”

  Her words were cut off as multiple things happened at once that Uriel’s Crystal Caste senses had difficulty following.

  Saiya’s hand was ripped from his as some kind of magical net pinned her to the ground.

  Padma was thrown through the glass window beside the door directly behind him as something struck her from behind. Then he realized it wasn’t something but someone.

  An intimidating figure in a dark crimson cloak moved too fast for him to react as they grabbed Camilla by the throat and lifted her from the ground.

  He could see the panic and terror in the older woman’s face as she clawed at the attacker’s arm in vain, and he yelled, “Let her go!” Before attempting to cast his [Plague Bearer] spell.

  Then the stranger threw her to follow Padma into the shop with the sickening sound of breaking bones and muffled cries as she impacted against the runeforged inside.

  Then, the large stranger was in front of him, and Uriel was looking directly into a cinderen face with glowing red eyes and strange white hair. The man smirked and flicked the Silencer around his throat, “Look at ya makin’ this easy for me and collarin’ yerself.”

  Then blackness filled Uriel’s consciousness as a fist slammed into his temple.

  Dazien’s mind felt blank and overwhelmed at the same time. A blizzard of emotions that he couldn’t even attempt to identify without Saiya’s help. A swirl of white that kept shifting and slowly made him numb.

  The skeleton that was slightly smaller than he was and with a wider pelvis stared back at him with unseeing hollows glowing with an eerie blue light where he knew amethyst eyes had once been. Eyes that had matched his own.

  Then she spoke and his suspicion was confirmed as the vague memories he had of her voice were reinforced from hearing it echo through the room around him. He never thought he would ever hear that soothing, melodic voice again.

  He had known it was a long shot to find his parents. Even a scrap of paper explaining what might have happened to them in some dusty record book was the most realistic hope he had allowed himself. He never expected to find his mother’s bones magically strapped to a wall in the center of an enchantment diagram.

  Like a mere ingredient.

  Then, a feeling he did recognize sprung to the forefront of his mind: anger.

  Unbridled rage that his own mother had experienced one of his worst fears, to be reduced to nothing more than a product. That her worth was seen only in what her body could offer. They had taken her because she was a rare enchantment component.

  How dare they steal her from his life.

  Now, he was determined to claim their lives in return.

  As his wild rage focused into vengeant wrath towards the evil beings that had caused it, sapphire light filled his vision.

  Phoenix’s eyes went wide at the sight of pale blue light emanating off Dazien as he stared at the remnants of the gemite tied into the enchanted room. She didn’t need her [Guide Book] to explain that one of Dazien’s Natural Talents was cultivating again —she had seen the effect before in Paul— but it was nice to have the book confirm how her brother was changing.

  Concern filled Phoenix as she read over the effects, and the name alone made her think perhaps Dazien was starting to take after their adoptive father a little too much. She didn’t have time to have a calm discussion, however, as the floor below her seemed to groan, and little holes appeared. Then, a dark red mist began to rise from them.

  Everin recited the incantations for a few of his Boons and then slammed his shoulder against the door, his Emerald Strength causing the structure to shudder, but it didn’t buckle. “Phoenix, can you make a portal?” the rainbow voxen shouted at her.

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  She did as instructed, or tried to at least; the new effect from her Sanctuary Spirit Gem made it obvious that it had triggered.

  The ground of the new zone effect produced a sparkle like the night sky, even as the red mist filled the room, making it more reminiscent of the sky during a blood moon. However, when she saw the silver portal ring appear beside her, she immediately recognized the effects of the anti-teleportation rituals at work since it was clearly lacking the sheet of night within the ring.

  She wasn’t positive if the zone was going beyond the wall of the enchanted room or if they were being forcibly contained as the floor effect spanned the entire room. She was guessing it was the latter as the walls seemed to gain a layer of dark shadowy mist from her [Embrace of Shadows], and she noticed the [Sun Shell] from her [Radiant Sunlight] aura flickering as though waging battle with the glowing enchantments that were at least Emerald Caste if Everin couldn’t break through them.

  The small swarm of [Starlight Companions] and [Night Wisps] basically bouncing against the walls in their attempt to get past was also a distracting sight. She almost didn’t notice the effects of the crimson mist inflicting her with Banes, and she looked to her [Guide Book] once more for clarification on what she was sensing.

  Everin’s growl was more distracting than the information as he practically teleported across the room with his greatly enhanced Agility and tried slamming into the glass case surrounding the animated skeleton.

  “What are you doing?” Dazien shouted as Everin’s fist hit the glass, making it warble but not break.

  “I’m going to destroy it so we don’t become kidnapped ourselves!” he retorted angrily before gesturing to Rayna to help punch.

  “Don’t you dare touch her!” the Defender began to argue, grabbing the Avatar’s robes in a vain attempt to stop him.

  “She’s dead, Dazien! You really want her memory to be what kills us all?” Everin exclaimed before the glass barrier began glowing with a red light that revealed a separate enchantment diagram.

  “Hostiles detected. Deploying Emerald Caste rapid response measures,” the eerie voice of the bones announced.

  Once again, Phoenix was reminded of the true law of this world as the Rule of Caste revealed itself in the form of a swarm of snakes with scales such a dark purple they were almost black. They slithered through holes that she hadn’t noticed in the ceiling before or perhaps like the floor had simply opened when needed.

  Her already expanded aura recognized them as a Familiar. However, despite having multiple separate bodies it was a singular entity to her senses. A hive mind with a shared aura. She had only read about them before though Uriel mentioned Priest Jacob having a similar type.

  “Why’d it have to be snakes?!” she groaned.

  The mental tangent was brief but costly as the Emerald Caste creatures rained down on them. Small and quick, she was bit and laden with another Bane before she fully realized what they even were.

  She was already feeling weary and sluggish from the effects of the mist, and it was only seconds before she succumbed.

  Everin cursed as both Phoenix and Rayna collapsed to the ground in almost the same moment. “May the divine sanctuary protect us from the will of the oppressor!” he incanted, trying to buy time.

  “Can you conjure your [Armory] to put this in?” he asked Dazien, who was barely still standing and likely only due to having Fortitude-increasing passives. He swiped at the deathly snake Familiar with his claws to try and keep them off both him and the lower Caste Defender.

  Dazien conjured the golden doorway but once the door was opened it was obvious that it suffered the same dimensional interference that Phoenix’s portal did. He glared at it then conjured his glimmering diamond sword to thrust at the enchanted case instead, reciting the incantation for his execute, “You have been weighed, measured, and found wanting.”

  The sound of the gem-like sword screeching across the glass surface was the most damaging thing accomplished by the Sapphire Caster. The glowing red ley lines of the protective enchantments signaled their defiance against the man who would be king.

  Dazien pulled back his arm again to attack with another ability that began to ramp up, but it only served to drain the warrior’s stamina faster, with each thrust giving off sparks of rainbow light. At least he managed to crack the glass that time.

  When Dazien staggered and collapsed to the ground to join his other companions, he knew the [Malevolent Kiss] had claimed the younger man’s consciousness.

  Everin cursed again and wished for the millionth time in his life that he had at least one ability that could deal direct damage against a target. Being a Boon Supporter was great until he was alone, which would become the case any minute now, even with his spell trying to work against the Magical Banes.

  There were simply too many sources and not enough tools at their disposal that could work against the higher-level attacks. It wouldn’t be instant with him, but eventually, he would fall to the traps, and then he would most likely be dead.

  “Rebel! Scholar! I need some help here!” he prayed, still swiping golden claws through the slithering swarm.

  “We cannot help,” Scholar’s voice replied sorrowfully, “You are in the domain of the Maniac and Trickster now…”

  Everin’s eyes went wide at the revelation. They were so screwed.