Kai, the former Patriarch of the Epikairos Sect, exchanged a glance with Lian’Aenigma, his Mind Mage companion, before focusing on the trio of elves sitting at the table next to them.

  His search had brought the two of them to one of the newer cities on Agirock, the same frontier world he’d visited decades earlier with his former disciple.

  None who knew the Pinnacle Time Mage would recognize him at a glance.

  Gone were his silky platinum blonde hair and pale skin. Both had been replaced by far darker variants, giving him the coloration of one of the dark-skinned elves most often found on Gemine or Astra.

  His features had also been adjusted to aid in his disguise. Most significant were his ears, which had shifted from small, round protrusions into something far more eye-catching and pointed.

  To sell the illusion, his talisman further falsified his identity, overlaying his aura with counterfeit information for any who’d attempt to identify him. Supported by the power of a Tier Ten, very few would be able to bypass such protections.

  The Mind Mage he’d been working with for the past couple of decades was similarly disguised, though Lian had no need for illusions to make himself seem elven – that being his natural race.

  Instead, he merely changed his features and altered his displayed affinity, as was expected for such work.

  “Are you fellows here to delve the local rifts?” Kai asked casually when their neighbors fell into a companionable silence.

  Seeing them as fellow elves, the three adventurers appeared happy to engage them in conversation.

  “We are!” the darkest of the trio replied with a friendly smile. “Well met, cousins. My name is Bilano, and these two are Hoi and Jaris,” he said, motioning toward his companions.

  “Well met,” the Mind Mage said, taking the lead on the conversation. “You can call me Rin. My companion goes by Cern’Stonespear.”

  “Ah, a Mage Academy graduate?” Bilano asked with raised brows. “Impressive.”

  Graduating from a Mage Academy wasn’t the only way to obtain a surname, but it was by far the most common.

  Kai smiled as if proud and eager to brag a little. “I am! I attended Hearthstone. It’s an academy known for Earth magic, though others with related magics also attend.”

  The academy itself was real, as was its modest reputation. It was middling, at best, but that was exactly the type of education a random adventurer would be expected to have.

  Continuing, Kai leaned forward and said, “I honestly planned to join a sect instead, but the sect I wanted to join was involved in a sect war when I awakened. Since jumping into a war sounded like a pretty bad idea at the time, I opted to go to the academy instead. I’m glad I did since the sect ended up getting disbanded after most of the elders died.”

  Being so open was a bit of a risk, and it had drawn suspicion more than once. But of all the approaches they’d tried, this one had consistently provided the best feedback.

  Further, though rare, sects being disbanded under such circumstances weren’t unheard of. His story was close enough to hopefully resonate with the three elves without being too close to their own background to draw suspicion.

  As expected, the trio’s faces darkened at the mention of a sect being disbanded. Jaris, the elf sitting farthest from his table, made a grumbling noise before speaking in a low, deep voice.

  “We know all about sects being disbanded. We were in a sect until a couple of decades ago when the Council decided to yank our charter. The three of us were out on a mission when everything went down, but we’ve talked with several of our buddies who were there, and they said it was some kind of political statement.”

  The other two elves nodded along with the first.

  “We ended up sticking together since most of our brethren had already grouped up,” Bilano said, focusing on the two strangers. “Did you know that when a sect is disbanded by the Council, the former members are forbidden from gathering in groups of five or more?”

  The Mind Mage next to Kai shook his head. “I’ve never heard of something like that,” he lied. “But I suppose it makes sense if misconduct was involved.”

  “There was no misconduct,” the dark-skinned elf insisted. “Like Jaris said, it was a political statement. The Council didn’t like that we adhere to the old ways.”

  “I grew up pretty progressive in that way,” Lian said almost apologetically. “A lot of my childhood friends were human and demi.”

  Kai looked between his companion and the other group uncomfortably, as if he wasn’t quite sure which side of the argument he agreed with.

  “We don’t have problems with non-elves,” Bilano assured them.

  “Yeah. I know plenty of humans and stuff,” Hoi said, bobbing his head.

  “We just don’t feel like they’re the same as elves,” Bilano added. “It’s hard to be equals when we live so much longer, you know.”

  “I get that,” Lian said amicably. “But there are plenty of Time Mages who live just as long, and being an elf doesn’t guarantee a long life. I know far too many who’ve died young.”

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  “There are exceptions to everything, sure,” Bilano said dismissively. “But as a general rule, elves live longer than the other races. We all know that shifts one’s perspective.”

  Kai couldn’t necessarily argue the point.

  The disguised Time Mage raised an inquisitive brow at the Mind Mage beside him. By this point, no words were necessary for the other man to understand his question.

  “They are clear,” Lian relayed through their interface connection. “They were all relatively new to the sect when it was disbanded, so they weren’t fully indoctrinated. Or, if they were, they’ve moved beyond it by this point.”

  “Well, safe delving,” Kai said as he tapped the small Crystal tablet mounted to the corner of his table to pay for their drinks. “I think it’s time for me and Rin to head out. We’ve got some people to meet later, and I don’t want to be late.”

  With a friendly wave goodbye, the two disguised mages made their way out of the Adventurers’ Guild.

  “Where to next, boss?” Lian asked.

  Kai was about to answer when his interface alerted him to a pending message. A slow smile spread across his face as he read over it.

  “She killed the first boss,” Kai said with a grin as feelings of pride swelled in his chest.

  He’d officially stepped down from his position as Patriarch after Emie was abducted, wanting to dedicate his remaining time in the realm to finding his wayward former disciple and punishing those responsible.

  He’d managed the first – finding her, at least. Unfortunately, he could do nothing to help his protégée, given the situation. Really, aside from liberating the rift from the Assassins’ Guild and monitoring it, all he could do on that front was ensure Emie would be safe when she eventually escaped.

  And Kai was confident she would eventually escape.

  Anya gave her even odds. In his mind, that was as good as a guarantee that, short of some kind of accident, she’d make it.

  The punishment part was still ongoing. Though, if he was being honest, it hadn’t truly started. But he was working toward that goal – or an expanded version of it.

  Going after the Tier Ten Time Mage Assassin was pointless, really. He knew who the Assassin was. There was only one Tier Ten Time Mage Assassin, after all.

  But killing Cin wouldn’t accomplish anything. The Specter had been nothing but a tool, and Kai had never been one to blame a sword for causing harm.

  No. Cin had essentially been manipulated into doing the job, and it was not one he would have ever accepted without the weight of honor forcing his hand.

  Kai had ensured that himself. It was how Lian had come into his service.

  As far as he was concerned, the Sovereignty Sect was responsible. But he did not believe in group punishment, so he’d settled on punishing those who’d acted against Time Mages, specifically.

  Kai didn’t really care if they saw themselves as superior to others. What he did care about was whether or not they targeted his people.

  Truly, he should have acted long before now. It was only his desire not to cause problems for his sect that had stayed his hand.

  But now that he was no longer the Patriarch and only held the loosest of connections to the sect that carried his name… The gloves were off.

  In fact, he and his team had already collected about half of the former Sovereignty Sect members, which was surprisingly fewer than he expected to have secured after investigating more than three-quarters of their number.

  His hand unconsciously drifted to the small metal cube tucked into the folds of his belt. Spatial storage devices, such as the one he was using to keep the guilty safely stored away, were better kept outside other such devices.

  Preparations were already being made to ensure those he’d collected were afforded the same opportunity that Emie had been granted. In fact, all but one of the necessary challenge rifts had either been procured or curated specifically for that purpose.

  If the guilty survived the same kind of challenge they’d orchestrated for Emie, he’d let them be. If not… well, they’d already be dead.

  It was a fitting response, he thought.

  “How long did it take her?”

  “According to the minder, she’s only been active for a bit over seventeen relative years.” Kai looked at his elven companion pointedly. “That’s calculated from the time since she killed the first creature, by the way.”

  The Mind Mage’s eyes widened. “Seventeen years to progress through the eighth tier is certainly remarkable. What level do you think she’s reached to be capable of defeating a boss?”

  “I’m not sure. Knowing Emie, she might still be Tier Eight,” Kai said with a smirk. “I told you she’s an Expert Enchanter on top of having three affinities, two of which are very strong. She isn’t one to be underestimated.”

  Lian blinked several times as he processed the statement. “Isn’t it a Peak-Tier Nine rift? It seems unrealistic to think she could fight up an entire tier. Surely, she’s at least crossed the tier threshold.”

  Kai raised both hands and gestured in the Alliance’s version of a shrug. With an amused smile, he said, “With the right weapons, almost anything is possible.”

  “She killed one of the bosses?” Emie’s mother, Avery, asked, barely believing her ears, as she stepped into the break room of the clinic where she worked.

  She’d almost grown numb to the worry about her eldest daughter, though she couldn’t deny a surge of happiness at the news. Not only was Emie still alive, but she was somehow succeeding against all odds.

  If only Justin had been so lucky, Avery thought with a hint of bitterness.

  Her son – her only son – had died less than a decade after Emie’s abduction. It should have been impossible with the protective amulets he wore. Yet somehow, he’d perished while delving an appropriately leveled rift with his team.

  Avery suspected that his party members were to blame, even though investigators had assured her they weren’t.

  Incompetence or malice, the outcome was the same.

  Bell had been beside herself with grief. The only consolation was that Amie and the twins had already awakened and moved out by that point.

  Even after so many years, Avery still kept in touch with her daughter-in-law. It seemed like the younger woman had finally moved on. She’d even been seeing one of the sect Elders. Avery didn’t begrudge Bell’s newfound happiness. She truly hoped her the best.

  Just like she did with James.

  “She did,” her now ex-husband informed her. Avery could hear his new wife in the background, cooing to their youngest.

  That was another consequence of Justin’s untimely demise.

  Avery wanted to blame James for leaving her, but she couldn’t. Not really. She’d been a mess after Emie’s abduction, and Justin’s death had simply been too much.

  To her eternal shame, she’d neglected Kaylee and Ashlynn for the last part of their childhood, prompting both to move out as soon as they were eligible.

  Once they were gone, James left her, and it just made sense to go back home to Earth.

  It took a long time, but eventually, the sharp edges of grief started to fade. Healing others also helped more than she expected.

  “That’s amazing,” Avery said sincerely. “Do they think she’ll escape anytime soon?”

  “I have no idea. The message didn’t go into that much detail,” her ex-husband said with the slightest hint of annoyance.

  Avery could tell that James was eager to finish the conversation, so she didn’t drag it out. Real-time interplanetary communication was too expensive to prolong unnecessarily.

  “Thanks for letting me know,” she said quietly before saying goodbye.

  Feeling a little more optimistic, Avery put away her sleek, manatech phone and returned to the important task of healing others.