They spent several hours the next morning doing chaos bolt cultivation before Cruiser Erin departed that world. Their arrival at their destination coincided with a blare of the sirens and a serious announcement. “Attention. We’ve entered a world with elevated miasma levels. Decision makers please report to the first floor to discuss options. All other hands be prepared for action.”

  Hector rushed to where the major and Captain Devin stood before a wall-mounted screen. A planet was depicted with a dark cloud covering perhaps ten percent of its surface. He glanced at rows of text blanking the image briefly before dismissing them. They were all acronyms he didn’t know, followed by numbers that made no sense out of context.

  “How bad is it?”

  The major traced his finger around the dark cloud. “It’s pretty bad. At the same time, it looks like all the rifts clustered into a single region. The human population elsewhere hasn’t been impacted, which means the world isn’t in danger of falling into the primordial. No one knows why it happens, but if there aren’t enough people, worlds fall apart.”

  “Human externalities form a boundary that prevents primordial chaos from entering reality,” Hector said. “Do you think we can clean up that mess?”

  The major and captain exchanged looks at the esoteric knowledge Hector had just casually dropped on them. Then Captain Devin tapped the dark spot. “It’s unknown. Any other team our size would have no chance. Given your capabilities, I am willing to keep an open mind. The odds wouldn’t be in our favor, but it just might be possible. I say that only because I remember how the situation on Terra ended.”

  Hector crossed his arms. “Honestly, a Dragon would be easier. I have their number.”

  “Unfortunately, there is no Lord Monster-bane for us to call.”

  “Cruiser Erin? Do you have an opinion?”

  “You need not factor me into your decision. I can go into orbit to avoid miasma and limit lithium consumption. The relevant factor is if you feel confident in facing local miasma densities equal to Aes. We understand you are still adapting to your realm.”

  Hector glanced to the others. “What do you say, Captain?”

  “That this is your decision,” Captain Devin responded.

  The major cleared his throat. “Perhaps you’d like to hear some arguments either way to help you make up your mind? Obviously there is the benefit of getting you more miasma exposure. I understand that is helping you strengthen your realm rapidly. We don’t know what we will find in neighboring worlds. Go the wrong way and we’re out of the vein altogether and have to waste time searching. Go too far the right way and we might be running to escape a dying universe. This one is sticking around for a while, so it’s a sure bet.

  “On the other hand, you’re much lower on energy reserves than when you joined us. Your Sages will have their lungs shredded if you can’t protect them. And Conflagration isn’t doing a good job rationing his illusory energy. I know the man doesn’t contribute much to the tactics on the ground, but he’s a hidden powerhouse who can turn around a battle by himself.”

  Hector frowned at the dark stain on the projected map. There wasn’t a clear answer here. Given that, he thought it was better to forge ahead. He needed to get his realm into shape. “Take us down, then. We’ll retreat if it doesn’t work out.”

  They chose a landing spot based on wind patterns and Cruiser Erin began to enter the atmosphere. Hector informed his retinue while Captain Devin arranged supplies for an extended stay on the ground. A shuttle carried them down from cloud level and swiftly departed. Ajax hefted a duffel bag stuffed to the brim with supplies and they began walking towards the dark clouds in the distance. Hector could already sense their influence.

  He packed his realm full and tried to ignore the resonance. The dark clouds moved oddly, like they were being held in place by an invisible force field. Hector turned to Piercing. “Do you sense anything unusual? Rituals or something like that?”

  “Nothing like that, War Barge.”

  “I keep waiting for you to get tired of that joke. No one has laughed even once.”

  “That’s why I enjoy the joke so much,” Piercing said.

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  “Because no one laughs? Careful or Isabel will make fun of your sense of humor.”

  “His jokes aren’t for laughing,” Isabel said. “Our annoyance amuses him.”

  Hector frowned as the pressure on his realm spiked abruptly before going back to normal levels. He added more cosmic energy to keep it calm. “Don’t tell me he’s funnier than me.”

  “Piercing succeeds in a type of comedy that should not exist.”

  “It’s not just for annoying, you know.” Piercing frowned back at them. “Every group needs an asshole to bring the rest together. I’m your asshole.”

  Isabel chuckled. “See, he can be funny.”

  They entered the wall of evil mist and Hector’s burden increased. He managed to rein in his realm enough that he had to use his domain to help convert miasma. It was like a return to the good old days, when he could refill his reserves by just walking around.

  Why was it working, though? Certainly keeping his realm packed with energy helped. There had to be more than that. Unless he’d passed a threshold when he was training at the final rift on the previous world. That would be phenomenal news.

  He called for the group to halt and everyone settled in while Hector restored energy. The other Xian pumped their auras to take advantage of the situation as well. As time passed, Conrad switched up their strategy, placing a watch so that they could relax by turns and keep themselves ready. Only Captain Devin insisted he would remain vigilant without a break.

  A handful of monsters stumbled towards them from the fog and were swiftly handled.

  Periodically, Hector had to repack his realm with cosmic energy. It didn’t bother him because he was able to cultivate faster than he was spending. Indeed, if things remained calm he would be able to both strengthen his realm and restore his reserves.

  After a time, they had to retreat out of the miasma so Hector could let his realm recover. The strain hadn’t been as intense as previous experiences, but he never recovered properly from those in the first place. The constant re-exposure to the same stimulus might be crossing the line into over-training.

  They hiked a dozen miles from the edge of the miasma mists, ate and drank from their supplies, called to check in with Cruiser Erin, set a watch, and settled in to rest for the night. Hector cultivated through his externality while the others either slept or took turns on watch.

  Towards morning, Piercing sat down beside him. “You’re not sleeping?”

  “I don’t really need to do that anymore. If I ever get tired, I have a technique that feels like getting eight hours of sleep in just a few minutes.”

  Piercing drummed his hands on his knees while humming something that sounded an awful lot like the word ‘bullshit’ at different pitches and tempos. The drum solo finally ended. “Dragon fucked me up pretty good. It was just so loud. It hit like a sledgehammer to the balls. And I’m no masochist to ask for that kind of thing.”

  Hector recalled Piercing falling to pieces in the minutes before his self-sacrifice. “You are questing. Your mind is wide open to resonance of all kinds.”

  “I almost stopped questing that day. Always before it was just what happened to me. Then the Dragon came. I survived, but part of me didn’t want to keep seeking more. I had a choice. Give up the quest and be safe from ever feeling that again. Or move beyond the fear. I’m still more terrified of a Dragon getting in my head than anything else.”

  Hector prodded the man to continue. “Then why are you still questing?”

  “Because I don’t want to be the guy who gave in like that. I need to move through the bad to get to the good. It’s ironic if you understand how my insight works. My sword doesn’t get longer, the distance between me and what I’m stabbing shrinks. But I can't skip over the emotional distance. My insight is about physical space, not some bullshit abstraction like Conflagration does.”

  The Sage turned the full force of his gaze on Hector. “The Dragon scared the piss out of me.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Everyone calls you Dragonbane now. Probably they think you weren’t scared.”

  Hector stared out at the night. “I was scared.”

  “I know. But I think you were like my sword. You didn’t cover the full distance to get to the other side. You were in one place, scared as you rightly should have been. Then you were in a rush to do some good. Very Hector of you. Got swallowed by the beast, gave it some indigestion, got a fancy new title. And there you are, on the other side. You overcame the Dragon and have the key to its defeat. Huzzah. But you never crossed the distance from afraid to not afraid. You took a shortcut.”

  “I’m not sure how you’re expecting me to react. You sound serious….”

  “As a fucking heart attack, Hector. We both know I’m not the guy who can give you wise advice or warm your heart. All I have is the ability to stab at the heart of things. I see you hesitating where once you were steadfast. You get shaky at times. That’s new.”

  Hector closed his eyes. “I’m fine, Piercing.”

  “No, see, I know what I’m about here. You think you’re fixed because you’re immune to Dragons now. That’s not how it works, though. Its supernatural touch on your mind is gone. But the fear it inspired… that’s normal psychology. You felt it. Now you have to walk the full distance in between. You ain’t afraid of Dragons no more, but that anxiety hasn’t disappeared. That’s what I see. To beat my own fear and continue my quest, I had to relive all of the bad parts. Walk through it without disassociating. The whole distance. Just think about it, War Barge. I know you think I’m an idiot. You’re probably right. But I’m also a Sage, even if no College will ever recognize me.”