Lexie started by attempting to send Little Fae home.

She knew this would likely be hard because she wasn't sure how close the dungeon was to the Fae Planet. If they were too far away, it would require Lexie to dive too deeply into Yasycht's essence, which could hurt her.

But she was still willing to try.

Ryn gave Little Fae a strict set of instructions to adhere to once she got to their destination and transmitted some kind of Fae note to her system screen that would pop up to the first Fae she encountered.

To save Lexie the trouble, Ryn also suggested that if Lexie could not get Little Fae to Ryn's home, then she was better off getting her to any Fae embassy on any planet they could find. They would take care of her until they found her rightful guardian.

"How will I know what a Fae Embassy looks like?" Lexie asked as they sat in a circle to discuss the matters, while distant roaring and sounds of battle served as a background noise.

"You have never been inside one? Not even on Earth?"

Lexie shook her head. "I was supposed to visit one at some point." The Ronan Fae Ambassadorial Islands were extremely popular and said to be some of the most beautiful places on Earth. "But so far I have only seen pictures."

"The pictures might be enough," Ryn said. "You can also try to project the image to my mind as you do with Cecilia, and I will tell you whether it bears the markings of an Embassy."

"Alright." Lexie was using Cecilia's power for this teleport so she could focus on finding the right location. It might be complicated to project the image to Ryn and Cecilia at the same time, but it was certainly possible. She would simply have Ryn give her some kind of bodily or mental signal when she saw an image that looked like an embassy.

Plus, they would use Ryn's essence as a guide.

Since they didn't know exactly who Little Fae's parents were, nor did they know how she ended up in this dungeon, they didn't want to use her essence to find the right destination, lest they deliver her into the wrong hands.

Instead, they would go with Ryn. Lexie was pretty sure that everyone in this dungeon, though from different planets, existed in the same dimension because the dungeon wasn't dimension-hopping (except for that one level that had brought people from a different dimension, probably with Naem's help). Therefore, there would be no issues with using Ryn's essence to lead Litthe Fae home.

"You're really not sure how she ended up here?" Cecilia asked Ryn, looking concerned for the young one.

Ryn shook her head. "My former partner only told me they were chased by Eldritch beings into the dungeon, but it is very uncommon for one as young as she is, one who has not even reached her first maturation, to be traveling solo with a General. I do not know how he got access to her in the first place, but perhaps there are some untrustworthy Fae in her camp."

"I thought all Fae were trustworthy."

Ryn shook her head. "Just because we do not lie, and we seek to be fair and just, does not make us always trustworthy."

"Other Fae might disagree," Pvilycht said.

"It does not make it any less true."

Lexie stared at Ryn in the ensuing silence. "You are certainly odd for a Fae."

Ryn smiled. "And as I have mentioned, you are odd for an Eldritch."

As they prepared Little Fae's send-off, Lexie poked into Yasycht. She was a little concerned that he and Neqal knew about her plans and were currently planning a countermeasure. Well, maybe not Yasycht in particular. He seemed neutral at best, rather than antagonistic towards her. Plus, he thought she could free him, and he wanted her to bond with him.

But Neqal might present as a problem. She didn't know exactly what they would do, but she had to remain on alert.

While she did so, little Fae left Ryn and came over to press herself against Lexie's side.

She made a chittering sound, which Ryn translated, "She's afraid you will leave her again."

Lexie glanced down at Little Fae and wondered why the little one was so attached to her. Lexie genuinely could not see a reason for her to be. They had never had a conversation, because Little Fae could only communicate in tiny chittering sounds that only Ryn could decipher. Lexie had also never been personally affectionate with the young female. So why did she insist on touching her?

Ryn looked between them, and one shoulder shrugged it off, seeming to think it was normal.

When Lexie voiced out the questions, Cecilia simply said, "Maybe she just likes you."

"Why?"

"It's more than merely liking you," Ryn said. "She feels burek towards you, which is not a word that has a human or Eldritch translation. Essentially, it means that she feels like…a part of you, and she feels as though you are a part of her that protects her from the outside world."

"Aw." Cecilia grinned. "So she thinks Lexie's her...kangaroo mom?"

"Not exactly," Ryn explained as Lexie frowned at Cecilia. "But I suppose that might be the closest human equivalent. She does not yet have an accurate view of the world, being as young as she is."

"So what's going to happen when she returns to her own parents?" Lexie asked. "Will whatever bond she has with me switch over to them?"

"It should," Ryn said, although her voice didn't sound so sure.

It had better, though. Lexie was in no state to be a parent.

Little Fae stayed by Lexie's side, while they waited for the battle they could hear in the distance to reach them.

Except it never did.

It ended quietly, and it was either that everyone involved was dead or everyone left alive was intelligent enough to avoid them for now.

After some rest, it was time to attempt to send Little Fae back.

Ryn had already woven a doorway, and Cecilia lay in wait with Pvilycht acting as a guard and sensing if other creatures were coming. Lexie stood under the doorway and activated the appropriate cards.

As she was inundated with doors, she used Ryn's essence to direct her to the right ones. She saw a few places, both those in the dungeon and a few foreign mountainous regions, but Ryn did not choose any of those. Either they were not places that were safe enough to drop the Young Fae, or they were not her home on the Fae Planet.

Lexie was growing concerned she would have to dive deeper. She continued to surveil the surface, trying to find a match.

After Ryn chose none of the images, Lexie finally inched in further, her head hurting as the next set of images assailed her.

Here, she struggled to find an image with Ryn's essence, and so instead, she began just looking for anything that might look like a Fae Embassy. It took a while as the images whipped through her face and Lexie prepared herself to go even deeper.

And then, she found it, sliding across her vision.

It was a gorgeous gold castle, exactly like the images Lexie had seen in the magazines.

As she stared at it, another image of a golden door took its place, and she saw a Fae Male, who, for some reason, drew Ryn's essence.

Lexie heard Ryn's sharp intake of breath before she practically screamed into Lexie's mind, "THERE! SEND HER THERE!"

Leixie held onto the image of the man as Cecilia took down the coordinates.

Then Lexie extricated herself from Yasycht to find the portal already swirling and ready for Little Fae, who was watching them curiously.

Looking down at the young female, Lexie felt a prick in her heart.

Little Fae likely had no idea what was happening, and she would probably be distressed after being separated from Ryn. She might even see this as a betrayal.

Like what Naem did to me.

But in the end, it was for the best.

"It's alright," Ryn told Lexie as though she could read her thoughts. "They are very adaptable at this age. She will recover."

Lexie nodded, but it didn't make the prick hurt any less.

Ryn hugged Little Fae first and communicated with her in a uniquely Fae way that Lexie couldn't understand. Whatever she said made Little Fae apprehensive as she stared at Lexie again.

After Ryn stood, she met Lexie's gaze. "It might help if you talk to her."

"Talk to her about what? She can't understand me."

"She may not be able to, but maybe it would make her feel better about what's to come."

Lexie pursed her lips, but ultimately obliged. She walked closer to Little Fae, squatting so they were eye-to-eye. Then, she reached out and patted her head.

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"It will be fine," she said. "Everything will be fine."

Little Fae didn't understand, but she hugged Lexie. After a brief but pregnant pause, Lexie hugged her back.

"Goodbye," she whispered. "Zu-Lo-Ya."

Little Fae was reluctant to let go of Lexie until Lexie firmly extricated herself from her hold. After she pulled back and before they put Zu-Lo-Ya in the portal, Lexie asked Ryn, "Can you form a link between her and me, the way we have? That way, I can know if she's in trouble?"

Ryn slowly shook her head. "I don't think that's the best idea. Her parents will probably have a problem with it."

"Will it hurt her?"

"No, but they might hurt you. They are very important Light Fae, and they will take umbrage at an Eldritch forming a link with their daughter."

Lexie wasn't so concerned about that, but maybe something like that would get Ryn in trouble, too.

So instead, Lexie formulated a blank card and handed it to Zu Lo Ya.

"Tell her to push her essence into it," Lexie said.

"Lexie..." Ryn was about to protest, but Lexie gave her a look that made her oblige.

Zu-Lo-Ya touched the card, but she didn't seem to know how to push her essence into it. So Lexie wove a link with the card instead, and quickly crafted the card to measure Zu Lo Ya's vitals.

It was not a very sophisticated card, but it would allow her to always know where Zu Lo Ya was and if she was in trouble.

After that, Lexie walked Zu-Lo-Ya to the portal.

One gentle gust of wind, and she was gone.

After that, Lexie transported more than fifty creatures out of the dungeon.

They had established a system for it. Lexie and the group would head towards the mountain until they happened on a creature or a group of creatures battling. The creatures would usually attack or flee first, but Lexie and her team would capture them and give them the option of whether or not they wanted to stay and be killed or be transported back to their home.

Almost all the creatures who were intelligent enough to make a choice chose to go back home. Of course, sometimes it took time to convince them that Lexie meant what she was saying. All they saw was a motley crew of Eldritch, human, and Fae, promising to remove them from the place they may have been trapped in. They likely thought it was a cruel trick.

But eventually, Ryn or Cecilia would manage to convince them, and Lexie would have them push their essence into her card. This was for two reasons...so she could preserve that essence and create a creature card from it, and she also used the essence to locate exactly where they were from.

Now, sometimes, she could not take them home. Sometimes, the essence wasn't enough to find their location, and nothing outside of the dungeon came up. Lexie took that to mean the creature had already been integrated into the dungeon, and their essence was too far removed from what it had been to give them a way out.

On the other hand, sometimes Lexie would find traces of their essence in different images, but teleport would be too far, and would require her to dive too deeply into Yasychts's essence, which was risky, especially now that she was about to provoke him.

Lexie noticed that Yasycht's essence started to feel more chaotic, probably thanks to Neqal, so she kept to the shallower end for teleports. It might be better for her not to do them at all, as it was very messy and complicated.

Yet she did.

For the creatures she could not get back to their home, she would simply teleport them to a different level in this dungeon, or a different dungeon altogether if she could.

She wasn't exactly sure why she was doing this. It seemed like a waste of time, and she knew that she was confusing her teammates by her insistence on trying to get as many creatures out as possible.

Well, at least, everyone but Cecilia looked confused. Lexie caught Cecilia giving her little secret smiles the entire time, and when Lexie would ask what she was smiling about, the woman would simply state something to the effect of, "You're a lot like your mother."

Lexie didn't like hearing that.

By saying that, Cecilia was comparing back to Lexie's old human self, as a way to indicate that Lexie hadn't changed from being that person.

Lexie found it personally offensive to hear that, though Cecilia seemed to think she was complimenting her, so Lexie let it go, for the most part.

She knew, though, that she wasn't doing this out of human kindness. It was out of Eldritch's efficiency. If Lexie was really going to rule the Eldritch and eventually more than just the Eldritch, then she would need allies. This was an adequate way to make them and spare herself the waste of destroying things she might use in the future.

But as Yasycht's magic became more chaotic, Lexie decided it was time to act.

She told the rest. "It's time."

Ryn frowned, but Cecilia looked the most terrified. She looked like she was going to be sick, but she wasn't scared for herself.

She was scared on Lexie's behalf, even though Lexie was a thousandfold more powerful than her.

It was a little offensive.

But it was also...nice.

The group was quiet as Lexie prepared herself. There was no noise of any incoming fighting, and they'd found a hidden patch of forest to work within.

Lexie didn't think there were that many creatures left in this level anyway. The mountain was extremely close by, and Lexie was tempted to think that Neqal and Yasycht had started playing fair. That they would only need to clear out a few more creatures, and they would reach the mountain in no time.

But Lexie was no idiot, and she saw the trick for what it was.

Neqal was buying time.

He was making Yasycht's powers more chaotic in order to do something that would adversely affect her.

She needed to act now.

She addressed Cecilia first. "If anything happens to me, try to get yourself home. I believe Max's dungeon is still on Earth, and Cecilia, you might remember the coordinates to the door, Right?"

Cecilia reluctantly nodded.

"So if I die, try to go back to Max's dungeon through the access point and get Ryn home too." She looked at Pvilycht. "Help them figure it out."

He nodded too.

Lexie felt like she wanted to say something else, but all that came to mind was, "Well, this is it."

"Is there any chance I can talk you out of this?" Cecilia asked.

Lexie shook her head. It wasn't the first time the other woman had tried, but Lexie was already pretty determined to see this through.

Frustration filled Cecilia's face. "I don't understand why you have to do this."

"That is because you're not Eldritch, so you don't understand Eldritch drives."

"You're human too."

"Was human."

Cecilia made an exasperated sound. "What will you do after you go to the Other?"

"Find Naem."

"And then?"

"Get power."

"And then?"

"Then...I'm not sure exactly," she said. "I'll figure it out later, I suppose." Although Lexie was pretty sure she was meant to rule the world. She wasn't as excited about the possibility as before, but she thought she should see it through.

Perhaps that would finally get rid of the infernal itching.

Cecilia was quiet for a few seconds, and Lexie thought it was because the woman was finally coming to terms with her new nature.

"I'll find you," Cecilia spoke up harshly. "You get that right? Wherever you go, even if it's in hell, I'll find you and Lara."

Lexie didn't know what to say. So she closed her eyes, activated the soul card, and connected to the dungeon.

GET OUT!

The screech was loud and instantaneous, the sheer chaos and cacophony piercing through her thoughts, burrowing into Lexie's brain.

GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!

Lexie hung on, siphoning the darkness around her, soothing the dungeon's natural chaos, and introducing some of her human light. Yet the dungeon still fought the invasion. There were already too many cooks in the pot, too many foreign lights invading its autonomy.

I'm not just any cook, Lexie tried to tell it. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to give you light.

The dungeon didn't want to listen.

Lexie bore the barrage of aggression assaulting her senses, and finally, that led to despair. Lexie swallowed it all and kept cooking, kept offering her light until her soul started to feel bloated.

But it was working. The dungeon was calming down. The dark storm wasn't as violent, and the power flowed to Lexie more easily.

Suddenly, it all jerked to a stop.

It was like something had lassoed it back, refusing to release.

Lexie also held on tight, urging the dungeon with her light and activating DECODE.

She saw the invisible strings wrapped around the dungeon's power, calculated the direction of the flow, and it led her back to....

Neqal.

He was there. She saw his bond with the dungeon, saw how strained it was.

He was laughing maniacally, though he was clearly angry.

"You," he said, and reached a clawed hand out to her before it jerked back as though yanked by an invisible force.

And then blinding white light eradicated everything.

Lexie was in a white room, and a large, featureless humanoid stood in front of her.

"Welcome," she said in Lexie's voice. "All your questions can be answered today. I will reveal to you the truth about the one you seek."

"Who are you?" Lexie asked.

"I am the Mountain."

***

Xan-De-Fo was having difficulty settling into his new human residence.

It was why he was pacing around the Ronan Fae Ambassadorial palace at such an odd time.

He was not supposed to be here. Though he'd lived for a very long time, he knew very little about Earth and did not know how to interact with them. Such awkwardly abrupt creatures. Such a limited vocabulary. They must misunderstand each other a lot.

He did not know how they missed all his communication, even with a translator.

The Ambassador told him that it would take time to learn to communicate adequately with humans, but he didn't plan to be here that long.

He'd only tagged along because the Earth's Chief of Balance, Dominic-By-Way-of-Vacek, had offered a joint expedition into a dungeon of interest for him.

It was the dungeon where his cousin-sister, Ryn-Byul-Fo, had disappeared.

It was a strange incident, because that dungeon had not followed its usual travel path, and it seemed that everything that had entered, even Fae, could not find its way out. It was either that, or Ryn-Byul-Fo had chosen to make an impromptu but extremely lengthy sabbatical. Their parents thought it might be the latter, but he was not so sure.

Dominic-By-Way-of-Vacek had assured him that the Dungeon would be making its way back to Earth soon, and they would go in with the humans to find Ryn-Byul-Fo and a few other things.

And then he would go home.

Tomorrow would be a long day of meetings. Time to attempt to rest.

But when he opened his door, he found a young Fae female standing there, on the other side of the doorway, clutching herself.

She looked very lost and in distress.

Was she one of the ones on the spaceship? That was odd.

They typically did not bring Fae this young, even if their parents were ambassadors.

Instantly, a system alert popped up on his screen.

HELLO! This is an URGENT message from RYN-BYUL-FO, daughter of Jin-Kan-Fo, who is the daughter of Riz-Gula-Ni, who is the daughter of Am-La-Ri. For brevity's sake, I must keep this short.

THE ONE IN FRONT OF YOU IS ZU-LO-YA, likely spawn of a Luminary or High Envoy. She was lost in the dungeon with me, and a former human mage and another human mage managed to get her out by way of teleportation. Please get her to the nearest embassy.

Kindly, Ryn-Byul-Fo.

Xan-De-Fo put his hand on his chest, flummoxed and perplexed.

What a curt message.

Was it real?

It had Ryn-Byul-Fo's stamp on it and some of her woven essence.

But everything it had said was nonsensical? How was this creature here if she'd just been in the dungeon with Ryn-Byul-Fo?

And why was a Luminary's spawn in the dungeon in the first place? And how did she get on Earth without going through the proper channels, even with teleportation?

What did 'former human mage' mean?

This had to be some kind of trick.

As the questions swirled in his mind, the young female opened her mouth and uttered a tight sound.

Then, she stammered, in some human-sounding language, what was likely the first full word she'd uttered in her entire life. "L-L-Lex-EE."

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