"I am an ancient and wise spirit, here to guide humanity to greatness," the Behemoth said, "but sadly, some are not ready for my wisdom." He had dropped a solid block of stone behind us using a hidden lever, sealing the exit, and now we were going down into a freezing basement. The strange wrap that had looked more like a loincloth while he was enormous was now covering his whole lower half, but he was still shirtless - he was somehow managing to make it look regal though, rather than the 'hairy creep' vibe that the Behemoth usually gave off.

I took a break from carefully coaxing my body along - it was getting very clumsy - and hissed at him. "You're a con artist, you make up bullshit to squeeze money out of the people that come to learn something. It's fine, I don't actually care so long as you help us get out of here."

He turned, a look of shock and offense on his face. "I'm saddened to hear that you think I would ever... eh, fuck it. I'm gonna have to start from scratch anyway, right?" He shrugged and shoved a shitty wooden shelf aside to reveal another passage, this one littered with rubble. Just inside the hallway was a panel of wall, it looked like this was a secret door that had been broken open at some point in the past.

Katrin sighed. "Is this the third time today we're going through a hidden passage to find a way out of somewhere with these same people chasing along right behind us?"

Errod seemed to be thinking. "You could argue for two or four at this point," he said, "but yes - I'd call it three."

"And thank you so much for leading them right into my lap and getting a truly excellent body blown into pieces," the Behemoth said, "if you do keep going with whatever game this is try to point it away from me next time. This was a sweet setup, I'll tell ya. I shouldn't complain though; I've been here for a whole grand cycle, you know that? I never would have expected it to last more than a couple dozen years.

"The money could have been better, but it was basically free once I got things going. Idiots coming up here for advice about their destiny or some shit were always enough to keep food in the pot, and the kids desperate for being part of something big and important would join up and I'd say, child, this is not a place to escape the needs of the world but to gain enlightenment. First you must prove that you are not here to avoid work or debts; return with fifteen thousand, five hundred and fifty-two pins and you can -"

He was cut off by Katrin sputtering. "That's... that's twelve reds! How would they get that kind of money?"

He shrugged. "A lot didn't. And some probably did, and then decided 'hey, fuck that chick on the mountain, I'm spending this myself'!"

"That's the whole point," I said, "he wanted to weed out the people that aren't going to really commit to it. I mean, he wanted the money too but... If they called bullshit once they were here, they could cause problems with the others - and people don't like admitting they're wrong once they've dumped a bunch of time and money into something."

"Correct! With me giving them the chance to back out, and them putting all that money into my hands? Nobody is going to admit they fucked up, they're going to tell themselves this was the right choice and they really truly belong here. Also, if one of the others does criticize me, well, they're also criticizing each other. Enforced harmony. And you know, it wasn't all bullshit. The kind of people that came up here in the first place, they didn't fit in. This really was a good place for them, until you guys got them all killed."

Errod cringed. "We... we should have thought about that..."

"No," I said, "we shouldn't have. Because first of all, we didn't actually know where we would be coming out. Second, even if we had, we didn't know that I wouldn't be able to close the portal behind me. And third, we didn't know those assholes would come in shooting like that. There was no reason for them to blow everyone up, they're just evil. And we could have stayed in Brinkmar and died in some noble way, but they still would have eventually found the exit probably, and this all would have happened later."

The Behemoth - the guru? I was going to have to get a name at some point. Whoever he was, he'd led us into a room filled with murals and metal sheets that were stamped with writing I couldn't decipher. "This was some secret room, even the Clockmaker didn't find it. I've been keeping the important shit down here. Grab that box, kid. Oh, and that chest. Come on, everyone get something. No, not that, that's trash. Fine, fine, I'll carry some of it. I guess this body is strong enough."

He led us back the way we'd come, and then out through another semi-hidden passage into a twisting hallway. "Okay," he whispered, "there's no easy way out from here. We have to head to the entrance, which they may have beaten us to, and then... well, we just have to hike down the mountain. It's going to be cold, but if we can swing past the visitor huts there are some furs and blankets there. If we can't, you guys are probably going to freeze."

"What about you? You're practically naked."

"True, but have you seen the body hair on this fucker? Disgusting, but impressive. Ah, I'm messing with you, kid. Yeah, I'll need a good jacket and boots too. Now let's go."

We didn't make it far, though, because rather than an exit we stumbled into a courtyard. A courtyard that had featured heavily in my dreams, because of what it contained. "Wait, wait! That's the airship! Holy fuck, look at it... it's gorgeous. Why are we going down the mountain?"

"Because that piece of shit is broken, obviously. Even if you could fix it, which you can't, it wouldn't have an Usmun'kiti harnessed so you'd only be using the secondary enchantments which... if you want to bleed yourself dry you might have enough power between the three of you to get down the mountain, but then it's stuck again. Forget it. It's a museum piece."

I couldn't stop looking at it. It was crafted from some dark blue wood, and was less... sharp... than what I would have pictured for an airship. It was sort of oval, and the hull sloped gently until it was flat on the bottom, with sled-like skids. There was a cabin on top with windows all around, and it was tall enough that I was guessing there were two levels under the main deck - it wasn't enormous in length, but it was wide enough that both of our vardo wagons could have fit side by side with room to spare.

I wanted it so badly. "Katrin, Errod. Guys. Look at it. And we lost the wagons when you were captured, and we need to get off the mountain. We can figure it out."

Katrin sighed. "Callie, we don't have time and none of us know the first thing about how to fix an airship. If it was Imperial magic, maybe. But this is older - if it can even be fixed, it would almost certainly require someone that spoke the same language of magic. Chances are, there are none left."

Errod put a hand on my shoulder, simultaneously offering comfort and pulling me forward. Fuck. I started to walk, and then a memory tugged at me. Harmid had mentioned the airship, hadn't he? I'd forgotten, but... he was talking about how cool it would be if I could manipulate fate to use ancestral blades that weren't mine or something, and he mentioned Poicelria's airship. I flicked on my threadsight - hadn't he said one of them led to the guru?

Sure enough, there was a thread running from me to the airship. "Guys! It's - there's a thread! Come on!"

I didn't wait, running to the airship and scrambling halfway up the rope hanging off the side before my grip failed and I fell down. Stupid hands, not working right. I managed to stand, and tried again - Errod had just caught up, and this time he caught me. I wasn't going to be able to do it, not with this brain injury - but that probably meant I wouldn't make it down the mountain, either. What would happen if my body died? I was already a ghost, but would the other mind and other soul snap together into a second one? Would both ghosts try to merge? Could they do that? I'd have to do some research into that kind of shit at some point, but in the meantime I'd have to just... not die.

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I grabbed the rope again with a trembling hand, but when I lifted the other one it missed the rope entirely. I realized, belatedly, that I'd been crying for probably a while now; my cheeks were wet and my nose was running, tears and snot running down to my chin in a deeply undignified way. I tried to wipe my face, but now the hand on the rope wouldn't let go and the other one moved too well, hitting me in the face by accident.

Errod was doing something, reaching around and... grabbing my ass? No. He was tying the rope around me, making it into a basket of sorts. He scrambled up onto the ship, held the rope, and leaned away as far as he could so that he could haul me up one painful foot at a time. Katrin lifted from underneath, and with a disgusted sigh the Behemoth climbed up using the portholes and helped Errod. I was up in no time, and as Errod untied the rope I did my best to crush him in a hug.

That stupid warm feeling was back and my ghost was flickering with gold, but I was too distracted to think about it - I had blubbered all over Errod's shoulder, and it was embarrassing as hell. I managed to pull away and stumble my way into the only room on the top deck, surrounded by glass or diamond or whatever had been used. There were very few controls, but an amazing array of screens - no, not screens... windows hooked to mirrors and magnifying glasses such that I could look all around the ship, mostly pointed down. There could have been magic involved, but it was primarily just very impressive skill at making optics.

There was also a device that looked like several very complicated gearshifts had gotten into a car accident with a truck full of levers, and some of the handles had fate threads attached to them that wove through metal loops until they disappeared into the countertop. I leaned close to get a better look - why were the fate threads interacting with the metal like that? Shouldn't they drift right through everything? I stepped sideways to look at the far end, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the thread that was attaching me to the ship get caught - just for a moment - on one of the loops.

Huh.

It was some greenish metal, and I recalled seeing something like it on the fortress - there had been more, but someone had stripped all but a few fragments away. I looked at the tangled mess of levers and metal loops again, and most had threads going through them. The ones that didn't weren't closed loops, but spirals; had the threads that were there before slipped free? They were all in the center, and almost in a straight line. I could make a fate thread and run it through them if I tried, although I'd need to attach it somewhere. The one going to me from the ship was anchored nearby, though I didn't know why it was in that specific place.

It was almost like... oh... almost like I was stupid.

I leaned, and re-positioned, and wobbled around like a drunk person trying to remember a complicated dance. Very carefully, I got the fate thread connecting me to the ship to slip into each spiral, and wound it inwards until it reached the center. As I got the last one, all of them retracted into the device so that the fate thread was trapped - I could still see where it attached to me and to the ship, but in-between it was hidden down out of the way.

The Behemoth was licking his lips, his face a confusing mixture of fear and greed. "You're full of surprises, aren't you? I don't suppose you've got a giant flying spirit handy? Whatever Usmun'kiti was attached to this ship is long gone, and they're not exactly easy to find."

I grinned. "Katrin, can you figure out what powers this thing?"

She nodded and ran off, with Errod following.

"Kid, listen. We can leave this thing here, there's nobody else that's going to be able to move it. The mana crystals evaporated or were stolen a few thousand years ago, but I'll put my money towards getting some capacitors we can hook up. We'll have to recharge every few miles, it'll be slow going, but if we can get it to the right people they'll pay a fortune for this old boat. In addition to the money, I can help with negotiations - you don't want anyone taking advantage of you, right? And then we'll split the money fairly, based on who contributed what. Those other two can get paid out of your cut if you want, or we can ditch them somewhere, whichever. What do you say?"

"What's your name?"

"I don't give out my real name. Maybe I'll just take this guy's identity to keep shit simple, I haven't looked around in here yet but I can probably get most of the information I need."

"He's a wanted war criminal with a big bounty on him for... I don't know, eating people alive for sure but probably a lot of other shit."

Seeing a look of horror on the Behemoth's face was surreal. "Ah, fuck. Okay. Yeah, yeah, new identity. Thankfully the Clockmaker showed me some shit - unintentionally, to be fair - so I should be able to access his inscriptions through the Dumine to maybe shift his face around a little. Uh. Maybe. It's not something I've ever been good at."

"Well for now, I'm going to call you Grunkle."

"Sure, whatever. Grunkle works. But with those pleasantries out of the way, can we please get the fuck out of here? I need you people to carry all my shit so it's not a total loss, and also because you clearly know how to fight. Although... your body isn't looking great. It's... slumping."

It was. "Don't worry about that. And grab your bags if you want to bring them, we'll be taking off any second."

Grunkle shook his head, and put on a patronizing tone. "Listen, ghost girl. I'm telling you that there's no way you have enough mana to -"

The ship shuddered and groaned as it lifted a few feet off the ground. Grunkle's eyes went wide, staring down at an indicator that was glowing a bright red, and he ran out to grab his things. Meanwhile, I'd been examining the controls via divination and had narrowed things down to a few options that looked promising; if I was careful, and took my time, I was pretty sure I could get this thing up and flying with very little trial and error.

And so, of course, that was when people started running into the courtyard.

They were all Tindelus goons, although I was sure that the Hierophants of Oblivion were still in play since a moment later a blast of energy collapsed one of the few intact domes. The fighting had just spread out, and we had the misfortune to be in its path. They began climbing onto the airship, and with no time to be gentle I reached for the controls and pulled a lever towards me. Nothing happened, and it faded from view thanks to my mind annotating things through the memory palace.

Next lever also did nothing, and that whole section faded to gray even though there were some I hadn't tried yet. I wasn't fully synched with my mind because I wanted the benefits of a time differential but couldn't leave my body unattended, which meant I just had to trust myself and switch to a different part of the controls. The next one caused the ship to start rotating to the right, and I left that going while I moved to the next lever since I figured it would make it hard for anyone else to climb on.

Errod scrambled out onto the deck and started attacking the goons that were already boarding, kicking one in the face right when she was at boot level while slashing at another that was crackling with electricity. I didn't see Katrin, which meant she was probably working to keep the mana battery feeding into the airship. Grunkle was back and I saw him swing his recovered chest at someone - it knocked them back but flew open in the process, scattering a fortune in coins all over the deck.

The next lever resulted in a loud sound, followed by Katrin's muffled but frantic yelling - through one of the viewing screens I could see that I'd dropped open a cargo door, and goons were trying to climb in past Katrin's best attempts at blowing them backwards. I pushed that lever back, and thankfully the door slammed shut again. I was pretty sure one had gotten inside, but I had to just trust Katrin to deal with it.

My body was having trouble with the levers, and half the time my hand just sort of slapped feebly at them or - if it did grab them correctly - seemingly forgot how to push and pull. My ghost could apply some pressure, but the levers were stiff from disuse even with whatever magic had kept the ship in such good shape. Finally I got another one to go, but this one made the ship lurch forward and I couldn't pull the lever back again. Since we were already turning this made us spiral outwards, and almost immediately we slammed into the wall of the courtyard and demolished it.

The next wall we hit was less fragile and we skidded off of it instead, causing the ship to tilt at a dramatic angle and knock Errod over so he slid across the deck. Grunkle howled in despair as the loose coins bounced over the side. We hit a pile of rubble, making the hovering airship go up like a ramp so that it was doing donuts on the crumbling rooftops of Poicelria's fortress - unfortunately, most of the rooftops were towers and domes which meant we went careening off of them as if we were in a giant pinball machine. My body had fallen down and was having a hell of a time getting up, and while I attempted to coax it along I glanced over and saw that we were almost at the edge of the fortress.

Specifically, it was the edge that was right along the cliffside. At the top of a large mountain. The ground was down there somewhere, under the clouds - probably far enough that even if the ship magically survived the people on board would all get thrown around in a very terminal way. I tried calling to Errod since he was back on his feet and had mostly cleared the deck, but he was just backing away from... oh, fuck. It was Hugh.

My body got up finally and reached for the controls, but just as it did we clipped one last tower and the ship jolted, causing my hand to shoot out and slam another lever entirely - the ship straightened out as it tried to turn left in addition to still turning right. The forward motion wasn't interrupted by this, unfortunately, and we hurtled off the edge into the void. Errod grabbed at the railing, but as we plummeted Hugh blasted him free - he went spinning through the air and vanished into the layer of clouds that surrounded us, while we began our thousand-foot fall towards the jagged rocks below.

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