After some confirmation with a staff member at Lightway academy, there was indeed a delay on orientation day. Approximately one month from now was the day classes would start. The Beacon tournament had been interrupted and wouldn't resume for a few more days. After that, a week of intermissions, before the redemption tournament would begin.

All-in-all, Enya had roughly one month to do what she needed to before attending the first day at her new school. This time—would be spent helping Pell.

"You guys are going back to the first layer?" Manny asked.

"Mhm," Enya responded.

Enya, Berry, Manny, and Risha were sitting down at a table, eating some of the local food. Enya was particularly fond of meat skewers, Berry fond of a breaded roll that contained a variety of potatoes and cheese, Manny with some sort of sandwich, and Risha with Tiekek, a type of fried noodle ball, which had very satisfying crunches.

"School starts in a month, you know," Berry chimed in.

Berry had been a little off after the events with the demonic ents. She seemed distantly cold. Manny said that it was just something that happened, and that she'd be fine in a few days. Berry had wanted to meet up with Enya to speak about a few things, but the chance to, passed by.

And now, with them all gathered together, she said she'd tell Enya another time. Perhaps it was something private or embarrassing. Enya wasn't sure.

"Pell thinks that is plenty of time to finish things up and come back here," Enya replied.

"So it's Pell's idea to go back to the first layer?" Risha asked.

"Yeah."

"Any special reason?" asked Manny. "Not to pry of course—but there is a warp fee to descend and ascend layers. And if you're making a round trip, it's not going to be cheap."

Risha took a crisp bite of her food before nodding in agreement. "I think it cost my parents around 40 gold coins to let me ascend to the second layer."

"Sounds about right," Manny agreed. "Probably costs about half to descend. But that's about 60 gold coins total to and from."

Enya placed one of her empty skewer sticks on the napkin in front of her. With that, she picked up another of the three skewers she bought.

"I think Pell has enough money for that," Enya replied.

"If you say so," Manny responded.

"Hey, if you're going down to the first layer, can you send a message to my mom and dad?" Risha chimed.

"Your parents?" Enya asked.

"Mhm. I have a letter I can write to my parents real quick before you leave. If you can use one of their information guilds down there to deliver it. I can use the one here, by the fee is pretty pricey for cross-layer letters. Not too expensive, but it saves me some of my allowance if you can deliver it while you're down there."

"Sure, I can do that," Enya answered.

Risha smiled. "Thanks. I'll find some time to write it up before you leave."

Enya nodded, finishing the last bite of her third skewer.

"Well, alright. Me and Berry have to get going. Do some training with our dad," Manny said, standing up.

"You two are training?" Enya asked.

"Yep!" Berry answered. "Although we won our fights so far, our dad doesn't want to take any chances and wants us to be ready for whatever the third stage of the tournament is."

"Yeah. Past few days, we've been sparring with our dad in one of the training ground dungeons at the adventurer guild."

Berry stretched her arms behind her head, then gave a short grin. "He says we're sloppy."

Manny laughed. "He says I'm sloppy. He told Berry she overcommits her counters."

Berry scoffed. "Same thing."

Enya gave a small smile. "Well… good luck then."

Berry nodded. "Same to you. Be safe down there."

"We'll try," Enya replied.

Manny gave a short salute before turning to go. "Let us know when you're back."

Berry lingered just a second longer, glancing at Enya as if she wanted to say something else. Then, without another word, she followed her brother.

Risha was the last to leave. She stood, gathering her trash. "I'll bring the letter to your place once I finish it. Should be done before tonight"

"Sure," Enya said.

And then it was just her alone at the table, the late sun brushing golden streaks across the plaza stones. Her skewer sticks sat neatly on her napkin, cleaned down to bare wood. Enya grabbed her trash and went to the nearest trashcan to discard it. Then, she made her way back to the inn.

"Hey Pell," she greeted.

Pell was sitting at the desk, looking through the marketplace. He was seemingly addicted to the thing. Most times, when he wasn't doing anything important, he was looking at the screen.

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"Hey, kid," he replied without turning her way.

"What're you doing?" she asked, walking up behind him to peek at the interface.

Pell scratched the back of his head. "Just looking at some things to buy. Not sure what to expect after all of these years, so I'm just looking for some things that stick out."

She took a closer look at the market.

"Poison darts? Rotwood… mist? Voodoo doll?" Enya asked.

He just shrugged. "Anything to guarantee that bastard dies. I don't want to risk any future where he recovers and somehow takes revenge."

Enya nodded thoughtfully. "I hate that thing in books."

Pell turned toward her. "Books?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Where the main character doesn't kill the bad guy. So they come back later and cause trouble."

Pell groaned. "I hate that trope. Absolute garbage." His gaze returned to the marketplace screen. "But yeah. Just trying to find some methods of taking that guy down permanently. He's a noble, so he's got guards. Even though it's the first layer, it's not something either of us can handle easily."

"Even Mr. Bones?"

Pell shook his head. "No. He's as strong as a bronze to silver-tier War Paragon. Amberdean's got guards—probably at least gold-tier."

"Can't we bring Josier or someone else along? He's pretty strong."

"No. We can't just bring him. People are busy, kid—he works for the city, not for us. We've been given some generous leniency with how much we've been—you've been—bossing the officials of Talo around. Even the academy's headmaster granted you admission. We can't overstay our welcome. Especially when we don't even know who your family is."

"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head.

"You're a high-noble. Your prestige doesn't come from the title—it comes from your family. If they find out we have no way to actually contact your family, then you're as useless as a torch dipped in water. If that happens, your protection from the city could go out the window," Pell stated.

Enya pouted. "But I think Josier likes me."

Pell scoffed. "Josier's just an employee of the city. He's not Lord Clament, Lorrin, or Headmaster Laventis."

He paused. "Hmm… a lot of 'L' names around here."

He shook his head. "Anyway. None of those three actually like you. They're cautious of you. Laventis in particular—I don't know him, but I'm pretty sure he was pressured into letting you into the academy. I don't think he would've done it otherwise."

"Oh…"

The list on the marketplace kept scrolling. More and more unsavory methods of assassination and death flicked by.

"With that being said, we're probably on our own once we get to the first layer."

"What're you planning on doing once we get there?"

"Initially, I was hoping you could just have Kidirge or one of your other summons break into his home and beat the living daylights out of him."

"We're not doing that?"

Pell sighed. "No. As much as I want to see him get bloodied by Kidirge, it won't be enough. And I still need to confirm what actually happened to Elara. Right now, Amberdean is the prime suspect—because I don't see a world where Elara would take her own life."

His fists clenched. The bones of his fingers scraped together. He was still feeling sour and frustrated from the report.

"Even if he didn't murder her," he continued, closing the marketplace and leaning back, "I'd still kill him. The bastard played a hand in her death. Not to mention all the psychological torture he put me and the orphanage through."

He stared at the wall in front of him.

"Someone like that deserves to die and not come back."

Enya leaned forward on the desk, eyes glinting with curiosity.

"If we kill him… can I turn him into a skeleton?"

Pell gave a soft, bitter chuckle. "Why not? If we actually take the bastard down, you can do whatever you want with him. Summon him as a laborer, trap him inside your dungeon core, stuff his soul into a broom—doesn't matter to me."

She smiled at that. "A broom?"

"I'm serious," he said, folding his arms. "Let him sweep for eternity."

Enya sat down on the edge of the bed, still amused. "Do we have enough gold? Risha said traveling between layers costs a lot of money."

Pell nodded. "Sold the Spectre Cloak. Should be enough to descend and return. Even have extra for food, gear, and bribes if needed."

"I'll miss that cloak," Enya commented.

"Make another one then. I'm sure your book of horrors has other cloaks even better than it. Probably cost a fortune too. Anyway," Pell said, stretching his spine with a dry pop, "we leave in the morning. Don't forget anything."

"I won't." Enya tapped her chin, thinking. "Risha still has that letter to give me tonight. Wants me to deliver it to her parents instead of using the guild."

"Right."

Enya flopped back on the bed, arms sprawled out. "What's the first layer like?"

Pell leaned back in his chair. "Not too different from the second layer. Just… less wealth floating around. Not as many high-end cities like Talo. Some towns are dirt poor, others are modest. Depends on where you go. Each layer's got its own flavor of extravagance."

Enya hummed quietly, staring at the ceiling. This would be her first time leaving the city to go do something—willingly, and not being kidnapped by a demon. It almost felt like she was on a quest. Except, this one wasn't commissioned by an adventurer's guild, but by Pell instead.

"That reminds me," Pell said, turning around, "where's that Queen of yours?"

Enya sat up and stared back at him. "Queen?"

"The Crystal Spiderling Queen."

Enya froze at the name.

"When I went to reserve our spot tomorrow for warp, that nosy portal master kept hounding me about the Crystal Spiderling Queen that you kidnapped as a pet. I told him you shoved it somewhere safe. I assumed you put it inside the dungeon core."

"Uh, yeah. I-I put it in the dungeon core. She's sleeping."

Pell's soul-flames squinted.

"You sure about that?" he asked. "Because right after you got kidnapped, I came back to our room and I saw the drawer completely open. And I'm not one to leave doors, cabinets, or drawers open. Small peeve of mine, actually."

Enya stiffened. "Uh… I think that was me. Before the tournament, I took her out and was planning to use her during the rounds! But I lost before I could bring her out."

"Then where is she?"

"Inside the dungeon core."

"And when did you have time to do that?"

"I… don't remember?" Enya said, shrugging her shoulders, palms up.

Pell wasn't buying the innocent act. He stared at her, soul-flames in full focus.

"Kid… where the hell did you lose that thing?"

Beneath the sewers of Talo, there were piles of corpses lying dead on the stone walkways. Various rodents and insects, their bodies crumpled, drained, and pierced with tiny crystal threads.

The air was rotten and humid, typical of a sewer system. But something here made it much more foul. The stench of the dead, and the hint of mineral. The further one went in, the more crazed and unnatural the tunnel became. Dripping water quieted, and the deep inner system became a sinister cold.

Something had taken home here.

Nestled between some old filtration ducts and unused channels, a new organic structure was being built. A webbed hollow, layers upon layers of silky reflective thread. They shimmered ever so faintly, but the lack of light made them impossible to see from afar. Each strand crisscrossed with another, leading to a large, deadly maze of spliced thread; each one sharp enough to cut through flesh and bone.

In a small indentation of the sewer was a small bundle. It was hidden deep within, near a collapsed service tunnel.

Inside…was the body of a man. It was still vaguely shaped like one, though any identifiable details were now missing. Dry and pale, crystallized in a large patch of thread; no life clung to its organic tissue.

In the deepest corner of this tunnel, a pair of gem-like legs twitched. Small, delicate, but sharp and deadly—a faint chitter of grinding rocks emanated from its mouth.

The Crystal Spiderling Queen skittered across the floor. Her chitin armor had hardened. Her size had nearly doubled, now on par with one of her royal guards. The cocoon she had before—another one now took its place. It was smaller, its size like a wine barrel.

It existed; it would grow.

She paused, curling atop the growing bundle. She had found her new home. And a place, to prepare. For her son had been stolen from her, and she would have her revenge.

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