Riven cursed Rose. Damn his sister but why did she have to impress upon him the need for him to stay low so much before leaving?

Stay out of trouble, Riven. Don’t make unnecessary eye-contact, Riven. Pretend you don’t exist, Riven. Can’t be hard since you do that already. Act like you’re invisible, and trust me, you’re forgettable enough for it to actually work.

Yes, well, such an embracing pep talk didn’t help. He was good at ignoring people and pretending no one cared about him, but at some point in their journey from cab to train to rail-carriage, he had realized he liked to think he was good at it. In truth, he was awful.

Every time someone passed him on the train, Riven had been unable to stop himself from shooting a furtive look at the offending being who had dared to trespass in his personal space. Which varied moment from moment too, making sure that he stared down everyone he had noticed, regardless if he was standing in the caboose or sitting by the window where no one knew he even existed. One old crone had berated him for ogling like a pervert, while another even older man had started to hit him up and get a little too handsy. Riven hadn’t had the time to pay either much attention. Essentiers. That was what he kept an eye out for, especially after Rose had branded in the impression he was no little better than a wanted fugitive.

He knew that was ridiculous, but anxiety wasn’t very reasonable.

“Will you relax?” Viriya asked for the hundredth time.

Riven still stared everywhere.

“We’re literally in a rail-carriage, Riven. I couldn’t lie down straight here without my head hanging out one window and my legs dangling out the other like a cheap harlot. There’s no space for anyone to spy on us.”

“They might be outside,” Riven pointed out. Literally. At the landscape zooming by fast enough to make the few Coral trees the passed on the rail side blur.

“Right. Maybe you could take yourself to the roof. Better watching spot, no doubt.”

“You can take it easy, Viriya, but you’ll thank me one day when I spot Tam coming out of a crack in the ground like a Scions damned Sept sniffer.”

Viriya almost laughed at that. Her mouth quirking hard. For a second, Riven was distracted enough from glaring outside, but she brought back her look that asked him what in the world he was staring at. He kept himself from rolling his eyes and looked outside.

Behind them, Arrilme did laugh. It might have been the little game she was playing with Franry though, their hands clapping together every now and then. So surreal, seeing a demon playing silly games with a  Spectre.

He shook his head. They were mother and son, a woman entertaining her young child as any mother would. He needed to keep that in mind.

No one had asked too many questions since they had swaddled the two Deathless in enormous cloaks so that only their eyes showed, though they still had to pay the rail-carriage driver a tidy sum of money to keep quiet. Riven had briefly considered trying to size up the man’s body to see if his corpse would fit inside any one of the numerous cracks in the ground they had passed, but he’d flung the idea away quick enough. Damn anxiety was giving rise to too many unpleasant, intrusive thoughts.

They had left the train just over an hour earlier at the station in the town of Lintellant. Riven had expected the research facility to be nearby since it shared the same exact name, but he was disabused of that foolish notion when Viriya had led him to a rail carriage. They’d have taken a normal car if their destination had been close for the sleek rail-carriages running on rails that were a smaller version of trainlines was usually reserved for mid-length distances.

Which was what the journey to the research facility proved to be.

“Everyone blames me, Viriya,” Riven said. He tried not to make it sound like an excuse, but no doubt that’s how Viriya took it anyway. “I’m hunted. Wanted. Just waiting for the posters to pop up. What do you think my bounty will be?”

“About a hundred seals.”

“A hundred? I can’t even buy the cleaning paper for the toilet with that.”

Arrilme laughed again. This time, there was no doubt she was laughing at him. Riven smiled back. For all that he was troubled by what might happen next, for all that he worried what Father might do, or worse, what Orbray might do, that laugh made it worth it. Arrilme might be a Spectre, but she was a person too. And she needed help, just as any other person might in their lives. Everyone else might have abandoned her now that she no longer looked like them, but Riven wasn’t about to do the same.

Not the same way he had left Darley and Bartle.

“I think we’re here,” Viriya said, leaning forward in her seat. She stared out the window beside her.

Riven turned to look in the same direction. She was right. They were nearing the research facility. That sleek building with its gleaming walls and windows with huge glass panels could be nothing else. More details resolved as they came closer. A set of wide, white marble stairs led to the entrance, which was shaded by a large awning held up by several columns. Guards patrolled the area, sometimes standing, sometimes moving, always keeping to a pattern that was obvious even to Riven’s worm’s-eye view. The building itself stood three storeys tall, each subsequent higher floor smaller than the previous so it seemed like a small mountain.

For all its grandeur, the research facility still hadn’t escaped the recent Septstorm unscathed The grounds were pockmarked, the walls pitted and cracked, and several windows were either cracked or missing the panes entirely. No sign of any Sept though. Of course, who would let free Sept lie around?

The rail-carriage halted near the main gates, where guards came to check their ID and purpose. Riven let Viriya handle the communications, which lasted no longer than the mention of Rose. One utterance of his sister’s name, and the guards snapped to attention as though Riven and his company had turned into Dodecilian Council members.

With the speed and efficiency of worker bees, the guards opened the gate and ushered them inside, going so far as to offer their arms to help them out of the rail-carriage and take their luggage. Sorely tempted though he was, Riven declined, taking his carpet bag on his own. They weren’t dainty aristocrats who had never set foot on dirty ground, now were they?

It went so far that the guards didn’t even question the Spectre and the demon at the back of the rail carriage.

Riven had to work not to shake his head in wonder. Rose’s name carried weight in certain paces, he’d always known that, but this was as though she owned every inch of every single person’s lives here. In fact, owned their very souls.

He smiled. They might just be safe here after all.

“Welcome, welcome,” said a short woman coming down the stairs. Her voluminous white coat seemed to be trying to get away from her as it bounced on her shoulders and. “Our most anticipated guests in what—a decade, at least—have finally arrived!” She smiled at Viriya. “Don’t worry cousin, you’re part of the most anticipated guests too.”

“Of course,” Viriya muttered.

“Cousin?” Riven asked.

“Yes! Viriya and I are distant relations.” The woman looked past Riven at the two cloaked Deathless. “Your precautions are good! Though you rest assured that they will be unnecessary here.”

“Who are you?”

“Nivi Rorink. Researcher-in Chief at the Lintellant research facility.” She stretched out a hand at Riven. “You must be Rose’s sister, Riven. You have that same slightly sloping forehead like her.”

Riven shook the proffered hand, though more tremulously than he would have preferred. “I—I do?”

Nivi laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Rose says I tend to notice things most sane people ignore for propriety’s sake. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

She led them inside. They might have the reassurance that everything would be safe here, but a couple guards followed them all the same. Followed Arrilme and Franry specifically. Riven glanced back to make sure they were all right. All he saw were their eyes, and Arrilme’s were not very reassured. Still slightly fearful that this was one giant trick perhaps, where they’d be strung up and dissected for inspection like lab rats.

Riven looked away. Chasm, she had better not seen the look on his face when he’d thought that. No need for him to make her feel even worse.

The interior of the research facility was spotless. They went through a small entrance hall where a bored clerk was checking her nails at her desk, ignoring Nivi and the rest of them as they passed. Bright floods flooded the room in white, revealing ash-grey walls and a tiled floor that gave dim reflections of Rivne alongside blue and green veins.

“So,” Nivi said. “Tell me your story, Riven. And yours, cousin. Rose has filled me in on the important details, which includes why you’re here, but a letter never conveys the whole story. So spill.”

With nothing better to do, they agreed. Riven and Viriya took turns to tell her about the Spectre stealing letters, the debacle at the orphanage, Riven’s fight with Tam, Viriya rescuing Franry and then Arrilme, and of course, going against the wishes of Orbray to bring the Deathless here for research and protection.

Riven failed to not be too enraptured by Viriya when she told her side of the story. All he’d gotten was a brief recounting of the main events—her ultimatum to Arrilme’s guards and her kidnapping of Franry—but that had been a flavourless account. Now, she went into a little more detail, and if it was true, then Riven still didn’t truly get the extent of Viriya’s reputation in Providence. The guards had gone wary as soon as they had seen who was involved, and Viriya hadn’t needed to introduce herself. Even more, once she head made her intentions known, they hadn’t protested once, or tried to block her in any way. One didn’t stand against Viriya and hope to get away with it unscathed.

“Excellent! Rest assured that I will take care of all matters here and you can stay as long as you need.” Nivi nodded at the Deathless. “We will do our utmost to accommodate our new guests as well. I would add my vociferous voice against the High Invigilator, but I’m afraid a lowly researcher’s words count for little.”

“It shouldn’t,” Riven said. “For all we know, you really might discover something very new and important. I don’t understand why Orbray can’t see that.”

“The High Invigilator is many things, but he is often narrow-minded. Dogged as he is, he discounts the value of much he doesn’t understand, sadly. I am all the more impressed you’ve gone against his wishes and brought the Deathless here.”

“Yes well, we’re about to go to war. I understand that might be occupying most of his time and efforts right now, but I still don’t see why he has to throw away whatever he thinks is not worth his time.” Riven realized he was saying the same thing over and over again like a parrot. “Anyway, what’s your research about?”

Nivi smiled at him. “Quite a few things. But as you know, we mainly focus on Sept here, and the Deathless to an extent. I specifically look into microstructural formations of Sept and how they interact with each other, both outside in the world and within bodies.”

“Within bodies?”

“Yes. Sept can interact with living flesh, you know. You may occasionally come across creatures with Sept as parts of their body, and as living parts, rather than something like the skeleton or nails which aren’t comprised of cells.”

Creatures, was it? Riven’ mind jumped straight to Lightspeed, Rio’s Sept horse. Though that made him wonder what in the world Rio was doing right now, and why hadn’t he seen him with Orbray. If only Riven could make some sense of him.

“You should tell him about your samples, cousin,” Viriya said.

“Ah of course. But one moment.”

They travelled down a corridor with several doors with thick glass windows set in the top half. Riven couldn’t stop himself from peeking. One room was filled with long tables arrayed with vials and tubes, each holding chemicals of many hues. Two people were inside, covered head to toe in protective white clothing and a helmet with a transparent glass face cover as they mixed chemicals in a conical flask. Another room was filled with dirty and musty filing cabinets, files peeking out from drawers and lockers. One room was completely dark and empty, save for an odd chair with straps, while another held what looked like a surgeon’s operating table.

The last few made Riven blink a few times. No, he shouldn’t get too worried over them for no good reason. He had assurances from everyone that Arrilme and Franry would be safe here, not experimented on in a desperate bid to find something.

They climbed the stairs to the third floor, going through another hallway before Nivi paused at a door and pulled out a key from her coat to unlock it. “My office.” She invited them all in with a wave of her hand. “Please make yourselves at home.”

It was dark inside for only a second. Nivi turned on the lights, revealing a big desk with three chairs, one large one for her behind it and two smaller ones for guests. The rest of the space was taken by several shelves lining the walls, filled with books that rose in stacks upon stacks.

Nivi took her seat, then pointed to the free chairs. Now that Riven could observe her without trouble, he found that she had little similarity with Viriya. Short where her cousin was tall, skin darker, nearly matching Rio’s shade, light eyes somewhere between silver and blue. Very distant cousins, it had to be said.

Viriya stood to one side, and Riven did the same, glancing at her. She waved at Arrilme, who looked at them blankly for a moment before realizing the open seats were meant for her and Franry. The Spectre sat, urging her son into the other one.

“Well, may I be frank?” Nivi asked the Deathless before her.

Arrilme nodded, but she drew back as though Nivi’s frankness was a dangerous thing to behold.

“Could you please remove your cloak?” Nivi asked. “I need to see to be sure of things.”

Arrilme hesitated for only a second. Then she stood and removed her large cloak, unwrapping it fold by fold. Riven wanted to protest on her behalf but the lack of any reticence from her made him stop. She had no trouble doing as Nivi requested, so why should he barge in?

“Is this good enough?” Arrilme asked, standing before Nivi in nothing but the dirty and faded clothes she had died in.

Nivi observed the Spectre from head to toe. There was a discerning, almost calculating look in her eyes, like she was peeling back layer after layer from Arrilme, trying to figure out and know every single iota she was made of intimately. Riven bit his lips from saying something again. He was getting a little too overprotective.

“This is great, thank you.” Nivi had brought out a notepad and was jotting something down with her pen. “I will need to ask you several questions, and—oh Scions, where are my manners?” She sighed, glancing at Riven and Viriya apologetically, then looking back at the Deathless. “You already know my name from earlier. Please, tell me about yourselves. I’m very intrigued by… the method you became Deathless.”

By their deaths, she meant. Arrilme didn’t mind. She told Nivi the same things she had told Riven and Viriya, about her job, and the manner of her death. But the part about her transforming into a Spectre was new. “I am not sure what exactly happened in the moment I turned from human to Spectre. The crane fell, and I was in tremendous pain, which then shut off very quickly. There was a strong tugging sensation I couldn’t resist, and when I looked up again, everything was a blur.”

“Can you expand more about the moment you had to endure that tugging sensation? What was it like? Try to think of your five sense at that moment, if you can recall.”

Arrilme paused to think for a moment. “I think what I mostly saw was blurry, just as it is now. I could only hear the people screaming, but that was muted as though muffled. Or far away maybe. I don’t recall smelling anything, or touching anything besides the obvious floor and crane. And I don’t think tastes are relevant,” she added with a little laugh.

“Blurring, you say?”

“Yes.”

Nivi frowned, jotting more things down on her notepad. Her pen was nearly a blur too as her hand flew and poured out words faster than Riven could read them.

He cleared his throat. “If you were wondering, I think I know what the blurring sight means.”

“I assume it has something to the longing that all Deathless feel to leave this world.”

“Well, perhaps, in the sense that they need to ascend from where everything is blurry.” Riven remembered his conversation with Mhell, all the little revelations she had admitted flooding his head. “I think everything is blurry because the Deathless are already one step in the Beyond. It’s partly what influences them to exit the mortal realm and ascend to the Beyond fully.”

“How do you know this?”

“When the Cataclysm descended in Severance Frontier, the same thing happened, but to everyone. That demon was so immensely powerful, his aura had dragged everyone into the part of the Beyond he had with him.”

“Ah! You think the Deathless have the Beyond with them all the time?”

“I would assume so, given what I’ve seen so far. Besides the Cataclysm, I also met and talked with a few Spectres, and they confirmed the same thing.”

“Intriguing. I’d never have imagined something like this could even occur. For all the research I can do, I don’t think I’d have ever learned this on my own.” She was muttering now, furiously jotting down more notes. Then she looked up, eyes wide as though just remembering she wasn’t alone. “Sorry, didn’t mean to meander. But now I must ask you, Riven, If there was anything more about your experiences in Severance Frontier you wanted to share.”

Riven blinked. Did he want to share? For the briefest of moments, Viriya caught his eye, and she was staring straight at him. Scions, was she traying to tell him something? Her stony face revealed nothing. Why did she have to wear a mask like that all the time?

But it was now or never. “I also found a crystal. A strange crystal that reacts mysteriously with the Deathless, that I thought you could help me with.”

“ A crystal?”

“Yes. One moment.” Riven propped his carpet bag on a bent knee and pulled out the Sept crystal. It was dark now, though its depths swirled with a soft hint of gold. Nivi went very still at its sudden appearance. “This is the crystal I was talking about. Do you know anything about this?”

Loathe as he was to let go of it, Riven handed the crystal to an obviously eager Nivi. She had the same calculating look she’d worn when observing Arrilme as she turned the crystal around her hands over and over, inspecting every crack, edge, and spot. She started noting again, putting the crystal away to write, before picking it back up again, repeating the process until she was satisfied. Finally, and with some obvious reluctance, Nivi held it back out for Riven to take. “That’s an extremely curious specimen you have there. One I’ve never seen before.”

“I was hoping you’d a little more information on what exactly it is,” Riven said.

“Isn’t it just what it seems? A large piece of Sept?”

Riven swallowed. Everything he knew was too sensitive to reveal, but he couldn’t ignore it. Couldn’t let it lie if it turned out to have any bearing on the reason he was here. “I have it on good authority it’s a piece of a Scion.”

Everyone stared at him, just as he had suspected. Every eye turned to him, Franry copying his mother to stare at him as Nivi got a puzzled expression, while Viriya turned frozen.

“And how did you come to know this is a… piece of a Scion?” Nivi asked.

“On good authority. Me saying how I know won’t reassure you on it’s veracity, but for what it’s worth, I heard it from a Deathless. Another one I trust.”

Viriya glanced at him then, but Riven didn’t turn his head. It was the truth. He did trust Mhell. Everything she had said and done had been for his benefit, and in truth, it was the thought of that witch that had partly spurred him to help Arrilme and Franry. Not all Deathless were bound to their need for ascendance.

Nivi didn’t look satisfied, but she didn’t press the issue. “Well, from a cursory inspection, I can tell the lattice of this crystal isn’t something I’ve ever seen before. Normally, Sept is either dust or small flakes, and at best, we see the clumps the size of fists at Septstorms like the one that happened recently. But, Deathless are formed of Sept and it’s possible there are similarly complex structures within them.” She saw the look on his face, and gave an apologetic smile. “Don’t worry, I will treat my guests with utmost respect. I have no intention of ever harming them.”

Riven nodded. “Of course. Rose always had great faith in you.”

Nivi smirked. “Of course she did. But I was under the impression there was something else?”

Riven blinked. So Rose had told Nivi something about Mother. Or rather, whatever Riven considered thought could be done regarding Mother. There was something curious about the way she mentioned Rose too. Something that suggested they were more familiar with each other than Riven had assumed. But that was none of his business.

“I was hoping you’d be able to help me cure my mother,” Riven said. “With all the advances in Sept related medicine that can fix injuries and whatnot, I thought we could push it in a direction where Sept could help cure diseases too.”

“Hmm.” Nivi looked away, as if slightly embarrassed. There was a small picture frame on her desk, and Riven wondered who might be on it. Maybe Rose. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how possible that might be. Rose has told me a little about your mother’s condition. A degenerative condition, where her cells are dying faster than can be replaced at spots on her body. I believe some of her organs are failing as well.”

“But Sept-based medicine can heal injures so well, couldn’t it do something for this?”

“This is a parasitic disease, Riven. The injuries Sept helps heal only enhance the body’s natural healing capacities by promoting blood clotting, cell growth and replication, and so on. It won’t regrow missing limbs, nor can it replace entire organs. Any bacteria or virus still need to be treated by antibiotics and other traditional medicine. Besides, research takes a while. A long while. I’m sorry but I can’t promise anything.”

Riven had been afraid of such a response but he went on undaunted. “You can try though, right? As you said, Sept can form… structures. Like they do inside the Deathless. Maybe that can help Mother somehow.”

Nivi’s voice was gentle when she answered. “But your mother isn’t a Deathless.”

He knew it sounded weak. There was nothing definitive, nothing actionable at all. Desperation tinged his voice because he had no other option left to him. This was the only path to curing Mother.

But then, maybe he’d kept the most important thing back.

“It was caused by a Deathless.”

Nivi frowned. “How?”

Riven closed his eyes. He was the centre of attention again, and he didn’t know how he could answer without drudging up the past that had been buried so deep. Left alone somewhere it could no longer reach out and drag him down, from where it could no longer strike him over and over.

“Can you look into it?” Riven asked, staring directly at Nivi, not shying away from those the unyielding silvery-blue eyes.

She took a moment to consider an answer. “I need to conduct some research. Would be best if I had someone living to work with, especially anyone who has been affected by Deathless in much the same way.”

Riven took in a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh. Then he smiled. “Maybe I can find such a person for you.”