The third Seerflame upgrade came with the eye-watering price tag of [65,000 ?], nearly enough for a whole level-up. Serac had come prepared, having saved up six figures for just such a scenario. She also gladly paid it, knowing the permanent universal buff to REVOLVER’s Base Attack was far more valuable than a single attribute point.

  “Speaking of attributes, I see you’ve gone for a well-rounded approach,” Beatrice Sattva observed approvingly. “Don’t see that a lot. Most folks pump one or two damage scalers and ignore the rest. Guess you got more leeway with a piece like REVOLVER.”

  The all-rounder in question looked up at the boulder of a deer woman and smiled, somewhat more strained than intended. The Seersmith, confirmed to be the biggest Mriga around now that Serac had met more of her kind in Tidereign, didn’t seem to notice the hesitation.

  It was true what Bea said, of course. From KL-79 to -93, Serac had followed a carefully thought-out leveling plan. Eight points into [Attunement] had been the first priority, since both Mana and Burden had become supremely valuable with the addition of [Serac’s Circlet]. She then split the next six points between [Substance] and [Insight]. A nice bit of Attack Value boost to start her off in Manesfera, the Realm of Erudite imbuement.

  Yes. Her build was, as Bea alluded, catered to REVOLVER and its rainbow magic. Yet, having seen and learned what she had at Tidereign’s summit, Serac couldn’t wholeheartedly celebrate her Instrument’s power and versatility.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Shoot, buttercup. Not like you to be gun-shy.”

  “You ever heard of the Upheaval? Did something like that ever come up while you still lived in Tidereign?”

  Bea stepped away from her forge, lifted her goggles, and fixed Serac with a curious look.

  “Can’t say I have. The Tidereign I remember was the furthest thing from anything that could be called an ‘upheaval’. Just folks putting their antlers down and getting to work, Day after Day.”

  “Yeah. I guess that’s… yeah.”

  “Something on your mind, buttercup?”

  The something on Serac’s mind was a particular Pathsighted label. She and Trippy had tried to puzzle it out during the quieter moments after the Reunion, but to no avail. Serac couldn’t make heads or tails of it, and neither could Trippy ‘recall’ on command something that had been lost with Version One.

  What was more, Serac had yet to fold her party members into the discussion. She didn’t really know why. It didn’t have to be some big secret, did it? Even then, she should have no qualms about sharing it with Zacko and Renna of all souls. And yet…

  “When I was in Tidereign,” Serac found herself opening up, granting the Seersmith access she’d denied her closest friends, “I fought this… shadow being. Nasty piece of work that, at one point in Tidereign’s history, usurped the Keeper to rule over the Realm. Long story!” Serac added hastily as Bea raised her brows. “Anyway, the thing also wielded an Instrument called REVOLVER and also called itself ‘Upheaver’. So now, I’m left wondering… is there a whole race of Upheavers that spans the history of Mount Meru, popping up in places to wreak havoc? And where does that leave me?”

  “You think you’re one of these Upheavers, do you?”

  “Well, I just don’t know. I have the word as my epithet right now, and it’s kind of stuck as the name of my party… but it’s not like I’m going around Realms wreaking—”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Huh?”

  “Going around Realms wreaking havoc?”

  Bea said this with a gentle smile, yet Serac couldn’t be more mortified. She fumbled for an answer.

  “I don’t know if I’d call it… Well, if you ask the locals, they’d…”

  “Taking down a whole army massing for war. Burning down the Realmtree and smiting two Immortals in one go. Merging the two halves of Tidereign, whether the people asked for it or not. That’s a trail of havoc if I’ve ever seen one.”

  Serac was lost for words. She couldn’t refute any of it. The only thing she could do was hang her head in shame and—

  “But don’t let it get to your head.”

  “Huh? Why would I—”

  “I don’t know much, buttercup, but I do know this. Big, sweeping changes like the ones you’ve been part of don’t just happen because of one soul.”

  “… They don’t?”

  “Of course not! Just think about the people you met on your trail of havoc—what they’d been through and where they were headed before you barged into their lives. When it comes down to it, did you really upheave anything? Or did you merely tip the balance?”

  Serac thought about it. Perhaps had thought about it before and often, but could still use the occasional reminder.

  Last Sorrow into First Hope. Dashi and not Dashanan. Petter the Wayfarer. Tomasens against the currents. Oriole the cat burglar and Jasper atop her hill.

  Perhaps Bea was right again. In a very real way, this Upheaval business was a group effort.

  “Even VOIDLING?” Serac murmured as if to herself. “Was it merely the spark to set off a war that’d already been brewing?”

  Apparently satisfied with her turn as therapist, Bea returned to her forge.

  “Listen, buttercup,” the Seersmith spoke in between grunting swings of her hammer. “I’m in the business of helping Wayfarers become stronger. That’s all Wayfarers who come through here, no matter what they’ve done in the past and what they’ll get up to in the future. And I won’t pretend I never once broke out in cold sweat at the sheer weight of it all. But at the end of the day, I know I’m no arbiter of who gets to wield what power against whom.”

  The work was done. Bea was getting faster in her third go at REVOLVER—this iteration of REVOLVER, at any rate. She pulled the six-shooter out of the Seerflame and handed it to its wielder, still hot to touch.

  “Know what I do to help myself sleep at night?” Bea said with a wink. “I picture all the wrong’uns in the world getting put in their place by heroes even more powerful than them.”

  Serac took back REVOLVER, then immediately saw just how powerful her Instrument had become.

  [Designation: REVOLVER]

  [Instrument Class: DEIFIC]

  [Anchored Realm: TIDEREIGN (+2) -> MANESFERA (+3)]

  [Physical BAV: 176 -> 187]

  [Infernal BAV: 191 -> 204]

  [Zealous BAV: 199 -> 213]

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  [Primal BAV: 207 -> 221]

  [Erudite BAV: 161 -> 172]

  [Martial BAV: 190 -> 203]

  [Deific BAV: 189 -> 202]

  The power in her hands… was it to be wielded by a wrong’un or a hero? Three ascensions later, the line hadn’t clarified much. The line liked to hide and move around—never stay in her sights for long.

  Yet, three ascensions later, Serac knew one thing for sure. That no matter where she stood and what doubts clouded her heart, it would be her finger—hers and hers alone—on REVOLVER’s trigger.

  ***

  In order to prepare for Manesfera, the Upheavers sought out a subject matter expert. As luck would have it, they counted one such expert within their own ranks. After a relaxing dip in the hot spring, the trio seated themselves in the games room and got right down to it.

  “We’re right at the doorstep, so there’s no point beating around the bush.” Zacko switched smoothly into teacher aspect, voice stern and eyebrows flat. “Let’s get the basics out of the way, shall we? The theme that runs through a whole Realm and its people. Well, Manesfera’s whole deal is fiction.”

  Serac blinked several times. Renna nodded, though a tad slowly by her standards. It was the former who complained first.

  “Hold on, you’ve already lost me. Are you saying that… Manesfera isn’t real?”

  “Yes and no.” Zacko was all business, not even taking the time to joke. “Yes, in that all new arrivals to Manesfera get funneled straight into a VRMMO called SFERA. I know, Princess; not the most creative name, but take it up with the guys in charge. And no, in that fiction is how we Manesferans defined ourselves throughout history, long before SFERA was even a spark in some programmer’s brain. We told stories. About ourselves, about each other, about the world around us. That’s how we made sense of our own existence, and that hasn’t changed just because technology now allows us to live out those stories in real time.”

  Serac blinked ever faster, while Renna nodded ever slower. It was the latter who managed to formulate the next question.

  “That word you used. VR—?”

  “VRMMO. Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Overworld. Think of it like this. When we Wayfarers die, all the components that make us ‘us’ float around in the Interstitium for a while, until they get put back together and reconstituted in the physical world. SFERA does kind of the same thing, except only our mind or consciousness or whatever-you-wanna-call-it gets reconstituted in the form of a playable cha—don’t be so alarmed, Princess!”

  Oh good. Zacko must’ve seen the abject horror on Serac’s face.

  “Look, it’s really not that bad.” Oh sure, you’d say that, wouldn’t you, Manusya? “Even in VR, a lot of the laws of Pathsight and, well, ‘real life’ still apply. If you get a cut, you’ll bleed, and if you bleed out, you’ll die and have to respawn. Oh, and SFERA simulates hunger too, because apparently, someone high up the chain once thought that was everyone’s idea of fun.”

  This time, Serac got in on the nodding action. Suddenly, Zacko’s overly hostile relationship with Pretjord’s version of [Hunger] made a lot of sense.

  “But if it’s just like real life,” Serac wondered aloud, “then what’s even the point?”

  Zacko took a moment to consider. One of his eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.

  “There’s a long and a short version,” he hedged. “The long version has given Manesferan philosophers literal centuries of work, and they still can’t agree on an answer. So, let’s just stick to the short. SFERA is its own system, integrated with but also operating on top of Pathsight. For better or worse, by plugging into its world, you get to interface with all the added bells and whistles. Not that you really have a choice… if you want to ascend, that is.”

  “Meaning?” Renna pressed.

  “Meaning the only source of Karma in Manesfera is to buy it with Sferan dollars, a secondary currency you earn only by playing SFERA. So… get in there, let your hair down, and enjoy yourselves, ladies, but also, practice your ABC: Always Be Closing.”

  “Closing what?” Serac pressed, deathly serious.

  “Never mind.” Zacko shook his head roughly, as if to get himself back on track. “The important thing—what I want you girls to remember above all else—is ascension. That’s your ultimate goal, and I want you never to lose sight of it, no matter what distractions come flying your way. May your Path never lead you yadda yadda, you know?”

  Serac pulled back a little, fixing Zacko with a bewildered frown.

  “Well, sure, but hasn’t that always been the case? Why even bring it up like that? … Also, why do you keep saying ‘you’, like we’re not—”

  “Yeah, great,” Zacko cut her off—rather intentionally, it seemed to Serac. “Focus on ascension. Stick to being you. That’ll work just fine.”

  Serac’s frown only deepened. A niggling question had crept up to the tip of her tongue, but Renna beat her to the punch.

  “What of your past, Zacarias? The reasons for your exile. Your unfinished business in Manesfera. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is it not time Serac and I were briefed on it?”

  Serac couldn’t agree more. She straightened in her seat, ready to learn—at long last—all that her oldest Wayfaring partner had been withholding for three whole Realms.

  “No.”

  “No??” Serac cried, incredulous.

  “No,” Zacko reiterated, visibly pained. “It’s… the time isn’t… look, you girls trust me, yeah?”

  Renna nodded slowly. Serac nodded too, but even slower.

  “Then trust me on this too. Everything will be made clear, but only when the time is right. Otherwise, it won’t… Okay, I’ma stop right there, because there’s a real chance I’ve already said too much.”

  Serac’s frown came back in full force. In fact, it was quite possible she’d never frowned more deeply in her life. And as incredibly annoyed as she was by Zacko’s continued reticence right at the doorstep (in his own words), more than that, she was worried for her friend.

  You’re not trying to do too much on your own, are you? Biting off more than you can chew?

  But then she remembered her own ongoing battle with keep-it-to-herself-itis. And just this once, she decided to pull her punches.

  “Alright,” she said quietly, “I trust you. Just… be sure to holler if you need us, alright? What do you say, Renna?”

  The pink frog, once the undisputed champion of keeping things to herself, seemed to need more convincing. In the end, though, she too nodded her go-ahead.

  Visible relief washed over Zacko’s sallow Manusya features. Serac didn’t know whether to take that as a good sign. Before she could decide one way or another, the discussion moved on. Zacko taught the Upheavers everything he knew about SFERA and its intricate systems, perhaps in more detail than was strictly required, considering…

  But before Serac could pinpoint what exactly was wrong with the picture, it came time to call it a night. After all, all three Upheavers needed to be well-rested for their big ascension.

  ***

  [Inter-Realm transfer active. Destination: MANESFERA]

  Serac was becoming old hat at a lot of things, including the very act of ascension. Yet seeing that destination message never failed to send a jolt of electricity.

  Despite Zacko’s over-dense primer, and despite the niggling questions that refused to go away, Serac couldn’t contain her excitement. Her Path was hers to tread, and it led ever onward and upward. More of the universe for her to see and explore. More of her self to challenge and master.

  Yes. What could go wrong—as long as she stayed the course?

  “I have to admit,” Renna shared by way of a last-Ksana pep talk, “I’m rather looking forward to this prospect of a second life. There’s much to be learned from living in the shoes of another.”

  “And I’m ready to get hungry, Manesferan style!” Serac let the budding hedonist in her hang loose. “Feverfew’s stew was good, but I miss the variety of Chef Petey’s cooking. As soon as I make some money, we three are going to the nicest restaurant in town. My treat!”

  “See you on the other side, girls.”

  Zacko gave the shortest of personalized pep talks. He glanced side to side a moment, looking like he might want to say more. But only for a moment, before he stepped through the portal without another word. Renna followed suit, then Serac right after.

  [MANESFERA Realm Boon unlocked: ARCHETYPE]

  [REVOLVER Spell unlocked]

  [Chamber Four: SFERAN ROULETTE]

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE: New player detected. Begin induction.]

  [Welcome, [Serac Edin], to the limitless world of SFERA!]

  ***

  ***

  ***

  End of Book 3: The Gloaming Vow

  Stay tuned for Book 4: All the World’s a Path

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  Book 4 starts on Tuesday at the usual time. See you then!

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