Sai flipped over a big metal plate and groaned. There wasn’t anything the dragons would want under there. Or maybe there was. Sai and Ash couldn’t tell; whatever scraps they found in the massive scrap field past the main part of the city were rejected by the dragon put in charge.

And with Esther being questioned all day by the Eteros, and Serril working with his father, it left Sai, Ash, and Charmaine to work, with Sai taking the morning shift and Ash taking the second one, with Charmaine waiting til the evening. There was a slight overlap in the middle of shifts having someone to talk to out here made it so much less miserable.

“Sure must be great.” Sai said, hefting another hunk of metal. “Being whatever a 'child of the Xionis' is. Or having a bunch of robots think you’re one. Or like part robots?"

Immediately after Esther and the Eteros interacted, Sai showed the others where they'd be working. A brief shift of that and another night's sleep made Ash feel like she had left one crappy job and stumbled into another.

"You carried the sword plenty too, you could've gotten out of this," Sai said.

"We can always just stop," Ash said. "I didn't sign any contract."

"True, but you both know we're gluttons for punishment of the work variety," Sai said. "People tell us what to do, and we do it. And get paid minimally for our efforts."

"You're making me really want to stop," Ash said.

Ash tried not to think about why she wasn't picked to come with as she flipped another dud. Probably. Again it was impossible for them to tell, Serril didn’t do a great job explaining what exactly the dragons needed out here.

 “Sure wish she could use some of that pull to get us to not have to do this," Sai said. "Think if I do a magic trick they’ll think I’m a secret Xionis child?” Sai asked. “I know some card tricks. Then I don’t have to sift through any more of this garbage.”

“It’d be nice.” Ash said. My strength was dwindling already on the first day. “You find anything they like yet?”

“No, they just growl at me," Sai said. “I’d appreciate a ‘here’s where we’d like to see some improvement’ and then you know, like actual real advice on what to find out here! Even the Colony job does that! A Colony job!"

Sai’s shift ended and they wished Ash good luck.

Dang, should've asked them about Charmaine. The work sucked, and Ash really wasn't sure why she was bothering. After an hour alone, her torso felt like it was going to burst, like someone was clawing out her insides, and then someone else was squeezing her head. She wanted to sit down but every time she almost did a dragon walked by, ready to bark if Ash wasn’t doing the optimal labor.

Ash spent about half an hour trying to move a single metal plate, getting her feet tangled in some cords. It was like ninety-nine percent plates out here. She put down the billionth metal plate, it was garbage and it wouldn’t make any of the dragons happy anyways.

What are you doing? The part of Ash's mind ready to duel asked her. I know you. I know Sai said you like work, but...this isn’t like you. Why are you doing this?

Ash couldn’t answer it. The pressure in her head got worse.

You're still in the old uniform.

“Haven't had a chance to change," Ash thought back, even her mental retorts feeling weak. "It’s comforting I guess.”

The Ash I know barely wants to leave her bed. And now you’re how far from home?

Ash's stomach was throbbing and her knees weak.

You can still go back to home. They’re probably looking for you.

"I can't. Myles needs me."

If she really did, you would have gone to rescue her ages ago. She's probably been in and out of Colony prisons and the like more than you can imagine.

“Then I need to do this for Esther. I can’t quit.”

What is it about her that’s made you do this? Drop everything? Work in a scrap field just to have a place to sleep?

“Because she needs me. I needed to get away. It wasn’t right for me to still be in that city.”

Because you failed?

"Failed at what?"

You know exactly what.

It was a bitter mercy that was no one around at the moment, because Ash was crying losing an argument to herself as it felt like her body rebelled against her.

Is this another Peri situation?

Ash froze.

Just like Peri Prisma. Another person you get obsessed over, do everything for, and when you find out they don’t feel the same way…

“It’s not like that.”

It looks like it now.

“She needs me.”

That’s what you thought about Peri, too.

And now you’re alone.

Ash didn't know how she made it through the rest of that shift with that thought tolling in her head, ringing and reminding her of my regrets over and over. Ash barely said a word to Charmaine when their shifts overlapped, didn’t speak to anyone on the way back to the housing unit, and collapsed in her bed, with the sharp pains and aches now just a nagging annoyance.

“Hey, Ash.” Esther said.

She was still up, audibly groggy but still awake. She sat on her bed cross legged.

"I’m sorry about all this.” Esther said. “The Eteros want me to stay a bit longer.”

"Did they tell you what that 'child of the Xionis' thing meant?"

Esther nodded. “The Eteros have been showing me." She held her palms out, and concentrated deeply.

“Wait. Give it a minute.”

A green light began to glow between her hands.

“That’s incredible.” I said.

Esther conjured an emerald gem in her hands.

"What is it? Just a crystal, or...?" Ash asked.

"Beats me," Esther said. "The Eteros seem to think it means something." She handed it to Ash. “Here, keep it. My apology for not working with you. How is that going by the way?”

Ash was too tired to question her brushing off literally showing off sudden new conjuring powers to ask how Ash was doing. Ash was also too worn out to be polite about it.

“It’s miserable," Ash said. "I hate it. They’re never satisfied, and I’m feeling really sick after just one shift. I’m so tired.”

Ash looked over to see that Esther had already fallen asleep. She flopped back and tried to sleep too.

***

Myles watched hopelessly as fires surrounded her. She tried to stop them, but they beat her, tightened her restraints, and left her laying on the ground writhing in pain as they continued tearing apart the castle of the Myhres.

"No sign of them," Daim, the leader of the Obsidian Hunters faction Myles had been stuck with, said as he dropped another torch into one of the shacks.

Myles winced at rumbling in the distnace. The walls of the castle were coming down. So much history, destroyed, and for what? Captain Wren, Raytris, and the Obsidian Hunters thought Ash and the group she had been traveling with were here.

"No, they're gone," Wren said.

Myles couldn't see Raytris' expression, but she could tell by her town that she scowled at the reaction. "Then why did you have us ransack this place and torch it?"

Because pointless destruction is a cornerstone of the Verdant Colony, Myles thought.

"Because the Myhres don't deserve anything left standing," Wren said. "This place should have been annihilated long ago."

"While I agree about that, couldn't it have waited until we found them?" Raytris asked. "We could have

"Now now, pouting doesn't suit you, Raytris," Wren said. "I know where they are. I've sensed it, and have been trailing them with my powers. In fact, I've already laid the groundwork for our success, but I needed time to prepare."

"You've been doing that while traveling with us?" Raytris asked.

"Just a taste of the power of the Xionis," Wren said. She clapped her hands.

Myles managed to lift her head up enough to see shadowy energy building around Wren. From the shadows came a being with metal armor swirling within it, with glowing red eyes. The shadowy beast wrapped itself around Wren, becoming one with her, the armor circling her like orbiting moons.

"This is a dear part of me," Wren said. "She is one of many, and operates on her own, but when they return to me, they whisper their findings to me. This one encountered the ones with the sword, fought them briefly. She followed them into a cave system nearby. Right into a village of Eteros and dragons."

"That's incredible," Raytris said.

"Soon you'll understand the scope of my might, Raytris," Wren said. "I've sent some of my others into the caves, and they are spreading the shadows as we speak. By the time we arrive, it will be a wasteland."

"I don't understand, though, how can..." Raytris said.

"Because I possess a fraction of the powers of the Xionis," Wren said. "In my travels, I've found fragments of the ancient ones' might. If we find a true source of the Xionis, I will be capable of so much more."

That answer seemed to satisfy Raytris, who was stunned into silence. Myles found Raytris' feelings toward her superior to be muddled.

More importantly, it meant Ash was in incredible danger. Myles tried to writhe away, but was met with a swift kick from Daim.

"What should we do with her?" Daim asked.

"Bring her," Wren said. "We've brought her this far, after all. I promised her I'd let her see her family again, and that I'd kill them in front of her. I uphold my promises."

Daim picked up Myles and carried her. Like the shadows filling the caverns her sister had traveled into, Myles fell into darkness as well, fading into unconsciousness.

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