“Hold on,” Todd said, caution trying and failing to hold back the excitement building in his features. “We’ve all got pretty different runes. Are we going to be making a flawless rune when we advance? Or is the goal of this just to brute force to the next rank so we can avoid getting flattened in the next few days?”

“That will depend more on you than me,” Grim replied. “There are many resources you are all in lack of. Simple runes are not one of them. I suspect the greatest barrier to your progress will be none other than your incompetence.”

“Nobody in this room is incompetent,” Tim said, a firm note entering his tone. “They’ve all worked very hard to get here and have the skills to show for that.”

“Well… not all of us,” Yulin muttered. She stared at Grim for a moment, then swallowed. “A few of us are tag-ons.”

“If I cared about what any of you were, then I would have asked,” Grim said. He splayed his fingers out before him as if he were an auctioneer presenting the air to an audience. “Unfortunately, the only thing that matters is your presence. The merit of the company you keep is the only thing required to open the gates. But that really shouldn’t be a surprise. That’s always been the case, hasn’t it?”

“Then get it on with,” Todd said, an eager grin breaking any remaining hesitation he had left. “I want to get stronger. Moxie hasn’t volunteered yet, so I want to go first.”

“I wish to advance as well,” Alexandra said, her features setting themselves in stone. “I have a lot of catch-up to accomplish. My runes are behind where they should be. If our teacher has readied a lesson for us, I will not turn it down.”

“I’m ready as well,” Isabel said. “I need to be stronger.”

Emily nodded. “Count me in too. I’ll be fast. Do me first. I already know exactly what I want and the runes I’ll need to combine. I’ve been theorizing it for ages.”

James covered his mouth with a hand and yanwed. “I’m down too. But… you can do the others first. I’ll take a nap while I wait.”

Emily elbowed him in the side.

He coughed, then let out a weary sigh.

“Actually, I changed my mind. I want to go first.”

Emily elbowed him again.

“I want to go second,” James said. “After Emily.”

Emily grinned.

“Does this offer extend to the demons as well?” Aylin asked. “You said everyone. Do you possess runes we can utilize?”

“Yes,” Grim said simply.

Aylin grinned. “Then the pursuit of knowledge hardly grants me any other choice. I want to be chosen. I don’t think it remiss to say that literally ever person in this room does.”

“Me too!” Sticky exclaimed.

“You’re a person, Sticky,” Aylin said, ruffling her hair. “You’re already accounted for.

“Oh,” Sticky said.

Grim’s gaunt features twisted in amusement, made all the more unsettling by the lack of eyes within the empty sockets in his head.

“So many eager volunteers. Then perhaps it would be easier if we handled all of this at once. As much as I enjoy watching it, there’s no need to fight. I don’t think Noah would be very happy with me if I let you rip each other to shreds.”

“Uh… we definitely wouldn’t do that,” Violet said. “I don’t think waiting a little would hurt. It’s fine if someone else—”

“I’ll go ahead and handle this in a slightly more time-efficient manner,” Grim continued, ignoring her completely. The massive grimoire resting behind him lifted into the air. It drifted over to land at Grim’s feet with a thud, pages flipping open in a rustling storm. “Prepare yourselves. And, if you are in possession of them, lower your mental defenses. I would hate to break something important.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“What, all of us?” Moxie asked, staring at Grim in shock. “Are you going to bring us all into one mindspace?”

“No,” Grim replied. “That wouldn’t do much at all. What’s the point of one of me and many of you? It’s no different than the current situation. I’m doing the opposite. Instead of bringing you to my mindspace — I’ll go to all of yours.”

“At once?” Moxie’s brow furrowed. “Even if it was possible for someone to focus on that many different things at once, splitting your soul in that many ways would be akin to basically ripping yourself to shreds. There’s no way someone can do that.”

“It isn’t possible for a human. But when did I ever claim to be such a basic thing?”

“What are you, then?” Aylin asked, interest seeping into his voice.

The pages of Grim’s book stopped flipping. They slammed flat as if pressed by an immense weight. Lines of ink exploded across the paper, in a complex pattern. They wove and danced together as they filled every single bit of white space within an instant.

But they didn’t stop there.

The ink lines cut right off the pages. They rose into the air in a writhing eldritch bouquet, arcing out to zigzag through the room. A pitch black line shot into the foreheads of every single person standing in the room.

They all went stiff as death.

“What am I? Hm. There was a word, but I can’t quite seem to find out where I placed — ah. There it is,” Grim said to his rapt audience. He smiled. “Primordial.”

Then the book slammed shut, and the Transport Cannon was more silent than it had been for many nights.

***

Moxie’s eyes snapped open as she drew in a sharp breath.

Her lungs ached as if she’d been drowning. Murky shadows thrummed around her in an undulating pattern that wove in and out of being. She was in a mindspace. It bore some similarity to Noah’s, but it definitely wasn’t his.

The darkness at her feet was more like a murky pool lit from far beneath by a distant blue light. Only a few strands of light managed to filter their way up through all the tepid shadow gathered beneath her, and they were so weak by the time they made it up that they may as well have been a memory.

“You don’t seem to approve,” Grim’s voice came from behind Moxie.

She turned to face the abomination.

But it wasn’t Grim that stood behind her.

A rather pudgy man with a receding hairline and a significant potbelly was her only companion in the darkness. He wore a pinstripe suit that was a size too small for him. Several buttons were missing around his midsection, where his stomach had valiantly defeated the integrity of the suit, and a patchy moustache adorned his pasty face.

“Who are you?” Moxie asked.

“Who do you think?” the portly man replied. His voice, at least, was undeniably Grim’s. There was no mistaking the rough, grating whisper of the abomination’s words.

“This is what you really look like?” Moxie asked, raising a hand to her mouth to keep a laugh from slipping out.

“This is what a portion of me looks like,” Grim corrected. He adjusted his suit, trying and failing to pull it back over his stomach. “Noah has a few too many memories of you. I decided to send my more… interesting forms to other locations. His soul is painfully defensive of yours.”

Moxie found her cheeks reddening even in spite of the fact she was speaking to a twisted abomination knit from demon corpses hiding in the form of a man half her height and twice her width.

I need to change the subject.

“This isn’t my mindspace. I thought you said you were going to come over, not bring us somewhere.”

“It is a connected mindspace,” Grim said. “My soul is a little too unstable to safely insert into that of a normal mortal. A few of you would have been fine, but I opted for caution. Now — shall we begin? You’re one of my more interesting subjects. The will and power of a mage far above your rank, with a Master Rune that dwarfs almost every other one in this empire. One that is a step from beginning the awakening process.”

“Sievan helped me make it,” Moxie said simply.

“Sievan may have guided you, but I do not feel his hand in this,” Grim replied. “It is you, Moxie. I can honestly and truly say that I do not care about your humility — one likely borne from your servitude to the Torrin family — but do not interfere with my work due to propriety. I do not care. You have the second most potential of any mage in this room, behind only Lee. That gap can be bridged with your determination and suitable runes.”

“What ones do you have?” Moxie asked, her eyes narrowing. “I’ve got a few…”

She trailed off as the air above Grim shifted. Inky lines coiled through the darkness. But there weren’t just a few. There were hundreds. And every single line wove itself into a complicated pattern before spreading out to fill every scrap of the sky above them.

They were runes.

“Take your pick,” Grim replied with a smile. “For you, in particular, I think we should have more than enough to choose from. Exal was quite generous.”

“But… these aren’t the right rank. They’re all over the place,” Moxie whispered. “How did you get so many? Exal should have had mostly Rank 5s. Are you telling me—”

“Noah was determined to make sure everyone could continue to advance, even in his absence,” Grim said. “Before he fell unconscious, he utilized Sunder to carve as many runes as possible into the lowest form in which they were still Flawless. I have also taken the liberty of combining a few of the simpler ones back together in an optimal manner.”

“Shit,” Moxie breathed. “He — you — are doing this for everyone? How many runes did he cut apart?”

“Enough,” Grim replied simply. He gestured to the sea of runes above them. “Now take your pick. The others have already begun, and I am quite curious to see what you will make of yourself.”