The old observatory loomed against the dawn sky, its domed roof gleaming dully in the early light. Once a proud centre of celestial study, it had fallen into disrepair after the Cataclysm when stars became secondary to the more immediate mysteries of dungeons.
Elias approached from the eastern ridge as Azef had suggested, avoiding the main paths. The building appeared deserted from this angle, but his enhanced senses detected movement inside, at least three people, possibly more.
Can you tell if it's a trap? he thought toward Azef.
[No hostile preparations detected]
[Complex ward system present but inactive]
[Note: Significant spatial anomalies within structure]
That last part wasn't reassuring, but Elias proceeded anyway. The side entrance Lydia had marked on her map was partially concealed by overgrown vines. He pushed them aside to find a simple wooden door with a curious lock, not mechanical, but a small crystalline panel.
Before he could consider how to proceed, the panel glowed blue. The door swung open silently.
"They're expecting you," came a voice from the shadows within. "This way."
The speaker stepped into view, a young woman perhaps a few years his junior, dressed in simple scholar's robes. Her most striking feature was her eyes, pale silver, almost luminous in the dim light. She regarded him with open curiosity.
"Elias Vern?" she asked.
He nodded cautiously.
"I'm Lyra. Master Thorne's apprentice." She gestured impatiently. "Hurry. We don't have much time before the guild realizes you've gone."
"The guild isn't monitoring me," Elias said, though he stepped inside as instructed.
Lyra gave him a look of surprising condescension for someone so young. "The Inquisitorial Division monitors all anomalous survivors. There are watchers in your building. You evaded them temporarily thanks to our distraction, but it won't last."
The door closed behind him with a soft click. Elias tensed, but Azef remained silent, suggesting no immediate danger.
The interior was nothing like he expected. Rather than the dusty abandonment the exterior suggested, the observatory had been converted into some kind of research facility. Crystal instruments hummed on tables lining the circular room. Maps covered the walls, not of stars, but of dungeon layouts, many with annotations in a cramped, precise hand.
But it was the centre of the room that drew his attention. Where the great telescope had once stood, a complex array of crystalline pillars now formed a circle around what appeared to be a miniature dungeon core, similar to the one that had caused the collapse, but smaller and contained within a transparent field.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" said a new voice.
An older man emerged from a side room, wiping his hands on a cloth. His weathered face might have belonged to someone of fifty or seventy; it was impossible to tell. White hair swept back from a high forehead, and keen eyes studied Elias with unsettling intensity.
"Master Thorne," Elias guessed.
"Indeed." The researcher circled him slowly. "And you are the survivor of Expedition 173. The one who came back changed."
Elias tensed. "I don't know what you mean."
"Oh, I think you do." Thorne stopped directly before him. "I can see it in you. The patterns beneath your skin. The essence signature. You've bonded with a core fragment."
Alarm shot through Elias. Azef?
[Detection methods unknown]
[Recommend caution but not flight]
[This entity possesses significant knowledge]
"How could you possibly know that?" Elias asked, taking an involuntary step back.
Thorne smiled thinly. "Because I've seen it before." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal faint patterns etched into his forearm—not glowing like Elias's had been, but unmistakably similar.
"You're..." Elias couldn't finish the sentence.
"Bound? Yes, though long ago, and in a different way." Thorne lowered his sleeve. "Mine was a partial binding, enough to grant certain insights, but not a full integration like yours appears to be."
Lyra watched the exchange with sharp attention, making notes in a small book. Elias noticed she kept her distance, as if wary of him.
"Why did you bring me here?" Elias asked.
"Because you need help," Thorne said simply. "And because I need information. A mutually beneficial arrangement."
Thorne gestured to a small sitting area away from the equipment. "Please. We have much to discuss."
Reluctantly, Elias took a seat. Thorne sat opposite while Lyra remained standing, still watching him with that calculating stare.
"Tell me what happened in the chamber," Thorne said. "The complete truth, not what you told the inquisitors."
Elias hesitated. Could he trust them? Yet what choice did he have? If anyone could help him understand what was happening, it would be a researcher who had studied dungeons for decades.
He recounted everything, the collapse, his imprisonment in the rubble, the binding with the core fragment, and his escape. Throughout, Thorne listened with unwavering focus, occasionally nodding as if confirming a theory.
"A spatial fragment," he mused when Elias finished. "Rare and valuable. Most survivors encounter defence fragments or minor utility nodes."
"Survivors? There are more?"
"A few," Thorne acknowledged. "Most don't live long after binding. The integration process is usually... incompatible with continued human function."
"You mean they die," Elias said flatly.
"Or worse." Thorne's gaze grew distant. "Transformation. Madness. Complete personality dissolution. The core essence overwhelms the host's identity. But you..." He refocused on Elias. "You show remarkable stability for someone so recently bound. Almost as if you were made for it."
Is that true? Elias asked Azef silently.
[Compatibility rating exceptional]
[Previous vessel attempts: 7]
[Previous vessel survival beyond integration: 0]
The implication chilled Elias. Seven others had tried to bond with Azef and died in the process.
"What does it want?" Thorne asked, leaning forward. "Each fragment has a primary directive. Some seek destruction, others collection, others replication."
"Reconnection," Elias answered truthfully. "It says it's been isolated for centuries. It wants to find others like itself."
Something flashed in Thorne's eyes, excitement? Concern? Both?
"Just as I suspected," he murmured. "The network is trying to rebuild."
Lyra spoke for the first time since the introductions. "Master, is this wise? If the network reconstructs..."
"Peace, Lyra." Thorne raised a hand. "We discussed this. Knowledge first, judgment later."
He turned back to Elias. "The guild has branded you a coward who abandoned his companions. Your reputation is destroyed. Even if you aren't officially convicted of negligence, no reputable party will accept you now."
The blunt assessment stung, but Elias couldn't deny its accuracy.
"However," Thorne continued, "your new condition represents an unprecedented opportunity. I propose an arrangement: work with me to understand what's happening to you, and in exchange, I'll help you master these abilities and discover the truth behind the incident."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then leave." Thorne shrugged. "But consider your alternatives. The guild will continue to investigate. Eventually, they may discover your condition. Their response to bound individuals has been... regrettable in the past."
Execution, Thorne didn't need to say. The guild's stance on dungeon tampering was clear.
"What exactly would this arrangement involve?" Elias asked cautiously.
"You would join a special exploration team under my indirect supervision. A team of... individuals with unique circumstances, shall we say." Thorne's lips twitched in what might have been amusement. "You'd conduct sanctioned explorations, gather data for my research, and in return receive protection, training, and resources."
"You have your own dungeon exploration team?" Elias asked skeptically. "Outside guild jurisdiction?"
"I have special dispensation from certain noble patrons. My team operates legally, if discreetly."
Lyra made a small noise that might have been disapproval.
"And this team," Elias pressed. "Who are they?"
"People like you," Thorne said. "Outcasts. Misfits. Each with qualities that make them... special. You'd be the fourth member."
Azef? Thoughts?
[Proposal aligns with current goals]
[Protected exploration increases reconnection chances]
[Unknown variables exist, but alternatives limited]
True enough. Elias had few options. He could hardly return to normal guild operations, not with his reputation destroyed and a sentient dungeon fragment bonded to his soul.
"I need to clear my name," he said firmly. "Any arrangement has to include that as a goal."
"Certainly," Thorne agreed easily. "Finding the truth behind your incident would be a priority. I suspect there was more happening in that dungeon than a simple collapse."
Elias studied the researcher, trying to discern his true motives. There was something Thorne wasn't saying, something important.
"Who are the others in this team?" he asked.
Thorne smiled. "Why don't you meet them?"
He led Elias to another room, larger than the first. Three figures waited inside, each occupied with their own activities.
"Your new colleagues," Thorne announced. "Mira, Dain, Vesik, meet Elias Vern, our new spatial specialist."
The first to approach was a small woman with close-cropped dark hair and the wiry build of a martial artist. She wore light leather armor with unusual rune patterns stitched along the seams.
"Mira Talos," she introduced herself, giving him a quick, assessing once-over. "Former C-Rank tank, before the guild decided I was 'unstable.'" Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Welcome to the Misfit Company."
The second was a tall, pale man with nervous hands that never seemed to stop moving. He wore mage robes, but they were oddly modified with metal components Elias didn't recognize.
"D-Dain Embran," he stammered, not quite meeting Elias's eyes. "Applied theoretical m-magic. Specialization in energy transference. Former academic until..." He stopped abruptly, fingers twitching more rapidly. "Until I wasn't."
The third remained seated in a shadowed corner, face partially concealed by a hood. All Elias could make out was a flash of gold eyes and a sardonic smile.
"Vesik," said the figure, voice smooth and cultured despite the rough attire of a typical dungeon scout. "No surname worth mentioning. Formerly of various... enterprises. Specializing in acquisition and infiltration."
A thief, in other words. Or worse.
What have I gotten myself into? Elias wondered.
[Team composition analysis: Combat specialist, energy manipulator, infiltration expert]
[Strategic balance adequate with addition of spatial abilities]
[Social dynamics: Complicated]
"These three have been working together for several months," Thorne explained. "They've completed six successful expeditions into locations that would be... challenging for conventional teams."
"Because we're expendable," Mira said flatly. "Isn't that right, Master Thorne?"
Thorne didn't deny it. "Because you're uniquely qualified. And because each of you has personal reasons to explore the depths that others fear."
He turned to Elias. "Your first expedition is tomorrow. A recently discovered dungeon in the north forest. Simple evaluation and mapping, a chance for you to acclimate to your new team dynamics."
"Tomorrow?" Elias blinked. "That's rather soon."
"Time is a luxury we cannot afford," Thorne said cryptically. "Lyra will provide your equipment and brief you on protocols."
With that, he departed, leaving Elias with his new "team" and the increasingly sour-faced apprentice.
"So," Vesik drawled from the shadows, "the coward of Crimson Vanguard joins our merry band of rejects. How... providential."
"I didn't abandon my team," Elias said evenly.
"Of course not," Mira agreed, tone making it clear she believed the opposite. "Just like Dain didn't blow up half the Mage Academy, and Vesik didn't steal from the royal treasury. We're all terribly misunderstood."
"I d-didn't do it on p-purpose," Dain muttered, hands moving faster.
"Intentions matter little in our world," Vesik remarked. "Only results. And the result is we're all here, taking orders from a man who may be crazier than all of us combined."
Lyra bristled. "Master Thorne is the foremost expert on dungeon phenomena in the entire eastern continent. You should be grateful for his interest."
"Oh, we're positively bursting with gratitude," Mira said dryly. "Especially when he sends us into unstable temporal shifts and planar rifts."
"Those expeditions produced valuable data," Lyra insisted.
"And nearly produced three corpses," Vesik countered. "Twice."
Elias felt a headache building. "Is anyone going to explain what exactly we're doing? What is Thorne really after?"
The three exchanged glances.
"He doesn't tell us everything," Mira admitted. "But the pattern is clear enough. He's mapping connections between dungeons, seeking nodes of some kind."
"Fragments," Elias realized aloud. "Like the one inside me."
A sudden stillness fell over the room. All three stared at him with new intensity.
"Inside you?" Dain's stammer vanished momentarily. "You have a stable binding?"
Azef flashed a warning:
[Threat level increased]
[Recommend caution in information sharing]
Too late, Elias realized he'd revealed more than intended. But perhaps honesty was the best approach with these people who clearly had their own secrets.
"Yes," he acknowledged. "During the collapse. It's how I survived."
Mira approached slowly, eyes narrowed. "Show us."
After a moment's hesitation, Elias let the stealth mode drop. Blue patterns rippled across his skin, glowing softly in the dim room.
Dain gasped. Vesik rose from his seat, hood falling back to reveal sharp features and an intricate scar tracing his left temple.
But it was Mira's reaction that surprised Elias most. She pushed up her sleeve to reveal her own markings, not blue like his, but a deep amber that pulsed in response to his display.
"Defensive fragment," she said quietly. "Bound three years ago in the Howling Depths. Nearly killed me."
Dain hesitantly raised his hand, where green traceries crawled across his palm. "Energy m-manipulation. Binding was p-partial. Unstable. Caused the academy incident."
Vesik simply tapped his scarred temple. "Shadow core. More curse than gift, depending on the day."
Elias stared at them in shock. "You're all...?"
"Bound," Mira confirmed. "In different ways, to different degrees. That's why we're here. That's why Thorne wants us."
"We're his collection," Vesik added with a humorless smile. "His living specimens."
"And now you're one of us," Mira concluded. "Welcome to the Misfit Company, Spatial Conduit. Hope you survive the experience."
Dain's nervous hands finally stilled as he met Elias's gaze directly for the first time. "The point is... we understand. Whatever you're going through... the voices, the changes. You're not alone."
Something shifted in Elias at those words, a tension he hadn't realized he was carrying. These weren't the friends he'd lost, but they were perhaps the only people in the world who could truly comprehend his situation.
"Tomorrow's expedition," he asked. "What's it really about?"
"Testing you," Vesik said bluntly. "Seeing what you can do. How stable your binding is."
"And if I fail this test?"
Mira's expression was grim. "Don't."
Lyra cleared her throat. "I'll show you to your quarters and provide your equipment. The team convenes at dawn tomorrow at the north gate."
As she led him from the room, Elias felt Azef stirring in his mind.
[Team members all possess fragment bindings]
[Potential network connections possible]
[This is... unexpected]
[Recommendation: Proceed with integration while maintaining vigilance]
You think we can trust them? Elias asked silently.
[Trust parameters undefined]
[Shared condition creates potential alliance]
[But researcher's motives remain obscure]
[Caution advised while pursuing mutual benefit]
In other words, trust no one completely. Keep his options open.
As Elias followed Lyra deeper into the observatory, he couldn't help wondering if he'd found salvation or merely traded one form of danger for another.
Either way, tomorrow would bring his first test as part of the Misfit Company. And failure, it seemed, was not an option.