The quarters Lyra showed Elias to were sparse but comfortable, a small bedroom adjoining the observatory's eastern wing, with a narrow window overlooking the city below. From this height, he could see the guild headquarters in the distance, its banners catching the afternoon light.
The memorial service for his friends would begin in a few hours. The thought sent a fresh wave of grief through him.
"You should rest," Lyra advised, setting a bundle of equipment on the bed. "Tomorrow's expedition will be demanding."
Her clinical tone hadn't softened since their first meeting. If anything, she seemed more wary of him now that his binding had been revealed.
"You don't trust me," Elias observed.
Lyra paused at the door. "I don't trust what's inside you," she corrected. "My parents were researchers like Master Thorne. They died studying fragment interactions. Their bound test subject lost control."
Her silver eyes fixed on him with surprising intensity. "I've seen what happens when the human side loses the internal battle. So no, I don't trust you, or any of them. You're walking catastrophes waiting to happen."
"Yet you work with them. With Thorne."
"Because knowledge is necessary, even when dangerous." She straightened. "Master Thorne believes the fragments are key to understanding the Cataclysm itself. If he's right, the risk is justified."
Elias studied her, the rigid posture, the careful distance she maintained. "And what do you believe?"
Something flickered across her face, doubt, perhaps. "I believe in evidence and observation. So far, the evidence suggests binding with fragments leads to instability and destruction in 87% of documented cases."
"And the other 13%?"
"Remain unpredictable variables." Her gaze swept over him assessingly. "Your integration rate is... anomalous. Higher than any we've observed. That makes you potentially valuable, and particularly dangerous."
Before Elias could respond, she placed a small crystalline device on the table beside the door.
"Communication stone," she explained. "If you need anything before tomorrow. Or if you experience any... complications."
With that, she left, closing the door firmly behind her.
Elias sat heavily on the bed, examining the equipment she'd provided. Standard exploration gear, lightweight armour, utility tools, rations, a serviceable short sword. Nothing special, but all quality items.
She's frightened of us, he thought.
[Logical response to statistical threat]
[Human fear of the unknown is self-protective]
[Her caution is not unfounded]
Are we dangerous? Elias asked silently. Am I going to lose control like she described?
A longer pause than usual before Azef's response:
[Integration process currently stable]
[This vessel's compatibility exceptional]
[However, full awakening of spatial abilities may cause temporary perception distortions]
[Cannot guarantee absolute stability during skill evolution]
Not entirely reassuring. Elias had already noticed changes in himself, increased spatial awareness, enhanced physical capabilities, an unfamiliar detachment when analysing situations. Were these improvements, or the first signs of the personality dissolution Thorne had mentioned?
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock. He tensed, reaching instinctively for the sword.
"Relax, Spatial. It's just me." Mira's voice, followed by the door opening without waiting for his invitation.
She entered carrying a small bundle and a flask. "Thought you might want this before tomorrow," she said, tossing him the flask.
Elias caught it reflexively. "What is it?"
"Stabilizer. Helps manage the internal noise when you're adjusting to a new binding stage." She gestured vaguely at her head. "Dampens the connection temporarily. Makes it easier to sleep."
He examined the flask suspiciously. "Why would you help me?"
Mira sank into the room's single chair, watching him with those assessing eyes. "Because I remember what it was like. The first weeks are the hardest, when you're not sure anymore where you end and it begins."
Her bluntness was oddly comforting after Lyra's clinical detachment and Thorne's enigmatic pronouncements.
"Does it get easier?" he asked.
"Different," she corrected. "Not easier. You learn to coexist. Set boundaries. Sometimes it works." She tapped her temple. "Mine tried to take over completely during our third expedition. Nearly killed Dain before I regained control."
Elias stared at her. "Yet you still work with Thorne? With the others?"
"Where else would I go?" She gave a humourless laugh. "The guild revoked my license after I demolished half a tavern during an 'unexplained rage incident.' My family thinks I'm dead. And normal people..." She shook her head. "They sense something wrong about us. Keep their distance instinctively."
She nodded toward the window, where distant figures crossed the city streets far below. "We don't belong in their world anymore. We exist between realms now, part human, part... something else."
Elias uncorked the flask, sniffing the contents cautiously. A bitter herbal scent with undertones of something metallic.
"It's not poison," Mira said dryly. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't waste good stabilizer."
Azef? Elias questioned silently.
[Compound contains natural suppressants and binding inhibitors]
[Temporary connection dampening possible]
[No permanent harm detected]
[Caution: Will reduce spatial awareness while active]
Elias took a small sip. The liquid burned going down, leaving a cool numbness in its wake. Almost immediately, he felt Azef's presence recede slightly, still there, but muted, like a conversation heard through a wall.
"Thank you," he said, genuinely grateful. "But why help me when you clearly don't trust me yet?"
Mira leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Because I've lost two teammates already to binding instability. One lost control and had to be put down. The other..." Her expression darkened. "Let's just say something worse than death can happen when these things fully take over."
She studied him intently. "Thorne thinks you're different. Special. His new prize specimen. I think you're just another disaster waiting to happen, but I'd prefer it not happen during our expedition tomorrow."
Elias took another sip of the stabilizer. "Your confidence is overwhelming."
That earned a small, genuine smile. "Prove me wrong, Spatial. Show me your fragment doesn't own you."
She rose to leave, then paused at the door where Lyra had stood earlier. "The memorial service for your friends is at sunset, right?"
Elias nodded, surprised she knew.
"Take it from someone who's been there, don't go." Her expression softened fractionally. "It won't bring closure. It'll just reinforce that you're no longer part of that world."
Before he could respond, she was gone, leaving only the bundle she'd brought, which turned out to contain additional supplies more practical than those Lyra had provided: a superior whetstone, water purification crystals, and binding cloth for injuries.
Elias sat in silence, the stabilizer creating a temporary respite from Azef's constant presence. The question of the memorial service weighed on him. Should he attend, despite the warnings? Could he face the families of his fallen companions?
The more immediate concern, however, was tomorrow's expedition. His first test with the Misfit Company. Mira had made it clear failure wasn't merely a matter of disappointing Thorne, it could be fatal.
He needed to prepare, to understand more about what he'd become.
Azef? he called mentally, pushing through the dampening effect of the stabilizer. I need more information about these abilities if we're going to succeed tomorrow.
The response came slowly, muffled:
[Current configuration allows limited functionality demonstration]
[Recommend spatial awareness practice within controlled environment]
"Show me," Elias said aloud.
His quarters immediately transformed in his perception. Walls became transparent frameworks. Hidden supports and ancient piping revealed themselves beneath the floor. He could sense the movement of air currents, the subtle vibrations of distant footsteps, even the faint electromagnetic fields generated by crystal technology throughout the observatory.
"How do I use this practically?" he wondered.
[Application methods:]
[Structural weakness identification]
[Hidden compartment detection]
[Optimal path calculation]
[Danger prediction through environmental analysis]
Elias focused on a section of wall, instinctively reaching out with his mind. He could feel the minute cracks in the ancient mortar, the points where pressure could be applied for maximum effect.
If he wanted, he realized, he could bring down that entire wall with a precisely placed touch.
The knowledge should have terrified him. Instead, he felt an odd detachment, a clinical appreciation of the efficiency. Was this how Azef perceived the world? Or was this how Elias himself now thought?
The line between them seemed increasingly blurred.
He spent the next hour testing his spatial perception throughout his quarters, discovering its limits and applications. The stabilizer prevented him from accessing the more advanced abilities Azef had mentioned, but even these basics were far beyond normal human capacity.
As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across his room, Elias faced the decision he'd been avoiding. The memorial service would begin soon. His last chance to say goodbye.
Mira had warned against it. Thorne would likely disapprove. Yet something in him rebelled against walking away completely from his old life without acknowledging its end.
What would they think, he wondered, if they could see what I've become?
He pictured Gareth's reaction, immediate distrust and probable violence. Dalia would try to understand, to find some healing application. Meris would want to study the phenomenon. And Tarrow... quiet Tarrow would simply watch and reserve judgment.
Grief hit him anew. Whatever they might have thought no longer mattered. They were gone, and he remained, changed, alone, and following a path none of them could have imagined.
Decision made, Elias donned a hooded cloak from the supplies and pocketed the stabilizer flask. He would attend the memorial, not to participate, but to observe. To bear witness from the shadows to the final chapter of his former life.
As he slipped from his quarters, navigating the observatory's winding passages with his enhanced awareness guiding him past potential encounters, Elias felt a curious sensation, as if he were already a ghost haunting the edges of a world that had moved on without him.
Tomorrow would begin his new existence with the Misfit Company. But tonight belonged to the past, to Crimson Vanguard, to the friendships that had defined him before dungeon-binding changed everything.
Whether this constituted closure or merely self-inflicted pain remained to be seen. Either way, it felt necessary, one final acknowledgment of who Elias Vern had been before embracing what he was becoming.