Almost no one suspects the helper. No one suspects an individual in a position of authority, actively trying to help and aid people after a crisis. As such, this is one of the most vaunted covers you might have.

  In the aftermath of a calamity, if your existing cover is broken or if you need a clean way to extract from the situation and cannot rely on the aid of your fellow ravens, the best thing for you to do is to steal such a position of authority. Most of the time, all it takes is the acquisition of a uniform and a basic understanding of their command structure.

  Sometimes, it is more beneficial to be of a supporting role like a Logistical Officer or an Intelligence Agent. Indeed, being a member of the Prismatic Guard is less effective than taking on the position of Interrogator of the Inquisition. This gives you an aura of impenetrability. More importantly, it allows you to initiate conversations and break away at your own volition. Be mindful, however, that you avoid anyone that could be seen as your superior or might know something about you.

  Minimize contact and dialogue with others who might know more about your current cover.

  And if all else fails, create a second calamity to further destabilize the situation. A renewed emergency offers ample opportunity for those in a position of authority to pursue the threat, to hunt it down, and not to answer any questions. Furthermore, it is best for you to get lost while pursuing a threat or trying to put out a fire. After all, it is what is expected of you, and as always, expectations betray.

  -Crises and Opportunities, Aviary Training Course

  243 (I)

  Insight [I]

  "Gods, I can't believe you survived," Maxime said, looking over Shiv. She scrubbed a bit more dirt away from his forehead with her fingernail. “They said they found you under three tons of rubble.”

  “Yeah, well, iron skin comes in handy at times like these. Three cheers for the Toughness Adept, huh?” Shiv was bundled, tied under three different layers of blankets. They'd also given him a steaming hot cup of tea and a plate of biscuits. So far, he'd left both untouched. It was hard to drink through a mask.

  "Still, I keep expecting to be back in that… cancer monster’s grasp…" Shiv said, trying his best to steal the image of a shell-shocked student.

  Maxime's gaze softened. Her Biomancy wrapped around him, washed through him, and slipped away without finding any wounds. "On most nights, I'd tell you this comes with the shift, but tonight is dramatically different. Tonight… I don't think any of us were prepared for tonight, except for maybe Hero-Biomancer Javelina. You hear about what happened to Huelle and Morgana?"

  Shiv shook his head. "Hard to get news when you're under rubble."

  Maxime laughed softly. "It was terrible. The vampire supposedly took hold of them from the inside. He used that cancer spore skill to seize their minds." A look of revulsion crawled over Maxime. "It's just… It's nightmarish. I didn't know there could be such a skill. Psychomancy is already far too invasive. And to think that it can be blended with Biomancy? It's just, it's wrong. I don't mean to judge someone else for what skills they develop, but there are some that just shouldn't be used by people. There are some powers that just, that just…" She made a vague gesture to try and convey what she couldn't articulate. “People shouldn’t have it. People shouldn’t have so much control over one another.”

  Sage of the Enkindled Heart: She has been hurt by control before. There is a darkness behind her eyes. Psychomancy doesn’t just offend her, it strikes terror into her. And there is a rage here as well. One that yearns to be unleashed.

  Shiv nodded in response. On some level, he understood. On another level, Psychomancy was a responsibility and a gift, same as any other skill. Shiv had done more damage with his Biomancy in his bare hands than a hundred Psychomancers might in their lives. And ultimately, the world didn't care.

  The System wanted you to use your skills however you could to gain an advantage, to dominate someone else. If you ignored them, if you turned away, that just meant that someone would slit your throat from behind. There would be no mercy, no escape. One had to master themselves, but also understand the skills they didn't possess.

  And that was the lesson Jessica had carved into him. Maxime flinched as Shiv suddenly shuddered as he remembered the sensation of his innards tearing, of her blades splitting his folds apart. "I'm going to fucking destroy her for this," Shiv growled internally. "Someday, I’m going to rip her in half."

  “Deathless,” Tulveg said apprehensively. “I would like to apologize once more for my actions. I was focused on pursuing my prey and—”

  “Tulveg,” Shiv said flatly. “Just… let me pretend you don’t exist for a second, yeah? Let me pretend you didn’t enlarge my ruined asshole after she cut it up. Let me have this.”

  The vampire gave Shiv his desired quiet.

  He was once again on the bottom floor, in the massive left crystal hand composing a third of the building. There, he found himself placed in the Emergency Ward, under observation by a senior resident. They cast several Biomancy spells on him: To accelerate his healing, and to analyze if he was infected or had any internal, more hidden injuries or ailments.

  After an hour of observation, he was cleared and simply given orders to rest.

  He wasn't the only one in the room. A few other students were also here, nursing various cuts and abrasions inflicted upon them by falling debris. Miraculously, there were no graver injuries. No deaths either.

  That filled Shiv with warmth and pride. Despite how the fight between him and Jessica went, no one aside from the two Biomancers had died because of it. Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides was a magnificent skill, and this moment made him sure that he would never regret picking it.

  Maxime and the rest of his healer team came down to see him. Malcolm was surprised that Shiv was still in such good condition. The other two assistant medics were pale-faced and sweating. The twins had their hands locked tight around each other. So desperately were they holding on to one another that Shiv worried they might break each other's bones. He couldn't blame them. They were still in shock, and they kept looking about, worrying that one of the vampire spores might return. They didn't say much to Shiv, but they gazed upon him with pity. One of them had asked if it hurt when he was wrenched out of the room by the net of cancer. Shiv had just shaken his head, said he'd passed out immediately. In general, he claimed that he didn't remember much, only that he woke up in rubble.

  So far, it seemed that his cover was holding. Harlock hadn't come to whisk him away. Jessica didn't follow up and finish the job. The Prismatic Guard hadn’t questioned him, at least not yet. But he suspected there wouldn't be any avoiding a conversation with an inquisitor at some point. That was going to be a bit of a pain. He hoped that Veronica or Cripple might be able to exert some influence to help him get out of that situation. His Mask of Stolen Paths was capable of resisting a Heroic-Tier Psychomancer for a period, but there was no way Shiv was going to let someone reach into his mind.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Need to come up with a plan or a way to escape that somehow, the Deathless thought to himself.

  "You know something, newbie?" Malcolm stared down at Shiv as its fan-shaped face closed and opened repeatedly. "I think you might be able to qualify for extra credit. You might be one of the few who can.”

  Maxime looked over her shoulder and glared at Malcolm. "Really? That's what you're thinking about?"

  "No, no, I'm serious. I'm not making a joke about it at his expense. I mean, like, Hero-Biomancer Javelina talks about healing and medical stuff like it's expected of us, right? Well, getting kidnapped by a cancerous monster isn't expected of us. This guy's got like every excuse possible for extra credit. Listen, when the Hero-Biomancer comes back around, you gotta remember to ask her—"

  "Ask me what?" Javelina said, stomping into the room. She entered the main doors leading into the recuperation chamber with a mission written on her face and a dark look behind her eyes. Her emotional core was an inferno of barely restrained anger.

  Malcolm flinched and he snapped to attention. "N-nothing, Hero-Biomancer. I'm just saying that—"

  "It doesn't matter! Casualties are coming in! The overcapacity mithril refinery explosion casualties are being filtered in. Intensive care is being stretched. If you guys are fine now, I need you up, and I need you moving!" Her eyes snapped to Shiv, and he tensed. He wondered if this would be the moment his cover broke and he had to go on the run again. “Unblood,” Javelina said. “Are you still hurt?”

  Shiv shook his head. "No, I'm just in shock—”

  "Good. I prescribe you a treatment: distraction through labor!" She reached over and pulled the blankets off of Shiv. She picked up a cup of tea meant for him, downed it in a single gulp, scarfed down a few cookies, and then she waved for him to get out of bed impatiently. "Come on! Come on! You're fine! Let's go! Let's go!" She clapped her hands. She gestured at all the other students in the room as well. "Let's go! If you're not actively bleeding to death, get up. We're moving! 301 is still in session. We got injured to take care of. Move those legs.”

  "Hero-Biomancer Van Erren—" Maxime began, trying to plead for Shiv's case.

  "Maxime, I don't have time for this. I understand that you might need an extension, but not right now. Your work is very interesting, but once again, not right now. Not during class. Also, yes, fine, you can hand in that report next week. I don’t care. Patients first.”

  "...That's not what I was going to ask," Maxime whispered.

  But the Hero-Biomancer was already out of the room, calling for everyone to follow.

  Shiv blinked.

  Malcolm tilted over and nearly dropped dead. "I'm gonna be rusted before my time," it said. “She’s working us like dogs… Dogs…”

  "Well," Shiv groaned. "Looks like it’s time for my first 301 class."

  ***

  "Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Maxime asked.

  "Ah," Shiv said, waving her off. "I think it'll help me take my mind off things, you know? It might be good. It might be."

  As soon as they stepped into the room of the intensive care, a shockwave of sounds hit Shiv. There was so much screaming, so much pain. The stench of blood filled the air, blood and burnt flesh. All around Shiv were bodies writhing on gurneys. There were people holding struggling Pathbearers down. There were Biomancers working their magic, calling out to each other, demanding supplies and potions. There were patients wall to wall, clogging up every room. The intensive ward was within the right crystal hand, and it took up practically the entire hand, stretching onward like a wide gymnasium.

  Tape, markings, and floating mana symbols littered the space. More injured were wheeled in as medics and residents fought to save their lives. And in the northeastern section of the ward, there were long, black bags with closed zippers.

  We already lost a few, Shiv realized.

  The Deathless's senses sharpened. He studied everybody around him and realized something horrifying. They seemed to be crystallizing from within. Their blood vessels glinted, and uncontrollable bursts of mana rippled out of them. Most clutched at their hearts, forcing medics to pin their arms down. Others wept and cried for those they loved.

  Whatever they'd suffered during the explosion, it inflicted an infection of mithril on them, and it flowed like poison through their veins.

  Farsight 97 > 99

  Shiv’s mana hydra expanded out, unfurling like the legs of a spider. He briefly dipped his Biomancy field into several of the patients, and he confirmed his suspicion: the mithril was spreading through them. It was slowly crawling and flowing along their arteries, making its way toward their hearts.

  But how? How does that even work?

  "It seems that Hero-Biomancer Javelina is a most cruel headmistress," Tulveg commented. "You have my sympathies. I would not force a neophyte into such carnage after sustaining such trauma.”

  "But this might be good," Adam mused. "Can give us additional cover. The Prismatic Guard would have come to question Shiv at some point if he'd just stayed there. Now, so long as he's busy and overwhelmed, he will be able to delay that point. It gives us more time to plan and think."

  Shiv let out a breath. "Well, I think what you two should do, as I said earlier, is open up a dimensional pathway and head off to the coliseum.”

  “I'm not leaving you alone here, Shiv. But I can get Tulveg across first—”

  "I refuse to trust anyone else but you, Young Lord Arrow, and you as well, Deathless. You understand, no? Trust is a dangerous thing. Trust is..."

  "We get it," Adam said, sighing. "You will only follow if we are there along with you. Fine, we accept that. If you’re going to stay, though, see if you can provide some aid. We’re going to be here for a while.”

  "Provide his aid?" Helix sneered. "I alone am enough for this entire catastrophe. In fact, I would dare say that this is a wonderful opportunity for the Insul to further his knowledge of magical diseases."

  "That's what's happening right now?" Shiv muttered. "Because I sense the mithril spreading through their insides. How the hells does that happen?”

  "Ah, Conductivity Calcification Syndrome," both Helix and Tulveg said at once.

  A flare of annoyance came from the orc, while the vampire ignored him altogether, but he offered more details to Shiv. "Yes, very common in Adepts or above that end up having a fragment of a mithril seed embedded inside them as shrapnel. When you get a bit of mithril inside of you, and it mingles with your bloodstream, thus triggering an infection, there is a chance that this affliction might take hold. The Necrotechs are especially creative with this as a weapon. They have made flechette bombs from mithril seeds. The effects were devastating during the Second War of the Five.”

  "And the worst thing about this is that it cannot be treated with magic. Not directly," Helix commented. "Quite a tricky problem. If you use Biomancy against the spreading mithril, it will simply accelerate its development. It will turn the heart crystalline from within, thus killing the Pathbearer. Or, in certain cases, giving them a most spectacular Skill Evolution."

  A loud siren sounded, and Shiv looked to his right. At the far end of the room, a massive set of doors was folding upward, unveiling the outside of the building. Even more people were wheeled in. The patients were writhing and screaming on their gurneys. They were strapped down, but even so, some broke through the restraints, howling to be put down, howling for the sweet mercy of oblivion.

  Shiv watched as they were slotted against the halls. The rooms were already filled to capacity. All around him were life signatures rapidly dimming.

  And suddenly, he heard someone call out Marcus’s name. "Oh! Oh my gods, you're still up?" Hal Habendale staggered by. His face was a mask of blood and sweat.

  “Adept-Tier Toughness,” Shiv replied with a shrug.

  "Heh. Good for you, first year. Well, if you're good enough to help, then I'm going to need you to follow me over here. We've been placed in yellow.”