Die. Respawn. Repeat.

I sit in the corner of my cabin, breathing.

We’re due to leave in a few days. I can sense it in the air—the Temporal Firmament fueling this place is slowly running out, and nothing’s quite as real anymore. I’m grateful that Hestia has bought as much time for us as it has, and I’ve made it a point to take advantage of every ounce of the time given to me.

According to Guard, I’m now passable with the Threads. I still don’t prefer them, but they’re a lot more versatile than the Amplification Gauntlet. The Threads are a weapon designed to take control of a battlefield, and even more importantly, they have functions outside of cutting and slicing.

They carry Firmament. The color of the Thread binds to the Firmament that it carries, but that’s a benefit, not a weakness, as long as I use it correctly. Like Inspirations, they can modify the results of a skill, but they can also just create a link between two sources of Firmament.

If I lend them to Guard, for example, he could use them to make a skill circuit—not that he seemed particularly inclined to try.

“They are yours,” Guard says when I try to hand them off to him. “Firmament-bound, remember?”

Well, he’s got me there.

What I’m doing right now, however, involves an entirely different kind of Thread—the kind that bind into the Web of Threads and form into Concepts.

…I should probably rename the Chromatic Threads, now that I think about it. I open my eyes briefly to look over the Interface, searching for an option to do so. It’s kind of a surprise to me when I actually find it—I’d been mostly looking for a distraction.

There. Much better. No more letting myself get distracted.

What I’m trying to do right now is to touch on the Threads of a Concept. The Life Concept, specifically, since I’ve worked closely with it already; it might be useful to be able to infuse more of my skills with it. The past few days have been me doing this, for the most part: meditating on the Concept, trying to tease out its constituent Threads. I’ve only been partially successful.

[You have touched the Thread of Genesis.]

[You have touched the Thread of Evolution.]

Those were surprisingly easy to grasp. I’m no stranger to either one, in large part because of everything involving the Knight Inspiration and the way it basically takes apart and reconstitutes my biology. The last part, though? That’s a little harder.

Life isn’t just about how it exists. It’s not just about evolution. Those two Threads are pieces of the puzzle, but they don’t capture the complexity of it, the beauty of it. The chaos that emerges from nothing.

I think about Ahkelios.

I’m not sure the little guy knows it—not that I can really call him a little guy anymore—but I’ve come to appreciate a lot more about life because of him. He puts effort into making me smile, even if he’s just being silly. I haven’t had a friend like that since…

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Well, since my brother died. I’m not sure I’ve had much of a life since my brother died.

It’s odd, I think, that I now find so much more meaning in every moment. Surrounded as I am by danger and violence, I would have expected it to go the opposite way. But maybe that’s just what life is.

The third Thread settles into place.

[You have touched the Thread of Purpose.]

[You have learned the Concept of Life.]

For a moment, an absurd thought strikes me: I’m glad the Interface doesn’t call Concepts Meanings. I would have been a lot more skeptical if the Interface said I had learned the Meaning of Life.

I snicker to myself. It’s a little ridiculous, and I’m pretty sure Ahkelios is just going to scoff at me, but I’m going to tell him later anyway.

Having all this time to train and get closer to my friends has meant a lot to me. I’m grateful for what the Heart has done.

Which means it’s about time for me to return the favor.

A few days later, when I feel the Temporal Firmament around the Quiet Grove finally fading into nothing, I call the others in to speak to them about what we’re doing next and why.

“Hestia’s Heart knows something about what’s coming, or she wouldn’t have brought Gheraa back,” I say, giving the former Integrator a nod. He nods back. “We know the Heart is linked to the nature of Temporal Firmament itself. If she’s unable to directly warn us or speak to us, then we have to assume that the Fracture—and what happens at the end of the loop—has something to do with it. If we can find out what’s causing it, we may be able to speak to the Heart again.

“Even if we can’t, we need to make sure this anomaly doesn’t happen if and when the Trial ends. I’m not optimistic about our chances of evacuating the entire planet, even if the Intermediary were fully functioning, which it isn’t.

I hesitate. “I have the feeling that by the time we face Kauku, the Trial is going to pretty much be over. The more we wait, the more Tears are going to consume Hestia. It’s now or never, as far as the Fracture goes. If anyone’s got any concerns, now’s the time to raise them. Otherwise, we’re as ready as we’re going to be.”

There’s a series of affirmative noises. Ahkelios gives me a thumbs up, Guard nods, and Gheraa leans on his cane with a confident smirk. I give them all a grin in return. We’ve talked this through plenty of times over our time in the Grove, and we’ve come to the same conclusion each time.

If Kauku created the Interface, or Firmament, or both, then he holds the key to freeing Earth from its grasp. With Rhoran infecting him, we don’t have to chase after him. He’ll come after me. After Gheraa. Something is holding him back, evidently, but it won’t hold him back forever.

In that time, I have three goals. First, figure out how to save Hestia. The Fracture, hopefully, will tell us why and how that’s happening, but I’ll have to make sure the Tears don’t get too bad and stay on top of keeping them sealed.

Second, find the Trialgoer echoes. I haven’t forgotten what the Heart told me about them, and all the glimpses I’ve been seeing into the pasts of each monster has to mean something. The artifact the Cliffside Crows gave me has proven it can help with that; all I need to do is wait for the right loop, if my running theory is correct.

Third, find a way to reach the other humans stuck in their Trials. I have some ideas on how to do that, but it’s going to need work; the temporal boundary around Hestia isn’t something I’m willing to mess with. That same boundary is weaker within dungeons, though, which means the Empty City might give me a way to finally get back in contact with humanity.

I have to admit: this is the first time I feel confident about what’s coming. About my place in it. After who knows how long seeking it out, reacting to problem after problem, I know what I need to do, and I know how to do it.

Defeat Kauku. Release Earth from the hold of Integration. Free the Integrated planets as a whole, if at all possible.

It’s all too clear what the Interface and the Integrators have done to us. The power the Interface offers is not, in and of itself, evil, but the leash the Integrators have on “their” planets has to go.

The path ahead is finally clear. And despite the loop—despite everything the Integrators have tried to pull—I won’t be walking it alone.

“Let’s go,” I say.

Just like that, we leave the Quiet Grove.

Soon, we’ll reach the Fracture. That massive crack in the continental shelf spewing untold amounts of Firmament into the atmosphere. The center of a storm of space and time.

I have a sneaking suspicion that when we get there it’s going to look very, very different.