“It’s nice to see you take care of them,” Amelia said as we gathered around the table. She bent forward to get a better look. The entire map had been drawn in black ink, with fine tips and the occasional broad stroke to define a mountain chain or a forest. The rivers and the oceans, the lakes and the seas had been given a soft splash of blue, while the domain borders and their capitals were highlighted with red ink. Names were elegantly written in swirling letters next to every settlement and at the center of every region, with varying styles to differentiate between districts, towns, cities, and domains. All in all, this was one of the prettiest and most comprehensive maps I’d ever come across, complete with miniature illustrations to identify ancient sites and the capitals.

“This looks fantastic,” I said.

Medina smiled. “Thank you. This map was commissioned about twenty years ago, and it took about five years to put together in this final form. It is, in my humble opinion, a true work of geographical art.”

“I think we can all agree on that,” Lumi replied. She frowned as she pointed at several areas on the map, on which small conical wooden figurines had been placed. “What are those?”

“Oh, I took the liberty of pointing out a few possible locations for you to search,” Medina said. “Ancient sites where an artifact like Eirexis could have been hidden over four million years ago. Most that are still standing today are mere impressions of what they used to be, though. All that remained were the foundations, and our scholars continue to brush the dirt away from them on a daily basis, looking to better understand what kinds of creatures lived here before the modern Cerixian.”

At first glance, I noticed eight conical figurines, all over the empire. Eight possible starting points for our search. That was a lot to begin with, though slightly better than the numbers I’d had in my mind prior to coming into this room.

“Are these sites guarded in any way?” I asked.

Medina nodded. “Most of them have been turned into museums and archaeological parks. The visiting structures were built around the actual sites, which are protected by massive glass casings. We have guards monitoring them every day and night. It’s part of an initiative to boost tourism across the domains, started after the empire was formed.”

“Any one of these could be a potential hiding place for Eirexis,” Raphael grumbled. “It’s going to take a while. How do we do this?”

“We could take each location one at a time,” I replied. “With my and Taeral’s teleporting ability, we won’t have to worry about time wasted traveling. We’ll have it all to spend on searching for Eirexis.”

“I presume the guards won’t be a problem for us,” Taeral said, giving Medina a questioning look.

“Oh, no, absolutely not. They’ll be ordered in advance to stand down, and you’ll be given special hoods with the prime minister’s monogram, so they’ll recognize you without you having to show your faces,” she explained. “Since discretion is key here, I figured I’d tell them you’re agents of the prime minister, tasked with checking the monuments on my behalf. With monogramed hoods and your masks on, you shouldn’t encounter any issues.”

Herakles straightened his back and crossed his arms. “It’ll be a good opportunity to test what Kabbah mentioned, regarding Taeral’s scythe.”

“That’s right,” Lumi replied. “If the blade reacts in proximity to Eirexis, it’ll certainly save us a lot of time searching in the wrong place.”

Taeral brought the blade up for everyone to see. Medina’s eyes grew wide with wonder, unable to look away. “So far, I don’t see much of a change,” he said. “But I’ll admit, it does give off a faint, almost unnoticeable buzz when I touch it. It didn’t do that before.”

“Which could, in fact, confirm Kabbah’s statement,” Eira breathed. “Could it be telling you that Eirexis is here, on this planet?”

Taeral nodded slowly. “Probably.”

“I mean, think about it this way. Put yourselves in Brendel’s shoes,” Eva said. “You just snatched Death’s most precious object. You dismantled it into three pieces, and you managed to come here, to Cerix, looking to hide the handle somewhere. What do you do? What place do you pick? At this point, you probably don’t know that, once you take your hands off Eirexis, you won’t be able to pick it up again.”

“Wait, why is that?” Medina asked, slightly confused.

“Brendel snatched Thieron in a moment when Death was weak. As soon as she broke it into pieces and stopped touching it, Thieron, even dismantled, engaged its self-protection protocol,” Lumi explained. “Ancient, timeless Death magic that not even the Hermessi could bypass. Their only hope, as well as Death’s, of ever touching it again, is if a living creature touches the pieces and survives the three guardian Reapers embedded in them. So far, no one has managed to do that, from what we were told. Otherwise, either Death or Brendel would’ve gotten their hands on Thieron already.”

Medina nodded slowly, her gaze wandering across the map as she tried to process the information. This was a lot for a Cerixian, given that, until less than a month ago, this world was still wondering whether there were other civilizations in outer space. We’d brought in all of them at once, and we’d added to the discovery shock by revealing the universe-building-and-breaking entities that troubled us—the Hermessi and, more recently, Death herself.

“So, if you were Brendel, where would you hide Eirexis?” Amelia asked, studying the map.

“These three are the oldest sites known to us,” Medina replied, pointing at three different locations on the map. They were pretty far apart and in different domains. “Two are former city centers, and one was a temple.”

“Do you think she would’ve hidden Eirexis in a place with a lot of people?” Raphael raised an eyebrow at her.

“She would’ve put it somewhere others wouldn’t have even suspected,” Medina replied. “The city was later abandoned for a larger and more favorable settlement, but yes, I do see Brendel hiding an artifact like Eirexis there. I would rather think that than consider combing the entire planet’s wilderness in order to find it.”

That thought had occurred to us, too. We’d preferred focusing on ancient sites instead, so as not to get overwhelmed by the millions of possibilities. We needed our search narrowed down, not expanded into madness.

“Guys… I’m getting something,” Fallon said, pressing his index and middle fingers against his temples. He seemed to be in pain. “Brendel would’ve hidden Eirexis where people lived. There was a rumor among the Hermessi at the time, that Death’s scythe reacted to living people by concealing itself even deeper, so no one could find it. If left in the wilderness, they worried it might’ve stood out.”

“Whoa!” Varga exclaimed. “Where the hell did you get that from?”

Fallon shrugged, his shocked expression worth more than words. Eva, however, was quick to remember. “You’ve accessed more of Kabbah’s memory residue, right?”

“Yeah…My brain is still processing most of them, but this one just came up when you mentioned Brendel. It’s a recent conversation he had with her, after we met him in the Volcrun cave. He didn’t know all this, then. I think he confronted her shortly after we got out of there, and left this memory in my head during our second encounter in the Nevertide palace.”

Lumi sighed. “That’s interesting, to say the least.” A grin stretched across her face, leaving us all wondering what had put her in such a good mood. Fortunately, Lumi wasn’t one for dramatic revelations and was quick to enlighten us. “You keep remembering, now.”

“What does that mean for me? For us?” Fallon asked, understandably alarmed.

“It means that you just helped us narrow down our search,” Lumi replied. She shifted her focus to Medina. “Can you tell us which of these sites were once the most populated areas? If Kabbah’s thoughts are correct, Brendel would’ve looked for the busiest areas beneath which she could hide Eirexis.”

Fallon exhaled sharply. “This is so weird…”

“Enjoy it,” Eva replied, smiling. “It’s helping us.”

“You should keep digging, in the meantime,” I suggested, while Medina perused the map and removed some of the conical figures.

“These were the most populated,” she said, pointing at three other locations. “Still far away from one another, but certainly more within your search parameters, I think. According to our archaeological records, each of these cities had populations of over five thousand people, which was enormous for that era.”

“Okay, good. We now have three possible starting points,” Taeral replied.

Medina rushed over to one of the bookshelves and came back with three old books, which she placed on the table, on top of the map. “These are archaeology papers on the specific sites. Eira and I can help you with translations. They include maps and technical specifications, including several theories on what each part of the site was used for… you know, the typical archaeologist’s favorite thing to do. Theorizing about the long-since-dead.” She chuckled.

“This is interesting,” Eira said while flipping through one of the books. She pointed at a figurine positioned on a seaside location. “This area here isn’t just home to one of Cerix’s most ancient sites. It’s also a haven for rosy fishes. I’m surprised people left this city behind.”

“Why? What do the rosy fishes have to do with it? Also, what are rosy fishes?” I asked.

“They’re rare creatures, limited to about five or six sanctuary areas in Cerix’s oceans and seas. They stick together in large banks, and their nutritional value is insanely high. Their scales are reddish and pink, shaped more or less like rose petals. When they try to defend themselves from a larger predator, those scales rise up, making them look like actual roses. It’s a weird effect, but it works. Hence the name.”

“You mentioned nutritional value,” Taeral replied. “What made that so important?”

“A single fish can feed a Cerixian for the entire week,” Eira said. “There is something in the meat of rosy fish that sates any adult Cerixian for up to seven days. That’s why they’re so precious and protected. There used to be more of them, but they’ve been having reproduction issues for the past couple of centuries. Their numbers have dwindled, and their habitats have been declared sacred and untouchable by any Cerixian.”

Fallon sucked in a breath. “Guys… There’s more.” He scoffed, shaking his head in amazement. “Again, it got triggered by something that Eira said, this time, about rosy fishes. I’ve got snippets of a conversation between Kabbah and Brendel… quite recently, in fact.”

“As in, post-Blackout?” Taeral asked.

The vampire-fae nodded. “Kabbah doesn’t know where Eirexis is, exactly, on Cerix. He told us the truth there. But I have a feeling he knew without actually knowing it.”

“I’m confused,” Medina mumbled.

“You and me both, sister,” Herakles replied dryly.

“Brendel said something to Kabbah,” Fallon muttered, frowning as he went over the images in his head. “She said she threw the pieces of Thieron over the tallest mountains… and, hold on, I’ve got it… and that of the three, Eirexis will be the toughest to find. The rosy fishes have made a home out of it. Yeah, that’s what she said. That the rosy fishes have made a home out of Eirexis.”