After staying in his room for four weeks, Aviir finally arrived one day to tell Dan has was free to go.

“You’re free to explore the Citadel for today, but at dusk you must return here for the night. In the morning you will leave with a convoy to begin your training. Don’t be late in returning here,” Aviir warned as Dan scrambled for the door. “Vydar has a strict curfew over the Citadel. You must be back here by dark.”

Dan nodded his understanding, but didn’t wait any longer. He had been itching to get out since he decided he wasn’t in SR. He stepped through the open doorway and set off down the hall in the same direction he had gone four weeks ago. He started out walking, but as he turned the corner, his excitement overpowered him, and he ran to the wide doors and threw them open.

The massive hall was exactly as it had been when Dan had first seen it. Humans and one or two soulborgs were walking past, here and there kyrie and humans leaned against one wall, talking quietly, and overhead kyrie flew, speeding over the milling crowd.

Dan plunged in instantly.

A barrage of faces paraded past Dan, each perfectly detailed, one after the other. The floor reverberated with the footsteps of a hundred people. Dan had very little doubt now that this was real. Part of him still didn’t want to admit it, because it meant he was further away from Heleer, but he couldn’t deny what his senses were telling him.

Dan had a plan. He had thought of it weeks ago, and now he was ready to act on it. The first step to getting back to Heleer was to go to Vydar and ask if he would do it. Dan doubted he would, but it would be stupid not to at least try. So after turning on the spot, Dan found two kyrie standing nearby, and made his way over to them.

Four weeks ago, Dan would have interrupted them without a second thought, just as he had done every time he talked to someone in SR. But now that he knew this was all real, he was having to rethink the way he approached everyone and everything. For that reason, he stood by, and waited until one of the kyrie looked up.  

“Could you tell me where Vydar’s audience chamber is?” Dan asked. Aviir had mentioned the room.

The kyrie looked at him blankly.

The female kyrie he had been speaking with took a step forwards. “I’m sorry,” she said, “he doesn’t speak any English. You want to go down this hall until it forks, take the right turn, and it’s the first big room on your left. You can’t miss it: there’s always a guard on duty in front of the door.”

Dan nodded his thanks, and rejoined the crowd, allowing himself to be swept down the hall. Soon he came to a fork as the kyrie had said, where the hall split into two, one branch continuing straight forwards, and the other making a sharp right turn. Dan turned to follow the right-hand fork, but then stopped as a ray of light struck him in the face.

It was sunlight, but Dan had never seen real sunlight. He covered his eyes with his hands, and squinting, tried to find the source of the light. He quickly spotted a shaft of brilliant light-orange light pouring from the nearest window. Wondering what was causing it, he stepped right up to the wall, and looked out.

Shock dulled all senses.

Dan had never seen the real sun. The SR Unit had included a brilliant ball of light in the sky, certainly, but apparently they had been unable to duplicate the piercing brilliance of the sun, the way its rays smote you without warning, and the way you can never look directly at it. Perhaps doing so would have simply been too bright for the SR Unit. Dan didn’t know. Neither did he care. Since he couldn’t look directly at the sun, he stared in overwhelmed wonder at everything it touched.

Dan had seen all manner of landscapes in SR, but now that he knew what he saw was real, it was like seeing it for the first time. The sun was nearing the horizon, and its slanting rays cast long shadows over the massive city spread out below Dan like a giant map. One side of the buildings was illuminated with fiery light, and the other side was dipped in the deepest of shadows. Dan could see streets laid out like spider webs, the smallest of black dots moving across those which were lit up by the sun. A wall encircled the whole of the city, and beyond that, there was… nothing. Just green hills, now dark in the hours before dusk, stretching on endlessly forever.

Dan felt like he was being sucked out of the window as he stared at the endless hills, trying to see something – anything – beyond them. And then he did: a lone dot on the horizon, flying slowly through the air. Dan decided it must be a kyrie, though there was no way to tell at this distance. The dot circled once, twice, and then dipped below the horizon, disappearing beyond the hills, leaving only the deep blue of the true sky SR could never imitate, vast and unending, stretching from horizon to horizon.

Dan gripped the edge of the window hard as he stared into the sky, partially because that old sense of being about to fall into it remained, and partially because excitement was overwhelming every part of his body.

If any doubt had remained, it was gone now: this was real. Every single pinprick of light Dan saw was real. Every little particle he touched was real. It was all real. And there were no walls. Dan could see it all. He could touch it all.

He was free.

After a few minutes, Dan realized that if the sun was setting, he didn’t have much time to find Vydar. His mind still reeling with the view he had seen, he set off down the hall, keeping an eye out for a room guarded by a kyrie.

As he walked though, a realization was beginning to form: he didn’t want to go back to Isadora. All that awaited him were gray walls and cameras. Here there was color, here there were no walls. Here he was free. He never wanted to return to Isadora. The only thing which could bring him back was Heleer, and he knew now what he would do:

He wouldn’t ask Vydar to send him back. He would ask Vydar to summon Heleer to Valhalla instead.

Dan’s door was kept locked night and day. Food was brought three time a day by a rotating staff of nervous-looking kyrie. They would unlock the door, edge inside, and then exit quickly, as if they were afraid Dan might attack them. Apparently his scene in the hall outside had not gone unnoticed.

Occasionally, Aviir, the kyrie whom Vydar had sent, would accompany the food, and stay to talk with Dan. After the first few days, Dan determined to ask her why his door was kept locked.

When he asked her, Aviir ran both hands over her hair, sweeping it away from her face. “It’s because you’re new,” she sighed. “You aren’t ready for everything which is out there. It’s far better if—”

“I am ready,” Dan interrupted. “I’ve been ready for awhile.” He rested his gloves on the table and leaned forward. “I don’t like being locked up, Aviir.”

Aviir looked at him out of tired eyes. “You aren’t ready,” she repeated. “Once the shock of where you are dies off, then you’ll be let out.”

“Shock?” Dan repeated, almost laughing. He sat back. “I’ve seen it all. I told you of SR.”

Aviir smiled weakly. “Your ‘SR’ is not like the real world, Dan.”

Dan crossed his metal gloves, feeling the plates flex and slide against each other. “It’s based on it though. How different can it really be? I’m over the ‘shock’, Aviir. Let me out.”

“You will be let out,” Aviir said, a slight edge to her voice. “Vydar has summoned thousands. We know when people are ready to be let out.”

For a moment they looked at each other.

“When can I see Vydar?” Dan asked, changing the topic.

“Vydar is busy,” Aviir said. Dan thought it sounded automatic.

“I need to go back, Aviir,” Dan said, leaning back in his chair slightly. “I can’t stay here.”

“You will go back when the war is over,” Aviir said. “You know this.”

“Because Vydar said so?” Dan asked, leaning forwards. “I don’t trust Vydar, Aviir. I need to convince him to send me back. And I need you to tell me how to do that.”

Aviir glared at him – something she rarely did. “Neither you nor I is going to convince Vydar of anything. You’ve been summoned. You’re staying. At the end of the war, you will be sent back.”

Dan was silent.

Avirr changed tack under his gaze. “Vydar needs you,” she said. “We all do. We can’t win this war without you.”

“I don’t care about Vydar’s war,” Dan said, the words harsher than he had expected. “I don’t care about Vydar, or this land, or it’s problems. They aren’t my problems.”

Aviir regarded him reproachfully.

“I’m leaving, Aviir,” Dan said. “Neither you nor your Vydar can stop me. And if he won’t help me, then maybe the other Valkyrie will.”

It was Aviir’s turn to laugh, in a wilted sort of way. “Why would they help you?” she asked. “Vydar’s the one who summoned you, and he’s been gracious enough to offer to send you back at the end of the war. What makes you think the other Valkyrie would be more generous than Vydar?”

“This isn’t generosity,” Dan said quietly. However, he didn’t go further. The last few times he had spoken ill of Vydar, Aviir had left. He still wanted to get more out of her. “What about other ways back?” he said.

“Other ways?” Aviir echoed. “There are no other ways. The Valkyrie are the only ones who can send you back.”

“No,” Dan said dismissively, ignoring Aviir’s look. “I was told there was no way out once before, and that was a lie. There’s always a way out.”

“There isn’t,” Aviir said, a trace of annoyance in her voice now. “Trust me, if there was, others would have found it by now.”

Dan glared at her. “Why are you hiding this from me?”

“What? I’m hiding nothing. There’s no other way back, Dan. Did you hear me? No other way.”

Dan was silent, but continued to gaze at her. He didn’t believe her for a second.

After a moment, Aviir stood. “I’ll be back,” she said. “Maybe tomorrow you’ll listen to what I say.”

Dan let her leave. She exited the room, closed the door – perhaps a bit harder than usual – and Dan heard the lock slide into place.

“I doubt it,” he muttered to himself.

The news of Dan’s displeasure with Vydar must have spread, because nearly three weeks after he had been summoned, an unfamiliar kyrie entered his room. She introduced herself as Felda, and said she had heard of his feelings towards the Valkyrie.

Dan smelled a trap. “So?” he asked. “Why are you here?”

Dan was sitting at the table, and Felda stepped forward so that she was across from him. “I’m here,” she said, “to free you from Vydar. I’m here to help you escape him.”

Dan was curious now. “Why?” he asked.

Felda spoke in a rush, anger coloring her voice. “Because he’s a possessive Valkyrie of extremes.” She paused and composed herself. “Not many see him for who he is, but if you do, we would like you to join us.”

“I hardly know him,” Dan pointed out.

“You know enough,” Felda said. “You know he’s summoned you here with no regard to your own life. But there’s more you don’t know.”

Dan was silent, inviting her to go on.

“Vydar is possessive, incredibly possessive. He has to be in control over everything, and if he’s not… well there’s nothing he won’t do. That’s why we – me and my allies – are against him. He’s too extreme. If someone is in his way, he will do anything to get rid of them. He’s imprisoned people just because they stood up to him, and even executed those who wouldn’t keep quiet. He’s changed sides in this war twice, only because his allies wouldn’t do what he wanted. He’s even entertained the massacre of hundreds of prisoners of war, simply to make a point. He’s not worthy to be a Valkyrie.”

Dan knew enough to be cautious, but he agreed with what Felda was saying. He didn’t know much about Vydar, but what he did know matched up with how she described him.

“Our interests would be better served on our own,” Felda continued, “or under one who knows where to draw the line. I don’t think you want to be his slave. I think you want to get out, and I can help you.”

Dan was about to agree, and ask what Felda had in mind, when the door opened, and Aviir came in. Felda whirled around, and for a moment the two kyrie stared at each other.

“Guard!” Aviir called behind her shoulder. Neither she nor Felda moved.

“Trying to convert another?” Aviir asked, stepping into the room.

“Trying to show him the true colors of the reckless fool you serve,” Felda spat.

“He is neither reckless nor a fool,” Aviir said calmly. “And,” she added as a kyrie soldier appeared in the doorway, “you may now leave. I recall the captain of the guard banishing you from entering the Citadel quite clearly. Make sure she leaves,” she added to the guard. The guard nodded, grasped Felda under the arm, and escorted her out of the room. Aviir closed the door behind them.

“What did she tell you?” Aviir asked wearily, approaching the table.

Dan saw no harm in telling her. He had no way to know if Felda had spoken the truth; the least he could do was hear Aviir’s side of things. He told her everything Felda had told him, and then asked her if it was true.

“No,” Aviir said. “At least not all of it.”

Dan was surprised she hadn’t just denied it all. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, you first have to understand where she’s coming from,” Aviir said. “Back when the war started, Felda’s parents were followers of a kyrie called Kelad. Kelad, like nearly everyone else at the time, wanted Vydar’s wellspring for himself. You remember how I told you Vydar started this war on the side of Utgar?”

Dan nodded. Aviir had told him several days ago.

“Well,” Aviir continued, “Kelad learned that both Einar and Vydar were intending to betray Utgar and join the alliance. I don’t know how he found out, because it was a well-guarded secret, but timing was critical. Both Vydar and Einar had soldiers mixed in with Utgar’s who needed to be extracted without raising suspicion. Kelad found out what they were planning, and realized he could blackmail Vydar into relinquishing the wellspring.”

“What happened?” Dan asked.

“Kelad knew he couldn’t just walk into Vydar’s audience chamber and tell him what he knew; Vydar would imprison him without a second thought. He needed some sort of leverage. So he decided to tell one other person what he had found out, with instructions that if anything happened to him, that he would then tell everyone, and the secret would get out. That way, silencing him would not solve the problem, meaning Vydar would have to listen to him. It was a good plan, and might have changed a lot in the war. Unfortunately for Kelad, he put his faith in the wrong person.

“He had entrusted the secret to a wounded samurai of Einar’s, called Takuya Imai. Takuya held no rank, was discharged from service because of his wound, and was generally unhappy with his lot in life. Kelad thought he would be perfect, as he was virtually invisible to all those around him. Takuya had other ideas.

“The instant Kelad told him what he knew, Takuya went straight to Einar and told him the whole story. Einar apprehended Kelad before he ever reached Vydar, and for his loyalty, Takuya was made the commander of a forward outpost. Kelad was turned over to Vydar, who had him executed for conspiracy and treason. Most of his followers were rounded up, but a few, like Felda, remain, skulking in the shadows, trying to stir up trouble for Vydar.”

Dan leaned back in his chair. “So you think I should ignore her then?” he asked. He wanted to see what Aviir’s reply would be.

Aviir took her time in answering. “No,” she finally said. “She was right: Vydar can be extreme at times, but he’s not as she paints him. There’s only one thing you have to understand about Vydar, and that is that keeping his people safe is the only thing he cares about. The only thing. Yes, he can be extreme, but you have to understand the reason why.”

Dan looked at her dubiously. “Extreme is still extreme,” he said.

Aviir sighed. “Do you know why he joined Utgar at the start of the war?” she asked.

Dan shook his head.

“Everyone expected him to join Jandar and Ullar. Ullar especially believed this. Ullar had been trying to claim Anund for years before the wellsprings were discovered, and now that he had a wellspring, the regional governors were bowing to his control one by one. Vydar saw Ullar’s rule as oppressive; Ullar treated Anund like a conquered territory, not part of his own land. So when Vydar found his wellspring and Ullar tried to take it, Vydar stopped him. He had the people of Anund behind him, but Ullar was far more powerful. So, to protect his people, Vydar did the only thing he could do: he called on Utgar for aid.

“Utgar gladly flooded Anund with marro, probably thinking that when it was all over, he would claim Vydar’s wellspring for himself. That never happened. The occupying marro began contaminating the rivers and lakes of Anund with their filth, and Vydar’s people grew sick from the contamination. When Utgar refused to remove the marro, Vydar turned again, this time with Einar, joined the alliance, and drove the marro from Anund by force. Ullar still wanted Anund as his own, but since Vydar now had an army of his own, Ullar had to respect his wishes.”

Aviir stood. “That’s why he’s extreme, Dan,” she said. “His people are threatened from all sides, and he’s vowed to do anything to keep them safe. He doesn’t care about land or glory or riches. He cares only about his people. In this war very few things are certain, so the fact that Vydar’s loyalty to Anund has never wavered, means something. It’s something we can hold onto. And in a war like this, people need something to hold onto.

“Believe Felda if you will. Some dislike the extremes Vydar goes to. But you can never say that he’s selfish. He’s probably the most selfless kyrie I’ve ever met.”

And with that, Aviir left the room, leaving Dan to evaluate her words for himself.

Dan still didn’t like Vydar, but if what Aviir had said was true, he at least understood where he was coming from. He knew he would do absolutely anything to get to Heleer, for example. That, at least, Dan could understand.  

Dan spent the next week in the same small room. Most of the time he was left to himself, and he spent many hours thinking about what NT9 had told him, and how he might get back to Heleer. While he didn’t like the sound of Vydar, the Valkyrie was obviously the first step. Dan would ask him to send him back. If he refused… well, he would have to find another way.

Occasionally, one of the bird-humans – or kyrie, as Dan was learning to call them – would visit him. Her name was Aviir, and Dan could only assume she had been sent to see if he was loyal to Vydar. He had told her he wasn’t the first time she had spoken to him, and he had spent the time since berating himself for the mistake. He doubted Vydar would listen to him now.

NT9 also visited him occasionally, and despite being a soulborg, Dan was beginning to believe he was an ally. One day he asked NT9 why he was different.

“I’m not Khyta Lekon,” he said. “Khyta Soulborg,” he added at Dan’s confused look. “I’m Senry Lekon. There are several different factions of soulborgs, and mine is different from the one which imprisoned you, if I’m correct.”

“I was imprisoned by these… Khyta Soulborgs?” Dan asked.

“Khyta are the only ones to use SR Units to imprison Mariedians, so I assume they are the ones, yes.”

“And you don’t?”

“No. Never. Khyta believe the Mariedians are inferior to them, and feel no guilt in what they do. We believe the future of the Mariedian lies in the soulborg, but we at least remember our roots, and respect the wishes of our Mariedian allies.”

“Allies?” Dan asked, glancing at the emblem on NT9’s shoulder, the same emblem which Darren had worn.

“Yes,” NT9 said. “Mariedians serve with us in our fight against Khyta.”

Dan sat up straighter. This was information had hadn’t expected.

“You fight Khyta? How? Who’s winning?”

NT9 looked at him, surprised. “Yes, we fight them. They are enslaving Mariedians; we weren’t about to sit by and do nothing. We frequently bomb their containment blocks, and free who we can. That’s about all we can do, though. Khyta’s resources and numbers are far better than our own. We can’t attack them head on; the best we can do is surprise them and flee before they know what happened. It’s an arms race, with Khyta’s better technology always beating our own. We survive, but only just.”

Too much information. Dan closed his eyes, trying to process it. He had no doubt that Darren had been part of these Senry Soulborgs, fighting the Khyta. At last, he knew what had been going on that night he was rescued. The Senry had bombed the prison block, blasted a hole in the ceiling, and Darren had come down to free as many Mariedians as he could. And if the constant thunderings and shakings and power outages were any indication, Senry was still hard at work bombing the prison cell. Or at least, they had been when Dan had left.

“I… actually meant to ask you something about that,” NT9 said. “About Khyta’s technology.”

Dan opened his eyes. What could he know?

“Every Mariedian we free mentions a ‘barrier’ of some sort, keeping them in their cell, but none of them can tell us what it is, or how it works. Such technology is something only the Khyta possess; Senry Soulborgs have never even seen one. Could you describe one to me?”

Describe one? Dan could do better than that. RR had told him exactly how it worked… if only he could remember. It had been years ago.

“RR – the Khyta who was there – explained it to me once, but I can’t remember… something to do with pulses?” Dan thought harder. “Wait!” Dan held up an arm. “My gloves! RR said they contained a replica of whatever made the Barrier!”

NT9 looked at his gloves. “Why?” he asked.

“I can’t remember… something about nerve damage, I think. I jumped at the Barrier when I was young and got stuck – RR said my arms were almost destroyed. She said they repaired them, and used a small replica of the Barrier to do… something. Something about nerves.”

“May I see your arms?” NT9 asked.

Dan held them out.

“A few Mariedians have had similar operations done – on a leg, one hand, one side – but they’ve always been pure metal replicas. This is different somehow… how did you get these scars?” He pointed to the faint red lines circling Dan’s arms, up from the gloves.

Dan remembered. He had gotten those scars when the power had gone out, and he had destroyed the service table trying to get free. That had been the day he had discovered what his gloves could do. He looked at NT9. Could he trust him? He was a soulborg after all, and the only proof Dan had that he was an ally was the emblem on his shoulder.

Dan thought about it. His gloves were the only weapon he had against the soulborgs, but they wouldn’t be very effective if they did as much damage to him as they did to them. What he really needed was knowledge; knowledge of how to use them, how to control them, how they worked. Maybe NT9 could provide that knowledge. It was a risk he would have to take.

Dan told him. He left nothing out, but told NT9 about the check, about the power going out, and how he had seen two devices touch inside his gloves, and what had happened.

NT9 considered his gloves for a moment. “I wonder,” he said, “might I see if I can open them up? See how they work? I might be able to tell you exactly what happened.”

Ever since that day, Dan had grown accustomed to thinking of his arms as machines, rather than part of his body. That was why he shrugged and sat back, laying his gloves flat on the table.

NT9 picked one glove up, and then the other. He looked at them from all angles. “Ah,” he said. “Knew it had to be somewhere.” With one finger, he pressed a small plate on the inside of Dan’s forearm. The glove promptly unfolded like a flower opening.

“What – How?” Dan wasn’t too worried by the fact that his arm was lying disassembled on the table; he was more curious about how NT9 had opened it. He himself had pressed on his gloves from every angle.

“Only a soulborg could do that,” NT9 said. “The plate can sense the exact amount of pressure I’m putting on it, and treats it like the code to a combination lock. Let’s see what we have…”

For a moment, Dan sat still while NT9 slid panels back and forth and moved wires in his arm. Dan pointed out the two devices he had seen touch when the blast came from his arm. NT9 looked at them carefully.

“Well,” he said eventually, “I won’t pretend to know what I’m looking at. Obviously, the Khyta have somehow developed a machine which can emit energy pulses at an unbelievable rate. This one,”— he tapped one device in Dan’s arm —“is the small replica of that machine. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to feel much of anything, aside from a constant dull pain in your arms. This one,” — he tapped a second device —“is an amplifier of some sort. It’s probably used to amplify the sensory input signals, so that you can feel better. Without it, your sense of touch would be minimal at best. But if those two devices were to touch… the pulse gets amplified instead. And with nowhere to go, it goes into a loop, passing through the amplifier again and again… until,”— NT9 lifted Dan’s arm, getting a better view —“until the expanding energy field hits the closest thing it can enter: the main shaft going down the arm. Most would flow into the hand and out through the palm or fingers, but a good portion would exit the back of the gloves and go into your upper arm. That’s undoubtedly what happened.”

“Right,” Dan said, struggling to understand what NT9 had said. There was a pause. “Can I do it again, without… you know, blowing myself up?”

NT9 considered the two devices. “Certainly. You would need an inhibitor in the shaft above the amplifier. That would send the energy back down the other way. There might still be some stray energy, but it shouldn’t do much more than cause some bruising. I can’t be certain, of course, but that would be my best guess.”

That was good enough for Dan. “Where can we get an inhibitor?” he asked.

“Easy,” NT9 replied, not even looking up. “The soulborgs have plenty of spare devices here in the Citadel, for repair. They won’t mind if I take two. And if I provide a connection between the amplifier and whatever device is creating those pulses, and tie it to an external trigger, you should be able to unleash an energy blast at will.”

“So you mean,” Dan said, “that if I wanted to I could replicate what I did to the service table? Without tearing up my arm?” This was better than he could have hoped.

“Yes, once I get the right materials,” NT9 said, pressing a few plates. Dan’s arm slid back together smoothly. “I wouldn’t recommend it unless you really need to though. There’s bound to be some damage to your arms above the gloves, even if it’s just bruises.”

A thought occurred to Dan. “Why did the Khyta give me these gloves? Don’t they know what they can do?”

“I doubt it,” NT9 said. “They would never give you such a powerful weapon if they knew. I suspect that not many Mariedians have gotten themselves stuck against the Barrier like you have. And of those who have, you are probably the only one who still wanted to get out. Plus, in their current state, the arms have got to be open, and you’d have to twist them quite a bit to get the blast you want. So it’s quite plausible that they don’t even know the capability is there, or at least they assume you couldn’t use it, which is perfectly true, since you could never open the gloves on your own. That being said… I wouldn’t use the gloves around any Khyta Soulborgs you might meet. If one of them sees it, they’ve all seen it. Then when you go back, they’ll know, and replace your gloves before you have a chance to use them.”

“How do I know which ones are the Khyta Soulborgs?” Dan asked.

“Simple,” NT9 said. “They’re on the enemy’s side. We call them Zettians. Dark armor, red eyes; you’ll know when you see one.”

Two days later, NT9 returned with several metal parts and devices. He installed an inhibitor in each glove to minimize the damage to Dan’s arms, and then created a trigger which would allow Dan to unleash a pulse of energy at will. Before he left, NT9 showed him how the trigger worked.

“There’s a safety,” he said, pointing out a small switch on the inside of each of Dan’s arms. “Pull that out and towards you, and your gloves will be armed. Pull it out and away from you, and they won’t fire. When armed, you simply put your hand out like you are pushing on something.”

Dan – first making sure the safety was on – tried it.

“A ninety degree angle,” NT9 said, correcting him. “Your arm should be straight out, and your hand straight up. The fingers should be as flat as you can make them. When in doubt, just make a motion like your shoving something away from you.”

“And the gloves will fire?”

NT9 nodded.

“What exactly can I do with them? I shattered that table back on Isadora…”

“It depends,” NT9 said. “It’s important to remember that you aren’t creating blasts of energy; you are creating pulses. A pulse acts like a wave: it spreads out from a central point. But when a pulse comes into contact with something solid – something which can’t bend and flex sufficiently to let the pulse pass through it – it’s going to behave differently. A pulse traveling through a solid object will begin to break down the forces holding it together. If you used your gloves on this stone wall, for instance, and used them long enough, the wall would eventually just crumble to dust. If instead you released a single pulse, it would be more like a shot from a soulborg’s rifle, although with a much wider area of effect.”

Dan couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across his face. When he returned to Isadora, the soulborgs would have no idea what was coming. It didn’t matter where they put him; he would always be able to escape. He’d tear down the walls and blast open the ceiling if he had to. He had to be careful, of course. He knew that once he used his secret weapon in front of them, he’d have to escape. He couldn’t afford to fail, otherwise they would undoubtedly rework his gloves so that his advantage was gone.

But he wouldn’t let that happen. When the time came, when the soulborgs least expected it, he would find Heleer, and together, they would escape.

“Please—”

“No.” Heleer’s eyes, those same eyes which Dan felt he could peer into for hours, were now cold, locked against him. She had made a decision.

“Go,” she said.

“Heleer—”

“Go,” she repeated, motioning him away. “It’s over. I failed. You won. Go now.”

Dan could still see her face, and the hurt he was causing her. He understood now. She thought she had done the one thing she never could: shown someone how to be content with what they had. He had done more than prove her wrong. He had taken away the only victory she had ever fought for.

“Heleer, please,” he said. “I didn’t mean it. I’ll stay. I’ll be content. I’ll never try to escape again. Please, just… just don’t do this.”

She looked at him a moment longer, and then turned away.

“Please—”

“Go,” she said, her back facing him.

“Heleer.”

She didn’t answer.

“Heleer.”

Silence.

“Heleer!”

Dan sat bolt upright. He had shouted her name aloud. He closed his eyes, trying to rid them of the image of Heleer’s face. He had to fix this.

Dan opened his eyes again, and took in his surroundings. A stone room, a table and chair, single door, and a bed. He was still in SR. He was in the same room he had started in.

Dan didn’t hesitate, but got to his feet and made for the door. The only reason the soulborgs would keep him in SR this long was if they wanted him to do something. Well, he would do it, whatever it was. It was the only way out. After that, he would find Heleer, no matter what it took.

He had gotten half-way across the room when the door opened and someone stepped inside. It was the same soulborg who had spoken to Dan outside in the large hall. The one with Darren’s symbol. Dan stopped.

The soulborg closed the door behind him, and then stood there, watching Dan.

“You may call me NT9,” the soulborg said after a moment.

The same emblem Darren had worn was clearly visible on the soulborg’s shoulder. “Are you a friend?” Dan asked.

“Yes,” NT9 said.

“Then let me out.”

“You are not in SR.”

Dan said nothing. If he wasn’t in SR, then the soulborgs must have built this place, and why would they use stone and wood? Why not the same metal that they always used? And plus, if he wasn’t in SR, then the strange human-bird hybrids he had seen had to be real. No, he had to be in SR.

“Look around you,” NT9 said. “Nothing here could be simulated by a SR Unit. The detail is too exact. The construction too precise. The SR Unit can mimic, but it cannot create. All of this is real.”

“Including those bird-humans I saw?” Dan said, raising an eyebrow.

He expected a ‘no’, but NT9 nodded. “Including them, and they’re called kyrie.”

Dan said nothing. He still didn’t believe him.

“Consider what you can feel,” NT9 said. “Consider the stone beneath your feet. Could anything feel that way other than a surface outside SR? Have you felt anything which does feel like it belongs in SR?”

“It’s an upgrade then,” Dan said. “A more realistic SR.”

NT9 suppressed a laugh. “No,” he said. “I doubt SR could be made any better than it is now. This…  this is reality, and it’s something no soulborg will ever be able to mimic perfectly.”

Dan watched NT9 for a moment. “I don’t believe you,” he said. But even as he said it, the sense of fear he had felt before returned, stronger this time. Despite his best efforts, everything NT9 said made sense. Dan had seen nothing which belonged in SR, and encountered only things which belonged in the real world.

NT9 watched him. “I think you do believe me,” he said. “My processors can read Mariedians like a book, and you’re beginning to grasp the truth.”

Dan’s fear was growing steadily. “Where am I then?” he asked.

“You are not on Isadora,” NT9 said. “You are no longer a prisoner of the Khyta Soulborgs. You are on a different planet. You are on Valhalla.”

It took Dan a few days to finally come to terms with what NT9 had said. At first he stubbornly maintained that he was in SR. However, after two days had passed and nothing had changed, he found himself beginning to believe he really was no longer on Isadora. He at least wasn’t a prisoner of the soulborgs anymore. And if this was SR after all, then Dan could see no way out of it. All he could do was play along and wait for it to end.

Having decided that, he turned to the next most pressing thing: finding Heleer. If NT9 was right and this was some faraway planet, then Dan had to get back to Heleer as quickly as possible. The next time NT9 showed up, Dan asked him how he could do this.

“The only way you can go back,” NT9 said, “is by the same way you arrived. You were summoned here by Vydar, and only by his hand can you be returned.”

None of this had made an impression on Dan. “What?” he asked.

“Vydar is a Valkyrie,” NT9 said, “one of seven here on Valhalla. A Valkyrie is a being who has drunk from one of fifteen magical wellsprings scattered throughout this land. Upon drinking, they receive visions of creatures and people from different times and places. With practice, they can use the wellsprings to pull those people from their own times to here, Valhalla. We call the process summoning. Vydar is one such Valkyrie, and he has summoned you.”

Dan was silent for a moment. Only some of what NT9 had said made sense. “Why?” he asked.

“We’re at war,” NT9 said. “We have been for a long time. The other Valkyrie want the power of the wellsprings for themselves, and have been fighting amongst each other ever since they were discovered. And the abilities granted to them by the wellsprings means that they can summon armies to fight for them.”

“And that’s where I come in,” Dan guessed grimly.

NT9 nodded.

So that was it. Assuming this all wasn’t just an elaborate simulation, Dan was stuck on a distant planet, expected to fight in a war he cared nothing about.

“Why me?” he asked. “I’m no warrior.”

NT9 shrugged, the metal plates of his body sliding and flexing smoothly. “No one but Vydar himself can know the reason. He’s summoned more than warriors. He’s summoned people to build this very citadel we now sit in. He’s summoned healers and farmers. Not all are warriors. In time, your use will become apparent. Suffice it to say that all those who Vydar has summoned have proven their worth in some way. You will be no different.”

“Won’t I now?” Dan muttered under his breath. “So how do I get sent back?” he added so that NT9 could hear him.

“You will have to prove your worth. The same promise has been made to all who Vydar has summoned: serve him well and do your part to win this war, and when it’s over, Vydar will send you back.”

“When it’s over?” Dan repeated. “I can’t wait that long, NT9. I need to go back now. I need to—”

“Nothing will have changed.”

“I – What?”

“Nothing will have changed,” NT9 repeated. “When Vydar sends you back, you will go back to the same time and place he took you from. Your life will resume as if nothing had happened.”

Dan sat back in the chair. So he could go back and fix the damage he had caused. If NT9 was right, even the few days he had already spent here would never have happened for Heleer. If he was sent back.

“When?” he asked.

“When will the war be over?” NT9 said. “No one can be sure. The enemy has steadily been losing ground for some time; most believe the end of the war is near. But no one can be sure. You will be sent back when your duty to Vydar is fulfilled.”

Dan sat up straight. “Duty?” he echoed.

“Duty,” NT9 repeated. “He saved your life,” he added at Dan’s look. “I don’t know the specifics, but nearly every warrior Vydar has summoned would have been killed or injured if he had not intervened. Can you say this is not your case?”

Dan remembered RR pointing the small black object at him. He remembered her words: “beyond repair.” Had she been about to kill him? Dan hadn’t thought she would, but ‘beyond repair’ certainly sounded like it. Maybe Vydar had saved him.

NT9, reading his face, nodded. “You owe him a debt,” he said. “Repay that debt. Help Vydar win this war, and he will send you back.”

Dan slowly leaned back, thinking. It was too convenient to be a coincidence. This Vydar needed soldiers, and everyone he summoned happened to instantly owe him a great debt? How likely was that? Although Dan knew very little about him, he was beginning to dislike this Vydar. He sounded manipulative, like he didn’t care about the lives he summoned. He might have saved them, but only to throw them into a war they cared nothing for.

NT9 got up to leave. “You may not want to go back to your old life, you know,” he said, turning at the door. “Many don’t.”

“Why’s that?” asked Dan, still thinking.

“Once you’ve seen Valhalla, you’ll understand. For many, this land is a better place than the one they left. You might wish to stay.”

Dan thought about that. He was fairly certain that anywhere would be better than the cell he had lived in. But then he remembered Heleer, and a sudden feeling of longing washed over him. No place would be complete without her.

“Is Vydar the only way back?” he asked.

“Yes,” NT9 replied. “Only the Valkyrie can send people back. There is no other way.”

No other way. RR had once said something similar to Dan, about escaping his cell. Well, she had been wrong. Dan had gotten out, and he believed he could get out of this Valhalla too. Valkyrie or not, he would see Heleer again.

Dan woke slowly. He felt as if he was being pulled from a very deep sleep, from a smothering dream in which the only thing he could see was a thick darkness. Slowly, awareness returned. Dan pulled himself from the last traces of unconsciousness, and opened his eyes.

SR Again. Dan’s heart sank. He was looking at a dark stone ceiling, with a faint light flickering on it, probably from a candle nearby. He didn’t need to see any more. He was back in his cell, locked in the SR Unit.

Or was he in his cell? Surely RR would have returned him to his home? But what if she hadn’t? What if she had sent him somewhere else, somewhere… somewhere without Heleer?

Heleer. He saw her face in a flash of memory: the disappointment, the hurt, the despair. He had to reach her, to fix the damage he had caused. He couldn’t wait for the SR to finish. He had to get out now.

“Let me out,” he said calmly, looking at the ceiling. Nothing happened. He hadn’t really expected it to, but he was far from giving up. “Let me out,” he repeated, keeping his voice calm and firm.

Silence was the only reply. After a minute, Dan looked harder at the ceiling. Something was wrong with it. It didn’t look right. It didn’t look like it belonged in the SR Unit. What was it? The detail? The shape? It looked more… realistic.

Dan shoved the thought to the back of his head. Maybe he was in a different, newer SR Unit. And if that was the case, then he was definitely not in his home. He had to find Heleer.

He swung his legs off of the bed he was lying on and sat up, facing the room he was in. It was stone, massive blocks making up the ceiling, floor, and walls. The was a single wooden door in the far wall, and a wooden table and chair in the middle of the room. On the table was a candle, its bright flame the only source of light. The only other piece of furniture was the bed on which Dan sat, the wooden frame holding a thin mattress of some sort, and a single rough blanket.

Dan took all of this in, noting as he did so that everything had the same level of detail as the stone ceiling. Nothing here looked like it belonged in SR. It was rougher, more detailed. The thin blanket which had been covering Dan fell away as he sat up, and glancing at it, he saw that it too was detailed beyond anything the SR Unit had ever created before. He held it up to his face, looking at it closely. He could see each individual thread, weaving its way through all the others. He could move them with his fingers. It was at that point that Dan realized something else.

Nothing felt right, either. Everything in the SR Unit felt soft, pliable. If Dan held a rock and squeezed it slowly, his fingers would create dents in it. The rock would feel hard, and it would take some time, but it could be done. Everything in the SR Unit was like that, not quite solid, from metal to water. Everything except the blanket Dan now held. And the bed he was sitting on. And the floor his feet rested on.

Dan dropped the blanket, stood, and crossed to the table. He looked at it for a moment, and then pressed both of his hands down on it. It didn’t budge. He pressed harder. It was as solid as… well, as the walls of Dan’s home.

Dan turned on the spot, taking in his surroundings once more. What kind of SR Unit was this? And why would RR put him here? Indeed, why would she put him in SR at all? Hadn’t she said he was ‘beyond repair’?

Dan had to find out what was going on. He had to get out of this SR, find Heleer, and then figure out what to do. He crossed the room to the door and tried to lift the latch. It was locked. It remained stubbornly in place, the metal feeling far too solid for the SR Dan knew.

Undeterred, he raised one metal arm, and smashed it down on the latch. Splinters of the surrounding wood shattered as the latch fell to the ground with a loud clang. Dan kicked it aside and shoved the door open.

A long stone hallway stretched to the right and left. It was narrow, but it reminded Dan a bit of the metal hallway outside his home. Torches lined one wall, spaced evenly like so many cameras. Opposite them were wooden doors identical to the one Dan had just opened. The similarities to the metal hallway sent a shiver down Dan’s spine. If he entered this hall as he had the other, would things end the same way?

Dan shook his head to rid it of his thoughts. The only thing which mattered right now was getting out and finding Heleer. Dan had spent years in the SR Unit, and knew there was no use in trying to find the interior wall and breaking out. Not only would he never feel it, he knew he could never break it. He had tried plenty of times when the power went down.

No, as much as he hated it, the only option was to play along with the soulborgs’ game, and find Heleer the moment the SR ended.

Dan set off down the hall. It was completely silent, the guttering of the torches and the echo of Dan’s bare feet the only sound. The hallway wasn’t long, and soon Dan came to a left turn, which he took. It led into another identical hall, except Dan could see that this one ended a distance away with a wide wooden door. The only other difference was that this hall was not empty.

Two men were halfway down the hall, leaning casually against the wall, looking at a piece of paper and talking quietly. Dan couldn’t make out what they were saying. He didn’t break his stride, but made straight for the door. They were nothing more than creations of SR.

The two men looked up as Dan walked past, taking in his simple clothes and bare feet. They exchanged confused looks, but said nothing. Dan glanced at them as he passed, and then paused. Their faces… they were detailed. Detailed like Heleer. Detailed like the faces Dan had seen behind the other Barriers when he had escaped. He had never seen faces like that in SR before.

He had to know what was going on. He forced himself to keep walking, and soon found himself before the wide door. Glancing back, he saw the two men still watching him. One of them looked like he was on the verge of calling out, but Dan gave him no chance. He shoved on the wide door, and it opened easily.

Light and sound flooded Dan.

Before him, stretching to either side, was a vast wide hall. The far wall was lined with windows set into the stone wall, and light was pouring from them, bathing the hallway with a bright, even light. And walking in the hall, moving past Dan without giving him so much as a glance, was a vast crowd of people.

Some were men. Some were women. And some were… different. Dan had seen many creatures in SR, some of which he supposed must be real. But he had never seen what he now saw, flying through the hall above the crowds.

They looked like humans, but had large feathery wings sprouting from their backs, with which they were flying like oversized birds, albeit gracefully, Dan had to admit. He watched them for a moment, wondering why the SR Unit had created them. No matter. They weren’t important.

Dan took a few steps forward, so that the people passing by were just an arm’s breadth away. They were all detailed like the two men Dan had seen in the hall. Nothing here looked like it usually did in SR.

Dan turned on the spot, taking in the detailed stone walls and high ceiling, the detailed faces rushing past him, and the strange flying human-bird hybrids flying past overhead. This was all wrong. SR had never been this detailed, this precise.

“Are you all right?” said a voice behind Dan.

Dan turned. One of the two men he had passed had followed him, and now stood in the doorway.

“Are you lost?”

Dan, used to treating people in SR like they were simply images dreamt up by a machine, ignored the man. He moved to the right, and started to feel the stone wall. It was solid. As solid as the walls of Dan’s home.

“What happened to your arms?” The man had taken a few steps towards Dan, and noticed his gloves.

Dan turned, confused. Until now, no one in SR had ever said anything about his gloves. They had accepted them just as if they were normal arms.

Dan glanced at the man, the stone, the wooden door, the people rushing past, and the light streaming through the window, and a slow sickly feeling began to creep into his stomach. This wasn’t right. None of it was.

“What’s going on here?” Dan breathed.

“What do you mean?” the man asked, coming closer. “It’s all right, nothing’s wrong.”

A hint of fear lodged in Dan’s chest. “This is all wrong. All of it. What’s happening?”

Two women paused as they were walking past, glancing at Dan. A younger man stopped as well, his expression curious.

“I want to get out,” Dan said, not speaking to any of them in particular. He had always assumed the soulborgs could hear every word he said in SR.

“Out?” one of the women repeated. “Out of what? The Citadel?”

Citadel? Dan ignored her.

“Let me out,” he repeated.

“He’s new,” one of the men said quietly. “Came from the hall.” He jerked his thumb towards the hall Dan had exited.

“What’s going on here?” a calm voice asked. Dan turned, and felt his breath catch and lodge somewhere in his stomach.

A soulborg stepped around the corner. Soulborgs had never appeared in SR. Ever.

This soulborg was quite different from RR. He spoke with a male voice, and his eyes, instead of yellow, glowed white. They were also uncovered, instead of behind a protective mask like RR’s eyes had always been. The sharp light of them made Dan blink.

The soulborg came to a halt in front of Dan. His body was different, composed entirely of plates of varying shades of gray. There was one other difference too: emblazoned clearly on the soulborg’s shoulder, was a symbol: a hexagon and two vertical bars.

It looked familiar, and after a moment Dan remembered: it was the same symbol Darren had worn. RR had once told him that was the symbol of an enemy. But Dan knew better now. He knew Darren had been his friend, and RR had been the enemy. And if this soulborg had the same symbol as Darren…

“I want to get out,” Dan said, speaking directly to the soulborg. “Let me out.”

The soulborg said nothing, but continued to watch Dan. The small crowd forming around them glanced from one to the other.

“Let me out,” Dan repeated, the sense of fear in his stomach growing. “Let me out. Take me to Heleer.” Still no reply. “Let me out!” he shouted, taking a step towards the soulborg.

“You are not in SR,” the soulborg said quietly.

All other sound ceased for Dan. He had eyes and ears only for the soulborg before him.

“You are not in SR,” the soulborg repeated.

Dan didn’t believe this for a second. “Yes, I am,” he said. “Now let me out.”

Again, the soulborg was silent.

Dan didn’t care if this soulborg was an ally or not. He had to get to Heleer, and he was willing to do anything to make that happen. He took another step towards the soulborg and raised a metal fist, preparing to do he wasn’t sure what.

“Wait!” the soulborg cried.

Dan didn’t wait, but a moment later he realized the soulborg hadn’t been speaking to him. Before he could bring his fist down against the soulborg, there was a rasping sound behind him, and Dan heard – and a moment later felt – a blast of something hot strike him in the back. He staggered forwards, trying to keep his balance, and then his mind shut off.

Completely. Totally. Unconsciousness covered Dan like a smothering blanket.