Five weeks after the work, Cassius sent word that Alaric's process was nearly complete.
"Nearly" was the word I held onto because it was honest — Cassius was not a man who gave false certainties — and because it meant we were in a different category now—not waiting for an indefinite event that might arrive. Waiting for something that was actively in progress.
I went back to the Black Realm.
This time, I went alone.
I want to be precise about what I mean by that: Kael was at the boundary, and Aldric, and Helena with her kit. Giga, recovered enough to be mobile if not yet fully operational, had insisted on being present, a nd I'd given up arguing after the second attempt. They were all there. But inside the boundary, into the Realm itself, I went by myself.
Kael had asked if he should c
