Die. Respawn. Repeat.

"First," Gheraa says. "You have to understand what the Interface is."

There's a pause. Gheraa stares at me expectantly, and after a moment passes, I open one eye to look at him. "What is it?" I ask, because Gheraa is clearly waiting for me to prompt him. He rolls his shoulders once, then takes a deep breath, like he's preparing for some big reveal...

"We don't know," he says.

"...What." The response is almost enough for me to lose concentration. I feel like I can almost feel where my body is and what it's doing. Like I can feel the cold ground beneath me, and the presence of Ahkelios and Bimar's Firmament nearby.

But what does he mean, they don't know?

"We don't know," Gheraa repeats. "I think you suspect it already, and you're not the only one—but we Integrators aren't the ones that created the Interface. All we did was discover it."

I frown. It's true that I've had my suspicions—I've talked about this exact scenario with Ahkelios—but it's discomforting to have it just confirmed like this. The Interface is an enormously powerful tool, and the idea that the Integrators are spreading it around without fully understanding it... it makes me wince.

"Then what's the point?" I ask. "Why Integrate civilizations with the Interface at all? Why have these Trials?"

Gheraa shifts uncomfortably. "You have to understand that I'm just repeating the philosophy of the Integrators, not necessarily my own," he starts. I incline my head toward him—that's pretty much a given, at this point. "We view the Interface as... the closest translation would be that it has religious significance to us. Many Integrators believe it's directly responsible for our existence."

"Correct. Or that's part of the reason, at least." Gheraa hesitates for a moment, then takes a step back, gesturing to the blank space around us both. "Integrator history is a little muddled, but our discovery of the Interface happened more or less at the start of our recorded civilization. Our doctrine teaches us that we were created as guardians of the Interface—responsible for both its spread and empowerment. The only problem is that, as I'm sure you're aware, a lot of what the Interface is capable of is locked away or hidden. There are many features triggered only when prerequisite conditions are met."

"And the Trials are... what, an attempt to unlock more Interface features?" I ask. It's a half-hearted guess, but Gheraa's silence speaks volumes. I stare at him. "You can't be serious."

"It's not completely right, but you're most of the way there." Gheraa shrugs, the tension in his shoulders clearly uncomfortable. "You're aware by this point that every planet has a Heart, yes?"

"Vaguely." It's not like anyone's ever explained in explicit terms to me what the Heart of a planet is, and although Hestia's has ostensibly spoken to me, I can't say that that's allowed me any more insight into what a Heart is, exactly. "I know they exist, anyway. Don't know much more than that."

"A Heart is essentially a planet's Firmament core," Gheraa says. He leans back a bit and examines me. "Some call it the culmination of civilization on that planet, although that explanation is misleading at best. The Heart shapes the civilization, not the other way around. Every planet that has a Heart is guaranteed to eventually develop intelligent life."

That's close enough to what I've already guessed based on the name alone. I consider this information for a moment, then let out a breath. "That explains how you track down new planets to Integrate, yeah?" I ask. "You look for Firmament?"

"Exactly." Gheraa nods. "Planetary Hearts are very noticeable. More importantly, though, the Interface recognizes them. When the Interface has direct access to a planet's Heart, it can integrate that planet's Firmament into itself, producing new skills and features."

"That's what the Trials are for," I say. "You're connecting the Interface to Hearts and evolving the Interface in the process."

Gheraa gives me a weak smile. "You're a smart one," he says. "Yes. Connecting the Interface with a planetary Heart completes its associated Trial. Only problem is, we can't do the Trials ourselves."

"So you get the inhabitants of other planets to do it." I frown. "Why can't you do it yourselves, exactly?"

"Couldn't tell you even if I wanted to," Gheraa says with a shrug. "We have more control over the Interface than most, but its functions are still opaque to us. Think of it as having administrative access—actually, that might be the reason the Interface won't let us participate in the Trials. We have too much control over it."

"Maybe." I'm not entirely convinced by that explanation, but the Integrators not having perfect control over the Interface does explain why its features are laid out and presented so strangely. The progression of feature unlocks isn't exactly logical, and I'm guessing that has a lot to do with the Integrators and the Interface not agreeing on what should be available. "Is there an ultimate goal of some kind? I assume you're not just accumulating as many Interface skills and features as you can."

"Some would say that's a goal in and of itself," Gheraa says with a shrug. He studies me closely. "...But you're right in that that's not our primary goal. We've studied the flow of Firmament between Hearts for a long time. There's a definite pattern leading toward the galactic center."

"And you're trying to get there?" I ask.

"We can't connect to a Heart if we haven't connected with all the Hearts before it." Gheraa shrugs. "Don't ask me why. Some of us think it's like a pilgrimage—we have to get the Interface to connect with everything along the way to the center."

"But you don't know what's actually there," I point out. "For all you know, it could be a trap."

"You're not the only one to bring that up," Gheraa says dryly. "That particular argument isn't a popular one. Most Integrators believe we're being led toward the center for a reason."

"And you can't just..." I shrug and gesture helplessly. "Can't you just fly there? You're an interplanetary species. There are Firmament skills that let us teleport. It's not like you can't just ignore the Hearts and find out what they're connected to."

"If only it were that easy." Gheraa sighs. "Even if that were possible there would be a lot of Integrators insistent on us doing it the 'right' way—but it's a moot point, because it's not. Whatever's held at the center is locked up by the Interface itself. The stronger we get while we're linked up with the Interface and the more Hearts we link to, the stronger that shield gets. Getting through it isn't really an option at this point."

That information makes me frown and abandon my attempts to connect with my real body, at least for the moment. "Uh," I say. I try to figure out how to phrase my response.

"What?" Gheraa glances at me. "You're making a face like you've thought of something."

"You just described a pretty efficient system that functions as a seal," I say. At this rate, I'm going to have to put the galactic core on the list of things I'll eventually have to worry about. "Forget what I said about traps, this sounds like a system created to seal away something else."

"The Interface itself is leading us toward the center," Gheraa points out. "If it's trying to seal away what's in the center, why lead us toward it?"

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Fair enough," I say, more because I don't feel like arguing about it than because I'm conceding. I could see the Interface functioning as a sort of warning—or maybe it's just inevitable. Or it's trying to help people grow strong enough to beat whatever's sealed away.

I close my eyes once again and go back to trying to connect with my real-world self. I think I can feel my body now. I'm lying on the ground. Ahkelios is standing on my chest, worried—he's definitely grown larger, from what I'm sensing, which means he's managed to successfully integrate with his Remnant. Bimar is pacing nearby, so she's fine. I let out a sigh of relief.

I can also feel the assault of Teluwat's Firmament. The Interface seems to have taken over the job of Iron Mind, sealing away whatever his Firmament is trying to do to me. Reaching out to sense any more would... probably be a very, very bad idea, if it breaks the Mind Vault the Interface has put me in.

On the other hand... it's wearing itself out. The effect isn't going to last forever.

I might not have to end this loop immediately.

"It's a moot point anyway," I say, opening my eyes and re-focusing on the conversation. I maintain my connection to my real self in the back of my mind, but it's an odd feeling. A little like being in two places at once. "I'm not exactly in a position to stop the Integrators right now. So to summarize: the point of the Trials are to connect to Hearts, which allows the Interface to create and grant new skills. Successful Trialgoers are the ones that manage to create the connection, which I assume is different from just finding the exit."

"It takes time for the Interface to find out how to connect to each Heart, and we figured out early on that having some kind of alternate goal is necessary for the Trialgoer to proceed," Gheraa says. "The exit is mostly a red herring. It's there, but going through it is considered a failure of the Trial."

"Of course it is." I remember suspecting as much right from the beginning—though I would've preferred to be wrong about this one. "You mentioned that the newer skills from the Interface are different?"

"Every Heart has some specific type of Firmament associated with it," Gheraa says. "A lot of the early ones were very basic—Fire, Earth, Water, Air, typical abstractions that emerge across a lot of civilizations. But the more recent ones are a lot more esoteric, and so are the skills we get from them. Control, Authority, Space, Temporal..."

Gheraa glances at me as he says this, and I nod slightly to acknowledge it. "I'm the only one getting Temporal skills, I take it?"

"For now," Gheraa says. "Once you complete the Trial, others will be able to get skills similar to yours."

That's... useful to know, actually. It means I should be able to leverage my skills to surprise the others. It also makes me think that completing the Trial will mean that I lose that advantage—and more to the point, allowing everyone with the Interface access to skills that manipulate time sounds like a Very Bad Thing.

Gheraa seems to guess at what I'm thinking, because he gives me a little smirk and speaks again. "You do have an exit," he says. "We can't lie through the Interface. We can omit things or try to misdirect you, but if we tell you something's there, it has to be there in some capacity."

"I'll keep that in mind," I say. I have too many things to do to worry about the exit, I think. Searching for a spatial hole that's probably hidden somewhere within the ground sounds like a waste of my time. Maybe I can extend my Firmament sense enough to find it, or maybe there's some way I can exit the temporal field around Hestia without ending my Trial.

My goals have nothing to do with passing the Trial, anyway, so it doesn't really matter—but speaking of which... "Will the Earth actually be destroyed if we don't get at least ten passing Trialgoers?"

"No," Gheraa says with a snort. "Destroying planets would be a waste of resources and power. We usually pretend that we've decided to be merciful and spare the planet, in exchange for the planet becoming a host for a Trial. We need to host a Trial on that planet anyway."

"Right. I figured as much." It's only a small relief—Hestia isn't exactly in a good state right now, despite having ostensibly passed its Trials and becoming a fully Integrated planet. Even if Earth isn't at risk of being destroyed, a Trial would probably kill millions. "That answers most of my questions, I think. How do I get to you?"

Gheraa stares at me, uncertainty creeping into his features. "What do you mean?"

"You want me to rescue you," I clarify. "How do I do that?"

"Are you actually going to?" Gheraa's brows are furrowed—he seems genuinely surprised. It makes me frown a bit. Have I given him any indication that I intended to do anything else? "We just talked about how the Integrators are essentially subjugating most life in the galaxy to empower a system we don't even fully understand."

"And you're not a part of that," I say, cocking my head. "Or at least you don't want to be anymore."

"I was a part of it," he argues. "It's not like everything I've done is magically erased just because I want to get away from the rest of them."

"I never said it was," I say. I wonder why he's protesting so much—there's a vulnerability in his expression that's usually masked by his constant enthusiasm and cheer. "Do you need to stay with them to keep manipulating the Trials and the Interface?"

"N-no," Gheraa says. He takes a deep breath, and a bit of his confidence eases back into him as he speaks. "If anything, I should be able to do more if I'm not being constantly watched. They can't really remove my access from your Trial at this point, or they would've done it already. They'd have to kill me. And I might be a lot of things, but I'm not easy to kill."

"So I have no reason to leave you there," I say. "The other Integrators don't treat you well, do they?"

Gheraa winces. "This version of me doesn't have all the memories the original does," he says. "But no. They don't. I'd prefer not to talk about it."

"Then I'm not leaving you there. No reason to complicate it any further. What you've done in the past is irrelevant. You've been helping me, and it's come at a personal cost to you. I'm going to return the favor."

Gheraa just stares at me. "Humans are so weird," he mutters. "We had to do a bit of research on you before we started the Integration. You guys are weird."

"Thanks," I say dryly. I don't ask him to elaborate. I'm sure I'll find out eventually. "So. How do I get to you?"

Gheraa takes a deep breath and begins to explain.

I'm basically already halfway there, it turns out. The Phaseslip skill was one that he slipped into my Interface, and I'm thankful I picked it out—it's apparently one of the keys to accessing the Integrators' domain. They live in a slightly out-of-phase pocket dimension that's synced with every planet that the Interface is connected with. That allows them to work with Trialgoers and Trials with relative ease, and it allows them to step in if necessary, although according to Gheraa, it "has never been necessary". The Integrators do occasionally pay visits to their Integrated planets, but those visits are...

Well, Gheraa seems reluctant to talk about what those visits entail. I can guess. It sounds like the Integrators at large are mostly disconnected from what the civilizations they manage are like. Gheraa might be the most human among them, and even then, it's a recent development in his otherwise long life.

I'm curious about what made him change, but I don't ask. It doesn't seem like the time, and it also seems... unfair, almost. It's not like the main version of Gheraa is going to know what I've spoken about with his copy.

The point is that the Phaseslip skill is one component. The other component is something Gheraa calls a "phasic key"; it's apparently something like a constantly-changing code that's required to sync up with the Integrators' pocket dimension. It's usually stored in an imbuement stone. Gheraa can't give me one, but he's suggested it might be possible to force the Interface to reward me with one through a complicated series of steps he calls "attribute alignment".

I have a slightly better idea. Miktik's mentioned an Integrator scrapyard that's so dense with Firmament it requires protection just to enter. It's full of Integrator technology—and Integrator technology, by design, has to be able to sync with the dimension it exists in. I'll have to go take a look when I get the chance, because attribute alignment is a very involved process that will likely take weeks of active manipulation of the Interface and dozens of weak skill choices.

That and with what Gheraa's revealed so far, I'm more interested in saving those credits for something else: Firmament skills that are unique to me.

Temporal skills.

"You said you wanted to train me before we end this session," I say, looking at Gheraa. He's been talking for a while, and I'm noticing that the gold energy in his skin is beginning to look a little more pale—I wonder if we have less time than he thought. "And something about learning the true nature of Firmament. I'm guessing this has something to do with phase-shifts."

Gheraa gives me a tired smile. "Please stop being smart. I'd like to get to show off sometimes."

I chuckle. "It's not like I know anything about them besides what I just said," I say. "So hit me. I'm missing something big, aren't I?"

"You and everyone else besides the Integrators," Gheraa says quietly. He looks down at his hand, commanding a small string of golden Firmament to float above it, then coils it between his fingers contemplatively. "Mostly because we intentionally restrict it from any planet we Integrate."

He pulls his fingers apart, stretching the golden thread between them—then he clenches his fist, and that golden thread shatters. "Congratulations," he says. "You're about to learn the real secrets behind Firmament and phase-shifts."

"...Drama queen," I say, hiding a smile. I can't help myself.

Gheraa glares at me. "Don't ruin the moment."

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