Moving with smooth, steady steps to the far wall, Orison sent two pulses of mending through it after asking the sprite where the elevator was joined to the track. A quick peek by the sprite let him know that his mend couldn't penetrate far enough nor was it strong enough to get the job done even if he could. If he couldn't mend it, he would cut it instead.

Conjuring two simplified drones, Orison went to work opening a hole at the top of the elevator as close to the track as he dared. Seeing what he was up to, Annie tried to coordinate but she didn't have the pure drone model and her t.i.tania's fire and lightning production, either one, wasn't really suited for cutting. There were a few more groans of metal along the way and other than getting the two to slink with him as close to the track side of the elevator as possible to alleviate fulcrum additions to the weight problem was the only thing that Orison could think of to buy a little time.

As if things weren't bad enough, the young mage had caught a glimpse of activity towards the edges of his spirit sight range. Rose was showing signs of awakening as well but only time would tell if that was a good or bad thing. All things considered, the one with the worst frayed nerves may have been Orison because he was all too aware of how bad the situation was becoming.

"You know that if it had only been one or two people, the elevator probably would have made it." the sprite said wistfully.

Scowling, Orison replied, "You know skipping safety features to make something prettier is batsh*t crazy, right? You know that having one vertical and one horizontal elevator would have been more practical and energy efficient than one capable of moving any direction when it only has three destinations?"

As the sprite unleashed verbal fury on him for insulting her mistress' vision, Orison actually felt calmer for some reason. Not only that but it brought a little comic relief to the other two nervous people with him. What he didn't expect is that the sprite would help him understand summoning better in the process.

While Annie tended to Rose and Stag helped Orison control the lowering of the roof section being cut off, the sprite added into her tirade, "That's why you're summoning will never be worth anything. You think of them the same way an artificer does their toys. If you can't understand why spirit essence is used for the art, you don't even deserve to be called an idiot. Stick with your hollow puppets that you can control every little detail of. You don't have the vision of a summoner!"

Although he didn't stop what he was doing, that elusive thought Annie had inspired earlier had returned. All the complex expression in the fairy models wasn't for sport and play as the dead woman had made it seem in the portable trainer, it was a base personality and intelligence model so a one second old existence wouldn't act like a newborn! Over time, if they remained existing, they would slowly grow more complex and capable of more intricate independent action. They could even grow stronger and more knowledgeable, capable of sharing their experiences with others!

In a way, the sprite was right. That it had never occurred to him what the spirit essence portion of the summoner model was needed for did kind of make him an idiot. There was a simplicity and dependability in controlling every action of one's creation but potential helpfulness and potential willfulness were opposing sliding scales on a dual track called independence. Adaptability and obedience were on another called awareness. The more independent and self aware an existence was, the more potential it had but also greater amounts of personal desire and reluctance to deny them.

Anymore thought on the subject was placed on hold because the elevator dipped some more and gradually continued the trend. It took a good portion of his magic reserves to do so but Orison managed to gather up bits of sc.r.a.p and create a barely over one foot tall golem comprised of rusty metal. As he had it scramble out of the hole and grip the remaining coupling that held the elevator to the track, he and Stag gripped the sagging portion of cut roof to widen the hole a little more.

The young mage said, "Alright, be calm and steady but I need you to grab Rose and pull her out of the hole and secure the two of yourselves to the track, Stag. If for any reason we begin to fall while you're doing that, don't stop. Do what you need to do... Annie, if the elevator detaches before we get out of it, I need you to get in my shadow. I still have a good chance of getting us to the track but you might have to act quickly to secure us afterwards."

The sprite said nervously, "Then hand me to Iliyani. I don't want my anchor breaking if you drop me."

Orison thought to himself, "If I didn't possibly still need you, my s.p.a.ce would be eating your anchor, rabble rouser! Thank yourself for being nice and helpful in the beginning. As long as you don't cause any big problems, I might feel too bad ending your existence just to gain a little easy concept boost."

By whatever method the sprite had, it could sense the dangerous levels of irritation it had produced in Orison and had become sullen. To keep things from reaching a cold war status with a potentially life-saving ally, Orison compromised by giving in to the sprite over her carrier and handed the anchor stone to Annie. While the elf woman searched for the best place on herself to keep the anchor from possible misfortune, the young mage helped Stag by boosting Rose's weakly protesting form out of the hole towards the Nunos man already outside.

Once Stag had Rose precariously balanced between two track ridge bars above his head, he made to pull himself up. To everyone's dismay, the lower ridge bar he grabbed broke off under his weight. His sudden jarring false start caused the golem's body to groan in protest as one of its arms stretched, a sign that magic was losing its battle with physics.

Fearing a repeat on the bar that Rose's weight already rested on, Stag grabbed the main rail instead, climbing a few feet with nothing but his hands over the gaping maw of s.p.a.ce below him. Maneuver complete, he pulled Rose up so that Orison and Annie could get off the top of the death box barely being supported by a little golem and almost non-existent remaining strength in the coupling snagged on a bit of ruptured track.

Their turn, Orison lifted Annie up to grab a higher, less damaged bar. Letting her use his raised hand as a step to keep from having to repeat the free-hand climb Stag had done, she didn't end up as adrenaline shaky as Stag looked. Turning around to offer Orison a hand, she got a flash of his silvery belt buckle as he repeated Stag's maneuver with a great deal more speed and confidence.

After getting to the connector that lead up to their destination, they took a break to catch their breath and let Rose finish rousing herself. Stag turned to give Orison a slightly judgmental look over the young mage's slightly showy grandstanding, hiding some jealousy that the sprite was quick to point out. Sighing, Orison explained that Stag would be capable of doing such things after a few active months of creature hunting and cautioned the Nunos man not to let the 'little emotional bully' get anymore free entertainment by letting her reveals get under their skin.

Looking affronted, the sprite said, "I'm only helping you get to know each other better. There's no need to make me look like I'm bad for doing it."

Orison gave a saintly smile and said, "I don't need supernatural senses to smell bullsh*t. A life and death situation isn't the time to be stirring up drama for your amus.e.m.e.nt. I may not be able to read emotions from someone's aura or whatever it is you're doing but I'm not clueless on what motivates people to do what they do."

In a past life, the young mage had known a handful of otherwise good people who couldn't seem to help themselves from poking at people's sore spots or stirring up drama from time to time, as if they thrived off chaos. He was capable of seeing through it and didn't take it that personal since the sprite didn't try to outright lie about it. That she was useful and generally inclined to be helpful, weighed heavily into Orison's decision to overlook her grating personality quirk.

Cognizant and thirsty, Orison filled Rose in on their current situation as she polished off a canteen and a handful of jerky. Seeing that he was going to be ignored once he started trying to ask questions, he grew angry. When Rose struck up a conversation with the sprite over questions about the construct, intent on ignoring Orison's repeat request on the events leading up to reuniting, he'd reached the end of his patience.

White faced with repressed rage, Orison said. "I'm going to give you two options, Rose. Answer my questions or I'm going to throw you off the railing."

Flipping from neutral to malevolent in half a second, she lunged at the young mage only to find herself suspended in midair for a moment before plunging to her screaming death. Stag and Annie looked at him in horrified confusion. After all the extra effort to get her to where they were and even taking time to let her recover, they had difficulty grasping how he could just let her fall without even trying to stop it from happening. They would have been even more horrified if they knew that Orison had used telekinetic force to trip and push her for fear of what Rose could do if she got her hands on him.

The young mage could tell that Rose's fate had unsettled them and put a wedge of guarded fear up against him. "I figured that she had abandoned my friends but I gave her an opportunity to explain. She had to have known what we went through to get her here safely but instead of giving up some grat.i.tude she showed her a**. Maybe she only meant to put me in my place and not actually hurt me but I could care less. She was skilled enough to threaten me and she already gave me reason to suspect her actions. I wasn't willing to extend anymore trust.

"The only regret I have is the moment I need to explain her death to someone who I actually like. The irony that strikes me the hardest is if I hadn't tried to help her recover faster by nouris.h.i.+ng her faded spirit, this situation wouldn't have happened. Believe me when I say, if it was more certain and less possibility that she actually meant me harm, just letting her die was the kind option."

The sprite said, "She would have answered you eventually. She was only more interested in this place. I don't know what she was going to do but it didn't feel like she was going to do anything really bad."

s.n.a.t.c.hing the sprite's anchor stone from Annie's shorts, Orison held a dagger to it. "You've been really helpful but you've done something to annoy me. I don't plan on erasing you from existence, just hurt you a little."

Stopping right as the tip of his dagger touched the stone, Orison looked at the scared and sobbing sprite before sheathing his dagger and handing the stone back to a slightly trembling Annie.

Apologizing to the elf, Orison addressed the sprite, "Rose has bested me in physical combat many times. What your feelings tell you don't seem all that reliable when you're the one facing the threat, do they? Tell me, if you could have let me fall off the railing up here rather than face that threat, what would you have done?...

"All that said, I'm not a raving lunatic and know how to return goodwill. Sure, you've gotten on my nerves with you're baiting but you also helped us when you didn't have to. Thank you... I'd appreciate it if you stopped baring people's feelings when it serves no meaningful purpose."

Giggling nervously, the sprite agreed as Orison spurred his charges into climbing again. t.i.tania Prime might have been able to put it all behind her with relative ease but it wasn't the same for Annie. The death of Rose had pulled up some of the temporarily buried fear in her heart and she would flinch or tremble with every casual contact or glance from Orison. She was no stranger to abusive men and the young mage's callousness put him in that category to her subconscious regardless of what logic had to say on the matter. Though it saddened him to see her reacting like that, it wasn't something more words would help.

Dark and gloomy thoughts were put on hold once a section of rounded s.p.a.ce in the wall came into sight. With energy picking up, they were shortening the distance nearly twice as fast as they had before they saw it. Despite their goal being nearly in reach, Orison had a sudden sense of foreboding.

Looking down, the sprite said, "Uh-oh."

Swinging to the side to let Annie and Stag past him, the young mage said, "Don't stop."

Taking the rear, Orison could see a wave of shadowy darkness approaching from below. It was filled with glowing red dots and some of them were quite a bit more vivid than the others. One particular set towards the center had a slightly violet glow to them. And upon seeing them, Orison's sense of dread had found it's source.

"Hey, t.i.tania. Will the sliding wall panel up there stop the controller from entering?" Orison asked, pretty much already sure of the answer.

The sprite answered from above, "Not for very long. It'll eventually figure out how to open it."

Orison inwardly cursed for having Gan carry the bulk of the secondary measures they had picked up for dealing with undead. That being the case, he still had two large capsules of silver powder and the silver bead net that had made it into his care package from his runaway conduit. Wasting no time, Orison sprinkled the first capsule out, letting letting its fall disburse it as he blew the contents of the second out in an arc.

The approaching wave of death broke against a cloud of sparkling motes. Under normal situations, Orison would have laughed at the reactions of some individual shades that looked not much different than would be expected when hit with a surprise glitter bomb. The accompanying unearthly shrieks, however, were not.

With momentum lost and remnant impedance in the air, Orison turned and shouted, "Annie, get in Stag's shadow! Stag, let go of the rails."

It must have taken every ounce of courage and trust for the Nunos man but he did it. Releasing some of the stored essence in his body, Orison firmly placed his hand on the seat of Stag's leather shorts and shoved for all he was supernaturally worth, kicking some telekinetic push in with it. Just shy of his goal, Orison watched Stag scramble at the lip of the circular hole, looking like the man was going to slip for one heart stopping second before fear fed adrenaline finished its job.

Climbing in small hops, Orison half turned and released a wave of glamour, wanting the violet eyed leader of the shadowy creatures to go away. It all but ignored the impulse to turn and leave but a good deal many of its surrounding companions did. Sufficiently dispersed, the wave reduced to a formation of three soldiers flanking their shadowy lord.

With only two feet left until he could reach Stag's outstretched hand, the leader's first 'soldier' caught up to him and looked ready to pa.s.s him entirely to aim for Stag. Giving it his all, Orison stabbed the elder cla.s.s guardian spirit with devouring intent, dispersing it to harmless mist almost instantly but adding heavy fatigue to the young mage's mind. After being forced to repeat the move twice more, following the last use with a little egg beating motion of his silver powder covered hand to finish the job, the young mage was dizzy and barely conscious.

Emboldened by Orison's display of weakness, the violet eyed leader finally took its turn to approach. In desperation, the young mage tossed out the silver net. That slowed the leader down as it sank in and stuck on something rather than pa.s.sing through. Both Stag and Orison's triumph over clasping hands was short lived, however. In what seemed slow motion to both of them, the leader's strangely solid arm grabbed Orison by the leg and yanked.

To the young mage's senses as he fell, the shouts of his newest companions were right beside him yet far away. Such were his pa.s.sing thoughts while the ancestor level grudge ate away at the integrity of his mind and siphoned off his aura envelope. All the while, he tried all he could to pull the offending creature into his s.p.a.ce, to shred and devour it in turn.

In a bizarre display of yin and yang, between the living and undead, they wrapped and grappled each other with the ultimate victor all but determined. The rapid approach of an elevator dangling over the void like an over ripe fruit on a fragile branch didn't seem to add anything to the equation but a nearer death than the distant pit below. Determined to take the monster with him, Orison let it get the upper hand, switching to falling face up as the thing clung to his back. His thoughts ended in a sudden blast of dimly colored patterns against a background of eternal darkness.