I don't wait for Rae's speech to end.
I know I can't use Flow Cartographer again. My HUD says 45 minutes. Another active skill would zero my clock and kill me instantly.
I have to rely on physics. And dirt.
I kick the heavy coffee table with my heel, flipping it towards Rae's knees. It's a distraction. A clumsy, desperate move meant to buy me a fraction of a second to reach the knife of the fallen henchman.
Rae doesn't even blink.
He doesn't dodge the table. He steps through it.
Blue light flares around his shins—a Phase Step. He burns minutes of his Earth-time to become intangible for a heartbeat. The heavy oak wood passes harmlessly through his legs like smoke.
He materializes directly in my personal space.
"Too slow," he whispers.
I swing a wild right hook, aiming for his throat. He catches my fist in his open palm. The impact should have broken his wrist. Instead, it feels like I punched a concrete wall.
He twists my arm. Not enough to snap the bone—he needs me functional—but enough to tear the rotator cuff.
"Argh!"
I drop to my knees, blinded by the pain.
"You're fighting like a brawler, Dryden," Rae says, his voice devoid of effort. "You're Rank A. Act like it."
He delivers a surgical knee strike to my stomach. My diaphragm paralyzes. All the air leaves my body. I can't breathe. I can't move. I can only look up at him.
Rae sighs, adjusting his cufflink.
"Sleep."
His hand chops down on the side of my neck with mathematical precision.
The world doesn't fade to black. It snaps off.
"Wake up."
My eyes snap open.
Concrete ceiling. A single, buzzing fluorescent light. The smell of bleach and old copper.
I try to move my hands. I can't. My wrists are zip-tied to the arms of a steel chair. My ankles are bound to the legs.
I check the HUD immediately. Panic flares in my chest.
[Time Remaining: 00:09:10]
Nine minutes. I lost thirty six minutes unconscious. Damn it.
"You're awake."
Rae is leaning against a metal table across the room. He's holding a bottle of water from my refrigerator.
"Nice dungeon," I croak. My throat feels like I swallowed sandpaper. "Is this where you bring all your dates?"
Rae ignores the jab. He checks his watch.
"You have less than thirty minutes, Dryden. When that clock hits zero, the atmospheric sync ends. Thirstfall pulls you back."
He walks closer, looking down at me with clinical detachment.
"In your condition—exhausted, wounded, and having burned hours of vitality in a street fight—a raw transition will stop your heart. You'll spawn in Thirstfall, sure. But your body here will seize and die within minutes."
He gestures to the corner. Two technicians are prepping a dirty, unmarked Dive Unit. It's illegal hardware. No safety protocols, just raw life support.
"That tank is the only reason you survive the next hour."
"How generous," I spit. "So you're saving me?"
"I'm keeping my leverage breathing," Rae corrects. "We have a deal to make."
He leans in.
"You spawn exactly where you logged off. My team is already waiting at the coordinates. You will initiate a standard Ocean's Law Trade Contract. You transfer the Codex to them. We confirm receipt. Then, and only then, we stabilize your body here."
"A trade..." I laugh, a dry, hacking sound. "You think the Codex is just an item? You think you can just buy it?"
"I think you don't understand what you're holding," Rae replies coldly. "You spent ten years digging through Archives, believing the fairy tales. You told everyone the Codex grants a 'Soul Wish'. That it gives you what you want."
He shakes his head, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
"That's a mistranslation, Dry. The Codex doesn't care about your desires. It doesn't give you what you want. It gives you what you need. It predicts your best future."
He grabs my hair, forcing me to look at him.
"And right now, the Deepwardens need absolute order. And you? You need a reason to keep breathing."
I stare at him. The sarcasm bubbles up, a defense mechanism against the hopelessness.
"Philosophical lectures while I'm tied up? You really have changed, Rae. Did you read that on a fortune cookie?"
Smack.
The backhand is efficient. It snaps my head to the side, cutting my lip.
"Focus," he says, wiping his hand on a handkerchief. "I know standard threats won't work on you, Dryden. You have nothing left to lose. You'd let the world burn just to spite me."
He tosses the bloody handkerchief aside and leans in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"So I'll offer you something you actually care about. A fair trade."
He pauses, letting the silence stretch in the cold room.
"You give me the Codex... and I let you walk away. Alive. And... as a signing bonus, I give you a name."
I scoff, tasting blood. "A name? Is that supposed to be valuable?"
"It is," Rae says, his eyes locking onto mine. "It's the name of the only survivor from the First Expansion team. The team your father led."
My cynicism falters. The air in the room feels suddenly thinner.
"There were no survivors," I rasp. "The official report said they were wiped out by a Leviathan."
"The official report is a lie written by the Guilds to cover up what they found," Rae counters smoothly. "One man came back. He was raving mad, talking about things that shouldn't exist. The Deepwardens silenced him. Locked him away in a Deep Asylum in Sector 4."
He smiles, seeing the doubt flash in my eyes. He knows he hit a nerve.
"I don't know if your father is alive or dead, Dryden. I won't lie to you. But this man? He knows. He was there. And I'm the only one who knows which cell he's rotting in."
My mind races.
It's not a direct answer. It's a breadcrumb. But it's the first real lead I've had in ten years. The Guilds lied. Rae is offering me the thread to unravel that lie.
If I find this witness... I find the truth about my father.
Rae sees the calculation in my eyes. He knows he won.
"The Codex for the Lead," Rae says. "A fair trade."
It's a hook. A rusted, poisonous hook. But I have to bite. Even if I plan to betray him the moment I spawn, I need that name. I need to know who to look for.
[HUD] 00:00:32.
I'm running out of time.
"Fine," I whisper, the word tasting bitter. "I accept."
"Good." Rae signals the technicians. "Hook him up."
They drag me to the tank. As they shove me into the gel, my mind is clearer than ever.
You want a trade, Rae? I'll give you a trade.
I know the terrain better than his goons. The moment I spawn, I'm running. Not to the trade point, but to the Aion Sanctuary.
I'll find a way to activate the Codex myself. I'll get the power I need. And then... I'll find this witness on my own terms. After I bury Rae.
The mask seals over my face. The countdown begins.
See you in hell, old friend.
The world snaps off.
I am floating in the gray. The space between realities. It's cold, silent, and infinite.
No pain. Just purpose. My body feels like it's on the earth and somewhere else.
No matter how many times you do it, you will never get used to it.
Gravity returns.
[System: Connection Re-established.]
[Welcome back to Thirstfall.]