It took longer than Vex would've liked for him to recover, but he wasn't about to complain. Just the fact that he'd essentially been handed a miracle cure for his condition was pushing the limits of what Vex considered to be his luck for quite possibly the next seven years.

Eventually, though, he did recover—at least enough that he wasn't in constant pain and could once again access his system and its features—and he began to sort out their plan.

They were spending too much time reacting. They needed to move up the timetable. Using all the time they were given wasn't a good thing here; there were too many ways things could go wrong, too many ways things already had gone wrong. Sev had a decent idea of what they needed to do to fix things, so what they needed to do was hurry up on that timetable specifically.

Repair the Prime Anchor of Anderstahl, then fetch the remaining two Grand Anchors. Those were their priorities. Enkiros was also a priority, but it depended on the state of the kingdom once they'd fully restored things—as long as the people could be convinced to evacuate once again, they likely wouldn't be a problem.

That meant the majority of the continent would be headed toward Anderstahl as refugees, which was potentially a problem. A problem they contacted Sev about to see what he had to say. And also to update him on Vex's condition, of course.

Sev had been relieved to hear that Vex was alright, though they ended up quickly moving on to discussing the potential logistical issues they'd need to find solutions for. Vex felt... bad. Sev had clearly been worried about him. But there'd be time for a proper reunion later; for now, they had more pressing things to worry about.

[Anderstahl doesn't have the infrastructure to hold that many people,] Sev responded through the system. [Maybe for a while, but between feeding themselves and all of Elyra, they're not going to be able to sustain it for long. Even with magic and tweaks to the Prime Anchor. This Prime Anchor's behaving a bit weirdly, though.]

[What do you mean, weird?] Vex asked, curious.

[It's just the way it keeps giving us stuff we need.] Vex could almost hear Sev's shrug through his words. [It's not a bad thing. I don't get a bad feeling about it or anything, and neither Charise nor Misa's [Intuitionist] class is pinging off of it. It's just weird. Feels like there's something I'm missing.]

[Huh.] Try as he might, Vex didn't have any ideas about that, though he was grateful that something seemed to be helping them. Enkiros's Prime Anchor wasn't nearly as cooperative. He, Derivan and Misa were all still trying to get to the center of what he'd decided to dub the fragment storm—all the pieces and different versions of Enkiros shifting and twisting around one another, caught in a turbulent flow of mana. [Weird. But I'm kinda glad.]

[Me too,] Sev said. [So, you need to grab the Grand Anchor and get back to Anderstahl as soon as possible. Derivan can help speed it up—just let me know if I need to refresh the Blessing of Travel. Enkiros's Prime Anchor... I mean, do you think you can rescue it?]

[I tried to move the timeline to just before the anchor failed, but I doubt we're going to be able to prevent it in time and also get the Grand Anchor,] Vex said with a wince. [Best bet is probably to try to kickstart the evacuation early—I might be able to combine some of the fragments once we resolve the spell so they can see they need to evacuate.]

[Don't strain your soul again,] Sev warned.

[I think Derivan would kill me if I tried,] Vex said, a little amused. Derivan's arm was still wrapped protectively around his waist, as if he could protect him from soulstrain by sheer virtue of physical proximity. Not that he minded, of course. [The magic's already there. I shouldn't need to tap into the anchor anymore just to manipulate it. In theory.]

[Vex...]

[And I will stop if that theory turns out to be wrong,] Vex promised.

[Good.]

[What do we do once we've got all three of the Grand Anchors?] Vex asked. [I'm assuming you have some kind of plan and that sticking the anchors into ourselves isn't the end of it.]

[A lot of stuff with the Grand Anchors is basically still theoretical,] Sev admitted. [The one in Enkiros should bond with me, I think—It'll be the Grand Anchor of Divinity, and I've already got the most divine connections out of all of us. Maybe out of all priests, actually. If what you've already demonstrated with the Grand Anchor of Magic is any precedent, then I might even be able to bring back some of the lost gods with it.]

[Assuming you don't run into the same problem of soulstrain,] Vex pointed out.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[And I almost certainly will,] Sev admitted. [To be honest, Vex, I'm not sure. We've got so many of the pieces now, but I still feel like I'm missing something. Just because we can restore things doesn't mean we can maintain them—you've brought back Enkiros, but you just said the whole place is going to fall apart again.]

[And soon,] Vex said. He couldn't sense it himself, but Derivan could. The state of Enkiros's Prime Anchor was intimately linked with Patch, and now that he'd felt what it was like with Elyra's Prime Anchor, he could tell that Enkiros's was on the verge of collapsing as well. [We're wondering why they didn't evacuate when the system message went out—there must've been a warning.]

[There was a warning when Elyra's Prime Anchor was collapsing, too,] Sev pointed out. [They didn't evacuate without a lot of convincing. It's not an issue they're familiar with. Weren't you there when they were arguing about it? When you went into the semerit.]

[Yeah,] Vex admitted. [It's still kind of hard to wrap my head around.]

[The point is, even if the Grand Anchors can restore things, they clearly don't fix them permanently,] Sev said. [The Void is still a problem. It'll continue to be a problem.]

[We could get stronger,] Vex said. [Make soulstrain less of a problem. Keep bringing things back.]

A short pause. [Is that really a solution, though?] Sev asked. [Even if you were right, and it was possible to train the soul—which isn't a guarantee by any means—is that what you want to spend the rest of your life doing? Because I don't think that's sustainable. We'd have to spend every spare second restoring villages, kingdoms, people. We'd be fighting a losing battle against the Void, just the same as before. The only difference is that we'd have a little more time before everything falls apart.]

Vex sighed. He knew Sev was right, really. More than that: he didn't think it would be possible for them to train their souls enough to handle the strain fast enough for this to matter. The soulbloom elixirs would help, but the supply of that was limited.

[Right,] Vex said. [So you think there's a missing step. We can't just maintain the anchors—reality shards won't be enough to keep them sustained, and restoring things with the Grand Anchors doesn't fix the underlying issues. Mine doesn't seem to be able to sustain this part of reality the way a reality anchor can.]

[Which is weird. It should be able to. We might need something that makes the Grand Anchors self-sustaining, without you having to consciously channel your connection with it,] Sev said. [If we could repair the reality anchors completely, combining that with the Grand Anchors might be a solution—but even reality shards can't sustain the anchors indefinitely. Unless... Hm.]

[Will the Grand Anchors wear down, too?] Vex asked curiously.

This time the pause before Sev responded was even longer. [Uh, shit,] Sev said eloquently. [Okay, I take it back. Even if reality shards could sustain the anchors indefinitely, we'd still be fucked.]

[So we need a third thing,] Vex said.

[We need a third thing,] Sev agreed. [Or we need to fix whatever it is that's stopping you from sustaining reality with yours. Let's worry about it later. For us to even get close, you guys need to get the Grand Anchor of Divinity out of Enkiros and to me, and Misa needs to get over here so she can connect with the Grand Anchor of Reality.]

[No Grand Anchor for Derivan?] They'd already known this once they learned there were three of the things, but Vex couldn't help teasing Sev anyway.

[It's not like I knew we'd be a party of four,] Sev grumbled. [A fourth Grand Anchor might've made things easier. I don't know. I want to see how they react when they're together, first. We can make a decision from there.]

[Sounds like a plan.]

Vex looked up from the system interface, sighing as the faint, blue light faded from his eyes and he stared up into the sky. The light of the Primordial Glyph's mana still shone above them, a strange source of light in the distorted fragment of reality they were in.

How strange it was to think that this was a result of his own magic.

"I don't think I regret it, you know," he said, a little listlessly. He felt Derivan tighten his grip on him slightly, felt the weight of the armor press into him.

"I know," Derivan said.

"Do you think we'll do it?" he asked. "Fix everything, I mean. Not just Enkiros. I want to try to fix Enkiros, but..."

"It does not feel like we can," Derivan said. His tone was somber. "I can feel the Prime Anchor at the heart of Enkiros. There is a small part of Patch that screams at me to fix it—but that same part of me tells me that it can no longer be fixed, and that I should not try." He was silent for a moment. "And the cost to bring it back to even this state was too great, I think."

"If I could sacrifice myself to fix it permanently..." Vex trailed off, unable to finish the thought. Derivan shook his head, though he felt the movement more than he saw it.

"No," Derivan said. "We will find another way."

He could hear the unspoken thought. Derivan was the only one of them that didn't have a designated Grand Anchor. Misa would connect to Reality, and Sev would connect to Divinity. If they sacrificed themselves to fix reality permanently, Derivan would be alone again.

Right back where he started.

"I won't leave you," Vex said, his voice soft.

Derivan's response was smaller than he'd ever heard.

"Thank you."