Hector stared at the blue-white sparking with mounting dread. “What’s going on?”

  “Your soul saturated in just one year? And your reserves filled?” Isabel bent over like she was about to empty her guts, then pulled herself back together. “This should not be possible.”

  Esther looked between Hector and Isabel, horror mounting. “What is happening?”

  Isabel grimaced. “He triggered the Tribulation.”

  “But you said he can't survive the Tribulation.”

  “He cannot,” Isabel said.

  Esther’s eyes were wide. “Well, how do we stop it?”

  “There is no stopping a Tribulation. The envelope of his soul is overburdened and leaking. Soon it will rip apart and the lightning will descend. Hector cannot survive.”

  “Isabel, stop pronouncing his doom and start thinking of ways to fix this.”

  “You ignorant rogue, there are no fixes! This is the ultimate test of a cultivator’s foundation! You cannot cheat it!”

  Esther looked around the team, studying Darius, Riley, and Hector in turn. Then she ripped the earpiece off of Hector to hold in her hand. “Cruiser Erin? How fast can we be out of this world?”

  “The Tribulation is tied to a soul, not the world around it,” Isabel snapped.

  The answer from the earpiece was no more helpful. “Though I would give my life for the Lord Dragonbane, I cannot be of assistance in this matter. Becoming involved would only mean that my crew die with him. Mercom military records indicate a Tribulation is equally destructive as a schism beam.”

  Esther’s features grew more red with every word until she cut off Cruiser Erin. “Inform the rest of the retinue about what is happening. Tell them to get down here with solutions.”

  Once her message was passed, Esther snapped her fingers at Isabel. “You. We’re not going to stand around and watch Hector die. Even if you think it’s impossible, I need you to try. Bring out every fact you ever heard about Tribulations.”

  Isabel began counting on her fingers. “Though the lightning will kill bystanders, it cannot be blocked even in part by another person. It is believed to be the cumulative buildup of charge from every prior advancement within the soul envelope. When the envelope is pierced, the charge balances through the lightning. When the envelope is entirely destroyed, one transcends reality to become an Immortal. The body is destroyed in the process and must be rebuilt.”

  Esther held the earpiece up to ensure every word was being caught. “I know you said it can’t be done, but what kinds of things do people attempt to cheat Tribulations?”

  Isabel threw up her hands. “They summon their weapons. Externalities are supposed to help split the wrath of the heavens.”

  “Hector, raise your transit sphere,” Esther said.

  Though he’d been following along with the developments, Hector hadn’t made much progress coming to terms with the reality of the situation. Other than the numbness, he clung to a stubborn argument for rejecting reality: he hadn’t saved the multiverse yet.

  This certainly wasn’t how things were supposed to go. He’d been set up for victory by Evelyn, who was rotting in prison for her efforts. He almost got to the starting line before combusting in glorious failure. Sparks continued to dance across his skin as regret settled in.

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  He brought his transit sphere into existence higher than normal, hoping that perhaps he could hide beneath it if the lightning came from above like its mundane counterpart. Was that even worth the tiny chance it would help? If he was to go out, why not go out like a man, staring down death?

  Esther continued pumping Isabel for information, which sounded to Hector like repetitions of the same information. Meanwhile, Riley dove into his gut and held him tight. He wrapped his arms around her tiny form, taking in the affection offered him. It still hadn’t penetrated down to his emotional core that he was facing death. He put his life on the line a lot since the dreams began. His reaction to danger was not to panic.

  “You are not permitted to die, Hector,” Darius said.

  He gestured with one hand until Darius consented to stand close enough for a group hug. Isabel broke away from the badgering of Esther to wrap her arms around him from the other side. That just left one of their number absent.

  Esther raised a finger and wagged it at him. “We’re not saying goodbye, Hector.” She clipped the earpiece onto herself and walked away, holding a rapid fire conversation with someone. Judging by the way she spoke, it must be Zelda. The two dominant personalities got along better than one might expect – not great, but they didn't step on each other's toes often.

  His friends had to pull away from him when a spark arced from the tip of his head down the entire length of his body. Hector braced himself as the heat and sting grew worse. Heart pounding, breath heaving, he finally understood what awaited him.

  It may be a quick death, but it would not be painless.

  Regrets filled him. He rushed into battle when they could have passed by this world. Selfish nobles withheld essential cultivation knowledge from Volithur. The danger to Earth forced him to advance recklessly. He wouldn’t be able to carry out the oaths he swore to Nestor and Ajax. The multiverse lost its last chance because of him.

  Then the shuttle landed. Zelda rushed out with the various Arahant Sages. She removed an earpiece she wore while she was imperiously pointing to spots on the ground. “Draw a ritual circle below the transit sphere. Let me know when you are done so I can start on the runes. Then twenty strides this direction I want another circle. Make the line wavy for this one.”

  Zelda stopped in front of Hector. “You. Quit moping around. We’re going to turn your transit sphere into a lightning rod with a ritual. Now kindly delay the Tribulation for another fifteen minutes.”

  He didn’t think he could speak at the moment, so Hector nodded his head, then jumped when a crackle of electricity hit his foot. Zelda was gone as soon as she verified he was not badly hurt. Hector listened to the developments with growing desperation.

  There were chants to arrange and symbols to draw. Elsewhere, Riley wept while a teary-eyed Darius held her. Isabel had collapsed to her knees in the dust. Esther was fidgeting something terrible, occasionally using her giant sword to keep the area clear of monsters.

  While Zelda drew runes, Conflagration approached.

  “They don’t believe you will survive,” the Sage observed.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  “I don’t either,” Conflagration said. “But if you last long enough, the Confirmation is almost as wonderful as gaining a glimpse. Your realm will be automatically revised by ultimate reality itself. It would not be a terrible last moment.”

  “You know, Conflagration, I can’t really care about that right now.”

  The Sage of Conflagration smiled then, a gesture far more sad than dramatic wailing ever could be. “You achieved your second glimpse without giving up what was precious to you. That is a good life. I burned away all the tender parts of myself over the years. Now I am old and alone and still no closer to grasping what I sought. Find contentment in what you achieved.”

  Wise advice, perhaps, but Hector could no more accept death now than when a Dragon swallowed him. Fear manifested as shivers that racked his entire body. He barely managed to walk when Zelda led him to the rune circle that would be where he died.

  “Piercing, you’re the focus of the redirect circle around Hector. Lightning follows the shortest path. We’re making sure that every path to Hector leads to his transit sphere instead. Persuasion, you’re the focus of the lightning rod circle around the sphere. Convince the world that is where the lightning hits. Everyone remember the chant? Good. Hector? Stay strong. You’re going to live. Maybe this is why Foresight wanted me along.”

  Hector didn’t want his last words to be claiming Evelyn was a shit prognosticator who needed a YouTube science educator to teach her how to pass messages back from potential futures. He knew well enough how her talent worked to not have absolute faith in it. He also knew her well enough to understand she surrounded him with all of his closest friend since he left Earth as an apology of sorts.

  The chants began. Almost immediately, the crackling on Hector’s skin shifted. Static discharge crackled through a corridor between his ritual circle and the one around his transit sphere. Hector dared to hope that maybe this might work after all.

  Moments later, the first bolt fell from the sky.