Derivan wasn't sure how much time had passed. He was trying not to think too hard about it. He found that he was all too aware of every second and minute, and distracting himself from the passage of time seemed the most prudent course of action; it was, for now, the only thing that kept him functional.

He didn't like feeling like this. Mostly helpless. Mostly a victim to the other forces at play. As much as he knew where Vex was, as much as Shift and Patch gave him an advantage in this dungeon that no other adventurer would likely have—navigating the ever-changing Primordial Glyph was still difficult. It was like it was actively shuffling itself as they moved through it, and although he could tell what the best path to take was now, it didn't mean the dungeon wouldn't later shift and ruin their progress.

Two steps forward, one step back. It seemed to happen around the time Vex had finally started moving, too. The dungeon had been mostly static until then. Apparently, Vex choosing to move was enough for the Prime Anchor to decide it needed to take the difficulty up a notch.

If nothing else, they were still moving together faster than they would have. Both Derivan and Vex were now tracing the lines of the Primordial Glyph in the sky, and with that shared point of navigation, they could find their way to one another.

Misa finished typing something into the system and jogged to catch up with him. "Derivan," she said. "I think I finally managed to get a message through to Sev."

"Is he able to help us?" Derivan asked, cocking his head.

"He thinks he might be able to," Misa said. "Don't worry about it for now. How far away is Vex?"

Derivan concentrated for a moment. "Not far," he said, surprised at how easily the answer came to him. They were exactly three fragment apart—each of them would only need to take two more exits each in order to find themselves in the same Enkiros fragment. What was more was that he could tell that this answer included shifts in the dungeon; technically, there were currently five fragments between them and Vex.

But once they went through the next exit, the rooms would rotate, and they would be closer to one another. Derivan pivoted, changing directions to go for a different exit than the one he would've chosen.

"It worked, huh?" Misa said.

Derivan blinked. "That was Sev's work," he guessed.

"A new friend he made. We'll have to thank him later. Come on—let's not waste any time." Misa urged him forward, not that he needed any urging.

The next few fragments were almost trivially easy to get through. This one simply required that they do enough damage to a particular target, what looked like some form of gallows; Derivan was glad to tear it apart. Misa told him something about how they were set up to have incredible amounts of health, but fortunately for them, Derivan was still able to completely bypass the issue of health.

The room after that just required they find an obscure alchemy shop in the corner of the street and sort some potions in the right order. The moment he did, a portal opened up in the cauldron, and Derivan jumped in without hesitation.

Misa did hesitate, but she eventually followed him. He didn't blame her there.

The moment he landed, Derivan's eyes locked on to the shivering form of a lizardkin. He snatched a potion from Misa then rushed over to Vex, heedless of the state of the fragment they were in. To be fair, it wasn't a dangerous fragment; just a partially destroyed one. He had to dodge one or two traps along the way, but they weren't exactly able to do any damage to him regardless—The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Vex hadn't noticed him yet. Derivan felt worry rise within him as he hurried forward. The lizardkin had his arms wrapped around himself. He was taking slow, determined steps forward, but every step looked like it cost him a lifetime of effort—like he struggled just to put one foot in front of the other. His tail dragged on the ground, and Derivan knew Vex hated dragging his tail on the ground.

Even exhausted, he made it a point to lift his tail enough that it didn't drag.

"Vex!" he called. He wasn't sure if the lizardkin could hear him. They were so close now, but it felt like every step took an eternity—Derivan found he was hyper-alert for every trap Vex might accidentally step into. He wanted to call for Vex to stay still, to let him approach, but the lizardkin seemed so determined, so desperate to live...

Derivan almost didn't catch the way the lizardkin's foot caught on a tripwire. He almost didn't see the mana that suddenly surged into the nearby explosive rune.

But he did see those things.

He surged forward with speed he didn't know he had. Shift propelled him forward as he used layer upon layer of it to compress the space between him and Vex, essentially forming a series of tiny portals; his body stretched through that compressed space as he subconsciously called on his Slime stat, deforming and propelling him forward even farther. He wrapped himself into a tight ball around Vex protectively, even as they both crashed to the ground and he felt the heat of the explosive rune wash over his form.

Only when he was certain that it was over did he allow himself to slowly unwrap. Vex stared up at him, his mouth slightly agape, and then pressed his fingers to Derivan's face as if to make sure he was real.

"Deri," he said. Derivan's heart crumbled at the simple word. Vex's voice was so soft—so weak. It sounded like his partner had to summon all his strength to even speak.

"Drink," Derivan said in turn. He'd kept the potion safe within his body. Now he pulled it up, uncorking the bottle and holding the soulbloom elixir to Vex's lips. He saw Vex's eyes hazily focus, like he was trying to figure out what he was being given, but he eventually gave in and just took slow, careful sips of the proffered potion.

Derivan didn't have a breath to hold, but he certainly felt like he was holding his breath. His entire being felt still as he waited. The potion had to work. It needed to work.

Vex's eyes slipped shut, then opened again, a little clearer than before. The lizardkin smiled up at him.

"Whoa," Vex said softly. "That felt... really nice."

"It is healing you?" Derivan asked. He needed to be certain.

"Oh. Yes, the potion felt nice, too." Vex gave him a pained little grin. It was clear he hadn't fully recovered yet—but it was equally clear that he was recovering. Derivan couldn't help the laugh that burst from him in response to the lizardkin's joke.

"You are a fool," he said, with all the affection he could muster.

Vex smiled a smile that was already less pained. "Whatever that is," he said, indicating the now-empty bottle. "Can I have more?"

"Coming right up," Misa called out. She jogged to meet up with the two of them, then gave Vex a thumbs up. "Phew. You really know how to scare us, Vex."

"I scared myself, too," Vex admitted. "...Thanks for being here for me, you guys. Is Sev here too?"

"He helped, but he's still stuck on the other side of the continent," Misa answered in Derivan's stead; the armor in question was still too busy holding Vex and thinking about how long he could get away with not letting go. "Trying to get to the Anderstahl Prime Anchor and fix it. I guess we've got a cleanup job here in Enkiros now, too."

"Right." Vex nodded. "Just... let me recover for a bit. I'm going to need a few more of those potions." He eyed the number strapped on to Misa's body. "Maybe all of them."

Misa shrugged and handed them over. "You got it," she said.

"We will take as much time as you need," Derivan said firmly.