The camp was still digesting the Sky Emperor's polite reply when Selena's voice suddenly came back through the phone.
She hadn't hung up.
She had only gone quiet.
Now she sounded different.
Not excited.
Not curious.
Afraid.
"Wait," she said sharply. "Wait, wait, wait—"
Everyone under the lime-oak turned back toward the phone.
"What?" Dominic asked.
Selena drew in a slow breath.
"You're all focused on the lore drop from Em," she said. "The Pillars. The thirteen floors. The cosmic ecosystem."
She paused.
"But none of you thought about the most important part."
Phong frowned slightly.
"Which is?"
Selena's voice dropped.
"Em can shapeshift."
The camp fell silent again.
Selena kept going.
"And it can choose when the system warns people about its presence."
Janet slowly straightened.
"…Oh."
Selena's breathing quickened.
"That means it doesn't need to appear as a monster."
"It doesn't need to trigger alerts."
"It doesn't even need to reveal itself."
She said the next words very slowly.
"Em could just… walk into human society."
The realization hit like a hydraulic press.
Jake blinked.
Jack swore softly.
Dominic muttered under his breath.
"Jesus."
Selena almost whispered now.
"That explains everything."
"How it understands humans so well."
"How it understands our politics."
"Our pride."
"Our rivalries."
"It's been watching us."
"Up close."
Vanessa leaned into the camera.
"You're saying that thing could literally be… anywhere?"
Selena nodded slowly.
"In theory? Yes."
"In theory it could sit in a café and listen to conversations."
"Attend a university lecture."
"Watch TV."
"Scroll social media."
"And no one would know."
The thought was so ugly that no one spoke for several seconds.
Even Rico stopped moving.
Then Phong sighed.
"Well."
Selena blinked.
"Well?"
Phong held up the menu window.
"Since we're sharing terrifying discoveries…"
He turned the camera toward the Sky Emperor's request.
Selena read it.
Then she saw Phong's reply.
Then the Emperor's answer.
Her brain stalled.
Completely.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
She just stared.
Vanessa leaned closer.
"…Selena?"
Still nothing.
Then Selena's mouth twitched.
Just slightly.
Right at the corner.
Like a scientist who had just watched an entire field of study catch fire.
The call ended abruptly.
Dominic stared at the phone.
"…Did we break her?"
Vanessa's voice came back for a split second before the line died.
"She's about to write a thesis the size of a truck."
Then the call cut out.
With the academic crisis set aside for the moment, camp shifted to the more immediate future.
Halloween.
Lyon.
Vacation.
For once, something normal.
Before leaving, Phong took a few precautions.
He walked to Camp Harpy and spoke with the Greencap rabbits.
"We'll be gone for a few days," he said.
The Rabbit Captain nodded.
"We understand."
Phong gestured toward Camp Stymphalian.
"You and your civilians can move there while we're away."
The rabbits traded surprised looks.
"That is a great honor," one civilian said.
Phong waved it off.
"It's also practical."
With Dominic's team gone, extra eyes around camp would help.
Before leaving, Phong carefully dug up one sprout from the lime-oak's new cloning ability.
The tiny shoot glowed faintly with mana.
He wrapped it in protective cloth and placed it in a reinforced container.
Rico tried to reach it out of curiosity and was snitched on by Bruno.
Nyx took a sniff, decided it was beneath her, then floated toward Joanne backpack.
Dominic raised a brow.
"We're taking that with us?"
Phong nodded.
"That thing can evolve monsters."
"Leaving it unattended would be irresponsible."
Janet nodded in approval.
"Good call."
Their alliance with the Greencap Kingdom was strong.
But even honorable people could be tempted by life-changing power.
Better to remove the temptation entirely than breaking an alliance.
Then it was finally time to go.
The group gathered near the path to the gate.
Séline and Camille took the lead.
Lyon was their city, after all.
Behind them came the rest of the strange little procession.
Phong ended up at the center without meaning to.
Dominic on one side.
Janet on the other.
Jake and Jack just behind.
Joanne trailing with a travel mug of coffee already in hand.
Alex walked beside Phong, their fingers linked with easy comfort.
The animals followed with full enthusiasm.
Bruno trotted proudly in his little armor.
Nyx flicked her tail with quiet dignity.
Little Fireball slept inside Phong's hood. Phong tried to give the chick a little head scratch, but she remained asleep.
"She seemed tired."
Joanne glanced into his hood, commented.
"Maybe that just her growing up."
They chalked that down to growth hormone making Little Fireball tired.
They didn't know that the so called "hormone" had the form of a moutain of flesh with eyes and mouths all over it.
Rico had claimed the best seat.
He rode on Séline's shoulder like a tiny navigator, the treant sprout strapped to his back like an oversized backpack.
He pointed dramatically toward the horizon.
"Forward!"
Séline laughed.
"Relax, captain."
The dungeon path slowly opened toward the gate.
The great structure shimmered with dimensional energy.
Beyond it—
France.
Lyon.
Cobblestone streets.
Autumn air.
Halloween decorations.
A few days without monsters.
Without sieges.
Without cosmic things showing up disguised as celebrities.
For once, Camp Stymphalian was just going on vacation.
And together, the strange little caravan stepped through the gate toward France.
By the time they came out through the Lyon gate, the autumn air already smelled of roasted chestnuts and burnt sugar. Halloween decorations hung from balconies. Orange lights crossed narrow streets. Kids in costumes were already racing through the squares with plastic pumpkins.
Dominic stretched like a man released from prison.
"Fresh air that isn't trying to kill me," he declared. "I missed this."
Janet replied, unimpressed.
"You say that every time you surface."
Joanne pointed down the old street.
"And you still run back into the dungeon two days later."
"That's beside the point."
Before anyone could wander off, Dominic clapped loudly.
"Alright."
"Costume time."
Everyone groaned on cue.
Dominic had been waiting weeks for this.
With Alex's public mess with Olen still circulating online, disguises were the smart move.
Halloween gave them the perfect excuse.
Dominic, of course, had planned everything.