The sky over the city of Solace was a thick, dirty gray. It looked like an old, dark bruise. The wind blew hard through the broken streets. It carried the smell of burning wood and sweet, heavy perfume.Everett walked down the center of the road. His heavy black boots crushed the loose stones. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.He wore his dark brown cloak. The hood was pulled low over his face. The heavy chain-sword was strapped tightly to his broad back. He walked with a slow, steady rhythm. He looked like a man walking to his own funeral.Lyra and Silas walked a few steps behind him."Everett, please think about this," Silas whispered. He held his heavy sniper rifle close to his chest. His eyes darted left and right, looking at the tall buildings. "This is not a small group of crazy people anymore. It is an army. The 'Path of Everett' has taken over the entire city. There are fifty thousand people here.""I know," Everett said. He did not stop walking."They are heavily armed, Everett," Lyra

"Do not listen to the mortal shell!" Lord Vane yelled, his voice full of fake sorrow. "The Savior is being tested! The wicked demons of the world have infected His human brain! The evil variable is trying to reject His holy destiny!"The crowd gasped. They nodded their heads. Yes, that made sense. The god was sick. The god needed their help."We must save Him!" Lord Vane shouted to the crowd. He raised his hands high. "The Chosen Stabilizer cannot deny His destiny! We must capture His mortal body and purify it! We must wash the dark demons out of his head so the pure white light can shine again!"The crowd began to murmur in agreement. “Save the Savior! Purify the body!”Everett looked around. The faces of the people were changing. They did not look like innocent, starving peasants anymore. They looked like wild, crazed fanatics. Their eyes were wide and crazy."Guards!" Lord Vane ordered. "Detain Him! Do not kill Him, but break his legs if you must! Bring Him to the cleansing chamber

The town of Riverbend was a sad, gray place. It sat on the edge of a wide, muddy river. The people who lived there were tired. They worked all day in the wet mud, digging for old metal to sell to the rich cities. They wore dirty clothes. Their hands were covered in cuts and thick scars. They did not have much food. They did not have much hope.The sun was going down. The sky was turning a dark, bruised purple. The cold wind blew off the river, making the workers shiver.A small crowd of people gathered in the muddy town square. They were standing around a fire burning inside an old metal barrel. They held their cold hands out to the flames to stay warm.Suddenly, the crowd went quiet.A man was walking down the center of the muddy street.He moved very slowly. He did not make a loud sound when he walked. His boots stepped lightly on the wet ground. He wore a simple, plain brown cloak. The large hood was pulled up, covering his head. He did not carry a gun. He did not carry a sword.

"No," Everett said. His voice was dark and heavy. He stared at the map. "There is no such thing as perfect peace. Perfect peace is just another word for control. If people stop fighting, they stop asking questions. If they stop asking questions, they accept their cages.""Everett is right," Rae agreed quickly. "And the pattern of his travel is too precise. Look at the green line on the map again."Rae zoomed out on the map. The green line curved through the towns, slowly moving inward. It was a spiral.And the very center of the spiral was Apex City. The capital. The location of the System Core."He is walking a perfect mathematical spiral," Rae whispered in horror. "Every time he visits a town, he glitches the local system. I think... I think he is absorbing the broken code. Everett, when you destroyed the Bloodline Hubs, you left broken pieces of magic all over the continent. I think this Pilgrim is walking around, picking up the broken pieces of the System, and eating them.""Eatin

The dark underground bunker was filled with the soft humming sound of computer fans.Rae sat in her metal chair. She was wrapped in a thick gray blanket. She was drinking a cup of hot, synthetic coffee. Her eyes were fixed on her six glowing screens. She was watching the digital map of the world. She was looking for any signs of the Sovereign Council's army, or the strange, moving glitches that belonged to the Pilgrim.Suddenly, her middle screen beeped. BEEP.Rae put her coffee cup down. She leaned closer to the monitor. She pushed her thick glasses up her nose.On the map, there was a large, bright blue dot. The blue dot represented the city of Glimmer.Glimmer was a massive trading city. It sat in a wide green valley surrounded by tall mountains. Over two million people lived in Glimmer. It was a busy, loud, crowded place. Merchants sold food there. Travelers bought weapons there. It was one of the biggest cities outside the capital of Apex City. But right now, the bright blue do