Carlyle stumbled to the side of the worksite and fell over. Red approached her cautiously. "Are you okay?" they asked.

"Yeah. My head hurts. Where are we?" she asked, looking around the field that she had led everyone into.

"You led us here. Yelled something about finding something. A bunch of people followed you from town," Red explained.

"Well, did I find anything?"

"Another green gold deposit." Red's serious tone demanded an explanation from her.

"Well. I... I don't remember what happened..." Carlyle admitted.

"Was it you last time?" Red asked.

Carlyle stared into Red's eyes, scared, and started to cry. "Well, yes... okay yes it was, but I didn't have control over it or anything! I swear! It just took over me, like I was a puppet, and after I can't even remember what happen..." she broke into sobs.

"So, you were possessed, then?" Red pressed on.

"Please don't kill me..." Carlyle begged.

One of the miners overheard the exchange and yelled out to his comrades. "Hey, The Jhikae Order's threatening Carlyle!"

Red didn't realize that anything could have turned their attention from the pool. They reprimanded themselves internally for not being more careful as miners surrounded them. A heavyset man pointed a plasma shotgun at Red's face. "Step away from her, monk!" he ordered.

Red stood up, holding their hands just above their head. "I wasn't threatening her. Just trying to get information. The Order sent me to investigate, and that's what I intend to do!" Red explained.

"You can investigate my taint, bitch!" one of the miners yelled.

The man with the shotgun took a step closer to Red. Red took a step back. "If you run, we'll hunt you down," the man said.

Red wasn't sure what to do. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. "I don't know what you want me to do. I have no choice but to do my job. If you kill me, a squad of Jhikae monks will be here within the week."

"We'll take our chances. I suggest you leave," the man with the shotgun said.

"Okay. I'll leave. Can someone escort me back to the Shining Thunder?" Red asked.

The man with the shotgun volunteered himself. "I will. Start walking."

Red did as they were told. Carlyle spoke up in protest and tried to reason with the group, but was shut down. Red turned around to take one last look at the scene and was immediately hit in the nose with the stock of the shotgun. "Get moving!"

Red's nose bled. They were pissed. Their stuff was still in Carlyle's room. "I left my stuff in Carlyle's room." Red told their guard.

"I don't give a fuck. Get new stuff."

Now that the two were alone, Red wondered if they could successfully defeat the man in combat. His reaction time seemed slow, but he was much stronger than Red. As long as they avoided the gun, they would certainly win. As they got closer to Musgrave, Red knew they were running out of time. They slowed down to get a little closer.

In one motion, they turned around and hit the man in the knee. He stumbled to his knees, and then Red elbowed him in the side of the head. They started to run.

A gunshot rang out.

Red didn't feel anything at first. Suddenly, a stabbing pain in their shoulder caused them to stop. They felt around their back and could feel blood pouring out of a wound in their shoulder. The plasma had cauterized some of it, but unevenly, and the pain grew to an unbearable level.

The man was still on the ground behind them. Red needed medical attention immediately. They kept running. Once in the town, they went straight to Carlyle's store. They grabbed a t-shirt on the floor and placed it against one of the bedposts, trying to apply pressure to the wound. It was no use.

Red tried to reach their qComm, but they felt their awareness slipping away.

Carlyle stood over them when they awoke. "Hey, Red. Are you okay?"

Red tried to reach up and feel their shoulder, but recoiled in pain. "No. What the fuck happened? Where am I?"

"Medical center in Musgrave. The guy you attacked is fine, just a few bruises. He shot you, you know. Don't know why you decided to take the risk then when you didn't with me."

"I wasn't being led to my death, then." Red explained.

"You weren't the second time either. But I talked to everyone and explained the situation. They still don't want you here, but I know you're better than an entire squad of Jhikae. I've told them that I'll make a deal with you. And that's what I'm willing to offer. A deal. You only want to kill the god, right? So I'll help you so long as you promise to only kill the god. If you attack anyone else in town again, I'll kill you myself."

Red respected the intensity of the terms. "I don't have much of a choice."

"Okay. Good. I'll take care of you until you can move your arm again. Doctor said it would be a week, at least. Then we can get started with the investigation. On the bright side, you don't have to stay here if you don't want. They said you could stay with me. Frankly, that's probably safer for you. Nobody else in town trusts you."

"Do you trust me?" Red asked.

"No. But I know what you're about. By that I mean, well, you know. I know what to expect from you. You're a bit like an abused animal. I guess I really had no idea what monks were like, but I'm starting to get it."

Red wasn't sure whether to feel insulted or understood. "I guess so..."

"So, here's the thing. I'll tell you everything about the situation, and we'll do some research until you feel better. Then we can track down this god and see if we can't kill it." Carlyle explained.

It was the only option Red had that didn't involve killing the entire town. Red tried to hold out their left hand but was immediately stopped by pain, so held out their right instead. "It's a deal."

"Good. Now let's get you somewhere more comfortable. If I had to spend a week in the hospital, I think I'd die of boredom."

"I'd rather die of boredom than sepsis," Red joked.

After four days, Red could move their arm again. They were still very weak, but it was better than having their arm in a sling. For another two weeks, Red and Carlyle went over ecological reports of Caseeveem made available to Red through a Jhikae Order contact to see if there were any signs of green gold before Carlyle showed up.

Carlyle's family had been one of the first to settle in Musgrave, thanks to a longstanding contract with the Rufflith Corporation that was responsible for settling Caseeveem. The mining corporation, Rare Mint LTD, had auctioned off positions on the newest mining settlement two decades ago, and Carlyle's family suspected that they had been conned into giving up twenty thousand credits. However, they immediately got their money's worth when Carlyle had found the first green gold deposit. With the second one, the family was set to make fifty million credits before even breaking ground for the mine.

The ecological reports suggested that there actually wasn't much on Caseeveem, suggesting that more manipulative tactics on the part of the corporation were at play. In the event of failure to procure a mining location after twenty-five years, Rare Mint LTD would have to pay back five times the investment that the miners' made. By putting together Musgrave, they hedged themselves against ever having to pay it back. Even if miners never found anything of value and discovered Rare Mint's ploy, it wouldn't have been profitable to do anything about it.

Instead, Carlyle found three surface deposits of pure liquid green. Those deposits alone were valued at billions of credits, and the mining contract gave the citizens of Musgrave exclusive rights to all findings for a premium to Rare Mint LTD for only three percent. The corporation had tried to screw its people, and instead it missed out on billions by giving up its stake.

"These shouldn't exist, but they do. And you knew exactly where they were. So... why? From who?" Red asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen anyone else in the mindscape, though I do go there for fun all the time. Besides that time you went with me."

"Very strange. Usually, to be possessed you have to actually connect with the god in question. But there's no sign of that here. What's worse, you haven't ever been possessed before now, so it's not like you were naturally attuned to a god at birth or something. Unless you can remember something like that?" Red walked through the options.

Carlyle wracked her brain trying to remember anything special. "Nope! Nothing. And when I asked my parents they said that it had never happened before, either. So I guess I'm just special, then."

"But why? And moreover, why wouldn't the god appear to you beforehand? Unless you just can't remember their face..."

"No, I can't remember anything. Even that time you and I spent together in the mindscape, as soon as I switched over it's like my short-term memory dumped."

"Perhaps the god has an affinity with Caseeveem somehow?" Red suggested.

"Why the heck would a god care about this dinky planet? There isn't even life here yet, besides us." Carlyle shot Red down.

"You're right. That's stupid. Gods don't care about the material world anyway..." Red had no clue what to do.

"Well, what else could it be? Hmmmm... Could we try recreating the situation? Like an experiment." Carlyle started to write down an outline on her tablet.

"Is there anything that each of the events have in common?" Red asked.

"Me. Plus the mindscape. But it doesn't always happen, so it's not those things alone." Carlyle said.

"They all happened at night, right? Is it possible one of your parents pray to this god and your connection with them caused it to manifest that way?"

"Absolutely not. My parents would never do that. Besides, we weren't anywhere close to desperate enough to do that. The mine hadn't even started work yet when I found the first pool. We couldn't have known this planet was barren." Carlyle explained.

"I don't know what it could be. The only thing I can think of is to go into the mindscape and see if we can make it happen somehow." Red was at a loss and frustrated. How had their training not prepared them for such a situation?

"Sounds good to me. I've got something I want to show you!" Carlyle said.

She sat down on the floor in front of Red. Red took a deep breath and closed their eyes in sync with Carlyle. The pair were suddenly in the mindscape together.

"Okay, check this out." Carlyle said.

The pair stood on a cliff overlooking a beautiful pond. "The water should be deep enough that you can dive in without getting hurt... I hope." Carlyle said.

"You... hope?" Red checked.

"Yeah! Well, do you wanna give it a shot?" Carlyle asked.

Red peered over the cliff's edge. It had to have been at least fifty meters down. "I don't generally try to kill myself in the mindscape."

"Wait, you really believe those stories about people dying in the mindscape? Gosh, you monks really are superstitious!" Carlyle teased.

"Well, I have watched beings die in the mindscape. But never from a fall. Then again, maybe I just don't understand the mechanism of Jhikae magic." Red admitted. They definitely didn't pay much attention during their studies.

"Just do it!" Carlyle said.

Instead of waiting for Red, Carlyle hopped off the edge. Red hesitated and then followed her down. They didn't know how to dive properly, but did their best to copy what they had seen in the movies. Eventually, they pierced the surface of the water and through a school of brightly colored fish. Red surfaced and started to swim to shore. When they got there, Carlyle was nowhere to be found.

Since the scene was still present, Red knew that Carlyle was still there somewhere. However, they had no way of knowing where she was. "Carlyle?! Where'd you go?" they called out.

Red walked around the shore of the pond and called out for Carlyle. As the search continued, fear rose in Red's chest. Finally, Carlyle responded. "I'm over here!"

Red heard her voice through a dense thicket. They called back, "Where the hell are you? Don't stop making noise! Otherwise I'll never be able to find you!"

There she was. A clearing. Small forest fauna skittered about in the trees. An eight foot tall woman wearing a red sequin dress and red heels stood in front of Carlyle twirling her curly brown hair with her fingers. Her eyes were glowing green emeralds. The woman stared at Red. "We finally have a chance to meet, Red."