But the warmth of the sun on face, even strained through the smog, filled Mori with relief. He sat up, still feeling lightheaded.
"Awake at last," Argent said.
Mori started and looked over. Argent smiled, crouched beside him, but there was a cold look in his eyes behind the smile. Mori frowned. He couldn't quite place Argent's mood, but it set him on edge nonetheless.
He tried to stand up, but the rollercoaster of the last few days seemed to hit him all at once, draining the energy right out of his body. He staggered backwards, clutching a nearby railing for support.
The timepiece. Mori checked his neck. The synchroniser around his neck was gone, but he found it a second later in his satchel, alongside the traveller's timepiece and the one Argent made for him. Mori sagged back in relief. The synchroniser stung his hand as he touched it, and Mori realised its energy had changed. Instead of its familiar muted blaze, now bitter cold stung his hand. Mori shivered. He'd only felt cold like that in one place before.
Even here, the grip of the void was unmistakeable. Mori pushed the watch into his pocket and tried to forget about that awful, unyielding darkness.
Argent took his arm and helped Mori gently to his feet. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Mori took a step forward. He swayed, but stayed upright. He looked closely at Argent. "Are you?"
"Sure." Again, that smile that didn't reach anywhere near his eyes. Argent sighed, as if he didn't have the energy to keep up the pretence anymore, and turned away. "Let's just go find Ren. Something tells me she's got a lot of explaining to do."
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Ren was waiting for them at the house. "The timepiece," she said, extending her hand to Mori.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't want to take it."
Ren raised an eyebrow. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," she said, casting her gaze to Argent. "Lay off him, alright? He's got enough on his plate restoring the tower without you dragging him into your little conspiracy theories."
Argent smiled. "Incidentally, seeing as we're talking about destroyed towers." Argent tossed the traveller's timepiece over to Ren. "We just got back from Elete."
Ren froze. Mori saw the colour fall from her face. Mori tried to catch her eye, but she wouldn't look at either of them.
"When were you going to tell us what happened?" Argent's voice was cold and quiet.
"Look, it's under control," Ren said.
"Under control?" Argent said. "Two towers on the system have collapsed and you're telling me it's under control? Are you serious?"
"Of course I'm serious," Ren shot back. "I'm trying to fix it. What else do you think I've been doing all this time?"
"I don't know, Ren!" Argent said. "Nobody knows, not even your own apprentice." He ran a hand though his pale hair and sighed. "Look, I get you're a private person. Everybody has things they want to hide. But you can't lie to us about something like this."
