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Had the Rift's power manifested already? The more he thought about some of the things he'd seen Jercash do, the more he began to wonder if perhaps--

Hmm? Where'd he go? Jercash had just been over there by a materialized building, talking to a group of Idkin, but now he was--

"Something botherin' you, Loz?"

Lozaro might have jumped out of his own skin, if not for the tickling notion in the back of his mind that Jercash was already behind him.

Again.

This was the third time the man had done this in as many weeks, and Lozaro still wasn't entirely sure how he was pulling it off. And yes, other servants of Jercash's level were known to be capable of such feats, so it wasn't necessarily the Rift's doing, but...

Whatever the case, he didn't have the luxury of dwelling on it right now.

"...No, sir," he said, forcing his voice to remain steady. He knew that Jercash took a certain pleasure in rattling him, so perhaps it was unwise to try and deny the man that indulgence, but he had his own pride to think of, too.

"No?" said Jercash, circling around to the left. "You sure about that?"

Lozaro could feel the Rift responding in unison with the man's words, the red glow reverberating seeming almost like a visual representation of his voice. Could Jercash not sense that, too? Perhaps it felt like nothing at all to him? Like the sound of his own voice in his head?

"...Why are you asking?" said Lozaro, still bracing himself.

"Mm, I dunno. Just a feeling I got. Like something's off with you. Like maybe you're a little distracted by something."

Ugh.

"I need you to stay on task, Loz. Things are coming to a head with this Intar business. Lotsa dice being rolled, at the moment. And you, pal? You're one of those dice." The man paused, perhaps to let Lozaro say something, but it didn't last long. "So why have you stopped rolling, hmm?"

Lozaro felt a shiver down his spine and tried to ignore. "I-I haven't, sir. But progress is--it's not always a linear path, you see. I assure you that, I'm doing all I can to--"

"Bullshit." Jercash was right up in his face now, hand on his shoulder. "You've stalled, Loz. Don't lie. I can tell."

Now that sounded like the Rift talking. Which was even more terrifying, Lozaro felt.